Science AI Journal
Environmental Science · Research topic

Open research questions in Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy

38 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 1,488 Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • Given the limitations associated with the ARDL approach under small-sample set- tings, future research may consider alternative econometric techniques or larger datasets to further validate the robustness of the results.

    Human capital, technological progress, and ecological sustainability in india: evidence from the load capacity factor approach · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research may address this limitation by employing empirical methodologies and performance-based evaluations. Second, future research may focus on specific industries in order to explore how sustainability integration differs across business contexts. Furthermore, future research may investigate how sustainability evaluation mechanisms can be incorporated into different stages of strategic planning, including mission and vision development, environmental analysis, strategic alternative evaluation, and strategic decision-making. Recommendations for Future Research: Several directions for future research can be proposed based on the findings and limitations of this study. com At the same time, the study identified several challenges associated with sustainability integration, including implementation costs, lack of standardized limited managerial expertise, organizational resistance, frameworks, and difficulties related to sustainability performance measurement. Overall, these limitations should be considered when interpreting the findings of the study and further highlight the need for additional research on sustainability integration within strategy formulation processes.

    INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY INTO STRATEGY FORMULATION: A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES · 2026 · DOI

  • This study has several limitations that should be acknowledged. First, the analysis relies on publicly available sustainability and integrated reports, which may contain biases due to differences in reporting practices, interpretation of EU Taxonomy cri- teria, and potential strategic disclosure behavior. Second, the expert-based evaluation applied in the Green Frog framework introduces a degree of subjectivity, despite the use of structured criteria. Third, the comparability of EU Taxonomy KPIs across companies is inherently limited by differences in business models, particularly be- tween fossil-based producers and network-oriented operators. Fourth, the analysis focuses on a limited sample of Hungarian energy companies, which, although repre- sentative in national context, may restrict the generalizability of the findings to other regions or sectors. Finally, the regulatory framework itself is evolving, meaning that the results reflect a transitional state of sustainability reporting rather than a fully mature system.

    Sustainability Assessment Framework for Hungarian Energy Companies in the Context of European Taxonomy Regulation · 2026 · DOI

  • Originality/value Since only a limited number of studies examine the efficiency of sustainability engagement, especially in CEE countries, little is known about value creation, understood as the efficient use of the resources and activities concerning sustainability.

    The Efficiency of Sustainability Engagement Reported by Banks in Poland, Croatia and Romania · 2023 · DOI

  • Prior work emphasizes the need for integrated governance and green leadership in environmental policy but does not specify how governance structures and decision-making processes can be designed to withstand political pressure, economic downturns, or competing priorities that undermine green energy system stability.

    MODELING WAYS OF IMPROVING GREEN ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN THE CONTEXT OF GOVERNANCE · 2021 · DOI

  • The conceptual and methodological redefinition given by SQA scholars and the reasons for their rejection of the tripartite approach to defining sustainability provided in the UN Brundtland Report is also discussed in order to provide a basis for further research into the issue of sustainability and how it relates to the SQA.

    Corporate Sustainability · 2020 · DOI

  • Though these countries claim to have designed policies, laws, and administrative organizations to meet the requirements of MEAs, weak performance indicators suggest need for further investigation of IA performances.

    Institutional Architecture For Sustainable Development (SD): A Case Study from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan · 2017 · DOI

  • Although, it is widely used, there is no consensus among researchers in defining the concept
\nof sustainability The various scientific debates available in the literature consider that the concept of
\nsustainability should be approached in an integrated manner, which involves the maintenance and the improvement
\nof the welfare at the economic, environmental and social level, taking into account both the importance
\nof the processes and the output of the system.

    Sufficient predicates of sustainability · 2016

  • In this context, a proposal based on the concepts of the Triple Bottom Line for evaluating sustainability index will be presented in order to fill in some gaps in the literature on models for evaluating sustainability indices.

    Metric-based approach to assess sustainable manufacturing performance at manufacturing process levels · 2021 · DOI

  • However, in particular, it is not yet known how governments can achieve SDGs through non-profit organisations (NPOs) by providing financial and non-financial incentives.

    THE NEXUS OF GOVERNMENT INCENTIVES AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: IS THE MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES THE SOLUTION TO NON-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS? · 2020 · DOI

  • There is a lot of pieces of literature on the subject, but a lot more needs to be studied and analyzed to assess the intricacies involved in these key macro parameters and their role in achieving SDGs.

    GLOBAL AGENDA AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS) · 2019 · DOI

  • Whether this emerging revolution will take place fast enough and comprehensively enough to save the planet earth from multiple disasters remains to be seen.

    Sustainable development: Agents, systems and the environment · 2015 · DOI

  • The paper indicates that due to different application contexts there is no consensus on notion of sustainability, however corporate sustainability means adopting a „triple bottom line“ perspective that requires the simultaneous adoption of environmental, economic and social equity principles.

    SUSTAINABILITY AS A CONCEPT FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT · 2014 · DOI

  • Findings The research carried out has found that there is not a single initiative analyzed that tackles all sustainability issues and in fact there is no consensus around what should be measured and how.

    Sustainability measurement system: a reference model proposal · 2011 · DOI

  • Traditional approaches addressing either unemployment or environmental degradation are insufficient to achieve full employment or environmental sustainability, and often proposals to attain one of these goals appear inconsistent with the other.

    Public employment and environmental sustainability · 2003 · DOI

  • While the concept has substantial appeal, consensus on its meaning is lacking, especially concerning what combinations of resources or practices should be sustained.

    Making Sense of Sustainability: Nine Answers to ‘What Should Be Sustained?’<sup>1</sup> · 1994 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy

Most recent work

Find a gap in your own Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy sub-topic

This page shows what the Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy literature already flags as unresolved. To narrow it to your specific question, run the guided finder — it searches the gap library on demand and checks candidates against 250M+ OpenAlex works.

Open the Research Gap Finder →

Related topics in Environmental Science

Environmental Education and Sustainability
249 open questions
Sustainability and Climate Change Governance
174 open questions
Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
146 open questions
Species Distribution and Climate Change
122 open questions
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
117 open questions
Air Quality and Health Impacts
117 open questions
Climate variability and models
117 open questions
Urban Green Space and Health
107 open questions
38 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 1,488 Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

Tools for your next paper

Gaps & Literature SearchFind open questions in any field — 120,000+ open gaps mined from our own library.Pre-CheckIs your paper ready? A Tier 1–5 acceptance probability in seconds.Journal FinderA ranked shortlist of target journals from a 17,500-venue index.Duplicate Publication CheckerCheck prior-publication & salami-slicing risk across 8 sources.Citation GeneratorFreeA DOI or title → APA, MLA, Vancouver, Chicago, BibTeX, RIS. No signup.Graphical Abstract MakerFreeTurn your findings into a colorblind-safe graphical abstract.

Compare the category — Honest roundups of the AI research tools, ours listed alongside the alternatives.

Command palette

Jump anywhere, run any action.