Issue #1 (Volume 14 2023)

South African universities experience increased pressure to comply with and implement environmentally friendly practices. Specifically, state-funded universities need to enhance environmental management efficiency and environmental awareness. However, measuring the implementation of green initiatives in higher education takes time and effort. South African models for state-funded universities are absent, and international models are inapplicable. Therefore, this study aims to develop and empirically test the model by investigating existing theories and models and identifying potential factors for higher education. The paper determined ten initial factors from 31 environmental studies, limiting their number to five. The finally selected factors are cost of green products, awareness, training and education, top management attitude and commitment, committee for sustainable accountability, and digital transformation. This qualitative study uses a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire sampling 149 university managers. Structural equation modeling retained three of the original five factors in the model: cost of green products, top management attitude and commitment, and digital transformation. However, knowledge of the environment (SRW = 0.76) is also crucial. Ten theoretical measuring criteria are retained as valid measures of implementing green initiatives. The model has good fit indices (CMin/Df = 4.07, CFI = 0.944, GFI = 0.909), despite RMSEA exceeding 0.10. The developed conceptual model can be used to measure the implementation of green initiatives by South African state-funded universities.

There is little research on the impact of environmental costs on plastic manufacturing companies’ financial performance and sustainability. This paper aims to explore the relationship between environmental costs and financial performance of two large national plastic manufacturing companies, namely Bowler Metcalf Limited (BML) and Nampak Ltd, between 2018 and 2019 since research allows for five year old information. Further, the study used pre-Covid-19 data to conceptualize. It adopted a qualitative method of inquiry using content analysis to analyze the financial statements and reports of the two companies (secondary data analysis) available in the public domain. The interpretative analysis further supported the analysis and interpretation of the two variables of environmental costs and financial performance. The results showed a positive relationship between environmental costs and profits in the financial statements of these two companies during 2018 and 2019. BML had a decrease in plastic penalties from R 23.171 million in 2018 to R 14.596 million in 2019, which supported a reduction in spending on legal and constructive obligation items. Nampak also decreased stakeholders’ equity from R 10,140.3 million in 2018 to R 8,932.33 million in 2019, which meant that the stakeholders’ equity funds were reduced, possibly due to reduced spending on environmental costs during that period. It can be concluded and established that when these two plastic companies spend more on environmental costs, this positively affects overall financial performance and improves financial sustainability. It is recommended to allocate more resources/funding to support environmental costs to increase the profitability of the two plastic manufacturing companies.

Fair trade initiatives represent an essential support for the scarce opportunities that have arisen in the agricultural sector, as they cover various areas that contribute to increasing good trade practices. It is essential to highlight the contribution of fair trade in urban and rural areas, as it becomes a valuable incentive for differentiation. The main objective of this study was to determine how Fair Trade is applied in the socioeconomic and ecological sphere in an association of sustainable agricultural producers in the Peruvian jungle. This is quantitative research with a non-experimental cross-sectional design. The survey technique was used, and a questionnaire was applied to 99 agricultural producers in the Amazon region of northern Peru, because it would help to analyze the new challenges of fair trade. In addition, data analysis and processing was carried out with Microsoft Office Excel and SPSS. The results show that 51% of the producers surveyed have been sensitized to adopt socially responsible actions aimed at strengthening sustainable development, social responsibility and good practices for fair trade in favor of the preservation of the resources of the Peruvian Amazon, as well as the socioeconomic development of farmers and the region itself. Forty-seven percent carry out social responsibility activities under the guidance of the Fairtrade organization, which has accompanied farmers to obtain Fairtrade certification. In addition, 59% of respondents say that they engage in healthy competition that generates trust among farmers. Fairtrade enables associated farmers to improve their ethical behavior and respect for their rights as well as those of the entire community.

Sustainability reporting reflects business contribution to sustainable development. Indonesia seeks to engage in sustainable development by assessing the companies using the PROPER scale. The study aims to determine whether environmental performance (assessed by the PROPER scale) affect sustainability reporting of companies in Indonesia. The research population includes companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange that have published annual and sustainability reports within five consecutive years. This study employs WarpPLS to analyze data from 85 observations. The results show an increase in the disclosure of sustainability reports when the audit committee and the board of directors hold regular meetings. Companies without governance committees focus more on improving governance rather than disclosing sustainability reports. Environmental performance, when associated with the type of industry and governance committee, will increase sustainability reporting. However, a company with good environmental performance will make the audit committee and directors focus on other responsibilities because the community already understands that a company with a good PROPER rating properly manages its environmental impact and is aware of the importance of sustainable development. This study concludes that environmental performance measured by the PROPER scale positively affects sustainability reporting considering the type of industry, governance committee, audit committee, and board of directors of companies in Indonesia. The Indonesian government must support, facilitate, and encourage companies to achieve the gold category in the PROPER scale and promote higher disclosure of sustainability reports to contribute to sustainable development.

