Fuel Substitution Possibilities, Factor Productivity, and Technological Progress: Insights from Environmental and Sustainable Development

Global warming has become a grave subject worldwide since the 1980s. As per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2014, among the 6 GHGs, the major contribution to GHGs is CO2 emissions, and its share of the GHG effect is about 65%. Huge consumption of fossil fuels carries a series of environmental issues, including ecological and global climate change. Alternative fuels should be substantially non-petroleum to provide energy security and environmental benefits and to substitute for conventional fuels, for instance, gasoline and diesel. The sustainability of alternative fuels for various industries is gradually becoming more important due to the extensive use of fossil fuels, depletion of natural resources, and environmental degradation. Thus, the producers and suppliers of goods are under higher pressure to confirm that their products are sustainable environmentally, socially, and economically. It has also been a conscious action of every country to crack the dilemma that accelerates energy changeover, such as energy intensity, which has been the cause of economic transformations and also socio-economic and environmental issues. Both, energy and economic growth lead to a rise in GHGs, particularly CO2 emissions. Thus, the dilemma is that energy has confounding characteristics as the force of both human development and environmental destruction.

Most of the research in the field of substitutive fuels has been largely focused on environmental life cycle assessment, though few researchers have also studied the life cycle cost implications. The social facet of alternative fuels seemed to be the least addressed aspect when observed in the context of the sustainability performance of these fuels. In the substitutability measures, it is necessary to concentrate on the environmental, social, and economic performance of an industry, country, or region.

The objective of the Research Topic is to focus on and review the literature on the environmental, social, and economic performance and assessment of alternative fuels. We aim to develop a knowledge base for policy makers and upcoming research and development to assess the sustainability of alternative fuels, highlighting the need for a holistic sustainability assessment framework and ensuring economic progress.

We aim to collate research in this collection that measures the fuel substitution possibilities, factor productivity, and technological progress: insights from environmental and sustainable development.

We welcome submissions investigating fuel substitution in the contexts of improving energy efficiency, economic progress, employed labor conditions, and structural progress under fuel substitution possibilities and technological enhancements. The impact and significance of sectorial, country, or regional-specific frameworks that consider local policies around fossil fuel substitution, socio-economic factors, and climatic situations should be highlighted.