A sustainability-oriented KPI framework for digital twin adoption in the sugar industry: ISM–MICMAC approach

Sustainability represents a balance between environmental, social and economic sustainability, with the aim of achieving long-term benefits in line with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. This study highlights the importance of integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles into organizational practices, particularly project management. Sustainable project management goes beyond time, cost and quality objectives by prioritizing ESG key performance indicators (KPIs) within project portfolios. This paper focuses on the integration of ESG principles into project management practices and examines their impact on sustainable development within financial institutions in Croatia. By assessing and defining ESG KPIs for projects, organizations can significantly improve their ESG scores, encouraging awareness and effective implementation of ESG goals. The combination of literature review and analysis of practical examples within the Croatian financial sector examines the hypothesis that the inclusion of ESG KPIs in projects results in higher ESG ratings. The findings will provide recommendations to financial institutions to optimize their project portfolio management strategies. The paper will present the results of the integration of ESG and project portfolios of individual organizations and write valuable insights and guidelines for future research, serving as a practical and scientific basis for the improvement of sustainable project management practices.

Purpose This study aims to explore the perceptions of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles by private equity investors in Tunisia and evaluate how these perceptions are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with private equity investors operating in Tunisia to assess their level of understanding and awareness of ESG concepts and their expectations regarding the adoption of ESG criteria in their investment decisions. Findings This study reveals that while private equity (PE) investors in Tunisia are familiar with sustainability principles, their knowledge of ESG concepts is limited. ESG criteria are generally not incorporated into investment decisions unless mandated by foreign partners. The findings of this study also indicate that most Tunisian PE investors emphasize the importance of aligning ESG principles with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to meet international standards and remain competitive in raising global funds and forming partnerships with foreign partners. Research limitations/implications Despite the insightful findings, this study has limitations primarily because of its qualitative nature and relatively small sample size. Conducting extensive quantitative research involving a broader range from the PE ecosystem would provide deeper insights into the integration of ESG principles in Tunisia. Originality/value This study provides valuable insights into ESG perceptions within a specific investor niche – the PE industry – and contributes to the limited body of literature on ESG, particularly in emerging markets like Tunisia.

Green construction procurement is a part of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) that influence economic growth on a strategic level. Adopting green technologies and practices has no longer been an option but a well-worth route for gaining a competitive advantage in the construction sector. The emergent concepts of green procurement and sustainability have raised the need to measure the financial performances in supply chain practices. Green procurement is now gaining importance in the construction industry and supply chain practices for a safer tomorrow. The study aimed to investigate the impact of construction procurement on green logistic services, innovation practices, and their subsequent role in gaining sustainable economic development goals. The population frame for this study was the project teams (engineers and project managers) of construction companies in China. The sampling design followed was convenient random sampling. The study was conducted using self-administered questionnaire surveys to avoid any respondent biases and/or errors. The study's findings show that construction procurement is partially associated with green logistic services management, which thoroughly determines the sustainable economic development goals. Furthermore, construction procurement is found to have a significant impact on green innovation practices that partially predict the SDGs, and the mediation of green logistic services and innovation practices are partially mediated to the construction procurement and sustainable goals. In the future, the study results will help the construction practitioners, contractors, bidders, and engineering community to shape their relationships in a greener way up or down the stream of their supply chains. Additionally, the implication of green procurement and logistic services offers many challenges in the long run for attaining SDGs; however, in the short run, it gives operational efficiency and less hazardous environmental emissions.

