The aim of the study is to deep dive into the potential of green entrepreneurship and its drivers in a time of multiple challenges when green growth seeks to reconcile economic and sustainable development goals. The need for responsible business models has become evident in recent years, and companies that offer green products or services are creative, eco-friendly growth incubators and important economic actors that can change the future of society. We used a logistic regression model for 7326 companies from 36 European countries to identify what influences the decision to go green, including supply and demand factors, measures for resource efficiency and targeted policies. We found that the company’s age, its financial performance, the country’s level of development, as well as the incentive measures have a significant potential of stimulating green entrepreneurship. Our results highlight the overwhelming importance of financing. Firms in less developed countries face difficulties in developing green products and services, so support programs are needed to build green entrepreneurship in some regions. Many entrepreneurs in less developed countries are highly educated, creative, and innovative, so they can successfully run sustainable business models if the transfer of good practices is accompanied by an infusion of capital.

The transition to green energy and sustainable urban planning, guided by EU policies and local community perceptions, has positioned the concept of the “green city” as a key topic in both academic and practical discourse. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the current understanding of green cities, while also identifying cities structurally prepared for this transition. The literature review highlights the significance of the green city concept, the strategic directions of the EU, and the perspectives of residents regarding what constitutes a green city. The research outlines two primary objectives: (1) identifying urban development models within a selected sample of cities, and (2) determining cities or groups of cities with the potential to implement the green city concept. Using data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Open Street Map, we employed spatial indicators and calculated average distances to key points of interest, using R software for analysis. Principal Component Analysis and Random Forest predictive analysis algorithm were applied to classify urban development models, facilitating the identification of cities best equipped for green city implementation. The findings offer valuable insights into sustainable urban transitions, providing a data-driven approach to guide policymakers and city planners in fostering resilient and green urban environments. This research emphasizes the importance of integrating technological tools with human-centered urban planning for a sustainable future.

Environmental well-being has recently been put at risk due to unsustainable industrial practices. The relevant decision-makers have developed policies to support a greener approach in the economy. This paper aims to present a complete and comprehensive connection between the key concepts of the economy based on biological resources from both empirical and analytical perspectives by highlighting the structure, importance, and evolution. Through bibliometric research and network mapping analysis, we have revealed the most popular concept among researchers and countries, and the current trend for each term considered. Currently, there is no comparative study on the linkage between bioeconomy, circular economy, knowledgebased economy, bio-based economy, green economy, and bioeconomics, but only taken as separate concepts, thus being difficult to assess the significance and popularity of a term over another and to track the evolution over time. Our results are meant to cover the gap around the interconnected terms in bioeconomy and to enhance the current conceptual frameworks.

Over time, the concept of economic development has been the cause of debates in the research environment. Some of the researchers consider the level of economic development of a country to be characterized by high levels of the main macroeconomic aggregates, while another part supports the idea of uniform economic development with a high level of social inclusion. Regardless of the definition of the concept of economic development, it has been proven that a major positive impact is generated by the sustainable development strategy, especially in the light of the concept of circular economy. Therefore, the study addresses the level of economic development of the member states of the European Union based on the impact generated by the circular economy. In addition, based on the analysis carried out, the paper aims to identify the dependency ratio between the variables associated with the circular economy concept and the level of economic development. In order to achieve these goals, a panel regression model was estimated, for all member states of the European Union, on the time horizon 2011-2020. The model used as dependent variable “the level of economic development”, and the independent variables were made up of variables associated with the circular economy. The results of this analysis reveal that there are individual effects on both dimensions associated with the analysis (cross-sectional, time series), which leads to the idea that each country is influenced in the process of economic development through the circular economy by its own specificities.

The EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan has guided significant changes in recent years in terms of customer behaviour, public or private models and processes. One of the biggest supports came from the education system that plays an important role in ensuring a correct and efficient application of the policy. Therefore, our study is set to fill in the gaps in the current literature by analysing the correlation between the main pillars of circular economy and higher education to determine the existence of such influence and the pattern that each EU member state follows. The results have shown full and partial validations of the considered hypotheses, with the higher education drivers having significant impact on recycling rates and waste generation, and less on the value added to the economy.

International authorities such as the European Commission and the United Nations pay special attention to sustainable urban development, for this purpose, strategies such as the European Green Deal or the Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 agenda, SDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities are developed. Urban development represents a fundamental direction in the transition process towards the green economy, a sustainable economic model. The paper aims to identify the degree of efficiency of economic development in the context of sustainable development for 41 cities in Romania, Germany, Japan, United States of America and Australia. To achieve this objective, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method is used, with the aim of identifying the gaps regarding the sustainability of the analyzed cities. Data Envelopment Analysis allows the evaluation of the efficiency of urban settlements in the sample based on representative variables, selected as input. So, the research is ready to give answer to question like “What are the efficient cities in terms of sustainability?” and “What are the relationships between the cities included in the sample?”. The main results showed that there are cities that have a model of sustainable economic development, but certain cities present significant gaps from the point of view of efficient sustainable economic development. In addition, port cities seem to develop an association relationship, with inefficient port cities being associated with efficient port cities.