Commitment of European SMEs to resource efficiency actions to achieve sustainability transition. A feasible reality or an elusive goal?

Digitalization and SMEs development in the context of sustainable development: A China perspective

Worldwide economies are determined to achieve sustainable development. In this pursuit, the role of SMEs and ICT has emerged as an inevitable choice for sustainable development. The literature on the impact of SMEs and ICT on sustainable development, particularly in China's context, is scarce. Therefore, the analysis aims to investigate the impact of SMEs and ICT on sustainable development in China for the period of 1998-2020. We have applied the ARDL model for empirical analysis. The short and long-run estimates attached to SMEs are significant and positive, confirming that SMEs help to achieve sustainable development. Similarly, the estimates attached to ICT are positive and significant both in the short and long run, confirming the beneficial role of ICT in achieving sustainable development. The estimates attached to institutional quality and R&D control variables are positive and significant in the long run, but only R&D estimates are significant in the short run. In particular, digitalization and SMEs development provide a win-win situation for China to mitigate climate change in the long run and become more environmentally sustainable.

Environmental sustainability for traditional energy small and medium enterprises

The improvement of production processes, the development and use of new technologies, materials and energy infrastructure, the transition to new fuels, and the growth of energy consumption-all gives impetus to the advancement and continuous modernization of the energy sector. Hence, the transition to the concept of sustainable development poses new challenges to the energy sector: meeting the increasing demand for energy should occur while reducing the sector's anthropogenic impact on the environment. The energy sector must meet the requirements of sustainable development, for this, it needs to carry out a large-scale eco-modernization of the energy infrastructure, when the environmental component comes to the fore when developing long-term development programs for individual enterprises. Although the introduction of the principles of sustainable development may become one of the drivers for improving the efficiency of energy enterprises and achieving environmental sustainability, they have been introduced in a small part of enterprises. The purpose of this study is to define key principles and factors that should be included in the concept of environmental sustainability in traditional energy SMEs. Based on the results of the study, a list of factors that have a direct impact on the environmental sustainability of traditional energy facilities has been formed.