Faezeh Borhani

Air pollution represents a major environmental challenge in Iran's industrial metropolitan areas, where urban development and climatic conditions interact in complex ways. This study investigates the short-run and long-run dynamics of major air pollutants, including PM_2.5, NO₂, SO₂, and O₃, in the metropolitan area of Isfahan using monthly data from 2020 to 2025 and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. Electricity consumption is employed as a proxy for the intensity of urban development and economic activity, alongside climatic variables such as temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, and wind speed. The results of the bounds cointegration test indicate that only PM_2.5 and O₃ exhibit a stable long-run equilibrium relationship with the explanatory variables, at the same time NO₂ and SO₂ are primarily driven by short-run dynamics and transitory shocks. Long-run estimates confirm the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis for PM_2.5, as higher electricity consumption is associated with lower particulate matter concentrations. In contrast, ozone displays a strong positive elasticity with respect to electricity consumption, highlighting the critical role of precursor emissions linked to energy use and industrial activities in ozone formation. Climatic factors further reveal that temperature intensifies PM_2.5 concentrations, whereas wind speed significantly contributes to reducing long-run ozone levels through atmospheric dispersion. These findings underscore the importance of targeted energy and emission control policies, particularly focusing on ozone precursors, along with urban climate adaptation strategies to improve air quality in semi-arid industrial cities.

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) represents a core element of the social dimension of sustainability, working in tandem with environmental performance to support sustainable development. Resilience Engineering complements this perspective by focusing on organisational adaptability and the ability to maintain safety in dynamic, uncertain environments. The objective of this study is to develop an integrated framework for sustainable supplier selection that incorporates both resilience and Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) performance as strategic evaluation criteria. This approach aims to guide organisations in aligning procurement practices with broader sustainability and safety goals. To construct and validate the proposed framework, expert input was gathered and synthesised using the Delphi method, ensuring consensus on critical evaluation factors. The Content Validity Ratio (CVR) was applied to assess the clarity and relevance of the selected criteria. For prioritisation, the Best-Worst Method (BWM) was used to determine the weight of each criterion. The multi-attributive Border Approximation Area Comparison (MABAC) method was then employed to rank supplier performance across the established criteria. The resulting framework consists of seven main categories and 26 sub-criteria, representing a holistic view of supplier sustainability, resilience, and HSE performance. The model was applied to assess four suppliers, demonstrating its effectiveness in identifying variances in safety practices, adaptability, and environmental responsibility. It provided clear, actionable insights into the comparative strengths and weaknesses of each supplier. The integrated framework offers a practical and strategic tool for enhancing supplier selection decisions. By embedding resilience and HSE into evaluation processes, organizations can support long-term goals related to safety, adaptability, and sustainability. This structured approach facilitates the development of robust and adaptive supply chains, reinforcing the alignment between operational practices and sustainable development principles.