The COVID-19 pandemic has set back progress toward the 2030 Agenda. This raises concerns about the ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as outlined in this global action plan. The responsibility to act to protect the planet, eradicate poverty and improve the current and future situations of people around the world requires the commitment of all actors, especially the public and private sectors. The objective of this paper is twofold. First, it aims to demonstrate the level of business commitment to the 2030 Agenda at a global level in a post-COVID period (2020–2021). Second, it aims to analyse whether this commitment, in general, and for each of the SDGs, is determined by the institutional context in which companies operate, as associated with the regulatory frameworks and cultural values of the different continents and countries (coercive and normative isomorphism). Based on a sample of the world’s leading listed companies, i.e. 8,201 observations for the period of 2020–2021, the multivariate statistical technique HJ-biplot was applied to analyse whether business commitment to the 2030 Agenda is determined by the institutional context of the companies. The results show significant differences in the level of business commitment to sustainable development across regions and countries, as well as in the prioritisation of the SDGs. Countries in Asia (the Philippines) and Europe (Spain and Portugal) stand out as leaders, with the highest levels of SDG commitment. The USA and Qatar show the lowest engagement in business contribution to the SDGs. SDG 8, SDG 13 and SDG 12 appear as the top three priorities for companies in all countries. The results show that, in countries characterised by collectivism and feminism and with strong legal systems (civil law countries), companies are under greater pressure to adopt sustainable practices, which enables countries to improve their commitment to the SDGs.

Labor cost reduction and resourceful space utilization are essential for efficient warehouse operation. In these challenges, mobile rack technology can increase storage space by 75% or more. The mobile racking system is a system where racks are constructed on a mobile base and steered by rails on the floor. Driven by an electrical motor, the mobile base moves along the rails to open one or more access aisles. Moving rack technology eliminates aisle space between racks and increases storage space by synchronizing wheels or rails. Hence, companies can stock and access a high volume of products while enduring space-efficient. Minimizing the cost per pallet is especially critical for cooler and freezer facilities. However, there is no straightforward solution to determining the optimal layout of a mobile rack warehouse. When designing a mobile rack warehouse, you can increase storage space by a minimum of aisles, but it can reduce work efficiency at the same time. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the appropriate layout of mobile racks considering both work efficiency and space efficiency. This study proposes a practical layout of a mobile rack warehouse to harmonize work and space efficiency. To validate the model, we examine several numerical examples and analyze the warehouse area, the total amount of rack movement, and working hours. Depending on the operating cost, a different layout is suggested.

The presence of microplastics in commercially important seafood species is a new issue of food safety concern. Although plastic debris has been found in the gastrointestinal tracts of several species, the prevalence of microplastics in edible shrimp tissues in Thailand has not yet been established. For the first time, the gastrointestinal tract (GT), heptapancreas (HEP), muscle (MU) and exoskeleton (EX) of farmed white leg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) from commercial aquaculture facilities in Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand, were analyzed for microplastics (MPs). The number of MP items per tissue was 27.36±2.28 in the GT, 17.42±0.90 in the HEP, 11.37±0.60 in the MU and 10.04±0.52 in the EX. MP concentrations were 137.78±16.48, 16.31±1.87, 1.69±0.13 and 4.37±0.27 items/gram (ww) in the GT, HEP, MU and EX, respectively. Microplastics ranged in size from <100 to 200–250 μm, with fragment-shape (62.07%), fibers (37.31%) and blue (43.69%) was the most common. The most frequently found polymers in shrimp tissue organs and pond water were polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) and cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB). Shrimp consumption (excluding GT and EX) was calculated as 28.79 items/shrimp/person/day using Thailand's consumption of shrimp, MP abundance and shrimp consumption. The results of the study can be used as background data for future biomonitoring of microplastics in shrimp species that are significant from an ecological and commercial perspective. MP abundance in farmed L. vannamei may be related to feeding habits and the source of MPs could come from the aquaculture facilities operations.

Wastewater treatment by microalgae is an eco-friendly and sustainable method for pollutant removal and biomass generation. Microalgae production under abiotic stress (such as salinity/salt stress) has an impact on nutrient removal and fatty acid accumulation. In this study, a freshwater microalgal strain (Desmodesmus communis GEEL-12) was cultured in municipal wastewater with various NaCl concentrations (ranging from 25–150 mM). The growth kinetics and morphological changes of the microalgae were observed. The nutrient removal, salinity change, fatty acid composition, and biodiesel quality under various groups were also investigated. The maximum growth of D. communis GEEL-12 was observed in the control group at 0.48 OD_680nm. The growth inhibition was observed under high salt conditions (150 mM), which showed poor tolerance with 0.15 OD_680nm. The nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) removal significantly decreased from 99–81% and 5.0–5.9% upon the addition of 100–150 mM salt, respectively. Palmitic acid (C16:0) and stearic acid (C18:0) were the most common fatty acid profiles. The abundance of C18:0 enhanced from 49.37%–56.87% in D. communis GEEL-12 upon high NaCl concentrations (100–150 mM). The biodiesel quality index of D. communis GEEL-12 under 50–75 mM salt concentrations reached the levels advised by international standards.

