Microplastic contamination in ecosystems has emerged as an environmental issue of global significance. This research quantified microplastics in oysters from 22 sites along Taiwan coastlines. In total, 6630 microplastic items were found in 660 oysters of two genera (Crassostrea and Saccostrea). The average content of microplastics was 3.24 ± 1.02 items/g (wet weight), ranging from 0.63 ± 0.52 items/g to 37.94 ± 19.22 items/g. Over half of the microplastics were smaller than 100 μm, and the most common shape was fragments (67%), followed by fibers (29%). The dominant color was transparent (49.76%), followed by black (25.66%). Polymer types were identified using a μRaman microscope, and the major component was polyethylene terephthalate (PET) (69.54%). Microplastic contamination was higher overall in wild than in farmed oysters. In addition, the microplastic content of oysters from northeastern waters was significantly greater than that of other oysters; this result is similar to the findings of previous research on floating marine litter and beach cleaning data. The results indicated that the average content of microplastic in oysters along the Taiwan coastline was similar to that in oysters in adjacent regions. This study suggests that innovative technologies should be implemented for monitoring and removing pollution, tracking marine pollution origins, and improving accountability and that plastic limitation strategies should be strengthened.

In the past several decades, a variety of efforts have been made in the United States to improve air quality, and ambient particulate matter (PM) concentrations have been used as a metric to evaluate the efficacy of environmental policies. However, ambient PM concentrations result from a combination of source emission rates and meteorological conditions, which also change over time. Dispersion normalization was recently developed to reduce the influence of atmospheric dispersion and proved an effective approach that enhanced diel/seasonal patterns and thus provides improved source apportionment results for speciated PM mass and particle number concentration (PNC) measurements. In this work, dispersion normalization was incorporated in long-term trend analysis of 11–500 nm PNCs derived from particle number size distributions (PNSDs) measured in Rochester, NY from 2005 to 2019. Before dispersion normalization, a consistent reduction was observed across the measured size range during 2005–2012, while after 2012, the decreasing trends slowed down for accumulation mode PNCs (100–500 nm) and reversed for ultrafine particles (UFPs, 11–100 nm). Through dispersion normalization, we showed that these changes were driven by both emission rates and dispersion. Thus, it is important for future studies to assess the effects of the changing meteorological conditions when evaluating policy effectiveness on controlling PM concentrations. Before and after dispersion normalization, an evident increase in nucleation mode particles was observed during 2015–2019. This increase was possibly enabled by a cleaner atmosphere and will pose new challenges for future source apportionment and accountability studies.

Plastic preproduction pellets are found in environmental samples all over the world and their presence is often linked to spills during production and transportation. To better understand how these pellets end up in the environment we assessed the release of plastic pellets from a polyethylene production site in a case study area on the Swedish west coast. The case study encompasses; field measurements to evaluate the level of pollution and pathways, models and drifters to investigate the potential spread and a revision of the legal framework and the company permits. This case study show that millions of pellets are released from the production site annually but also that there are national and international legal frameworks that if implemented could help prevent these spills. Bearing in mind the negative effects observed by plastic pollution there is an urgent need to increase the responsibility and accountability of these spills.

Plastic pollution has become a serious transboundary challenge to nature and human health, with estimation of reports published — predicting a twofold increase in plastic waste by 2030. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the excessive use of single-use plastics (including face masks, gloves and personal protective equipment) would possibly exacerbate such forecasts. The transition towards eco-friendly alternatives like bio-based plastics and new emerging sustainable technologies would be vital to deal with future pandemics, even though the use or consumption of plastics has greatly enhanced our quality of life; it is however critical to move towards bioplastics. We cannot deny the fact that bioplastics have some challenges and shortcomings, but still, it is an ideal option for opt. The circular economy is the need of the hour for waste management. Along with all these practices, individual accountability, corporate intervention and government policy are also needed to prevent us from moving from one crisis to the next. Only through cumulative efforts, we will be able to cope up with this problem. This article collected scattered information and data about accumulation of plastic during COVID-19 worldwide. Additionally, this paper illustrates the substitution of petroleum-based plastics with bio-based plastics. Different aspects are discussed, ranging from advantages to challenges in the way of bioplastics.

