Issue #2 (Volume 14 2023)

This study aims to investigate the relationship between Nepal’s industrial sector output, economic expansion, and CO₂ emissions. The analysis uses secondary data from various World Bank reports and covers the period from 1990 to 2022. It is founded on an exploratory and analytical research design. The relationship and effect of Nepal’s GDP and manufacturing output on CO₂ emissions are investigated using various statistical and econometric tools, including descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, unit root testing, Granger causality test, Johansen co-integration test, and autoregressive regression model. The results show that the production of the industrial sector and CO₂ emissions are highly positively correlated, as is GDP. The GDP granger causes CO₂ emissions, but manufacturing output does not. Johansen’s co-integration test shows a long-term relationship between predictor and response variables. The previous value of CO₂ emission is also responsible for the present level of carbon emissions: a one percent increase in GDP leads to a 0.314 percent increase in CO₂ emissions in Nepal. The impact of industrial sector output is statistically insignificant. The condition of GDP and CO₂ emissions shows the initial phase of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). The study recommends adopting an environment-friendly production technique to overcome the problem of carbon emissions in Nepal.

Households are responsible for more than one-third of global energy consumption and exert a significant environmental impact. Therefore, energy efficiency and renewable energy issues have been a top theme in the literature, with numerous studies examining different facets of residential power consumption, green energy transition, decarbonization, and energy conservation. Despite extensive attention, these research trends and frontiers remain largely uncharacterized and poorly understood. This study aims to provide clear insights into the evolution and latest trends of household energy efficiency and renewable energy studies, reveal significant contributing countries, institutions, and authors of published papers, as well as directions of international collaboration. The method of bibliometric analysis with two supporting instruments (the SciVal platform and Scopus “Analyze search results” tool) was used to investigate an array of 3,761 research items on renewable energy and 4,474 items on energy efficiency in homes formed from the Scopus database. The studied period includes papers published during 1978–2023. The systematic review indicated that the United States, the United Kingdom, and China are primarily contributing countries with strong international collaboration in this field. The top journals include Energy Policy, Energy Efficiency, Energies, and Sustainability, while highly cited researchers investigate environmental, economic, and social effects and management mechanisms for introducing innovative energy-efficient and renewable energy technologies in households like smart meters and grids or the Internet of Things. The research frontier might encompass emerging and pioneering studies on home decarbonization strategies, behavioral interventions, energy saving, prosumerism, and optimization of energy consumption.

Acknowledgment
The paper is prepared within the framework of the research project “Formation of economic mechanisms to increase energy efficiency and provide sustainable development of renewable energy in Ukraine’s households” (No. 0122U001233), funded by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine.

Understanding pro-environmental behaviors in protected areas is vital for effective resource management, visitor management, infrastructure development, and conservation strategies. Therefore, this study aims to assess environmentally friendly practices and behaviors (eco-practices) of visitors (demand side) and entrepreneurs and tour operators (supply side) to explore the implications for the long-term sustainability of the protected area. The study utilizes the shared value framework and the value-belief-norm theory extended to environmentalism to investigate the relevant values for pro-environmental behaviors. The paper focuses on the Asinara National Park in Italy. It employs a partial least squares-structural equation model to analyze the pro-environmental behavior and willingness to commit to conservation goals. The findings reveal that visitors demonstrate a willingness to commit to eco-practices in a protected area based upon non-extractive cultural ecosystem services (path coefficient = 0.196*) and accept earmarked taxation (path coefficient = 0.254***), which indicates their loyalty and satisfaction with their visit. On the other hand, entrepreneurs are motivated by internally adopted ecological practices (path coefficient = 0.509***) and altruistic reasons (path coefficient = 0.377**). In conclusion, the study emphasizes aligning service and facility supply with demand and the mission of protected areas to achieve balanced and sustainable resource management. By understanding and promoting pro-environmental behaviors, long-term resilience can be ensured for protected areas, benefiting both the environment and the visitors.

