Artificial Intelligence for Sustainability—A Systematic Review of Information Systems Literature

The booming adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) likewise poses benefits and challenges. In this paper, we particularly focus on the bright side of AI and its promising potential to face our society’s grand challenges. Given this potential, different studies have already conducted valuable work by conceptualizing specific facets of AI and sustainability, including reviews on AI and Information Systems (IS) research or AI and business values. Nonetheless, there is still little holistic knowledge at the intersection of IS, AI, and sustainability. This is problematic because the IS discipline, with its socio-technical nature, has the ability to integrate perspectives beyond the currently dominant technological one as well as can advance both theory and the development of purposeful artifacts. To bridge this gap, we disclose how IS research currently makes use of AI to boost sustainable development. Based on a systematically collected corpus of 95 articles, we examine sustainability goals, data inputs, technologies and algorithms, and evaluation approaches that coin the current state of the art within the IS discipline. This comprehensive overview enables us to make more informed investments (e.g., policy and practice) as well as to discuss blind spots and possible directions for future research

The circular economy in corporate reporting: Text mining of energy companies’ management reports

This paper explores the implementation of the circular economy in the energy sector. The research findings contribute to our understanding of the practical application of the circular economy, enabling policymakers and stakeholders to make informed decisions and develop targeted strategies. The study analyzes 88 Portuguese companies’ reports, examining the presence of circular economy strategies and initiatives. The results reveal that energy sector companies tend to prioritize reporting their greenhouse gas reduction efforts over their circular economy strategies. The findings align with previous studies in the oil and gas industry, emphasizing the significance of sustainability reporting and potential biases in reporting practices. The study also identifies a gap between circular economy terminology and its representation in reports, indicating the need for greater incorporation of circular economy-oriented initiatives in the energy sector. The research highlights the role of technology in fostering innovation and calls for strategic alliances and knowledge sharing to drive circular economy practices. Further research is recommended to understand the barriers to implementing circular economy practices and identify effective solutions. Overall, this paper provides valuable insights for advancing the circular economy in the energy sector and achieving broader sustainability goals.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An evaluation of sustainability in large British companies

This article undertakes an assessment of the sustainability efforts of some of the largest companies that are listed on the FTSE 100 (a share index composed of the 100 largest companies that are listed on the London Stock Exchange according to market capitalisation). It provides empirical insights into how large listed British companies are addressing sustainability and their efforts in terms of incorporating sustainability factors into their business operations. The study was based on an extended content analysis of each company’s annual and sustainability reports. Our findings demonstrate that companies are trying to integrate sustainability in their business strategies even though there are variations in their efforts. There are indications that the majority of the companies have been able to embed sustainability in their strategy and operations and are now attempting to establish goals for further improvement. We found strong evidence of willingness to engage with relevant stakeholders to evaluate which sustainability issues are of importance to the particular companies and then to communicate to those relevant stakeholders the measures that have been taken to integrate sustainability in their business strategies. However, our findings also revealed areas where there is a need for further improvement such as compliance with international standards for sustainability reporting and establishment of better frameworks to enhance their sustainability efforts

Is existing legislation fit-for-purpose to achieve Good Environmental Status in European seas?

Recent additions to marine environmental legislation are usually designed to fill gaps in protection and management, build on existing practices or correct deficiencies in previous instruments. Article 13 of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires Member States to develop a Programme of Measures (PoM) by 2015, to meet the objective of Good Environmental Status (GES) for their waters by 2020. This review explores key maritime-related policies with the aim to identify the opportunities and threats that they pose for the achievement of GES. It specifically examines how Member States have relied on and will integrate existing legislation and policies to implement their PoM and the potential opportunities and difficulties associated with this. Using case studies of three Member States, other external impediments to achieving GES are discussed including uses and users of the marine environment who are not governed by the MSFD, and gives recommendations for overcoming barriers

Text mining national commitments towards agrobiodiversity conservation and use

Capturing countries' commitments for measuring and monitoring progress towards certain goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), remains underexplored. The Agrobiodiversity Index bridges this gap by using text mining techniques to quantify countries' commitments towards safeguarding and using agrobiodiversity for healthy diets, sustainable agriculture, and effective genetic resource management. The Index extracts potentially relevant sections of official documents, followed by manual sifting and scoring to identify agrobiodiversity-related commitments and assign scores. Our aim is to present the text mining methodology used in the Agrobiodiversity Index and the calculated commitments scores for nine countries while identifying methodological improvements to strengthen it. Our results reveal that levels of commitment towards using and protecting agrobiodiversity vary between countries, with most showing the strongest commitments to enhancing agrobiodiversity for genetic resource management followed by healthy diets. No commitments were found in any country related to some specific themes including varietal diversity, seed diversity, and functional diversity. The revised text mining methodology can be used for benchmarking, learning, and improving policies to enable conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity. This low-cost, rapid, remotely applicable approach to capture and analyse policy commitments can be readily applied for tracking progress towards meeting other sustainability objectives.</p

Net Zero Roadmap for Copper and Nickel

As we seek to meet the challenges of climate change impacts, many commodities will play an increasing role in decarbonizing economies. There are increasing challenges of addressing the emissions from extraction of these commodities needed to support the zero-carbon transition. CCSI, in a consortium with Carbon Trust, RMI, and the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines, developed the Net Zero Roadmap to 2050 for Copper and Nickel Value Chains to support the copper and nickel mining sectors in taking collective, coordinated action by providing a clear, approachable, and accepted roadmap for decarbonization. Our key messages to mining CEOs are as follows: Demand for Energy Transition Metals (ETMs) doubles GHG emissions. To reach net zero, ETM emissions will need to reduce by 90%. Technological solutions are already or soon will be available. Three waves of technology deployment: (i) Renewable energy, site operational energy efficiency improvements, and process optimization; (ii) zero-emissions haulage trucks; (iii) process heat electrification and green hydrogen. Enormous ESG risks associated with rising ETM demand. For example, many copper and nickel reserves are located in high water risk and high biodiversity areas respectively, necessitating proactive and responsible management. Just Transition. Mining companies, governments and other actors have an important role in enabling communities to reimagine their future at the center of a new climate economy and in the process build community resilience. Collaboration is key to achieving net zero. Mining companies, value chain actors, and policymakers must work together to accelerate the development, deployment, and co-investment in the technological innovations required for the mine of the future, and to develop net zero industry standards, regulations, and frameworks. The project was commissioned by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), as part of the World Bank Group’s Climate-Smart Mining initiative

Evaluating and improving social awareness of energy communities through semantic network analysis of online news

The implementation of energy communities represents a cross-disciplinary phenomenon that has the potential to support the energy transition while fostering citizens' participation throughout the energy system and their exploitation of renewables. An important role is played by online information sources in engaging people in this process and increasing their awareness of associated benefits. In this view, this work analyses online news data on energy communities to understand people's awareness and the media importance of this topic. We use the Semantic Brand Score (SBS) indicator as an innovative measure of semantic importance, combining social network analysis and text mining methods. Results show different importance trends for energy communities and other energy and society-related topics, also allowing the identification of their connections. Our approach gives evidence to information gaps and possible actions that could be taken to promote a low-carbon energy transition