Although firms increasingly publish sustainability reports, assuring such reports is relatively new. This study reviews the literature of sustainability assurance to evaluate the intellectual development of the field and provide recommendations for future studies. It also demonstrates the role of assurance to enhance the credibility of sustainability reports and corporate reputation. This paper systematically reviews 94 papers obtained from the Scopus database between 1993 and August 2021. Our study shows that there is an increase in the number of studies published in recent years. We also found that some countries have received limited attention, such as the USA. The scant literature examining sustainability assurance in private institutions and non-profit organisations should be reinforced. Likewise, the sustainability research also provides limited evidence on the governance debate. The vast majority of research is not based on theoretical grounds. The need for assurance of sustainability reports not only enhances the reputation but also adds more value to the organisation’s planning, monitoring, and accountability. We highlight several new research suggestions that may enhance the understanding of sustainability assurance practices.

Under the pressure of environmental crisis caused by production and economic development, a policy for Leading Officials’ Accountability Audit of Natural Resources (LOAANR) was issued in 2014 to reduce the environmental risks and gain high-quality economy. Taking LOAANR policy as the research object, and based on 2011 to 2018 panel data from Chinese heavy-polluting enterprises, this paper employed a two-way fixed difference-in-differences (DID) model to explore the relationship between the LOAANR, environmental costs (ECs) and green innovation (GI). It was found that the implementation of the LOAANR significantly promoted enterprise GI, with the regulating impact mechanism, EC. GI efficiency was measured by continuous DID method. A heterogeneity analysis revealed that non-state-owned enterprises (NSOEs) were more eager to environmentally innovate. A corporate life cycle heterogeneity analysis of the GI policy effect found that the policy effect was negative in the decline stages. Compared with the eastern Chinese enterprises, enterprises in other regions were found to be more prone to positively adopting GI to maximize benefits in the face of the LOAANR. The policy was observed to have inhibited GI in central Chinese enterprises. It was also demonstrated that the policy effect has time and regional dynamic effect. Common trend, placebo, PSM-DID tests, and another robustness regressions were applied to support the conclusions. All the findings are expected to provide basic theoretical guidance for more environmental policies and high-quality production.

Achieving economic growth is the primary concern mostly of every country to enhance living standard; however, an increase in economic activities may have environmental consequences. Foreign direct investment is also considered a driver of economic growth while it affects the quality of environment. The role of institutions can be useful to enhance foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow which can in turn increase economic growth and safeguard environmental quality. Based on the ongoing debate, this study attempts whether the quality of institutions plays any role in FDI inflow and in enhancement of environmental quality. For this purpose, this study examines the role of institutional quality in FDI inflows and carbon emission reduction in the global panel, 107 world developing, and 39 Belt and Road Initiative countries for the period of 2002–2019. By using both static and dynamic panel models, the results indicate that governance indicators are important for FDI inflows, but this impact varies in different panels. Overall, institutional quality has a significant and positive impact on foreign direct investment inflow, while energy use reduces it in all panels. Economic growth positively associated with carbon emission, while the square of GDP evidences the environmental Kuznets curve. FDI and trade increase global and developing countries’ emissions, while reducing emission in Belt and Road countries. Institutional quality along individual indicators, political stability, rule of law, and regulatory quality are found to be poor governance indicators in all panels, while voice and accountability and control of corruption are weak indicators in Belt and Road countries; however, the interaction term proves that the quality of institutions is regulated by financial development and FDI in carbon emission reduction in all panels. This study has considerable policy significance for countries to carry out strong policy reforms to increase green FDI and improve environmental quality.

