Commercial transactions in the digital environment represent the core of the digital economy. Progress in information technology opens up opportunities for commercial transactions in the digital environment, thereby raising operational productivity and the flow of goods and services to a new level. The digital transformation of commercial transactions occurred very fast owing to the CODID-19 pandemic, thereby contributing to a significant increase in the number of commercial transactions both globally and nationally that have become available to more than half of the world’s population. Making digital commercial transactions is affected by a number of factors: information technology infrastructure, Internet speed, and digital security, consumer skills, consumer protection and delivery logistics. The research analysed data on the population using the Internet in Latvia, the EU and the world. The research identified correlations between: the number of digital commercial transactions and the population, mobile Internet speed and the number of individuals who shopped online, the categories of goods purchased online and gender, the amounts of money spent on online purchases and the employment category. In 2020, according to Eurostat, 56% of the population of Latvia made digital commercial transactions. The figure for Latvia was 8% lower than the European Union average. A comparison of the numbers of digital commercial transactions between Latvia and the other Baltic States revealed that the figures for Latvia were mediocre. The number of transactions was higher in Latvia than in Lithuania by 2%, while Estonia experienced the largest increase in the number of digital transactions, which was 12% higher than in Latvia. The comparison indicates that it is possible to increase the number of digital commercial transactions in Latvia. digital, commercial transactions, indicators.

The article considers the dynamics of international merchandise trade of Latvia and Ukraine (volumes of export and import of goods) in 2005–2020 with the use of UN Comtrade Database. The volumes of export and import of Latvia’s main international trading partners are given; the shares of partner countries in trade flows in 2021 are calculated. It is determined that Lithuania occupies a leading position among Latvia’s partner countries in export and import of goods. Data on international trade between Latvia and Ukraine, namely export and import of goods in 1994–2021, are presented. It is determined that international trade between Latvia and Ukraine has a steady development trend. The main goods exported from Latvia to Ukraine in 2021 are presented; their shares in the total volume of relevant international trade flows are calculated. The main goods imported to Latvia from Ukraine in 2021 are determined; their share in the total volume of import is calculated. Services are not included in any of the statistics presented here.

It is undeniable that apple trees and apples are the cornerstone of Latvian fruit growing. According to CSB data apple trees in Latvia in 2019 accounted for 76% of the total fruit and berry co-productions. At the same time, an apple orchard areas are decreasing, in 2020 reaching only 2655 ha declared for the single area payment (LAD data), dividing apple trees separately as a crop and having a continuous area of more than 0.3 ha. At present, compared to 2010, the area reduction reaches 18%. In the period 2009–2016 for the year according to CSB data, there were around 4,000 ha of apple orchards in Latvia. At the same time, co-production was obtained around 7.8–12.8 thousand tons, specified in the LR ZM “Strategy for sustainable activity programs of fruit and vegetable producer organizations in Latvia 2017–2023”. On the other hand within the framework of the national research program of the “reCOVery-LV” sub-project “Restructuring of local agricultural and food supply chains and strengthening their resilience in crisis and post-crisis conditions in Latvia” it was concluded that with proper care of gardens and younger people entering production for plantations, from 2,000–3,000 ha of apple orchards collect up to 30 thousand tons of fruit. The graphs show the production volumes of apples in the four largest producing countries, in the other member states and the EU in total, thousand tons. Apple harvest volume in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland and Sweden in 2011–2020, thousand tons. Changes in apple prices in the EU, Poland, Latvia, Poland and Germany and on average in the EU in 2020–2021, Euro/100 kg, as well as the distribution of the countries of the world according to the amount of apples consumed.

The aim of the Thesis is to research those Latvian electricity policy areas which are underdeveloped or overlooked in the current electricity policy framework in order to define the possible improvements from the perspective of achieving climate targets. The following tasks were defined to achieve the aim of the Thesis: 1. To evaluate the current electricity policy measures in Latvia and the role of climate aspects in it. 2. To assess the economic and technical prospects for accelerating electricity generation from solar panels and wind parks in Latvia while considering these capacities as the potential for creating energy communities. 3. To analyse the possibilities of decreasing the consumption of fossil fuels by taking into account the energy intensity in manufacturing in Latvia as well as the possible benefits from railway electrification while also considering the overall electricity consumption reduction by involvement of aggregators. 4. To propose new electricity policy measures for the National Energy and Climate Plan of Latvia based on the conclusions from Tasks 2 and 3 while providing quantitative assumptions on the effect of these measures. Hypothesis of the Doctoral Thesis: Additional overlooked electricity policy measures in the National Energy and Climate Plan of Latvia can play an important role in the way towards achieving climate neutrality. The Thesis utilizes seven different types of methodologies for evaluating the electricity policy measures that are not covered or at least not fully covered by the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) of Latvia. As has been summarized in Fig. 1, six of the methodologies are united by the final research using theory-based approach.

Pig production in Latvia is almost exclusively based on conventional farming that has been rather stagnant over the past years. Organic pork production offers the possibility to utilize the growing organic food consumption trend and align with the sustainable food principles and environmentally friendly farming initiatives accelerated by the Farm to Fork Strategy of the European Green Deal and the EU Taxonomy. Organic farming is classified as an activity meeting the CAP objective towards climate change mitigation and adaption, as well as under normal circumstances is qualified as environmentally sustainable (Taxonomy-aligned). There is a lack of systematic knowledge regarding organic pig market and production in Latvia; therefore the study attempts to fill the gap by examining the market potential of Latvian organic pork, as well as modelling the performance of organic pig production in Latvia. The modelling is carried out by developing and analysing two comparable models of pig production – conventional and organic (1000 sows, full production cycle). Model inputs also include market analysis, organic pig feeding trials, expert interviews, and consumer survey. Results of the study reveal that the market value of organic food has more than doubled in the EU over the last decade. Experience from Denmark and Germany shows that producer prices of organic pork tend to be more stable than conventional pork prices and on average 2.4 times conventional price level. Demand for organic pork exists in Latvia and can be further increased by improving the availability of organic pork at convenient locations, highlighting its local origin, and raising awareness of its benefits. Demand for organic pork in Latvia is largely influenced by the price. In the medium term, the potential market for organic pork in Latvia has been assessed at 0.67 thousand tonnes annually. Similarly to conventional farming, economic viability of organic pig production depends on the revenue and feed costs ratio.

