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Purpose: The integration of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with the worldwide push toward a net-zero carbon economy is becoming more and more apparent, as both place a high priority on sustainability and environmental stewardship. This book chapter examines the elements and main influences that drive the shift to a net-zero economy, with a particular focus on the relationship between net-zero, CSR, and the creation of sustainable value.

Methodology: This research employs a secondary data analysis methodology of systematic review of scholarly research articles, reports, and online resources. Sources such as SAGE and EBSCO are scrutinized, alongside focused inquiries for qualitative data in academic databases like Emerald and Scopus.

Findings: The findings reveal that a variety of factors, including climate change awareness, governmental policy and regulation, corporate sustainability initiatives, technological advancements, investor pressure, economic possibilities, and environmental and social movements, all contribute to the shift to a net-zero economy in an interconnected way.

Originality: This chapter examines the factors that contribute to the shift to a net-zero economy, the critical factors for successful adoption, and the relationship between CSR and the net-zero economy, all of which provide valuable insights for businesses, policymakers, and stakeholders as they navigate the complexities of achieving a sustainable future.

The purpose of this study is to systematically review the state-of-art literature on the net-zero economy in the field of supply chain management.

A systematic literature review of 79 articles published from 2009 to 2021 has been conducted to minimise the researchers' bias and maximise the reliability and replicability of the study.

The thematic analysis reveals that studies in the field of net-zero economy have mostly been done on decarbonisation in the supply chain, emission control and life cycle analysis and environmental and energy management. The findings highlight the strong positive association between digitalisation, circular economy and resources optimization practices with net-zero economy goals. The study also addresses the challenges linked with the net-zero economy at the firm and country levels.

Practitioners in companies and academics might find this review valuable as this study reviews, classifies and analyses the studies, outlines the evolution of literature and offers directions for future studies using the theory, methodology and context (TMC) framework.

This is the first study that uses a structured approach to analyse studies done in the net-zero field by assessing publications from 2009 to 2021.

Implementation of initiatives intended to achieve net zero will require very considerable investment. Whilst there are undoubted potentially immense benefits that will result from the transition to an economy that is based around the principles of net zero, all governments recognise the dilemma of making announcements necessitating spending many billions on this objective. This chapter examines the economic logic underpinning the quest to deal with the calamitous consequences of implementing measures essential to reduce emissions causing global warming. Using the UK as an exemplar, the political challenge and consequences of implementing economic changes required to produce net zero is considered. As is described, short-term expediency is frequently adopted as a way to avoid making difficult decisions to achieve not only long-term economic gain but almost universally regarded as essential to arrest the dire consequences that will befall future generations if immediate and urgent action is not taken. Drawing on previous research justifying the need to act now, this chapter potentially examines ways for governments to derive additional revenue, most particularly carbon taxes and emissions-trading schemes (ETS) as a way to fund investment in net zero through capital investment. As analysis of contemporary events suggests, the urgency of intervention all too frequently becomes a casualty of the need by political parties to avoid confronting tough choices by postponing such decisions.

In order to mitigate the effects of climate change, the UK government has set a target of achieving net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Agricultural GHG emissions in 2017 were 45.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e; 10% of UK total GHG emissions). Farmland hedgerows are a carbon sink, storing carbon in the vegetation and soils beneath them, and thus increasing hedgerow length by 40% has been proposed in the UK to help meet net zero targets. However, the full impact of this expansion on farm biodiversity is yet to be evaluated in a net zero context. This paper critically synthesises the literature on the biodiversity implications of hedgerow planting and management on arable farms in the UK as a rapid review with policy recommendations. Eight peer-reviewed articles were reviewed, with the overall scientific evidence suggesting a positive influence of hedgerow management on farmland biodiversity, particularly coppicing and hedgelaying, although other boundary features, e.g. field margins and green lanes, may be additive to net zero hedgerow policy as they often supported higher abundances and richness of species. Only one paper found hedgerow age effects on biodiversity, with no significant effects found. Key policy implications are that further research is required, particularly on the effect of hedgerow age on biodiversity, as well as mammalian and avian responses to hedgerow planting and management, in order to fully evaluate hedgerow expansion impacts on biodiversity.

