Towards Sustainable Private Labels in an Autonomous Community during COVID-19—Analysis of Consumer Behavior and Perception on the Example of Tenerife

Our study aimed to analyze consumer behavior and perception towards private labels (PLs) in Tenerife as an autonomous community during COVID-19, with special attention given to sustainability aspects. The research was conducted on a sample of 500 adults purchasing PLs using quota selection and the CAWI method. We formulated four research questions related to factors of PL choice, the relationship between frequency of PL purchases, consumers’ age and income, perceived changes in PLs, and evaluation of PL products including sustainability. The latter research question referred to such product characteristics as local and environmentally friendly production, organic production, and production according to traditional technologies using only natural ingredients. For a detailed analysis of consumer behavior, we used Pearson’s chi-square test, the rho-Spearman correlation coefficient, and cluster analysis. The most important factors for purchasing PL products were lower prices compared to leading brands, attachment to a given chain, and the feeling of safety and trust in PL products. The frequency of purchase of PL food products, except for alcohol, significantly negatively correlates with age, which means that the purchase of PLs from the analyzed product categories decreases with age. The increased availability and improved image and quality of PLs were identified as the most important changes in PLs. PL food products were rated by consumers as fresh, minimally processed and with quality certificates. Environmentally friendly production methods, nutritional value, and origin from an area close to home were also indicated.

The Effect of R&D Expenditure on CO2 Emissions in Austria

The developed financial sector can significantly provide financial services to developing economies by the motive as well as best opportunity of using new advanced technology; it may help them to maintain clean environment with help of environmentally friendly production, thus providing with a higher level of the global environmental quality and further it will boost sustainable development of economies (J. Frankel & Rose, 2002). Financial development would increase R&D investment as to speed up growth, thereby influencing the environmental quality (J. A. Frankel & Romer, 1999). The objective of this research is to determine the effect of R&D expenditure on CO2 emissions in Austria in 1996-2006. We presented a quantitative study using simple linear regression to analyze the data and as a result of this process, we found that R&D expenditure has significant effect to CO2 emissions in Austria in 1996-2006. The fact that R&D influence on CO2 emissions can be positive, negative and insignificant must be taken into account when designing environmental policies and various programs, strategies and initiatives to encourage and fund R&D activities, in the context of environmental protection, government efforts should be strictly focused on the promotion and support of R&D programs directly aimed at reducing CO2 emissions and increasing the use thereof (Petrović & Lobanov, 2020).

Green Chemistry and Environmental Processes

This Special Issue was designed based on two complementary principles, both aimed at developing environmentally friendly production processes, in which catalysis plays a leading role [...]

Sollutions of creation and development issues of industrial parks in Azerbaijan

Growing economic development requires a transition to more environmentally friendly production systems. Industrial parks provide more environmentally friendly and efficient production systems. In Azerbaijan, which has long been the main focus of the extractive industry and the chemical industry, a new industrial policy is being formed in the context of changing economic conditions. There is a great potential for the formation of industrial parks in Azerbaijan. In this study, we provided information on the characteristics, development and operation of industrial parks. At the same time, we tried to explore opportunities for the formation of industrial parks and future eco-parks in Azerbaijan. Key words: efficiency, industrial parks, emissions, financial experts, commitment targets, profitability

Ecolabels can improve public perception and farm profits for shellfish aquaculture

Ecolabels are increasingly being used to notify consumers that the labeled product imposes minimal harm to the environment or other natural resources. A growing number of studies have signaled that consumers respond to these labels, which can promote environmentally friendly production of consumable goods and incentivize growers to produce sustainably sourced goods. Shellfish are noticeably absent among these labeled products, but they are arguably the most sustainable source of animal protein. Additionally, while in the water, oysters and other shellfish provide numerous ecosystem services that improve environmental quality. We argue that shellfish aquaculture is uniquely positioned to take advantage of ecolabeling to improve public perception and steer consumers towards a highly sustainable source of animal protein. However, we also argue more research is needed to better understand how ecosystem services vary among different production modes of oyster aquaculture to ensure products are correctly labeled and inspire consumer confidence.

High Epoxidation Yields of Vegetable Oil Hydrolyzates and Methyl Esters by Selected Fungal Peroxygenases

Epoxides of vegetable oils and free and methylated fatty acids are of interest for several industrial applications. In the present work, refined rapeseed, sunflower, soybean, and linseed oils, with very different profiles of mono- and poly-unsaturated fatty acids, were saponified and transesterified, and the products treated with wild unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs, EC 1.11.2.1) from the ascomycete Chaetomium globosum (CglUPO) and the basidiomycete Marasmius rotula (MroUPO), as well as with recombinant UPO of the ascomycete Humicola insolens (rHinUPO), as an alternative to chemical epoxidation that is non-selective and requires strongly acidic conditions. The three enzymes were able of converting the free fatty acids and the methyl esters from the oils into epoxide derivatives, although significant differences in the oxygenation selectivities were observed between them. While CglUPO selectively produced “pure” epoxides (monoepoxides and/or diepoxides), MroUPO formed also hydroxylated derivatives of these epoxides, especially in the case of the oil hydrolyzates. Hydroxylated derivatives of non-epoxidized unsaturated fatty acids were practically absent in all cases, due to the preference of the three UPOs selected for this study to form the epoxides. Moreover, rHinUPO, in addition to forming monoepoxides and diepoxides of oleic and linoleic acid (and their methyl esters), respectively, like the other two UPOs, was capable of yielding the triepoxides of α-linolenic acid and its methyl ester. These enzymes appear as promising biocatalysts for the environmentally friendly production of reactive fatty-acid epoxides given their self-sufficient monooxygenase activity with selectivity toward epoxidation, and the ability to epoxidize, not only isolated pure fatty acids, but also complex mixtures from oil hydrolysis or transesterification containing different combinations of unsaturated (and saturated) fatty acids.

SUSTAINABILITY AND THE CONCEPT OF SHARED VALUE AND THE 4TH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF TWO SCIENTIFIC NETWORKS

The role of the technologies, concepts, and philosophies associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has been argued to hold significant value in the quest for sustainability. Furthermore, the concept of ‘shared value’ has been put forward as an approach that holds significant value when aiming to bring about socially just, economically fair, and environmentally friendly production and consumption practices. The importance of the link between the concept of shared value and 4IR is explored in this paper using bibliometric analysis, and we expose the different structures of these fields, including keywords, key authors, and the coherence of these two scientific networks in order to uncover areas of integration between them. The findings of this analysis indicate that a clear gap in integration exists; and the opportunity for research in this field could further contribute to the debate on using innovative, contemporary technologies — such as those associated with 4IR — to support approaches to ensure increasingly sustainable business practices, such as shared value.

Predicting anomaly conditions of energy equipment using neural networks

In modern conditions for complex thermal power facilities, the issue of developing methods for predicting equipment failures is especially relevant. Methods based on the intellectualization of diagnostic systems and allowing to obtain predictive models based on the use of both current data received in real time from measuring equipment and retrospective information are considered promising. Intellectualization of the system in terms of the ability to learn allows to quickly adjust the parameters of forecasting models under changing conditions of equipment operation, to determine new deadlines for scheduled repairs and minimize equipment downtime. A limitation of the use of methods is the incompleteness of failure statistics, ie when equipment failures are rare or non-existent. Such diagnostics of energy equipment, especially thermal power facilities, contributes to a more environmentally friendly production.