Lusine Aramyan

Effective policy making for sustainable development requires understanding the behavioral drivers and reactions of adopting innovative sustainable practices and technologies of actors targeted by the policy interventions. When designing policy interventions, it is imperative to take behavioral biases into account. We analyzed how to design a policy that aims to foster the adoption of a sustainable technology by regret-averse decision makers. The sustainable technology, despite being socially welfare enhancing, involves a potentially large income loss in a bad-luck state that deters regret-averse decision makers from adopting it. Using a theoretical approach, we show that without a policy, a large income loss hinders the adoption of the sustainable technology by regret-averse decision makers. A policy that stabilizes the income streams of the adopters can induce regret-averse decision makers to adopt the sustainable technology. Regret aversion of the decision makers increases the cost of the policy. In addition, to induce the adopters to exert costly effort that might or might not result in generating an income, adopters should be compensated for their effort cost. The level of regret aversion, the probability of the bad-luck state happening, and the probability of an adopter generating extra income when exerting extra effort determine the possible policy payments. We conclude that to have regret-averse decision makers adopt a sustainable technology requires a different policy than for economically rational decision makers. Our findings contribute to understanding how to induce regret-averse decision makers to adopt innovative sustainable technologies and how to consider regret aversion in sustainability policies.

The growing demand for sustainability has driven the adoption of voluntary sustainability certification schemes to improve the sustainability of biobased products and processes. Impact assessment using cost and benefit analysis (CBA) are indispensable when evaluating certifications’ effectiveness and performances. Existing literature typically explores the economic aspects of certification but often overlooks a wider range of environmental and social indicators. This omission can lead to an inaccurate reflection of certifications’ true costs and benefits. This research proposes a comprehensive CBA methodological framework that internalizes environmental and social externalities in certification schemes. These environmental and social externalities are monetized using the True Cost Accounting (TCA) methodology. The framework is applied to a biobased case study of a certified sugarcane-based ethanol. The case study shows that certification can improve economic outcomes through price premiums, efficiency gains, stronger bargaining power, and better access to global markets. Environmental and social impacts are context dependent. For sugarcane-based ethanol, certification both increased and decreased GHG emissions depending on agricultural and milling practices, while social hotspot database (SHDB) based analysis indicates a reduction in social externalities. The scientific relevance of this study lies in addressing a critical methodological gap in CBA for the evaluation of sustainability certification schemes by monetizing environmental and societal impacts, which are often neglected in conventional assessments. The study highlights the need to adapt certification data requirements to enable a comprehensive CBA.

The increasing waste of agricultural products is a significant threat to food security worldwide, including Iran. The horticultural sector faces a critical challenge with significant fruit waste, particularly apples, occurring at various supply chain stages. Coping with this problem and improving apple waste management at the garden level is important for achieving sustainable agriculture and food security goals. This study aimed to identify the main factors influencing apple waste from the viewpoint of apple gardeners in Tehran province, Iran, which plays a pivotal role in apple production and supplying the fruit to markets nationwide. The statistical population of the study was apple gardeners in Tehran province (N = 9310), out of which 188 people were selected as a sample by applying the Cochran formula. The data were collected through a researcher-made structured questionnaire developed for this study. Personal face-to-face interviews were conducted with the gardeners by adopting a cluster sampling technique. A panel judgment of the faculty members in the Department of Agricultural Management and Development at the University of Tehran confirmed the questionnaire’s validity. Its reliability was confirmed with a Cronbach’s alpha value above 0.7. The collected data were later analyzed by descriptive statistics measures and confirmatory factor analysis in SPSS and Smart PLS software. This study found that inefficient harvesting practices are the primary contributors to apple waste in Tehran, particularly due to improper handling and timing. It highlighted the need for better training, improved harvesting methods, and enhanced infrastructure. Addressing these factors through targeted interventions could significantly reduce apple waste, improving both economic viability and sustainability in the region’s apple production sector.

Adverse impacts of plastic can be reduced by shifting to a circular bioeconomy with biobased plastics. Incumbents face barriers, including the alleged “recycling lock-in”, hindering the adoption of new polymers due to the current plastic packaging system. Corporate power is crucial in promoting this shift. This study focuses on corporate power in the Dutch plastic packaging sector, analyzing conflicts of interest and barriers in transitioning to a circular bioeconomy. Market-based Instruments’ effectiveness in promoting circularity among food companies is explored. Fifteen incumbents in Dutch plastic food packaging sector were interviewed. Reasons for not widely using biobased polymers are: technical performance issues, higher prices, limited availability and lack of recycling infrastructure. Moreover, existing recycling infrastructure, regulations, and practices are optimized for fossil-based polymers, creating lock-ins for the inclusion of new materials. Despite no legal barriers, companies are hesitant to use biobased plastics due to system challenges. They struggle to transition from fossil-based to biobased plastic packaging due to resistance to change. Power dynamics analysis shows that the petrochemical industry, Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector, and retail dominance has decreased in the past decade, with governmental measures increasing the influence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and recyclers. No single entity controls the system.

