Štreimikienė, Dalia

This book is a call for a more conscious and deliberate approach to a responsible consumption. It contends that while the climate change challenges are immense, the capacity for behavioural change is equally significant. Based on the scientific evidence, historical analysis, and a deep exploration of consumer behaviour, it offers readers a nuanced understanding of the path toward a more sustainable and equitable world. It is a journey that begins with knowledge, is guided by a sense of shared responsibility, and is ultimately realized through the transformative power of our individual and collective choices.

The aim of this monograph is to examine the impact of a new set of uncertainties on the socio-economic situation of people and societies and to provide research-based innovative approaches and methods for building socio-economic resilience in order to reduce vulnerability and promote the resilience of people and societies to shocks. To achieve its objective, the monograph aims to reduce human and societal vulnerability and build resilience in the face of uncertainty and shocks. The authors of this monograph propose a new approach to address the problem of vulnerability not by focusing on traditional social policies but by strengthening the resilience of social groups in the face of uncertainty and shocks, by developing a strong person who (1) pursues goals, who is responsible for his or her life and actively participates in shaping it; (2) can respond and adapt to stressful situations; and (3) uses the experience and resilience gained for further human development and flourishing. The proposed understanding of resilience is a relatively innovative approach to dealing with human and societal vulnerability. This book is helpful for many researchers and academics dealing with related fields, policymakers on all levels, as well as practitioners and entrepreneurs. A large scientific and academic community is involved in studies of society’s resilience to various shocks, and they might be interested in new and important topics related to their work and addressed in this book.

The main policies to promote economic development are targeting green growth, which means economic growth by ensuring that natural assets con-tinue to provide the resources and environmental services on which the well-being of people depends. The paper analyzes the green growth results of 5 Western Balkan countries: Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia. These countries share the same geo-graphical location and past; however, since the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1992, they have experienced different development paths, and some, like Montenegro and Serbia, are quite advanced candidates for membership in the European Union. The paper aims to compare their green growth trends, define the most advanced and lagging countries in terms of the main indi-cators of green growth, and develop policy recommendations to foster green growth in this region. MCDM tool was applied for ranking of 5 Western Bal-kan countries in terms of green growth.

The paper analyses indicators of climate-responsible tourism destinations and develops an indicators framework for the comparative assessment of climate-responsible tourism destinations and applies a developed frame-work for ranking 3 Visegrad countries (Poland, Hungary, and Czech Repub-lic). The paper applies a comparative assessment approach and compares the Baltic States in terms of decarbonization of the tourism sector. Multi-criteria decision-adding tool was applied to ranking selected countries based on their achievements towards developing the climate-responsible tourism sector. Performed comparative assessment revealed that the best-performing country in terms of climate-responsible tourism in 2020 was Po-land following Czech Republic.

EU Green Deal and US Green New Deal strategies indicate that green growth is at the center of the policy agendas of many developed countries and regions. The green growth is a key element in achieving sustainable development. Green growth is an economic growth strategy that prioritizes human development while guaranteeing that natural resources continue to provide environmental services to the current and future generations to achieve their sustainable development. There are many definitions of green growth, and many indicators and measures have been developed to assess green growth results for countries. The paper aims to analyze green growth indicators and measures and develop a case for a comparative assessment of green growth achievements in the Baltic States. The Baltic States were ranked based on their achievements according to specific dimensions of green growth, and policy recommendations to promote green growth were developed based on conducted research.

Sustainable energy consumption in household is linked to energy saving and the use of renewable energy sources. These are also the main measures of GHG emission reduction linked to energy consumption. There is a huge GHG emission reduction potential linked to energy consumption in households as climate change mitigation policies and measures aiming at sustainable energy consumption are mainly targeting energy supply sector. Climate change mitigation policies in households linked to promote of energy savings and use of renewable energy sources were not able to overcome behavioural barriers of sustainable energy consumption in households, as they were targeting economic barriers mainly. Therefore, new policies and measures targeting behavioural barriers of sustainable energy consumption inn households are necessary. The paper analyses behavioural barriers of sustainable energy consumption in households and provides analysis of policies and measures set to overcome behavioural barriers of sustainable energy consumption. The analysis of advantages and disadvantages of nudges is provided policy recommendations were developed based on analysis conducted.

The aim of this paper is to analyse energy supply security concept and indicators used to measure energy security based on the main issues such as energy import dependency, energy supplier concentration/diver-sification and available energy infrastructure. The framework of energy security indicators was developed based on literature review. The frame-work was applied to evaluate Baltic States based on energy security in-dicators. The advanced MCDM tool was applied to rank Baltic States based on energy security indicators as countries have very different per-formance in terms of specific aspects of energy security making their ranking impossible. MCDM applied allowed to define that the best per-forming country in terms of energy security was Estonia mainly due to very low level of total energy import dependency. The policies and measures to promote security of energy supply were developed based on results and findings of research conducted.

The paper analyses energy poverty development in two groups of countries: Baltic States, namely Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and Visegrad countries (V4), namely Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic. All 7 countries are EU Member States since 2004. The biggest difference between group of countries is that Baltic States were formed Soviet Union republics and en-countered more severe problems with regain of independence. The paper provides comparative assessment of energy poverty indicators dynamics in both groups by defining the leaders in energy poverty reduction as well as lagging behind countries and tries to provide the main reasons of such situ-ation. Comparative assessment of individual countries and groups of coun-tries allows to define the best practices in mitigating energy poverty and pro-vides policy recommendations for the countries experiencing problems in en-ergy poverty mitigation based on analysis performed.

Climate change mitigation pledges require decarbonization of the economy and the creation of a carbon-neutral society. Men and women contribute differently to climate change and have different roles in low-carbon energy transition. Gender roles influence career choices, abilities to invest in low-carbon solutions, power of decision-making, dissimilar mobility and energy consumption demands, and different values and consumption profiles, shaping the individual carbon footprint and behavior. A feminist methodology in gender- just low-carbon energy transformation goes beyond the introduction of certain gender-equal redistribution measures and aims to deal with the core roots of the different unequal practices in all fields of society life. It seeks to rebalance prevailing power arrangements, centering the most marginalized individuals and groups. There are various frameworks developed for the analysis of linkages between climate change and women following the feminist theory, like gender impact assessment (GIA); gender equality training (GET) model, and so on. The paper applies the feminist theory approach to the analysis of low-carbon energy transitions. The main purpose of using a feminist lens in this study is to enable the discovery of how people interact within energy systems and to offer solutions to confront and eradicate oppressive structures for just low-carbon energy transition in the EU.