The increase in world carbon emissions is always in line with national economic growth programs, which create negative environmental externalities. To understand the effectiveness of related factors in mitigating CO₂ emissions, this study investigates the intricate relationship among macro-pillars such as economic growth, foreign investment, trade and finance, energy, and renewable energy with CO₂ emissions of the high gross domestic product economies in East Asia Pacific, such as China, Japan, Korea, Australia and Indonesia (EAP-5). Through the application of the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), this research reveals the long-term equilibrium and short-term dynamics between CO₂ emissions and selected factors from 1991 to 2020. The long-term cointegration vector test results show that economic growth and foreign investment contribute to carbon reduction. Meanwhile, the short-term Granger causality test shows that economic growth has a two-way causality towards carbon emissions, while energy consumption and renewable energy consumption have a one-way causality towards carbon emissions. In contrast, the variables trade, foreign direct investment, and domestic credit to the private sector do not have two-way causality towards CO₂ emissions. The findings reveal that economic growth and foreign investment play significant roles in carbon reduction, which are observed in long-term causality relationships, while energy consumption and renewable energy are notable factors. Thus, the study offers implications for mitigating environmental concerns on national economic growth agendas by scrutinizing and examining the efficacy of related factors.

This study aims to compare investment in human capital, equality of gender education in Kuwait before and after adopting SDG 4 and SDG 5 in 2015. It also aims to assess the effect of women’s empowerment on economic growth. To achieve this objective, published data on the State of Kuwait were collected from the World Bank DataBank between 1992 and 2022 and from the Central Bank of Kuwait. The study employed autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) to determine the impact of women’s empowerment on economic development. The analysis results revealed that the State of Kuwait provided high-quality education for both genders. The results also showed that women are more educated than men. However, this was not reflected in the role of women in the country’s politics, as their participation in parliament and government is still limited. Similarly, women’s participation in business and economic activities is still limited. Finally, the results of the ARDL test showed that women’s education and their political, business, and economic empowerment affect economic development in the short and long run.

PPGIS platforms have been widely used to map social actors since the emergence of open access webGIS platforms. This identification of citizen initiatives is based on the physical location, but is rarely combined with social networking. This research seeks to close that gap by using the platIC web-based mapping tool for citizen initiatives, together with their interrelationships. Therefore, a methodical procedure has been defined to construct a geolocalised graph by identifying and categorising linked nodes. Method steps have been tested in three case studies in the Malaga region: Malaga city, Benalmadena, and Valle del Genal. They were selected for a comparative analysis in three different urban and socio-economic scenarios, namely: a tourist destination with a high density of Spanish population and floating city users; a sun-and-beach destination with a significant presence of resident foreign population; and a rural area suffering from depopulation, respectively. Mapping reveals a higher density of citizen initiatives in central urban areas and with social conflicts. Social graphs show a wider interconnection of nodes in rural areas, but isolated nodes are spread more widely there. Monitoring active citizen initiatives could serve as a basis for local administration to involve the citizenry in the management of current issues in the urban and rural context. Future research may promote new plugins to improve participatory process through webGIS platforms.