Water springs are considered as one of the important natural resource for tourism due to its socio-economic, cultural, health and religious benefits. Tourists are motivated to visit the water springs due to various reasons like sacredness, health benefits, education and cultural enrichment. Latvia is blessed with several water springs, which are potential attractions for the sacred water or holy water tourism. There are several studies conducted on various aspects of water springs in general. However, the research in the context of tourism, particularly motivations and interest of tourist is very scant. In this regard, aim of the paper is to know the motivations and potential benefits of the water spring tourism to tourist in Latvia. Initially authors reviewed existing literature to know the state of the spring tourism. Semi structured interviews and online-survey method to obtain visitors responses. Interviews were held with the visitor, covering various aspects like motivations and benefits of water spring tourism. To the best of the author’s knowledge, very few studies conducted on spring tourism in Latvia, to provide a detailed overview on tourist motivations and potential benefits of visiting water spring tourism. Overall, the study results provide the basis for understanding the most frequently visited water spring resources by the tourists in Latvia. Nature appreciation, natural setting followed by mineral and health benefits are the major reasons to visit the water springs. Further, it allows decision makers to incorporate tourist opinion and their suggestions in the sustainable planning, promotion and management of water springs as tourist destinations in Latvia.

The development of fiscal policy requires a regular assessment of the granted tax reliefs and exemptions and their compliance with the national targets and guidelines. Farmers in Latvia receive significantly more and larger tax allowances than representatives of other sectors, so this is a very important task also in the agricultural sector. The research aim is to assess tax reliefs, their dynamics and impact on the tax burden in agriculture in Latvia. The most essential tax allowance in Latvia is social support for the population; however, despite this, Latvia still has one of the highest income inequality rates in the EU Member States. It is necessary to continue the reduction of labour taxes, which is also very important in agriculture, in order to reduce the income inequality. In line with the country’s move towards the “green deal” and an increasing use of more economical technologies in agriculture, it is recommended to improve the application of excise duty reliefs on diesel fuel. The tax exemption for subsidies needs to be assessed in detail, as the positive aspects of this relief have a number of negative ones, mainly income inequality related with the tax imposition and lower social guarantees for farmers.

Urban agriculture has a long history of evolving functions of the practice, but its place in global and national legal aspects is often still unclear. Both the United Nations and the European Union have defined goals and directions of sustainable development, identifying and including the use of resources, the principles of the circular economy, the equal development of regions and other aspects. Urban agriculture has a potential in the most of them. However, the role and legal framework of urban agriculture is largely based on national or municipal initiatives. In Latvia urban agriculture does not have a legally defined status; it is not defined in strategic development plans, nor in the laws and regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyse the legal aspects of urban agriculture in order to determine its potential institutional framework in Latvia. To achieve the goal, tasks of the research are defined: 1) to identify the main legal aspects affecting urban agriculture in Latvia, 2) to determine the potential institutional framework for urban agriculture in Latvia. The study was conducted using systematic review analysis of laws, development strategies and regulations of the Republic of Latvia. As a result of the research, the main groups of legal aspects, influencing urban agriculture, were identified (agriculture and commerce, food chain, local government and environmental development and protection, waste management) and a possible institutional framework was developed.

Nitrogen losses from crop production have several negative effects on environment and human health: nitrogen emissions in form of nitrous oxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases (GHG), contribute to climate warming that affects biodiversity in different ecosystems; nitrogen leaching contaminates above- and belowground waters causing environmental pollution/eutrophication and affecting drinking water quality. The Platform on Sustainable Finance has proposed nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) as an important criterion to assess the environmental sustainability of crop production in the framework of the EU Taxonomy. Moreover, the Platform has proposed a minimum NUE 70% for crop production. As there is still a lack of knowledge about NUE in crop production in Latvia, especially in conventional and integrated crop production, the aim of the study was to examine NUE for most frequent crop rotations in conventional and integrated crop production in Latvia. The most frequent (typical) crop rotations were identified according to the crop fields’ survey (period 2018–2021) as well as the spatial analysis of arable land in Latvia. The empirical data derived from the crop fields’ survey have been used to assess NUE. The crop fields’ survey implies that the majority of the fields were managed as two-crop and three-crop rotations; however, some farmers practised the wheat monoculture. The results of this study suggest that NUE is quite low for practised crop rotations in conventional and integrated farming in Latvia and that ensuring minimum NUE at least 70% could be challenging.

Since 2006, the three largest universities of Latvia — University of Latvia (UL), Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LULST), and Riga Stradiņš University (RSU) have been jointly implementing the inter-university Master’s study programme “Nutrition Science”. For the first two con-francs, participants from different countries gathered in Rīga, while the 3rd conference offered remote participation (via Zoom) due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the international conferences “Nutrition and Health” has been to provide an opportunity to Latvian and foreign researchers to inform the relevant community about the achievements of research projects they are working on and introduce colleagues with results of their studies. Meanwhile, for students of the master’s programme, as well as for those interested in problems of nutrition science and health, the conferences provided an opportunity to gain additional theoretical and methodological knowledge in nutrition science, food science, health science, and research in these fields.