Kannan Govindan, University of Southern Denmark

Organizations must rethink and optimize their existing strategies to meet their sustainable business goals, due to the constant depletion of vital resources and the greater demands of societal issues. The increasing population not only has an impact on natural resources, but it also results in greater pollution and contributes to greater levels of poverty. With these considerations, on September 25, 2015, some countries adopted a new set of sustainability development goals (SDGs) to end poverty and to improve prosperity worldwide. Seventeen sustainable development goals have been targeted to achieve by 2030 under the new sustainable development agenda. Further, these sustainable development goals encompass a range of perspectives and various levels of applications, including supply chain management.

In recent years, researchers and practitioners have addressed supply chain management issues because of their significant impacts on organizational developments regardless of the field of applications. Over the years, researchers have proven that an inefficient supply chain can force an organization to fail. Hence, integrating SDGs in operations and supply chain management areas is an important topic to explore. Many studies sought to explore sustainability in supply chain management with a wide range of concepts and strategies, including green, lean, and other approaches with a special focus on newly targeted SDGs. Research is needed to further analyze and shape the implementation of SDGs in supply chain management environments with the help of advanced operations research (OR) methods, including multi-attribute decision making (MADM) and multi-objective decision making (MODM).

The main objective of this special section is to invite academic practitioners to contribute a better understanding of the scientific basis for decoupling economic growth from resource depletion and environmental degradation while improving human lives with the assistance of advanced OR methods. It is believed that advanced optimization models and algorithms can improve data-driven decision models by either formulating pattern discoveries and knowledge extraction problems or by defining efficient algorithms for implementing SDGs in supply chain management at a macro level. Additionally, new algorithms continually make efficiency gains and improve the applicability of older algorithms. Virtually every numerical analysis includes several optimization algorithms that can be applied to design sustainability in supply chain. With these concerns, this special section pertains to sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) by making direct connections between resources, the environment, the economy, and the goal of achieving SDGs in different parts of the world through OR methods.

These themes should incorporate an integrated approach: looking at possibilities of connecting the conservation of resources with sustainable human economic activities (from a supply chain perspective), and monitoring progress towards sustainable indicator strategies with the support of multi stakeholders in predominant inter- and intra- organizational management fields. This special section will comprise a significant body of knowledge about how natural resources are being utilized in various economies and will address the impact of this use on the eco-efficient and socio-economic systems, and suggest pathways of transitioning to a more sustainable future. This perspective includes building on and expounding the significance of resource conservation and efficiency along with a societal focus to improve sustainable development in supply chain management by achieving the proposed SDGs.

This special section seeks to be specific regarding the different kinds of sustainable supply chains because they can affect the policy implications of different sustainable indicators. In addition to these ideas, this special section welcomes authors to contact us to discuss other possible subtopics. To encourage effective methods and thereby motivate the authors to adopt a variety of sustainable supply chain perspectives in approaching this subject, the special section Editor has purposely kept the above list of suggested topics short. However, all submissions must suit within the domain statement of the journal.

Potential topics

• Designing and policymaking in SDGs through stakeholder support: to provide examples of sustainable policy and design making with multi-stakeholder perspectives and to define how sustainability is considered in framing policies and enumerating success factors and challenges on supply chain management
• Implementing SDGs in supply chains through innovative strategies and practices: to identify the sustainable goals, indicators, and practices related to the implementation of sustainable supply chain management and to explore how this knowledge may be used to effectively manage and conserve resources with less environmental and societal impact
• Monitoring supply chain governance and implications with a focus on SDGs: to elaborate practices and supporting mechanisms in measuring, monitoring, and reporting progress toward achieving targets, and to further emphasize various challenges related to the implementation of SDGs in supply chain management in different applications/context/economies

Timeline

• Invalid DateTime: Submission deadline

Edmund Goh, Les Roches Abu Dhabi Hospitality Academy

Jun Wen, Macau University of Science and Technology

Siamak Seyfi, University of Oulu

C. Michael Hall, Massey University

Xin-Jean Lim, Sun Yat-Sen University

September 2025 marked the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a global blueprint for achieving peace, prosperity, and planetary wellbeing. Over the past decade, the hospitality and tourism industries and destination communities have emerged as powerful platforms for advancing and contesting these goals. Hospitality and tourism encompass all 17 SDGs, either directly or indirectly, from economic growth and decent work (SDG 8) to responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), climate action (SDG 13), and partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).

