In the context of the production of more than 2,5 billion tons of waste every year in the European Union, the circular economy is a matter of significant importance, debated in the European area and beyond.
The transition to the circular economy involves reducing waste to the lowest level and replacing the traditional linear purchase-use-disposal economy.
Thus, given the World Bank’s 2050 estimates (2018), which support an increase in annual waste production by 70% and the premise that the United Nations’ Sustainable Development goals made, that the population will require the resources of three planets, moving toward a circular economy is a necessity for both the environment and society.

Sustainability is an important topic addressed and promoted by the European Union among its member states. Thus, environmental policies in the European Union are correlated with global problems and solutions are constantly sought to reduce the negative effects in society. Sustainable development has two important crises in the foreground, climate and biodiversity, but the measures to reduce their effects are for various fields and the development of a green economy is supported.
The study aims to highlight that projects are being developed at the level of the city of Iași, either by accessing non-reimbursable funds or through private partnerships, which aim to develop the city of Iași as a Smart City. In the same development as Smart City determines a sustainable development, because projects are implemented in the field of public transport, by introducing new means of transport (trams, buses) whose main purpose is to reduce pollution. The opportunity to access European funds helps urban administrations develop sustainably and, in this way, aspire to become a Smart City. At the European level, there are instruments that promote the development of smart cities (non-reimbursable European funds, the European Ecological Pact, Agenda 2030), which facilitates an integrated sustainable development. This paper will use centralized information from the websites http://iasismartcity.ro/, https://iasi.digital/, www.mdlap.ro and www.mfe.gov.ro, which will analyze and highlight the projects, which have been implemented or are being implemented by the local public authority of Iasi for the development of Smart City.

In times of crisis, the behaviour of the participants in the economic process changes, they being forced to adapt to new times, at a rapid pace. It reflects prudence and a reorganization from all points of view regarding the activities of companies. The scientific research aims to analyse the behaviour of banking institutions in times of crisis, but also in periods of economic growth based on aggregate indicators that reflect the evolution of banking financial institutions over a period of 15 years, starting from the economic crisis from 2008 and ending with 2022. At the same time, the scientific approach makes a brief presentation of Romanian banking sector at the end of 2022 from the perspective of shareholding and market share for the main banks in Romania in order to better understand their position these in the market.

This study employs k-means clustering and agglomerative hierarchical clustering techniques to visually examine the potential relationship between Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) scores, their year-over-year variations, and annual stock returns for a sample of 34 energy sector companies operating in Europe and the United States. While the agglomerative hierarchical clustering dendrogram suggests two clusters, the elbow method of the k-means algorithm suggests 2-4 clusters. The results indicate that neither ESG scores nor their year-on-year variations had an impact on the annual returns of the stocks. The conclusion is further confirmed by the Pearson correlation coefficient. However, the ESG scores of European energy companies show a tighter dispersion and smaller year-over-year change, making them more predictable ESG score-wise and thus, potentially, more attractive to ESG-driven investors.

Nowadays, the population is becoming more and more environmentally conscious compared to previous years. Governments are under pressure to adopt sustainable legislation in light of the increased public acknowledgement of environmental issues, and consumers are urged to make purchases that have a lower environmental impact. Due to this phenomenon, the competition becomes significantly challenging. Companies must therefore adopt sustainable strategies in order to achieve sustainable growth. The research examines how environmental factors affect the financial success of the energy industry since the viability of the energy sector has drawn criticism. The objective of the current study aims to emphasize the relationship between non-financial sustainability, as determined by the environmental performance score, and the financial performance as represented by total revenues in the aforementioned sector. The dataset is obtained from Thomson Reuters Eikon and consists of 100 publicly traded companies in North America over a five-year period. It is processed using multiple linear regression and bivariate correlation techniques. The analysis findings indicate that the environmental score has a conflicting influence on the financial performance of the companies.

The main objective of the paper is to highlight the importance of ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) investing for companies, while also elaborating its relation to better financial performance. Furthermore, the article conducts a literature review by analysing the already existing scientific papers (mainly from Google Scholar, Web of Science and ScienceDirect) to demonstrate how the relative importance of each of the ESG dimensions: Environmental, Social and Governance, may vary depending on different factors.
The article highlights the value of non-financial reporting, its advantages, and the resulting legal ramifications. Investors and executors have recognized the importance of the ESG framework in recent years, which has helped it earn a lot of respect. The framework is said to serve several benefits, such as offering business sustainability, financial stability, and better financial performance, to a given economic entity. Similarly, the paper presents practical implications for the businesses, as it leads to their better understanding of the concept, from an investor’s perspective.

People are currently facing high unemployment rates, and one of the main causes is financial literacy. Financial literacy is critically important for people as it enables them to effectively manage their money and decide whether to invest or save. Furthermore, everyone must be educated from an early age about financial issues because they will be taught about how to save, invest, budget, and borrow. The purpose of this article is to investigate the scientific literature on financial education and employment. To this end, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of financial literacy and the relationship between financial literacy and employment. The research methodology included a bibliometric analysis conducted with the VOSviewer software. The results highlight low rates of financial literacy in terms of knowledge, behaviour and attitude. The main determinants of poor financial literacy include poor financial education in schools, disinterest of people in the subject, limited accessibility to financial resources, and insufficient involvement of people in financial issues. Policy makers must take into account this unfavourable situation with respect to the state of financial literacy and implement actions to address it.

This research attempts to identify the internal factors that determine public banks’ profitability in Algeria, by investigating the effect of each one of them on profitability over the period 2011 – 2019, using the system-generalized method of moments. The findings indicate that the bank-specific determinants, with the exception of capitalization and leverage, are positively related to bank performance. These results have important implications for banks’ survival and growth. It is expected that this study will guide the policy makers and bank management in the formulation and implementation of better policies and strategies which may lead to better performance of banks in Algeria.

Reducing the CO2 footprint of Romanian manufacturing production under the positive influence of the EU foreign direct investments (FDIs) can have a substantial contribution to Romania’s presence on the EU common market. Moreover, it might contribute to the increase the country’s GDP. To prove the assumptions, the author developed an econometric model that he called „A predictive model of the CO2 emissions inter-country interaction”, based on multiple linear regression, using a highly unique and latest database published by Eurostat, in 2022. He also designed several scenarios regarding the positive impact on the Romanian economy based on reducing the CO2 emissions generated by the EU FDIs. In the base scenario, a 1.5% annual reduction of the CO2 emissions generated in Romania due to the FDIs originating from the EU Member States could stimulate an 1% annual increase of the intra-community deliveries. This impact would determine an increase of Romania’s GDP by 0.3%. To have a realistic contribution to achieving the goal of a net zero economic model, the EU FDIs should obtain, between 2025 – 2050, a ten-time decreasing rhythm of their CO2 emissions. From minus 0.4%, the actual average decrease annual level between 2010 – 2020, the FDIs must decrease their emissions by 4% per year. This would increase Romania’s annual intra-deliveries by 2.6%, adding 0.8% per year to Romania’s GDP growth.

This paper deals with the topic of the impact brought by the factors that contribute to the determination of financial balance indicators on the profitability of Romanian companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange during several consecutive financial years.
The subject under research was the subject of several studies that make up the specialized literature. The purpose of the research is to analyse the existence and intensity of the link between the financial balance indicators, determined semi-annually, and the economic performance of the companies, expressed through the profitability indicators. The research method used in the elaboration of the present study is that of multiple regression analysis of the data, applied using the SPSS statistical program.