The economic structure of countries can influence economic growth, energy demand, and environmental footprints. However, the literature on economic complexity and ecological footprint (EFP) nexus is scarce. Besides, democracy is an important factor that may affect environmental policies and environmental sustainability. Hence, this paper investigates the effect of democracy, economic complexity, and renewable energy technology budgets on the EFP in G7 countries controlling income and financial development from 1985 to 2017. The findings from Westerlund (J Appl Econ 23:193–233, 2008) and other cointegration methods depict cointegration among variables. The long-run estimates from the continuously updated fully modified method unfold that economic complexity contributes to reducing the EFP. However, greater democratic accountability boosts the EFP figures rather than reducing them. On the flipside, renewable energy technology budgets and financial development are evidenced to mitigate EFP. Moreover, the study unveils a U-shaped linkage between economic growth and EFP, which indicates that an increase in income level will boost EFP. Further, the study found causality from economic complexity, democracy, and renewable energy budgets to EFP. Based on these findings, it is pertinent for the G7 countries to increase the manufacturing of sophisticated and complex products. In addition, enhancing renewable energy technology budgets is essential to ensure environmental well-being.

Climate change is a long-lasting change in the weather arrays across tropics to polls. It is a global threat that has embarked on to put stress on various sectors. This study is aimed to conceptually engineer how climate variability is deteriorating the sustainability of diverse sectors worldwide. Specifically, the agricultural sector’s vulnerability is a globally concerning scenario, as sufficient production and food supplies are threatened due to irreversible weather fluctuations. In turn, it is challenging the global feeding patterns, particularly in countries with agriculture as an integral part of their economy and total productivity. Climate change has also put the integrity and survival of many species at stake due to shifts in optimum temperature ranges, thereby accelerating biodiversity loss by progressively changing the ecosystem structures. Climate variations increase the likelihood of particular food and waterborne and vector-borne diseases, and a recent example is a coronavirus pandemic. Climate change also accelerates the enigma of antimicrobial resistance, another threat to human health due to the increasing incidence of resistant pathogenic infections. Besides, the global tourism industry is devastated as climate change impacts unfavorable tourism spots. The methodology investigates hypothetical scenarios of climate variability and attempts to describe the quality of evidence to facilitate readers’ careful, critical engagement. Secondary data is used to identify sustainability issues such as environmental, social, and economic viability. To better understand the problem, gathered the information in this report from various media outlets, research agencies, policy papers, newspapers, and other sources. This review is a sectorial assessment of climate change mitigation and adaptation approaches worldwide in the aforementioned sectors and the associated economic costs. According to the findings, government involvement is necessary for the country’s long-term development through strict accountability of resources and regulations implemented in the past to generate cutting-edge climate policy. Therefore, mitigating the impacts of climate change must be of the utmost importance, and hence, this global threat requires global commitment to address its dreadful implications to ensure global sustenance.

Given the dominant role of oil in terms of foreign exchange earnings in Nigeria, this study revisits the oil rents and output growth nexus, using the novel dynamic autoregressive distributive lag (DYNARDL) model and kernel-based regularized least squares (KRLS) approach over the period 1973–2020. The major finding from this study is that oil rents are less significant for output and also exhibit decreasing marginal effect on output growth in Nigeria. However, our robustness result shows that oil revenue is positive and significantly affects output growth, while corruption dampens output growth. Result from the oil revenue model with a minimum root square mean error, when compared with the oil rents model, corroborate the finding. We are thus of the opinion that oil revenue is more important for output growth in Nigeria than oil rents. Having established this fact, it is recommended that policymakers and the government should accord utmost attention to boosting oil revenue via transparency and accountability. They should also ensure a lasting solution to the nation’s high dependency on refined crude oil products importation for a sustainable economic growth and development. Also, more efforts should be directed at developing the seven identified strategic solid minerals to further enhance the revenue base of the government.