Purpose The increasing worldwide focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles has compelled higher education institutions (HEIs) to re-evaluate their strategic responsibilities in promoting sustainable development. In Malaysia, the shift from ESG policy frameworks to institutional implementation is uneven and fragmented. Design/methodology/approach This systematic literature review (SLR) consolidates 26 peer-reviewed studies published from 2020 to 2025 to critically analyse the integration of ESG principles by Malaysian higher education institutions across five thematic domains – policy and institutional commitment, curriculum integration, campus operations, stakeholder engagement and governance and reporting. Findings Results indicate that while institutional knowledge of ESG has grown, its implementation often suffers from inconsistency, insufficient theoretical foundation and a lack of national standards. Principal issues include restricted curricular integration, variable environmental practices, superficial stakeholder engagement and disjointed reporting systems. The assessment reveals considerable demographic deficiencies, notably the underrepresentation of private and rural colleges and underscores the lack of customized ESG guidelines for the Malaysian higher education sector. Practical implications This paper advocates for strategic, theory-based and contextually adaptable ESG integration to facilitate Malaysia’s comprehensive sustainable transition. By integrating national educational reforms with ESG principles, higher education institutions may act as catalysts for systemic and inclusive sustainability progress. This report provides practical insights for politicians, educators and institutional leaders aiming to close the gap between policy and practice in ESG adoption. Originality/value This study is the first SLR to critically examine the integration of ESG principles within Malaysia’s higher education sector through a structured thematic synthesis of 26 peer-reviewed publications from 2020 to 2025. Unlike previous works that focus narrowly on sustainability education or isolated campus initiatives, this review holistically maps ESG practices across five core domains – policy, curriculum, operations, stakeholder engagement and reporting – while uncovering theoretical, practical and population-level gaps. By focusing specifically on the Malaysian context, the study provides region-specific insights that are often underrepresented in global ESG discourse. The originality of this paper lies in its framework-driven synthesis and cross-theme evaluation, which collectively offer actionable recommendations for institutional leaders, policymakers and academics aiming to bridge the policy–practice divide in ESG adoption. The value of this work extends beyond scholarly contribution; it provides a strategic lens to support Malaysia’s higher education institutions in aligning with national sustainability goals and global benchmarks such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2021 the European Union defined the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) directive to foster sustainability. As the real estate sector is responsible for around 40% of the CO2 emissions, this industry has to carry out additional sustainability reporting and optimisation activities to prove its assets are fulfilling sustainability goals. Most investors concentrate on energy- and CO2 reduction, but ESG is much more. The Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations give a perfect overview of the related topics but do not define KPIs. A second challenge is that the market has not honoured the additional tasks by now. Automation is necessary to reduce efforts of the activities The paper provides answers to the following research questions based on several case studies: What are the relevant parameters to prove ESG, focusing especially on the areas of “Environment” and “Social” as parts of the ESG directive? How can an IT support look like to automatise the data gathering efficiently? What is the Return on Investment of the suggested solution? The research focuses on historical buildings as they usually have a low degree of building automation. The solution is to enable efficient, automated optimisation of energy consumption and safeguard the well-being of the tenants with low investment.

Fuzzy Multi Criteria Approach for Sustainable Maintenance Evaluation in Rubber Industry

Stakeholders’ perspectives on critical success factors for environmental social and governance (ESG) implementation

Purpose: The main goal is to explore the advancement of knowledge on senior customers' needs in a banking environment, integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the context of the silver economy. Methodology: The study employs a systematic literature review on senior retail banking customers to identify how banks integrate silver economy into their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategies and how they are reflected in the literature. Findings: The paper supports the concept of "silver banking" and shows the research gap in analysing seniors and the sustainability performance of retail banks. Limitations: Responding to SDG goals in banking, the research recognises this environment based on the Web of Science. Implications: Banks can foster an inclusive and sustainable approach by addressing the needs of the ageing people with a range of ESG-linked initiatives within retail banking, including age-inclusive banking products, services, environments, and community engagement programs tailored to seniors. Originality/Value: The research contributes to the discussion on SDG by highlighting the opportunities for banks to contribute to societal well-being through the lens of silver banking. It offers insights into opportunities associated with an ageing demographic, advancing an inclusive and responsible approach to retail banking concerning Sustainable Banking Goals.

Stock exchanges now mandate listed companies to report Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance, aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). China centers ESG policies on synergy between social services and business. This chapter examines ESG performances of six prominent Chinese enterprises including Haier Smart Home, Tencent, XPeng, China LESSO, WuXi Biologics, and China Mobile. Annual reports from 2022 to 2024 are thoroughly analyzed according to ESG themes. ESG rating by SNSI are compared. Unique achievements are discussed on how they develop collaborations with social services, pursue specific social goals, and serve their employees as well as communities. Finally ways to measure social impacts are explored. Results show that though there are much rooms for improvements, the attempts of these companies as top leaders in their respective emerging industries, are setting examples and becoming the benchmark for numerous enterprises in the Chinese economy.

Achieving the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) results in many ecological, social, and economic consequences that are inter-related. Understanding relationships between sustainability goals and determining their interactions can help prioritize effective and efficient policy options. This paper presents a framework that integrates existing knowledge from literature and expert opinions to rapidly assess the relationships between one SDG goal and another. Specifically, given the important role of the oceans in the world's social-ecological systems, this study focuses on how SDG 14 (Life Below Water), and the targets within that goal, contributes to other SDG goals. This framework differentiates relationships based on compatibility (co-benefit, trade-off, neutral), the optional nature of achieving one goal in attaining another, and whether these relationships are context dependent. The results from applying this framework indicate that oceans SDG targets are related to all other SDG goals, with two ocean targets (of seven in total) most related across all other SDG goals. Firstly, the ocean SDG target to increase economic benefits to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and least developed countries for sustainable marine uses has positive relationships across all SDGs. Secondly, the ocean SDG target to eliminate overfishing, illegal and destructive fishing practices is a necessary pre-condition for achieving the largest number of other SDG targets. This study highlights the importance of the oceans in achieving sustainable development. The rapid assessment framework can be applied to other SDGs to comprehensively map out the subset of targets that are also pivotal in achieving sustainable development.

