Plastic pollution, especially in marine environments, is a global problem that is currently inadequately managed. Solutions for marine plastic can occur through policy, behavior change and infrastructure improvements, but also through entrepreneurial ventures and technological innovations. Currently, information about these ventures and innovations is scattered and lacks coherence. This study presents the first comprehensive overview of entrepreneurial and SME led solutions for marine plastic by analyzing a database of 105 SMEs categorized into four functions: prevention, collection, transformation and monitoring. We find that small businesses are successfully commercializing goods and services to reduce the damage of plastics on the marine environment through innovative business models, with a steep growth of startups founded between 2016 and 2019. However, efforts to manage marine plastic are still underdeveloped in many areas, including microplastic management and monitoring. Practitioners, policymakers and researchers can utilize the database to identify solutions, best practices, synergies and avenues for further research, such as quantifying the environmental impacts of this industry.

While research on the creation of green start-ups recognizes the influence of technology spillovers, less attention has been given to the relative importance of heterogeneous technology spillover sources and how they contribute to green start-up emergence. This study aims to fill this lacuna in the existing literature by investigating the relationship between green start-up entry and environmental technology in universities, research institutes, and firms. We primarily focus on the moderating effects of patent commercialization policy and patent enforcement in the relationship. The results show that environmental technology in universities, research institutes, and firms has a positive influence on both of green and non-green start-up emergences. Among them, firms play the most important role, followed by research institutes and universities. Besides, patent commercialization policy plays a negative role in shaping the relationship between green start-ups and environmental technology of universities and firms and the relationship between non-green start-ups and university environmental technology. However, the role of patent commercialization policy does not hold in other cases. Moreover, patent enforcement is negatively related to the relationship between both of green and non-green start-ups and environmental technology of universities and firms, except for research institutes. It indicates that regions should emphasize the dominant position of firms in environmental technology innovation and formulate specific innovation measures for different organizations to better foster local green entrepreneurship.

As regional economic integration and climate change are among the most important phenomena influencing economic and social sustainability in the modern world, a huge volume of research is directed towards these topics nowadays. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of financial globalization and human capital on environmental degradation in One Belt One Road (OBOR) countries in a cultural context that is largely under-explored in spite of being immensely crucial for fulfilling the United Nations’ agenda on climate change mitigation. Owing to the presence of vast cultural differences, we check if the national scores on “Power Distance Index” and “Uncertainty Avoidance” in these countries matter for the environment. To this end, we use the latest and annual data set comprising 31 OBOR countries from 1996 to 2018, and employ panel econometric techniques that effectively deal with the threat of endogeneity. Results show that human capital improves environment while financial globalization deteriorates it. Interestingly, high power distance and uncertainty avoidance can reverse the positive impact of human capital. Similarly, financial globalization is favorable for environment in countries with low power distance and uncertainty avoidance. The findings are robust to the use of alternative specifications. Theoretical underpinnings and implications are discussed arising from the interesting reversal of traditional impacts in different cultural scenarios. Specifically, we recommend a culture of entrepreneurship, innovation, and inclusivity, promoted through increased tolerance towards risk-taking and participative decision-making to reap the benefits of human capital and globalization in improving the environment. Our results have important implications for climate change mitigation endeavors in OBOR countries and understanding the cultural context in this regard. Additionally, our study opens a vast avenue for the related research work in the future.

In China, innovation plays an important role in achieving economic development with green growth, but innovation activities are inhibited by the spread of haze pollution (also called smog). Using panel data on 265 cities in China at the prefectural level from 2001 to 2018, this paper investigates the relationship between haze pollution and urban innovation. The conclusions are as follows. First, haze pollution has a significant inhibitory effect on urban innovation. After we consider endogeneity, eliminate extreme values, replace variables, and incorporate spatial correlation, we find that the negative impact of haze pollution on urban innovation still exists. Second, the channels through which haze pollution affects urban innovation are mainly attributed to production efficiency, willingness to consume, and entrepreneurial activity. Third, the inhibitory effect of haze pollution on innovation has a spatial spillover effect. Fourth, among the different regions in China, the most serious inhibitory effect of haze pollution on innovation is in the central region, while that of the eastern and western regions is insignificant. Moreover, across diverse Chinese cities, the significant inhibitory effects of haze pollution on innovation are mainly in cities that are abundant in natural resource. Accordingly, the efficient management of haze pollution is a critical prerequisite and effective guarantee for increasing urban innovation, such as promoting clean energy, strengthening technological innovation, and improving human capital.

Ideal energy policies based on the identification of main obstacles might indorse the growth of renewable energy. In light of the importance of promoting entrepreneurship in renewable energy resources, the current study examined the barriers to develop renewable energy entrepreneurship in Pakistan. As a result, the current study proposes a systematic approach for prioritizing hurdles to entrepreneurship based on their relevance. The research was split into two parts. To begin, a literature survey and interviews with experts were used to identify potential obstacles. Second, the Pythagorean fuzzy analytical hierarchical process (PF-AHP) approach was hired to finalize and categorize the challenges. Twelve barriers were finalized, and they were then divided into four categories. Finally, PF-AHP was used to determine barrier weights and ranks. The final results showed that the legal and regulatory framework obstacle category is the most essential among the main categories, while the overall ranking of obstacles revealed that the lack of policy is more vital than the other twelve sub-barriers in various groups.