Previous studies indicate a lack of analysis of pro-environmental behavior adoption in enterprises of various sizes. Very small enterprises, especially in the informal sector, have always been overlooked in the literature, although they are in the majority in most countries. This paper aims to examine the effects of firm size on pro-environmental behavior adoption in Cameroon. The analysis focuses on a sample of 141,926 firms drawn from the Second General Census of Enterprises (RGE-2) in Cameroon (NIS, 2018). The study adopted a statistical and econometrical approach based on the logit model. The results showed that the adoption of pro-environmental behavior increases with firm size. The probability of having a health, safety, and environment system increases by 16.70 points in large enterprises compared to 8.40 points in small enterprises. The probability of having a wastewater management system increases by 5.30 points in large enterprises compared to 2.30 points in small enterprises. The probability of having an air pollution management system increases by 2.20 points in large enterprises compared to 1.50 points in small enterprises. However, company size does not significantly influence the adoption of a solid waste management system. It is recommended to (i) raise awareness among large companies of the challenges of environmental protection and to strengthen controls on compliance with environmental standards, and (ii) to implement actions aimed at the migration of companies from the informal to the formal sector.

The threat of the global climate crisis demands improvement and adjustment from various sides, including the financial sector. Islamic finance responds to environmental responsibility by presenting environmentally friendly financing products in green sukuk. This study aims to show the development trend of the number of publications in green sukuk and systematize the results of studies that explain the development and evaluation of the emergence of green sukuk investments. This study analyzed 15 publications on green sukuk during the 2016-2022 years indexed by the Scopus database. As for methodology, the descriptive analysis was used to explain the green sukuk data quantitatively; the synthesis analysis was used to describe data based on four directions (the development of models (10 sources), opportunities (12 sources), challenges (12 sources), and evaluations of green sukuk (10 sources). Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses standard were used to choose samples for this investigation. The green sukuk challenge is dealing with the sukuk market after the pandemic. Several evaluation findings regarding managing commitment from the government and investors for the renewable energy sector and efforts to provide low-cost sukuk financing and risk minimization are found. Green sukuk demands efficient management to be more viable, competitive, and attractive to investors if the operational area supports it. Green sukuk projects face expanding green funding, global climate financing, managing renewable energy, and validating greenhouse gas emissions. The green stock market reaction requires coordination amongst economic subsectors.

Environmental pollution is one of the major problems that has become an increasing area of concern globally, leading to the emergence of green energy technology. Research has been conducted on green technology adoption mainly in developed countries. However, there is noticeably limited knowledge about technology adoption and energy consumption in developing countries, for example, Zimbabwe. Thus, this paper seeks to analyze the impact of green technology adoption on energy sector performance in Zimbabwe. The results established that green technology adoption, energy pricing, energy sector investment, and capital structure significantly influence energy consumption efficiency. These results showed a positive relationship between green technology adoption and energy consumption efficiency based on the argument of the substitution possibility effect between green technology and energy demand. The study recommends adopting and identifying the type of green technology to utilize and the timing of investment in green technology. In addition, alternative estimation methods can be adopted to test the robustness of the findings.

The carbon market reform is controversial because the modalities of carbon pricing foreseen risk reducing the performance of companies and negatively affecting the economy. The objective of this paper is to show that the carbon tax can be floating and adapt to the economic situation while maintaining its ecological efficiency. Herein, Tobin’s Q model, which has become a standard in the literature for explaining the investment decision, is applied to the green investment decision. A carbon tax is introduced into the firm’s maximization program to see how carbon pricing changes the outcome of the traditional model. The model shows that green investment depends on the sum of the stock price and the carbon price, which suggests the possibility of modulating this amount according to the upward or downward trend of the stock price to avoid permanently penalizing the competitiveness of firms. The study also demonstrates how the financial market is likely to value green investments and that such investments will likely generate shareholder value through several channels. Indeed, green investments impact the firm’s turnover and the minimum income required by the shareholder. Such a modulation of the carbon tax according to the economic cycle would make reconciling ecological and economic efficiency possible.

There is a growing concern about environmental issues, particularly carbon emissions, in many countries. Indonesia, with its huge population, also suffers from excessive carbon emissions. This study aims to investigate the effect of family businesses on environmental performance, specifically carbon emission disclosure. This study also explores the role of the family supervisory board and management on the quality of carbon emission disclosure. The study employed 62 non-financial family-listed firms in 2017–2019 (186 observations). The analysis found a positive and significant relationship between family enterprises and the disclosure of carbon emissions, implying that family firms expose more information about their carbon emissions. It also revealed a significant positive association between the family supervisory board and carbon emission performance, suggesting that having family members on the supervisory board aligns with policies for reducing and maintaining accountability for carbon emissions. In summary, the findings suggest that family enterprises prefer to exercise their indirect control by holding a position on the supervisory board and owning a substantial percentage of the company’s stock corresponding to their socio-emotional wealth agenda. Additionally, there is a non-linear association between family firms and the disclosure of carbon emissions. Carbon emission performance decreases as family share ownership rises to 53.1% but increases when family equity exceeds this cut-off point. Finally, family shareholders in non-polluted firms report higher quality of carbon emission disclosure.