The integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles in the maritime sector has become an essential component in enhancing sustainable development and operational transparency. This article explores the growing importance of ESG frameworks in the maritime industry, focusing on the practical applications and comparative assessment of ESG performance among four major European ports: the Port of Rotterdam, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, the Port of Klaipėda, and A. P. Moller-Maersk. The paper investigates ESG maturity through a set of defined indicators, such as emissions, renewable energy use, green investment, social performance and governance transparency, offering a critical evaluation of their implementation across different port management
models. The findings highlight significant variability in ESG integration, with Rotterdam and Maersk leading in environmental and governance indicators, while Antwerp-Bruges and Klaipėda are still developing their ESG reporting practices. The study underscores the importance of standardised ESG frameworks, transparent reporting, and digital innovation for advancing sustainability in the maritime sector.
Economic entities influence the environment significantly. Economic activity in the EU lacks skills, experience and financial and management
tools. Innovation is a key element of sustainable economic activity, but economic activity needs a complex approach to cover economic,
social and environmental aspects. The most common measure for environmental improvement is the reduction of energy and material
consumption. This article analyses the development of economic entities using the Innovation and Small Business Act (SBA) approach. The
research objective is to analyse how economic entities in EU countries develop their activities to achieve sustainability by reducing their
environmental impact. A comparison of the sustainability aspects of economic entities was carried out. The contribution of innovations was
analysed to assess the level of sustainability of economic entities in EU countries. The results show that the impact of the activities of economic entities needs to be assessed along the entire value chain, which assesses the social environment of economic entities. EU countries such as Finland, Germany, Slovenia and Sweden are leading the way in investing in innovation and sustainability measures. However, EU countries face challenges in implementing sustainability goals, because of the complexity of the system and a lack of attention from responsible institutions. Nevertheless, innovation is essential to reduce negative environmental impacts.
Economy operates in a broader social system, composed of households and enterprises but also by all institutions created by people. Law and politics is created and introduced in institutions in parallel to educational, administrative activities as well as any other social activities, including those related to the natural environment we live in. These institutions operate thanks to the social capital i.e. interconnected human resources. The quality of the social capital is dependent on mutual trust and relations in the society. For this reason, social capital is of key importance for sustainable development, both as a controller of the impact of the economy on the environment as well as the basis for the future development. The environment evolves continuously, there are rapidly changing economic processes and, in consequence, their impact on the environment is changing rapidly, tool. This brings some specific challenges to the resource and quality of human knowledge and the competence level of the human capital, as the only tool for a possible reduction of all imperfections.
There is the one of the biggest problem in the world- not sustainable development of countries, regions. The governments of different countries were trying to solve economical differences between some countries and regions only using economic measures in last century. It should be noted that economic development orientations and concepts cannot satisfy the humanity’s needs and they have only a limited application spectrum in environmental protection studies. The situation supposes the necessity to propose new approaches and to define the essence of economic theory, its potential role and tasks, in solving issues related to critical human existence and civilization survival in the future. Sustainable development is based on three dimensions: economic development, social development, and environmental protection. But still there are big scientific problem – how to change mentality of people through the world? How to find measures that would be understandable for everybody? How to change people thinking to use less? How to explain for managers of organizations, that to be sustainable – to be successful? These and other questions were analyzed in this article. The aim of this paper is to describe benefit of sustainable development in organizations. Object of research – sustainable organizations. The tasks of the article: to analyze the concepts of sustainable development in organizational level; to analyze concept of sustainable organization and to show benefit for organizations to sustainable. Used methods are- the analysis of scientific articles, comparison, and observation.
Educational institutions create certain environmental impacts in their operation – these impacts can be grouped into the sectors of waste, water, energy, transport and others. There is a need for educational institutions to adopt effective environmental management systems in order to reduce these impacts, as well as those of the whole municipality. The Eco-Schools programme is one of the most comprehensive and popular models of environmental education and management in the world. In recent years, the Eco-Schools programme has proved its effectiveness in numerous evaluations in several countries. The programme aims to raise awareness about environmental issues. Therefore, this programme encourages environmentally responsible behaviour involving not only members of specific schools but also reaching out to the local community. The aim of the present study was to evaluate an environmental management model of the Eco-Schools programme in Latvia. Moreover, the author assessed the country’s potential to develop environmental management systems in schools, improve environmental education and create pro-environmental attitudes and values. For research, qualitative and quantitative research methods were used: analysis of documents and a survey. The conducted survey helped to evaluate the experience of the Eco-Schools programme and prepare recommendations for policy proposals about the Eco-Schools programme as an environmental management instrument in Latvia. Also, the role of the Eco-Schools programme in promoting sustainable development was assessed. As a result, the benefits and drawbacks of the programme were identified to plan further development and, therefore, to promote efficient environmental management in educational institutions and local communities.
Definitions and sets of indicators as wellas approaches on sustainable development are compiled, discussed and evaluated inthis paper. The researched region embraces forfive urban and district municipalities in western Lithuaniaand Latviain the total area of 1393.93 km2. The scheme of steps of assessmentof sustainability with selected sets of indicators relevant for the sea shoreregion of Lithuania and Latviais presented and discussed.