Laura Ballerini (p)

Dimitris Ballas

In recent years, the tourism sector has encountered escalating pressure to disclose Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) actions and impacts. However, this disclosure has been hindered by a lack of standardised sustainability metrics and a unified ESG reporting framework tailored to the sector’s inherent heterogeneity. This paper explores contextual nuances, technical intricacies, potential avenues, and challenges associated with developing a harmonised ESG Framework for tourism. To achieve this, it employs a multi-method approach that combines rich documentary evidence with interviews involving 27 tourism companies from the accommodation and travel agencies industries, ranging from large international chains to small and medium-sized enterprises. Among other things, the study reveals a collective eagerness within the sector for the establishment of a harmonised ESG Framework, envisioning consistent tourism-specific metrics, shared objectives, and international benchmarks. Anticipated benefits extend to alleviating companies’ reporting burdens and addressing widespread concerns about greenwashing. However, optimism is tempered by the recognition of potential barriers to framework harmonisation. Concerns include apprehensions about increased reporting responsibilities, reservations regarding the excessive technicality of the framework, and doubts about its transformative impact on the sector’s practices. These findings enhance our understanding of the complexities of fostering sustainable practices within the tourism sector, providing valuable insights for experts and policymakers engaged in the ongoing discourse on ESG framework harmonisation.

Iratxe Legarra Nuin (p)

Dimitris Ballas

Energy communities, foreseen in European legislation as Citizen Energy Communities and Renewable Energy Communities, play a significant role in a just energy transition that leaves no one behind. Citizen participation must be present in the energy sector if the social dimension of sustainability is going to be covered, and the development of energy communities is a contribution to this purpose. Even though progress is observed in this aspect during the recent years, especially after the adoption of the Renewable Energy Directive and the Internal Market of Energy Directive, strong differences exist between different regions.
The objective of the analysis is to explore said differences in greater depth from a quantitative approach, in order to identify the main factors that may be boosting or hindering the development of energy communities in the European regions.
For doing so, the following methodology is followed. First, a review of the academic literature and the regulation on the matter is conducted, exploring the conceptual aspects of energy communities and the reasons that have been observed through qualitative research for their different geographical development. Based on the conclusions extracted from this first analysis and using data at NUTS2 level, a multiple linear regression analysis is carried out, focusing on the relationships that exist between several factors and the expansion of this figure. This results on a description of the current context regarding energy communities and the identification of the main factors that favor their creation.

Assel Zhaken (p)

Dimitris Ballas

The geographical basin of the Esil River is located in the northern and central parts of the Republic of Kazakhstan; administratively, it includes the Akmola and North Kazakhstan regions. The study area is considered one of the most important industrial and agricultural regions of the republic, where agriculture is the dominant branch of the economy. The water factor is important for sustainable agricultural production. Under natural conditions, the Esil River basin is characterized by high variability of annual runoff and extreme unevenness of its intra-annual distribution.
The development of economic sectors in this region is hampered by growing water scarcity, surface and groundwater pollution, excessive water losses in water management systems, aggravating problems of supplying the population with quality drinking water, problems of interstate water distribution.
The study will consider the method of territorial redistribution of river flow as one of the measures aimed at providing sufficient supply to water-scarce regions. The comprehensive nature of the study highlights the interrelationships and complementarities that exist between different aspects of sustainable development in the Esil River Basin.
Water scarcity affects food security. The studied area is considered one of the most important industrial and agricultural regions of the Republic, where agriculture has a significant impact on the overall socio-economic situation. Thus, the region specializes in grain production, and the development of animal husbandry has significant prospects, which requires additional volumes of water.
The sustainable development of the region requires an adequate energy supply. The studied area is energy deficient and imports electricity from other regions of the country. In order ensure energy sustainability while taking into account the norms of the Paris Climate Agreement, it is crucial to develop alternative energy sources.
The main outcomes of the study will be following:
1) to substantiate the need for territorial redistribution of water resources, taking into account the norms of international law in the field of transboundary water use.
2) to develop a route for inter-basin transfer of part of the flow using GIS technologies.
3) to justify sanitary discharges in order to improve the ecological condition of the Esil River.
4) to develop recommendations for sustainable development of agricultural production and improvement of food security in the region.
5) to develop measures to improve the stability of the energy system of the region.