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the participants of the XI Workshop on Institutions, Individual Behavior and Economic Outcomes, Session Environmental and Ecological Economics, Corte (France) and at the Research Meeting Seminar, Burgundy School of Business, Dijon (France) for their helpful comments. We also thank Fondazione di Sardegna (Economia e Benessere tra Società e Istituzioni), grant 2022–2023, Programme 2014–2020 INTERREG V-A Italy – France Maritime (grant EcoSTRIM), and Fondo di Ateneo UNISS 2020 for financial support.

The rapid spread of cryptocurrencies is one of the most relevant trends today. One of the significant risks of their spread is the increase in energy consumption, which has a negative impact on the environment due to carbon emissions. This requires the development of a scientific toolkit for assessing relationships and predicting the impact of cryptocurrencies on energy consumption, which is the aim of this paper.
With the correlational regression analysis, the model of the dependence of spending on IT sector, energy consumption of Bitcoin, Ethereum and global capitalization of the cryptocurrency market was conducted, based on statistical data from Statista.com, Сoinmarketcap.com and International Data Corporation. To check the possible relationship, tests for the adequacy of the results obtained (Fisher’s test, Student’s t-test) confirmed the correctness of coefficients for independent variables.
The results showed a significant direct correlation (Multiple R is 95%) of spending on IT sector, energy consumption and global capitalization of the cryptocurrency market. The established relationships allowed predicting that Bitcoin energy consumption may reach 142 Terawatt hours per year in 2026. And its impact on environment by mining in 2022 was at least 27.4 Mt of CO2 emission.
As a proposal, a conclusion was made on the expediency of linking mining to the use of certain sources of electricity production, such as “residual” natural gas, nuclear power, renewable energy sources. The obtained results and conclusions may be used as a basis for political decisions in the field of energy efficiency and climate change mitigation.

Over the years, green finance tools have gained considerable attention with the increased concern to achieve sustainability in the economy. Green bonds are one such new innovative green finance tool embodied with bonds and green attributes. However, research on the Indian green bond is relatively modest. Thus, this study aims to analyze the impact of bond attributes on green bond yield. The study retrieves green bond data from the Bloomberg and Climate Bonds Initiative databases from 2015 to 2022. To test the framed hypotheses, the study employs a panel regression technique with a random effect model. The findings of the study show a significant positive effect of bond ratings (β = 2.80926, p < 0.05) on green bond yield based on the argument that good-rated bonds serve as collateral in the security market. On the contrary, the result also reveals a significant negative effect of bond maturity (β = –0.327296, p < 0.05) and bond label (β = –3.16480, p < 0.05) on green bond yield. The results based on the observation suggest that when the certified bond is issued, this signals the greenness of the bond in the market and attracts high demand, whereas the long maturity ensures the green project construction for a longer period, resulting in a lower bond value. Thus, empirical findings reveal that bond attributes are the major factors in influencing bond yield. The obtained results serve as a prerequisite for potential issuers, investors, and policymakers to further popularize the green bond in the country.

Existing research lacks to adequately examine how environmental performance moderates the influence of environmental disclosure on value relevance. This study pursues to investigate the direct influence of environmental disclosures on value relevance, measured by the fair value of common equity. Moreover, it tests how environmental performance moderates the influence of environmental disclosures on value relevance.
Data were gathered from the annual reports of Jordanian industrial firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange from 2018 to 2021. The study employed the Ohlson model to assess the value relevance. Furthermore, both earnings and the book value of equity were included as other independent variables, as required by the model.
This study found that environmental disclosures positively impact the value relevance of industrial firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange. Moreover, such disclosures positively influence the value relevance of industrial firms with greater environmental performance. Earnings and the book value of equity also positively influence the value relevance. The results were similar to those obtained by conducting panel regression after controlling for both the industry and year effects.
It is therefore recommended that directors exploit environmental disclosures to increase the value relevance of the firm. At the same time, they should consider environmental disclosures as an essential component to integrate into future strategies. Hence, firm managers should consistently evaluate the environmental and financial performance, followed by developing well-designed strategies to increase the environmental performance and reliability of environmental disclosure due to their positive role in enhancing value relevance.