Operational research (OR) tools and methods have the ability to balance conflicting objectives where there are many alternative courses of action available to the decision-makers when resources, time, and funds are limited. Therefore, beyond the domain of theoretical knowledge and model building activities, OR has pervasive applications in decision making in problems in sustainable engineering. OR tools and methods find applications in all aspects of sustainability operations. They enable balance between economic, environmental, and social impacts, as the central concerns addressed by sustainability, with the aim of facilitating organizations’ global operations to survive and remain competitive. In addition, sustainable development is a rich area for academic research that is still in its infancy and has the potential to affect future government policy, current production operations, and identify new business models. In this context, the academic community needs to take the lead in the design, development, and demonstration of sustainable operations research models, endowed and supported by organizations.

Engineering is the application of scientific principles for practical objectives such as the processes, manufacture, design, and operation of products and services while accounting for constraints invoked by sustainable factors. There are various factors that need to be considered in order to address engineering sustainability, which is critical for the overall sustainability of human development and activity.

This Special Issue aims to collect articles that develop OR optimization models (simulation, optimization, probability and statistics, decision theory, systems dynamics, multi-criteria decision making, etc.) in the field of sustainable engineering. Review articles that deal constructively with sustainable engineering debates are also welcome.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Applications of OR methods as support in creating innovation in engineering
• Environmental sustainability in engineering processes
• Mathematical programming for sustainable engineering
• Hybrid decision analysis for sustainable engineering
• OR tools for sustainable logistics processes
• Ecological engineering decision-making
• Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) optimization in sustainable engineering
• Risk analysis/modelling in sustainable engineering
• Innovative applications of OR tools and methods
• Application of MCDM approaches in engineering under uncertainty
• OR methods for solving sustainable facility location problems
• OR methods for solving sustainable routing and/or scheduling problems
• OR methods for the efficiency analysis and/or performance measurement
• OR methods for achieving sustainable capacity expansion
• OR tools for development of sustainable investment plans in engineering