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This paper aims to identify key sectors in carbon footprint responsibility, an introduced concept depicting CO₂ responsibilities allocated through the supply chain containing sectoral activities and interactions. In detail, various key sectors could be identified according to comparative advantages in trade, sectoral linkage and sectoral synergy within the supply chain.

A semi-closed input–output model is used to make the household income–expenditure relationship endogenous through the supply chain where sectoral CO₂ emissions are calculated, and the production-based responsibility (PR) principle is evaluated. Thus, according to “carbon footprint responsibility”, modified hypothetical extraction method is applied to decompose sectoral CO₂ in terms of comparative advantages in trade, sectoral linkage and synergy. Finally, key sectors are identified via sectoral shares and associated decompositions in carbon footprint responsibility.

Compared to 2005, in 2012, the PR principle failed to track sectoral CO₂ flow, and embodied CO₂ in import and interprovincial export increased, with manufacturing contributing the most; manufacturing should take more carbon responsibilities in the internal linkage, and tertiary sectors in the net forward and backward linkage, with sectors enjoying low carbonization in the mixed linkage; inward net CO₂ flows of manufacturing and service sectors were more complicated than their outward ones in terms of involved sectors and economic drivers; and residential effects on CO₂ emissions of traditional sectors increased, urban effects remained larger than rural ones and manufacturing and tertiary sectors received the largest residential effects.

The value of this paper is as follows: the household income–expenditure relationship got endogenous in intermediate supply and demand, corresponding to the rapid urbanization in megacities; key sectors were observed to change flexibly according to real sectoral activities and interaction; and the evaluation of the PR principle was completed ahead of using a certain CO₂ accounting principle at the city level.

The clean development mechanism (CDM) project is a cost-effective instrument to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to transfer technology and capital from industrialized to developing countries. HRM practices are important sustainable development co-benefits of CDM projects and Brazil is the third largest CDM project developer in the world. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the HRM practices declared by Brazilian CDM projects and how these practices have been, in fact, implemented by the proponents of these projects.

A mixed methodology was developed, based especially on qualitative and quantitative methods, in the Brazilian context.

The authors found that CDM activities are improving recruitment, human resource participation and training practices in Brazilian companies, influencing the integration of environmental management into HRM practices – green HRM. In addition, the study presents hints of interesting avenues to explore in further studies. For example, why is it that some organizations are able to change the routines associated with organizational learning and/or culture while others are not.

The overall results suggested that there is further potential within GHG emissions reduction projects to improve green HRM.

With the overarching need for deep urban transformations worldwide, national platforms for cities have been emerging over the past few years in several European countries as a useful framework to support and unify the work that cities have been doing individually. In particular, Sweden and Spain have been two of the first countries where a National Cities Mission Platform has emerged, namely Viable Cities and citiES 2030. This chapter explores the emergence of these convening and intermediary vehicles, the key enablers that allowed its formation, and the rationale that consolidates it. It also delves into the distinctive value proposition of these platforms and their role in reinforcing multi-level and multi-stakeholder collaborations, facing silos in a national context, promoting cross-city stable interactions, aligning national and European initiatives toward the Cities Mission, and co-creating and consolidating the “next practices” of climate urban transitions.

CityStudio is an adaptable, plug and play model that helps global cities create a permanent partnership with local higher education institutions (HEIs) for collaboration, projects, and mutual benefit. Since launching, CityStudio has seen well over 906 city staff working with 16,861 students on 3,578 projects, contributing well over 300,000 student hours to local civic priorities in three countries. CityStudio assists cities to identify and distribute priority needs to local HEI’s universities, providing increased capacity for cities and work-integrated learning opportunities for students on real-world projects in areas such as sustainability, equity, livability, and social justice. While projects directly support local strategic planning goals, they also align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). The dream of CityStudio is that students take a seat at the table of civic power, joining and helping the city with their needs and challenges for a better planet. But we find ourselves asking, will tomorrow be worse? Worse for democracy, worse for the environment, and worse for equity and choice? In our unique facilitator and translator position between large public institutions, across a growing network, we explore daily how to meet this moment meaningfully.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are increasingly recognizing that their unique functions and expertise in research, education, and community leadership make them essential societal partners for helping achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the sector is not reaching its full potential, or acting fast enough, given the dire state of global progress on the SDGs. There has been a growing recognition that higher education’s (HE) ability to scale up action on the SDGs is hampered by a range of systemic and structural barriers within institutions, the HE sector, and the local and global contexts more broadly. However, many of these barriers and the potential solutions for overcoming them have been known for years, and a key challenge HE now faces is how to put these changes into practice. In this chapter, we build on insights from the work of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and others on system transformations for sustainable development, as well as our own work on HE engagement with the SDGs, to propose several ‘meta’ reasons that might be hampering efforts to scale up HE action on the SDGs, as well as some suggested approaches for addressing them. These approaches include treating HE as a system, defining better the outcomes we are aiming for, employing adaptive leadership approaches, and investing in genuine partnerships. While a detailed treatment of these approaches is beyond the scope of this chapter, we hope to encourage the HE community to look at this old problem in new ways.

Universities can play an important role in decarbonizing cities and tackling inequalities in urban settings. Both challenges are particularly critical in Latin America and the Caribbean where demographic transition toward urban areas and the persistent inequalities have increased the ecological footprint of human activities and the economy in general. In this chapter, we will discuss how universities can contribute in a multifaceted manner to the achievement of SDG11, its specific targets, and explore the synergies between SDG11 and other important Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Latin American and the Caribbean Region. The chapter presents the experience of the Center of the Sustainable Development Goals for Latin America and the Caribbean (CODS) in monitoring the progress in the achievement of the SDGs in the region. In addition, the trajectory of the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia is used to illustrate the challenges and the possibilities for a higher education institution in contributing to moving toward a more sustainable urban setting. These strategies include not only education and research, but also how it has intervened in the immediate neighborhood of the campus, the close ties with the city administration over decades, and close interactions with the private sector at the local and national levels.