Numerous studies have focused on digital twins (DTs) and their applications. However, a common method for evaluating the performance of DTs is lacking. Digital twins performance assessment mechanism is crucial when improving or monitoring any process or system in a business, such a strategy could serve as a guide to help researchers and practitioners create more effective digital twins. Guided by these challenges, we propose a structured method for measuring the performance and flexibility of digital twins, and our study provides a procedure for quantitative calculation of the performance of DTs based on four key performance indicators (KPIs). Moreover, we propose a new KPI, DTflex, for determining the flexibility of digital twins. We evaluated the performance of DTflex as a KPI to demonstrate its use as a simple tool for designers and practitioners to quickly compare different DT methodologies, which might provide valuable input for the iterative improvement of DTs to increase their efficiency in future applications. The knowledge provided along with the method proposed in this paper is expected to help researchers and practitioners working in different fields to compare DT methodologies and DT performance which will lead to higher efficiency DT solutions and increased re-usage of existing DTs.

According to reporting of international economic institutions there are risks of economic recession worldwide at present. Actually, there are some challenges for the management process which is a critical in operations of cement enterprises frequently. In view of management there are demanded advanced methods of planning and control of cement enterprises in the cement industry 4.0. In addition to this there are some new trends and requirements for sustainability, environment protection, occupational health and safety, quality and social responsibility. As regards the Holcim Group there are some references for the sustainable construction industry by 2030 and 2050. [6-12, pp.1-2] In case of the adaptive management and operations there are required applications of the advanced IT technologies to improve the Condition-based Maintenance (CBM) in the cement enterprises. This approach will work with application of specific and measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPI) together with online Condition Monitoring Systems (CMS), Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), Fuzzy Recurrent Neural Networks’ technologies to improve the prediction process for production and sales, the optimization process for the planning and maintenance accordingly. Therefore, there have been successful proven practical results of application of the above-mentioned techniques and advanced methods of adaptive management in the cement enterprises to achieve the sustainability. Keywords: Condition-based Maintenance (CBM), online Condition Monitoring Systems (CMS), sustainability, adaptive management, Key Performance Indicators (KPI), Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW), Biodiversity Indicator Reporting System (BIRS), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), Fuzzy Recurrent Neural Network (RNN).

Purpose This study aims to perform a bibliometric analysis over four decades to examine the development of sustainability accounting, sustainable finance and governance studies. It analyzes research trends, critical intersections and identifies deficiencies, proposing future research questions based on recognized trends and gaps to enhance understanding in these domains. Design/methodology/approach This study used secondary data from Scopus and Web of Science, following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) methodology, to explore sustainability accounting, sustainable finance and governance. A systematic search strategy with predefined criteria ensured relevant studies. Bibliometric analysis was performed using tools such as Bibliometrix and Vosviewer to examine research patterns, collaborations and emerging topics to predict future trends in the field. Findings This study highlights a 6.76% annual growth in sustainability accounting, finance and governance over the past 40 years. Key themes include environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration, sustainability reporting and governance. International collaboration, especially between the USA, China and Europe, is crucial. Challenges include lack of standardized metrics for small and medium enterprises and practical sustainability frameworks. Emerging topics are climate risk reporting and artificial intelligence (AI) in sustainability research. Practical implications Business leaders, investors and policymakers should integrate sustainability into financial practices, focusing on universal reporting frameworks and ESG strategies to drive sustainable goals. Regulatory frameworks should support financial systems aligning with Sustainable Development Goals and addressing global challenges such as climate change. Originality/value This research offers theoretical and practical insights into sustainability accounting, finance and governance, analyzing four decades of trends to reveal interdisciplinary intersections and gaps in knowledge and frameworks.

Developing environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies on evaluation of municipal waste disposal centers: A case of Mexico

Learning outcomes An instructor engaged students in managing and reporting sustainability initiatives at an organisation. After completion of the case study discussion, the students will be able to critique the sustainability initiatives that can be undertaken at an organisation; understand sustainability reporting; analyse how result-based management aids in sustainability report preparation; recommend critical considerations for conducting a sustainability impact assessment by an educational institute. The case contributed to the growing knowledge base about reporting sustainability initiatives at an organisation and managing them to aid in decision-making. The case called for better integration between sustainability activities and reporting under organisations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting. Case overview/synopsis Ajay served as the head of the management department and a leading member of the sustainability initiatives at University Alpha, Delhi NCR, India. He was assigned the task of publishing the university’s annual report. The management had requested him to consider preparing a standalone sustainability report for the university. He began the task by examining the benefits of standalone sustainability reporting. He proceeded to analyse the specifics of SDG reporting, SDG Accord reporting and ESG reporting using the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. During discussions with a consultant, the necessary steps for creating an SDG-only report and an integrated SDG and ESG sustainability report were clarified. Guidance from an expert led to an intention to use a result matrix in preparing the sustainability report and ongoing impact assessment of SDG initiatives for reporting. The dilemma involved deciding between continuing with the sustainability initiative listing in the annual reports or opting for a standalone sustainability report. Critical considerations concerning the sustainability impact assessment of SDG-related activities at an educational organisation were also explored. Complexity academic level This case is intended for discussion in the graduate-level program in strategy, general management, sustainability management, environmental management and environmental economics. The case may also be used for participants in executive program. Supplementary material Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 4: Environmental Management.