This study views Net-Zero as a dynamic capability for decarbonising supply chains (SCs). This study aims to investigate the relationship between three information processing-related capabilities (supply chain visibility [SCV], supply chain integration [SCI] and big data analytics [BDA]) as its antecedents and SC performance as its competitive advantage outcome.

The authors conceptualise a research model grounded in the literature based on dynamic capabilities and information processing views. The study uses a structural equation modelling technique to test the hypotheses’ relationship using the survey data from 311 industrial enterprises.

The results show that SCI and BDA positively and directly influence the Net-Zero capability (NZC). No significant direct impact is found between SCV and NZC. BDA fully mediates SCV and partially mediates SCI in their relationship with NZC. The results also confirm that NZC positively impacts SC performance (SCP).

This study contributes to operations management and SC literature by extending the knowledge about Net-Zero SCs through an empirical investigation. In particular, the study suggests BDA is essential to enhance NZC as SCV alone does not significantly contribute. The study also documents the benefit of NZC on SCP, which can encourage more volunteer actions in the industry.

This study examines the effect of resources (e.g. tangible resources, human skills and intangible resources) that are utilized as a bundle of standard practices on sustainable net zero economy implementation and their further impact on financial, environmental and social performance among small- and medium-level enterprises in business markets. The moderating effect of big data analytical intelligence is also examined.

The samples were selected from the paper and chemical manufacturing industries of South Africa. The data analysis was performed using variance-based structural equation modeling.

The results show that tangible resources, human skills and intangible resources positively influence sustainable net zero economy adoption. However, intangible resources have a more substantial influence on sustainable net zero economy implementation. This shows that adopting a sustainable net zero economy depends more on a bundle of common practices, including sustainability culture, employee training and knowledge management, and managers must create the necessary action plans accordingly. In addition, sustainable net zero economy adoption positively influences financial performance, environmental performance and social performance. However, sustainable net zero economy adoption has a more substantial influence on social performance. Therefore, implementing a net zero economy will be more advantageous to society and to local communities.

To achieve a sustainable net zero economy, managers should recognize the significance of resource management. While managing tangible resources and human skills is crucial, intangible resources, such as culture and organizational learning, require more attention. Additionally, the ability of small- and medium-sized enterprises to explore, store, share and apply knowledge is crucial to achieving net zero. Therefore, managers should make use of Industry 4.0-based digital technologies for effective knowledge management. Moreover, net zero economy adoption can significantly enhance societal performance. Hence, while making budgeting decisions, managers must consider the potential of the firm's resources to improve social performance.

This study is the first to investigate the impact of human skills and tangible and intangible resources on the adoption of a sustainable net zero economy by companies, using empirical evidence. The research expands on the concept of the practice-based view (PBV) in the implementation of sustainable net zero economies by small- and medium-sized business-to-business enterprises.

Today’s one of the most important difficulties is tackling climate change and its effects on the environment. The Paris Agreement states that nations must balance the amount of greenhouse gases they emit and absorb until 2050 to contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gases and to support sustainable development. According to the agreement, each country must determine, plan and regularly report on its contributions. Thus, it is important for the countries to predict and analyze their net zero performances in 2050. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate European Continent Countries' net zero performances at the targeted year.

The European Continent Countries that ratified the Paris Agreement are specified as decision making units (DMUs). Input and output indicators are specified as primary energy consumption, freshwater withdrawals, gross domestic product (GDP), carbon-dioxide (CO₂) and nitrous-oxide (N₂O) emissions. Data from 1980 to 2019 are obtained and forecasted using autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) until 2050. Then, the countries are clustered based on the forecasts of primary energy consumption and freshwater withdrawals using k-means algorithm. As desirable and undesirable outputs arise simultaneously, the performances are computed using Pure Environmental Index (PEI) and Mixed Environmental Index (MEI) data envelopment analysis (DEA) models.

It is expected that by 2050, CO₂ emissions of seven countries remain constant, N₂O emissions of seven countries remain stable and five countries’ both CO₂ and N₂O emissions remain constant. While it can be seen as success that many countries are expected to at least stabilize one emission, the likelihood of achieving net zero targets diminishes unless countries undertake significant reductions in emissions. According to the results, in Cluster 1, Turkey ranks last, while France, Germany, Italy and Spain are efficient countries. In Cluster 2, the United Kingdom ranks at last, while Greece, Luxembourg, Malta and Sweden are efficient countries.