In hospitality and tourism research, SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) has guided studies on workforce inclusion, ethical employment, and skills development; SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) has inspired frameworks for food-waste reduction, sustainable procurement, and circular-economy innovation; and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) has informed investigations into heritage protection, destination resilience, and overtourism management. At the same time, SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) have underpinned studies on women's empowerment, migrant labour, and social inclusion across tourism enterprises. Research has also expanded around SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 14/15 (Life Below Water and Life on Land), addressing carbon measurement, biodiversity conservation, and regenerative destination practices.

While studies have advocated that tourism and hospitality can positively contribute to the fulfilment of the UN's ambitious 2030 Agenda, there remains a noticeable gap in how the SDGs are explicitly integrated within scholarly research. Many studies have investigated sustainability-related themes without explicitly aligning their objectives, frameworks, or findings to specific SDG targets, often downplaying or omitting the SDG lens altogether. This disconnect limits the sector's ability to evaluate progress, benchmark impact, and influence policymaking.

This Special Issue responds to those calls by encouraging tourism and hospitality researchers to explicitly reconnect their work to the SDG framework, to identify future research pathways, and to assist policymakers in addressing global challenges through evidence-based strategies. In particular, we seek contributions that illuminate the dynamic linkages between key stakeholders such as hosts, tourists, destinations, government, and industry to explore how these interrelationships can generate more sustainable and equitable outcomes.

This Special Issue seeks to critically assess the progress, limitations, and future directions of SDG-related initiatives in hospitality and tourism. We invite empirical, conceptual, and review papers that evaluate how far the sector has come but also envision pathways for a regenerative, inclusive, and just hospitality and tourism future beyond 2030.

Potential topics

• Reflecting on the First Decade (2015–2025) of SDG achievements and gaps
• Critical reviews of how research to date references SDGs and where conceptual or methodological gaps persist
• Evaluating tourism and hospitality's contribution to all 17 SDGs, including SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) through community tourism, local sourcing, and food redistribution
• Examining progress toward SDG 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing) through wellness tourism, workplace health initiatives, and traveller safety
• Assessing SDG 4 (Quality Education) via tourism and hospitality curriculum transformation, sustainability literacy, and lifelong learning
• Policy coherence and alignment of tourism strategies with SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), focusing on governance, transparency, and ethical practices
• Reviewing the role of SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) in sustainable destination design, transport systems, and smart tourism
• Integrating SDG 8 (Decent Work), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) through inclusive recruitment, fair wages, and leadership opportunities
• Advancing SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) via food waste management, circular hospitality systems, and sustainable event management
• Strengthening SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) by aligning urban tourism, heritage conservation, and destination capacity management
• Building SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) through cross-sector collaborations among government, academia, and private enterprises
• Linking SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) to energy-efficient hotel design, water conservation, and waste-water reuse
• Exploring SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), and SDG 15 (Life on Land) through carbon-neutral travel, biodiversity protection, and eco-restoration tourism
• Applying SDG 9 (Innovation and Infrastructure) and SDG 16 (Institutions) in AI-driven sustainability measurement, blockchain transparency, and smart destination governance
• Embedding SDG 3 (Health) and SDG 11 (Communities) in wellness, resilience, and crisis recovery frameworks
• Integrating ethical, cultural, and spiritual perspectives on sustainability to support SDG 4 (Education) and SDG 17 (Partnerships)
• Conceptualising post-SDG paradigms such as regenerative tourism, circular hospitality, etc.
• Examining the intersections of sustainability with digital transformation, big data, and tourism intelligence systems
• Developing cross-SDG frameworks and metrics to capture interlinkages (e.g., SDG 8–12–13 synergies)
• Big data analytics, AI, and social media mining for SDG progress tracking and destination reporting
• Comparative cross-national or longitudinal studies assessing tourism's SDG impact
• Theorising host–guest–destination dynamics as a holistic system contributing to SDG 1–17 interdependence

Timeline

• Invalid DateTime: Selected Manuscripts Published
• May 1, 2026: Abstract (Systematic Review) Submission Deadline
• July 1, 2026: Abstract (Full Paper and Research Note) Submission Deadline
• December 1, 2026: Full Manuscript Submission Deadline
• January 1, 2027: Review Process