Changes in sustainable growth dynamics: The case of China and Russia gas industries

This paper concerns the necessity of ecosystem protection and energy efficiency rating development. The article analyzes the experience of the non-commercial Environmental and Energy Rating Agency (Interfax-ERA) ratings concerning the environmental assessment of Russian regions and the transfer of successful knowledge for evaluating 31 Chinese provinces. The theoretical base, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the energy-resource efficiency (ERE) rating, technological efficiency (TE), and ecosystem impact (EI) ratings are proposed based on the system methodology, developed within the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The primary study objective is to determine whether the Interfax-ERA rating methodology and considered criteria could be applied in China to assess the provinces’ environmental, technological, and energy efficiency. The research highlights the importance of multifunctional tools for developing experiences and sharing methodological experiences across countries. The study efficiently emphasizes provinces with a high level of energy efficiency and technological innovations as well as the provinces with the deficient level of eco-oriented economy policy. The results show two types of systematic deviations—significantly high-level impact on the ecosystem in the Chinese provinces and considerably high levels of energy and resource efficiency in capitals and business centers.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/354/pdf

New Energy-Resource Efficiency, Technological Efficiency, and Ecosystems Impact Ratings for the Sustainability of China’s Provinces

One of the key trends in sustainable development is to ensure integrated regions’ social development. Strengthening the “social” part of sustainable development leads to new ways of improving people’s quality of life. Mathematical modelling is one of the tools needed to transform the region’s economy from developing to developed state. A model may help explain a system, study the effects of different components, and make predictions about behaviour. This study critically examines the shortcomings and limitations of the existing VRS model to assess social efficiency in China provinces. The authors analyzed China provinces social effectiveness data to test the Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) obtained models. Social and economic data was used from China Year Statistical Books from 1997 to 2021. The total expenditures on health care and education were taken as input variables, and the Atkinson Index, the number of unemployed people and GDP were taken as output variables. Based on improved DEA models, target indicators of output social parameters were determined. The analysis of the obtained results suggests that using the proposed models would allow determining the directions of China provinces’ effective multifactorial development. 

Improved Free Disposal Hull Methodology for China Provinces Effective Social-Economic Development Modeling

The paper examines an approach to developing a strategy for the Russian gas industry’s sustainable growth based on the system economic theory’s methodology. The aim of the study is to evaluate the current state of the industry by calculating sustainable growth indices. Grey Relational Analysis ( GRA ) reveals a deep relationship between sustainable growth indices and Return on equity ( ROE ), Lambert Energy Index ( LEI ), Return on environmental investments ( ROE env ), and Return on social investments ( ROE sr ). The system balance index ( SBI ) is calculated, which expresses the intensity of links between the financial, energy, environmental and social subsystems of the gas industry. The results show that the Russian gas industry companies are characterized by a low level of ROE env or ROE sr , negatively affecting the SBI value. The authors conclude the importance of environmental protection and social responsibility for achieving sustainable industry growth should not be underestimated. This circumstance should be taken into account when setting strategic goals for companies in the gas industry. According to the authors, applying system economic theory to achieve sustainable growth goals has huge potential to overcome economic phenomena and improve company management practices.

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System Balance Index as an Indicator of the Russian Gas Industry’s Sustainable Growth

Financial and sustainable growth policies of companies often contradict each other. In this article we analyze possibilities for overcoming this problem by investigating sustainability of financial growth of the largest Russian natural gas company, Gazprom. Unlike traditional interpretations, we consider company sustainability to result from the interaction and interconnection between the financial, energy, environmental, and social subsystems (F-E-Env-S). We analyze the relationship between subsystem indicators using the Higgins Sustainable Growth Index (SGR) and the Sustainable Growth Index (SGSI). Research shows that Gazprom’s sustainable growth system is stable, but to avoid destabilization, we propose ways to prevent the development of barriers to their sustainable growth. The article presents an approach that uses Shannon’s negentropy to improve discrimination of models of a sustainable data coverage analysis (DEA) system. DEA efficiency is first calculated for all possible subsets of variables and analyzed using Shannon’s entropy theory to calculate the degree of importance of each subset in Gazprom’s sustainable growth system. Then we combine obtained performance values and degree of importance to obtain a common performance indicator (CRS), which can significantly improve the discrimination of sustainable growth models. To visualize the transformation of the stability of the system, it is advisable to use the negentropy index. The following factors influence the SGSI level: production, energy saving, environmental rating, environmental footprint, reduction of air pollutant emissions, reduction of wastewater discharges to surface water bodies, environmental expenditures, personnel costs, social expenses, financial leverage, self-financing ratio, and EBITDA.

/pdf/company-sustainable-growth-as-the-result-of-interaction-1bavs7twjj.pdf

Артём Денисов

Papers

Company sustainable growth as the result of interaction between finance, energy, environmental and social factors (in case of JSC “Gazprom”)