Cryptocurrencies have also seen their development within the last decade becoming a globally popular financial phenomenon that once existed as a niche technological experiment. What started with the launch of the bitcoin in 2009 has grown into a massive ecosystem of digital assets, decentralized applications and blockchain-based financial services (Zribi et al., 2023). These inventions have been a paradigm shift in the conventional concept of money, trust and the financial intermediation. Cryptocurrencies have provided new avenues in financial inclusion, especially in areas whose banking systems are poorly developed, due to the ability to conduct peer-to-peer transactions that do not require centralized institutions, like banks or governments (Sapra & Shaikh, 203).
The chapter investigates the transforming convergence of AI and sustainability, placing AI as core infrastructure facilitating a change from linear, extractive corporate models to regenerative entrepreneurial ones. These models turn planetary constraints into sources of innovation, profitability, and long-term competitive advantage in the face of resource shortages, biodiversity loss, and climate emergency by actively restore natural and social capital. Core contributions include seven archetypes: Product-as-a-Service, resource recovery, waste prevention, circular marketplaces, decentralized energy systems, regenerative agriculture/carbon removal, and longevity models; a typology of AI-native, AI-augmented, and AI-enabled sustainable models; and the new Triple-Layered AI-Enabled Business Model Canvas.It includes financing innovations, value creation, scaling by means of AI flywheels and platforms, and risks with mitigations. It ends by profiling the Regenerative Entrepreneur and proposing a research agenda for fair, net-positive AI-sustainability Integration in the 2030s.
Raja Rehan, Mohd Hanafia Huridi, Aeshah Mohd Ali, Malik Shahzad Shabbir
Abstract This chapter explores how the synergy between digital transformation and sustainability initiatives offers businesses a powerful way to achieve economic growth while reducing environmental and social impacts to realize the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) by 2030. Clearly, businesses are rapidly adopting the UNSDGs program, which aims to alleviate poverty, hunger, and improve health for all, while building strong institutions. By leveraging digital technologies like Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, Internet of Things, fintech, and cloud computing for digital transformation, companies can improve energy efficiency, increase supply chain transparency, reduce carbon emissions, and support financial sustainability. Therefore, integrating digital transformation and new technologies into business strategies helps advance the UNSDGs toward their 2030 goals. As a result, companies need to adopt key strategies that merge sustainability principles with digital transformation to meet the UNSDG targets. Numerous metrics help measure how digital transformation contributes to achieving these sustainability goals. However, addressing challenges such as cost, data privacy, cybersecurity, resistance to change, lack of technical expertise, and workforce skills is essential for widespread adoption of UNSDGs. Digital transformation plays a vital role in overcoming these obstacles, often through offering innovative technological products that help raise funds for sustainability initiatives. This chapter concludes that businesses embracing digital transformation with a strong commitment to the UNSDGs will not only gain a competitive edge but also contribute significantly to building a more sustainable and resilient future.
Carbon markets have emerged as a key policy instrument to combat global emissions by treating greenhouse gases (GHGs) as tradable commodities, encouraging activities that reduce, avoid, or capture emissions. Rooted in the Kyoto Protocol and reinforced by the Paris Agreement, carbon markets operate through compliance (cap-and-trade) and voluntary mechanisms, engaging diverse stakeholders — project developers, verifiers, standard bodies, and credit buyers. These markets foster climate action by enabling companies and individuals to offset their emissions while promoting renewable energy, afforestation, and energy efficiency projects. Technological advancements like blockchain-based carbon credits and tokenization have enhanced market transparency and liquidity. However, challenges persist, including conflicts of interest in project validation, limited participation of small-scale players, and regulatory ambiguities. Strengthening governance, ensuring inclusivity for marginalized groups, and promoting micro-carbon projects are essential for their success. With India’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2070, carbon markets hold immense potential to accelerate climate goals, driving both environmental sustainability and economic growth. The present article provides a broad understanding of carbon markets, covering their origin and evolution, current status, processes, stakeholders, as well as the lacunae and challenges they face, along with future prospects.
Rapid urbanization is increasing pressure on infrastructure, natural resources, social well-being, and institutional capacity, while climate change, demographic shifts, migration, technological disruption, and geopolitical instability are further complicating paths to sustainable urban development. This study develops a conceptual, SDG-aligned framework to examine the interactions between six major global megatrends and their associated sub-trends, with a particular emphasis on their cascading effects, interdependencies, and impact on urban resilience. Drawing on existing scholarly and policy literature, this study synthesizes case-based evidence from diverse urban contexts to demonstrate how global trends translate into locally distinct sustainability challenges. Within this framework, the study proposes an Extended Composite Sustainability Index (ECSI) that conceptually integrates six interconnected dimensions namely urbanization, demographic shift, climate change, technological transformation, spatial change, and geopolitical instability to provide a multidimensional framework for assessing sustainable urban development. This framework conceptualizes resilience and SDG progress as outcomes of interactions between these dimensions, rather than as independent variables. The proposed ECSI and its associated formulations are presented as conceptual constructs. The analysis shows that technological innovations, such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, and the Internet of Things, can contribute to resource efficiency, safety, and inclusive urban development, but without proper governance and institutional safeguards, they can also reinforce privileged and digital inequalities. Overall, this study highlights the need for an integrated assessment approach that simultaneously evaluates sustainability dimensions, while also providing a conceptual basis for future empirical calibration, sensitivity testing, and validation using real-world urban datasets.