This study contributes to the European Union›s Green Agriculture Initiative in Armenia (EU-GAIA), a development project aimed at fostering sustainable, inclusive, and market-oriented agribusiness in the northern regions of Armenia. Implemented by the Austrian Development Agency, the project supports the transition to green agriculture (GA) through capacity building, policy development, and stakeholder engagement. Employing the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) framework, this research identifies capacity needs, institutional challenges, and knowledge gaps among key stakeholders. The study combines a systematic review with 68 in-depth stakeholder interviews and a tailored questionnaire-based self-assessment to develop a capacity development roadmap. Findings reveal critical weaknesses in research collaboration, extension services, market incentives, and policy enforcement. The paper presents a detailed strategy for short- and long-term capacity building, including the establishment of Centres of Excellence, curriculum reforms, legal frameworks, and stakeholder networking mechanisms. The results offer actionable insights for policymakers, development agencies, and academic institutions committed to sustainable agricultural transformation.

Despite the increasing concerns regarding meeting the world’s future food demand, there is still a substantial quantity of food loss and waste (FLW), particularly concerning fruits and vegetables. In the case of Kermanshah province, inefficiencies within the leafy vegetable supply chpain (LVSC) contribute to an alarming annual waste of 39% of leafy vegetables. Although several studies have proposed strategies and recommendations for mitigating this waste, the actual impact of these interventions on reducing FLW has not been thoroughly examined or quantified. Using System Dynamic Modeling, this study offers a novel approach to quantify the impact of interventions on waste reduction. The quantification results reveal four key interventions reducing vegetable waste at the production stage: biotic (31.2%) and abiotic stress control (14.4%), improved educational services (23.2%), and access to quality inputs (15.2%). Furthermore, the results suggest that early-stage factors in the LVSC play a crucial role in determining waste accumulation in later stages. Improvements in packaging facilities and cold supply chain infrastructure, along with better coordination and information sharing among stakeholders at the market stage, significantly help reduce waste. Additionally, effective planning for household food shopping is emphasized as a crucial strategy for minimizing waste at the consumption stage. This holistic approach focuses on the interconnectedness of actions across various stages of the supply chain and their combined effect on decreasing the overall waste of leafy vegetables.

Plastic waste production increasingly causes environmental pollution. However, end-of-life (EoL) research often lacks detail and timeliness and fails to integrate the end-of-life option into a product’s life cycle in a systemic perspective. This study addresses these knowledge gaps, by applying an improved anticipatory consequential life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. Reuse, mechanical and chemical recycling options were compared for (biobased and fossil-based) high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic shampoo bottles in the European context using three types of impact categories: climate change, fossil resource scarcity and mineral resources scarcity. The completeness and detail of EoL were increased by modelling the polymer reprocessing within the collection system including all transport distances, while timeliness was improved by implementing the data applicable for the time of implementation of EoL options in the future. The results show that the reuse option has the largest benefits on climate change impact, and on fossil and mineral resource scarcity for both HDPE and PET, for both biobased and fossil plastics. Furthermore, all EoL options cause a net reduction in all climate change, fossil and mineral resource scarcity thanks to the avoided impact of virgin plastic. Finally, the improved LCA approach, utilized in this study, includes plastic production, use and EoL in one assessment, and thus can provide valuable information for adjusting policy and regulations for plastic manufacturers in their production of new virgin plastic polymer, as it requires alignment with its use and EoL options.

This study explores the questions of how to govern the transition towards sustainable farming in a responsible and inclusive manner by exploring the Dutch dairy case. Sustainability transition is about fundamental social–technical changes to address the grand challenges that society faces today. It includes breaking down and phasing out unsustainable practice as well as scaling up sustainable alternatives. Transition literature argues that governments should implement a mix of transition tasks to give direction, support the new and destabilase the unsustainable. In addition, market-based instruments (MBIs) and policy interventions rewarding sustainable farming stimulate transition. This study illustrates that strong and prolonged pressure of not meeting international environmental agreements triggered the implementation of stronger policy interventions that destabilize the unsustainable. However, less policy attention seems to be given to supporting the “new”, such as pioneering alternative farmers who develop sustainable alternatives to mainstream farming. To achieve more responsible and inclusive sustainability transitions, it is important to implement tailor-made policies that support pioneering alternative farmers who are already taking steps in developing sustainable farms which, in addition to food, provide ecological and other benefits to community.