Nowadays, it is possible to assert that the causality of environmental problems entails a complex social, economic, cultural and political background; faced with such a situation, it is essential to have an operational science that considers the human factor that is in constant interaction with the environment (socio-ecological systems), while seeking sustainable development. Because of that, it became necessary to join different disciplines in a construct called Environmental Sciences, whose main objective is to study and solve problems related to human-environment interactions. Endorsing the concept of exergy to an interdisciplinary science implies understanding how society satisfies its needs with the natural resources provided by the various ecosystems and how they sustain demand in the man-environment interaction cycle, starting from the development of structural and functional attributes in a dynamic flow of matter and energy. This can be addressed with the first and second laws of thermodynamics by allowing the use of holistic indicators in the Environmental Sciences; one such indicator is ecoexergy, which describes the state of an ecosystem based on the biomass content and genetic information. Thus, this work presents an outline of the incursion of exergy in the context of environmental sciences, which implies that the ecosystem is an open system whose behavior adheres to the laws of thermodynamics.

The effect of biochar on hydrologic fluxes was estimated using a single hillslope version of a gridded soil moisture routing (SMR) model. Five grid cells were aligned linearly with varied slopes to simulate a small undulating hillslope with or without a restrictive layer beneath the soil profile. Biochar amendments (redwood sawdust and wheat straw biochar) at concentrations of 0%, 4%, and 7% were applied to the topmost grid-cell by mass of dry soil. Simulated streamflow hydrographs for restricted and non-restricted soil profiles were manually calibrated with measured Palouse River streamflow data. Evapotranspiration, percolation, lateral flow, baseflow, and streamflow were all modeled yearly. Two generally reported field capacities (FC) in literature at −6 and −33 kPa were considered to assess the effect of biochar. Field capacity considered at −6 kPa corresponds to higher moisture content, and hence higher moisture storage capacity between FC and permanent wilting point than at −33 kPa. At −6 kPa FC, biochar effectively increased evapotranspiration and reduced the lateral flow of the system. Increased soil porosity from biochar amendment enhanced the water holding capacity of the soil and plant available water. These mechanisms impacted the streamflow generated from the system indicating positive outcomes from biochar amendment in both restricted and non-restricted soil profiles. Biochar amendment showed an order of magnitude smaller effects with −33 kPa FC compared to −6 kPa FC; the increased porosity appeared to be less influential at lower field capacity values. Additionally, the results showed that the over-application of coarse biochar might negatively affect retaining soil moisture. These findings point to positive results for using biochar as a water management strategy if applied less than 7% in this study, but further exploration is needed to find the optimum level of biochar with different biochar and soil properties.

In 2019, Malaysia faced a deterioration of air quality due to transboundary haze, which brought negative implications, especially for public health. In light of the above scenario, continuous particulate matter (PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and PM₁) and meteorological parameters amid the haze period were taken to unravel the influence of haze on particulate matter variations and to investigate the association between particulate matter concentrations with meteorological parameters and fire hotspots in Kota Kinabalu, where it is rarely studied. Particulate matter and the meteorological parameters were monitored during the haze season, continuously from 21 August–30 September 2019, using AirMate, a ground-based air monitoring equipment. Air mass backward trajectories were simulated using the HYSPLIT Model, and fire hotspot data was obtained from the Greenpeace Global Fire Dashboard. The results showed increasing particulate matter concentrations during the haze period, with PM_2.5 exceeding the New Ambient Air Quality Standards (2020) on multiple days. For meteorological parameters, all parameters showed a significant weak positive relationship with respective particulate matter. However, the correlation between particulate matter and fire hotspots in Indonesia showed a moderate positive relationship. The backward trajectories simulated indicated the influence of south-westerly winds in transporting the pollutants from fire hotspots in the Indonesia region. Thus, we provide beneficial information about the impacted area during the 2019 transboundary haze episode, where the interactions between the particulate matter variations and the parameters studied were unraveled.

Customers’ growing concern for environmentally friendly goods and services has created a competitive and environmentally responsible business scenario. This global awareness of a green environment has motivated several researchers and companies to work on reducing carbon emissions and sustainable supply chain management. This study explores a sustainable supply chain system in the context of an imperfect flexible production system with a single manufacturer and multiple competitive retailers. It aims to reduce the carbon footprints of the developed system through uncertain human learning. Three carbon regulation policies are designed to control carbon emissions caused by various supply chain activities. Despite the retailers being competitive in nature, the smart production system with a sustainable supply chain and two-level screening reduces carbon emissions effectively with maximum profit. Obtained results explore the significance of uncertain human learning, and the total profit of the system increases to 0.039% and 2.23%, respectively. A comparative study of the model under different carbon regulatory policies shows a successful reduction in carbon emissions (beyond 20%), which meets the motive of this research.