The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) involves various projects for the socio-economic development between China and Pakistan. This study determined the fundamental dimensions of sustainability, i.e., socio-economic opportunities and environmental impacts, with the development of the CPEC road project from Rehmani Khel to Kot Balian Package-2A. The primary data was collected through a survey method, while the secondary data was obtained through retrospective analysis. Statistical analyses, i.e., ANOVA, Chi-square, correlation, gamma, and factor analysis, were applied to testing variables. The study indicated that health services, education facilities, foreign direct investment (FDI), high income, and employment opportunities are positively associated with the CPEC road project, whereas negative impacts include environmental degradation, i.e., CO₂ emissions, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and agricultural land loss, which have not been identified by previous researchers. Statistical analysis showed a significant and positive relationship between social-economic and environmental variables, while some of the variables perceived an insignificant relationship with the support of the CPEC road project. This study will contribute to the sustainability literature and provide a comprehensive analysis for stakeholders and officials to design a framework of precautionary measures to minimize the environmental impacts and promote the sustainability of road projects.

The corporate sector has paid attention to the concept of sustainable development since the emergence of this concept in the late 1980s and the adoption of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) by many organizations is the initiative of these organizations’ exact dimensions. The focus of this research is to compare the status of EMS adopter and EMS non-adopter organizations in terms of Environmental Performance, Occupational health and safety performance, Employee Satisfaction, Operational Improvement and competitive advantage. The overall environmental performance of EMS adopter companies was approximately two times higher than non-EMS adopter companies. EMS adopter organizations’ performance was almost two times better than non-EMS adopter organizations regarding occupational health and safety. The overall Employee Satisfaction level at non-EMS adopter organizations was about three times better than at EMS adopter organizations. The EMS adopter organizations were found to have about three times performance regarding operational improvement. Regarding the competitive advantage gained by the EMS adopter companies compared to the non-EMS adopter organizations, no significant difference was observed between these two categories of organizations. However, The EMS adopter organizations seem to have a slight competitive advantage over non-adopter companies.