There exist several important benchmark indices in environmental finance, some computed by wellknown financial index providers such as the Dow Jones group or the FTSE group, and others by independent agencies specializing in environmental and ethical issues in finance. The main feature of these sustainability indices is that they are constructed from a selection of financial stocks according to...

Sustainable water resources management is essential since it ensures the integration of social, economical and environmental issues into all stages of water resources management. The development and application of water sustainability indices to achieve sustainable water management has been successfully done in the last few years. Although existing water sustainability indices have successfully...

To realize sustainable urban development that minimizes environmental impacts, the relationship between urban development intensity and eco-environmental stresses should be clearly revealed. This paper focused on the Bohai Rim coastal area, where cities have experienced significant development in the last decade. An index system was developed to quantify the comprehensive urban development inte...

Ecological footprint (EF) indices estimate the impact of an individual’s lifestyle on the planet by converting levels of consumption into the amount of land needed to sustain production levels and lifestyle choices. Several popular organizations (e.g. WWF, Global Footprint Network) now offer personalized EF calculators to help inform consumers of the impacts of their personal consumption habits...

Human groups with no culture or communication cannot exist. this essay addresses changes in the concept of development, as it relates to culture and communication, as a new reference point for practical applications of development and cooperation among nations. the idea of development has changed. economic development has evolved to mean sustainable human development. this shift in meaning repr...

The study investigates whether the present pattern of urban development in India in the creation of mega cities is sustainable and what it can learn from the global megacities. This has been done by comparing the two Indian cities Mumbai and Bangalore with selected mega cities of the worlds representing different stages of development (Shanghai, London, and Singapore) using an indicator-based a...

Nowadays, Most of the cities, especially metropolises of developing countries are engaged with environmental issues like air and water pollution, waste increase and etc., that lead to the environmental destruction. Meanwhile sustainable urban development, provides the balance between development and the environment, and supplies the current generation needs while keep its eyes on the next gener...

Energy Systems Theory (EST) provides a framework for understanding and interpreting sustainability. EST implies that "what is sustainable" for a system at any given level of organization is determined by the cycles of change originating in the next larger system and within the system of concern. The pulsing paradigm explains the ubiquitous cycles of change that apparently govern ecosystems, rat...

It is clear that globalisation is something more than a purely economic phenomenon manifesting itself on a global scale. Among the visible manifestations of globalisation are the greater international movement of goods and services, financial capital, information and people. In addition, there are technological developments, more international cultural exchanges, facilitated by the freer trade ...

what are the main success factors of microfinance institutions in providing financial services to poor people in a sustainable manner? in this article we try to answer this question. in one hand, we analyze the core compatibility between microeconomics of asymmetric information, transaction cost and risk, and new different operational mechanisms applied by microfinance institutions. on the othe...