Green customer-based brand equity and green purchase consumption behaviour: the moderating role of religious commitment

The purpose of this study is to investigate the customer-based brand equity (CBBE) of green brands and their impact on green purchase consumption with the moderating effect of religious commitment. Data were gathered from 315 consumers in three large cities in Pakistan and further analysed by partial least square. The results of this study revealed that there is a significant positive nexus between CBBE and green purchase consumption. Additionally, results showed the evidence of religious commitment moderating the relationship between CBBE and green purchase consumption. The findings are helpful to the greening companies, suggesting that they should focus on every component of brand performance in order to achieve the higher ranked performance that ultimately initiates green purchase and repurchase consumption. This research addresses the attitude behaviour gap in green purchase consumption by incorporating the contingent impact of religious commitment.

     

Combined role of industrialization and urbanization in determining carbon neutrality: empirical story of Pakistan

A rapid process of industrialization, on the one hand, transformed the economies from agrarian to industrial societies to improve the living standards and welfare of people. On the other hand, the urbanized and industrialized economies have posed challenging threats to environmental sustainability. The query at hand is whether the growing environmental emissions are driven by industrialization and urbanization or not. This research aims to empirically examine the combined role of industrialization and urbanization in achieving carbon neutrality in Pakistan by considering foreign direct investment and economic growth as control variables in the model. The core empirical results are the following: firstly, industrialization and economic growth exhibit negative but statistically insignificant impacts on CO₂ emissions, imparting a neutral role in determining the environmental degradation in Pakistan. Secondly, urbanization and foreign direct investment disclose positive and statistically significant (at 1% level of significance) impacts on CO₂ emissions, manifesting an environmental degradation driving impact in the country. Thirdly, given the slope coefficients of urbanization and foreign direct investment (0.058 and 0.035), urbanization proved to be a stronger driver than foreign direct investment. Finally, foreign direct investment is revealed to make the Pakistani economy a “Pollution Haven” for the foreign enterprises in the country. Based on empirical results, none of the variables predicted the support for carbon neutrality in Pakistan.

     

Heavy metal phytoextraction—natural and EDTA-assisted remediation of contaminated calcareous soils by sorghum and oat

The abilities of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) and oat (Avena sativa L.) to take up heavy metals from soils amended with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) were assessed under greenhouse conditions. Both plants were grown in two soils contaminated with heavy metals (Gujranwala—silty loam and Pacca—clay loam). The soils were treated with 0, 0.625, 1.25, and 2.5 mM EDTA kg^?1 soil applied at both 45 and 60 days after sowing (DAS); the experiment was terminated at 75 DAS. Addition of EDTA significantly increased concentrations of Cd, Cr, and Pb in roots and shoots, and bio-concentration factors and phytoextraction rates were also increased. Post-harvest soil analysis showed that soluble fractions of metals were also increased significantly. The increase in Cd was ≈ 3-fold and Pb was ≈ 15-fold at the highest addition of EDTA in Gujranwala soil; in the Pacca soil, the increase was less. Similarly, other phytoremediation factors, such as metal translocation, bio-concentration factor, and phytoextraction, efficiency were also maximum when soils were treated with 2.5 mM EDTA kg^?1 soil. The study demonstrated that sorghum was better than oat for phytoremediation.