Green entrepreneurship is a special type of entrepreneurship that can achieve sustainable development, which is advocated for by many countries and regions. Accordingly, large-scale green entrepreneurship activities of new ventures are appearing in the emerging green industry around the world. To initially study how to promote the diffusion of eco-innovation in green entrepreneurship activities, the evolutionary game models of new ventures’ eco-innovation and greenwashing behavior affected by market mechanisms and government regulations were respectively established. Furthermore, a benign evolution path of the system was proposed by analyzing the evolutionary stable state of the green entrepreneurial system composed of the government and new ventures. Then, the simulation analysis was carried out using a case study to more intuitively observe the influence of some important parameters including government subsidies and so forth on the evolutionary stable state of the system. The research showed that it is difficult for pure market mechanisms to promote the spread of new ventures’ eco-innovation behaviors in the initial stage of the development of the emerging green industry, and the government regulation is exceedingly important. The parallel use and timely adjustments between the government subsidy and penalty mechanisms can effectively promote the diffusion of new ventures’ eco-innovation behaviors under certain conditions. Besides, the size (positive and negative) of the benefits gaps realized by “greenwashing” and “eco-innovation” radically determines the direction and result of the evolution of new ventures’ behavioral strategies.

Distinguishing the significance of business environments for technical small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this study examines the connection between business environments, GDP growth, and SMEs’ financing choices in Vietnam. The study considered the agency theory as a theoretical base to explain how information asymmetry between SMEs and lenders influences SMEs’ financing choices and encompasses the effects on business environment and GDP growth of Vietnam. For this binary logistic regression, text is applied. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and World Bank data were analyzed. The findings of the study are robust and showed that SME financing (e.g., formal and informal) under the financial infrastructure and tax regulation may enhance formal credit choice and reduce informal credit choice. This enhances the depth in the business environment of technical SMEs and found significant effects on GDP growth. For the first time, this research examines the impact of information asymmetry and agency theory on restaurant financing choices. The research has significance for industry practitioners and governments interested in SMEs’ financial viability. On the recent topicality, study also presents policy implications for key stakeholders.

This research analyzes the impacts of intellectual capital (IC) and the balancing power of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on innovation growth (IG) in Pakistan’s SME sector. A quantitative approach on smart PLS has been applied through the SEM model, backed by a survey to gather primary data from 256 participants of Pakistan’s SME sector. A significant effect of human capital on Pakistani firms’ IG was identified. In contrast, the effect of structural capital was determined to be insignificant over the IG of Pakistani firms. On the other hand, the customer capital’s effect was also significant over Pakistani firms’ innovation growth. Little moderation of EO between human capital and IG has been determined. The moderations of “EO between human capital and innovation growth” and “EO between structural capital and innovation growth” were insignificant. However, the moderation of EO between customer capital and IG was significant. The scope of this study is limited to firms in Pakistan and can be extended to firms in other regions, which can provide broad findings.

There is a great demand for the endogenous development of green finance in the new era. Green bankers can boost the supply of such growth based on bankers’ spirit and green feelings. Apart from the common features of entrepreneurship, bankers’ spirit also has some distinctive qualities, including rationality in innovation, awareness of risk management, and social responsibility. Moreover, green bankers possess a special feature—green feelings. They are committed to green finance and are sensitive enough to seize the business opportunities in it. Green bankers can contribute actively to the development of green financial services by grasping prospective development opportunities, implementing product innovation and institutional innovation, and building social networks and cultivating green culture. However, there is insufficient motivation for the development of bankers’ spirit and green feelings in China, and administrators also play a negative role in the cultivation of green bankers. Therefore, it is necessary to cultivate green bankers progressively. First, those with bankers’ spirit are supposed to become bankers. Second, bankers’ green feelings are cultivated. Third, the incentive and restraint mechanisms should be established and improved. Finally, an external environment conducive to the development of green bankers is created.

Textile industry is an old and effective industry in Iran. However, due to its age and high energy consumption, this industry has low profitability and entrepreneurship. One of the most important problems of the weaving industry is the issue of waste regarding manpower, materials, machinery, and especially energy consumption. Another problem is environmental pollution. In this paper, using a multiple decision-making model for ranking and selecting criteria and sub-criteria, which is presented using the step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) and also by examining several industrial plants on weaving, the final ranking was performed using the fuzzy COPRAS method. According to the final result and using the opinions of experts and reviewing the studied cases, the environmental criterion was more important than other criteria, and also according to the existing sub-criteria, the amount of CO2 production and pH in the process of completion and washing and the types of pollution in the effluent and sewage were more important than other sub-criteria. Also, among the alternatives, company 5 is evaluated as the best alternative.