In the literature, generally, CO₂ emission is considered as greenhouse gas. Moreover, none of the studies measured the net-zero performance of the countries in 2050 employing analytical techniques. This study objects to investigate how well European Continent Countries can comply with the necessities of the Agreement. Besides CO₂ emission, N₂O emission is also considered and the data of European Continent Countries in 2050 are estimated using ARIMA. Then, countries are clustered using k-means algorithm. DEA models are employed to measure the performances of the countries. Finally, forecasts and models validations are performed and comprehensive analysis of the results is conducted.

In the fast-changing field of zero-carbon construction there is a gap in understanding how zero-carbon construction strategies are experienced in practice. This paper aims to identify the key barriers and enablers to driving a zero-carbon construction strategy by industry, policymakers and educators.

The research was conducted in two stages. The first stage used a literature review to determine thematic areas from which to develop discussion points for the second stage of the research, which gathered insights into key barriers and enablers to driving a zero-carbon construction strategy from analysing recorded discussion with industry, policymakers and educators. This study adopts a qualitative research methodological design underpinned by dialectical approach of enquiries involving 31 participants. The philosophical standpoint aligns with a constructivist participatory worldview based on multiple stakeholder perspectives. Data involving virtual and face-to-face engagement held simultaneously in Australia and India were transcribed, coded and synthesised to identify the barriers and enablers to driving zero-carbon construction strategy.

The paper identified key barriers and enablers driving zero-carbon construction strategy. Barriers included limited awareness of industry dynamics; fixed mental models of professional practice; complexities in identifying appropriate skillsets; difficulties associated with reviewing education and training models and integrating sustainable strategies at early stages of projects. Enablers included: fostering education reform and supporting frameworks and procurement strategies for developers and clients; implementing efficient building designs, construction and operationalisation of zero-carbon buildings and; utilising an industry-led integrated approach. A framework was developed to provide an illustrative view of the linkage between the research projects’ focus areas and emergent themes.

The paper provides zero-carbon action priorities for four significant stakeholder groups in the build environment, developers, building occupiers, educators and government. As the priorities are derived in the research from examination of current literature and analysis of stakeholder viewpoints, this paper presents a unique, realistic and timely identification of barriers and key enablers driving zero-carbon construction strategies. Methodology applied in terms of data collection involved a public discourse and a unique technology-driven collaborative approach where participants simultaneously contributed across countries and time zones in a synchronous manner across key topics related to driving the zero-carbon construction strategy.

Mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is an essential part of China's effort to achieve net-zero emissions. This study assesses the cost-effectiveness of China's agricultural GHG reduction under diverse carbon policies.

The study employs a parametric non-radial distance function approach and estimates the technical abatement potential and marginal abatement cost (MAC) of GHG in China's agricultural sector for the 2008–2017 period.

Agriculture is expected to make a great contribution to China's net-zero emissions progress. This study empirically analyses the cost-effectiveness of China's agricultural GHG reduction under diverse carbon policies. A parametric non-radial distance function approach is used to derive technical abatement potential and MAC of GHG for the 2008–2017 period. The results indicate that no significant improvement had been achieved in terms of agricultural GHG reduction in China during 2008–2017. The country's agricultural sector could reduce 20–40% GHG emissions with a mean value of 31%. In general, western provinces have larger reduction potential than eastern ones. The average MAC for the whole country is 4,656 yuan/ton CO₂e during 2008–2017. For most western provinces, their MAC values are considerably higher than those for most eastern provinces. Compared with previous sectoral estimates of GHG mitigation cost, this study’s estimates indicate that reducing agricultural GHG emissions in some provinces is likely to be cost-effective. The Chinese government should consider expanding its national carbon market to cover agricultural sector.

The Chinese government should consider expanding its national carbon market to cover agricultural sector.

Existing studies in the field mostly ignore input constraints, which is inconsistent with carbon mitigation policy practice, especially in the agricultural sector. This study’s approach integrates both input and output constraints reflecting differing policy practice.