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Despite the rapid development of China's digital economy and many studies involving the development of digital economy, there is no unified standard on the measurement of digital economy, and the existing accounting methods all have certain shortcomings. In view of this, this paper constructs a set of accounting system to measure the scale of digital economy industry, from the perspective of digital industrialization and industrial digitization, based on input-output tables. We separate digital economy from traditional industries by splitting and merging IO tables using data such as the Economic Census Yearbook and SAT to calculate the scale of digital economy industry. In this paper, data from Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei provinces in 2017 were used as an example for the calculation. The accounting results show that there is still a large gap in digital economy industry development between Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, with the total digital economy industry scale, industry digitization scale, digital industrialization scale and the proportion of digital economy value added to GDP in Beijing being much higher than those in Hebei and Tianjin. In addition, due to the characteristics of the respective industrial structures in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, the percentages of the four major categories in digital industrialization also show different performance. The share of digital technology application industry in Beijing is much higher than that in Tianjin and Hebei, while the share of digital product manufacturing in Hebei and Tianjin is high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper about the high-quality development level of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is of vital importance to promote high-quality development of China. An evaluation index system that can comprehensively describe the high-quality development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is designed in this paper. There are 27 indexes selected to evaluate the high-quality development of the cities in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province from three dimensions: target level, standard level and index level. By applying the SOM (Self-Organizing Map) algorithm to cluster analysis of high-quality development levels. The results of the study showed that there are variations in high-quality development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster. Beijing has the highest quality development level, followed by Tianjin and Hebei, and a significant gap exists between Beijing and Hebei in terms of the level of quality development. In addition, the high-quality development level of cities in Hebei Province are not balanced. Therefore, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster should break down administrative barriers, making overall plans and promoting coordinated development among regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • 2010-2018: Ecological-economic coordination was highest in Hebei and lowest in Tianjin. • The ecological-economic coordination degree of various regions has obvious spatial spillover effects. • Improved functional and development tactics and policy reforms can strengthen ecological-economic development relations. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is an integral part of the ecology and economy of northern China. Unique geographical factors closely interlink the regions; however, limited attention has been paid to urban clusters' ecological and economic spatial linkages. Therefore, this paper introduces Ecosystem service value and Ecological-economic coordination degree, considering extensive spatial spillover effects within the region under study. This paper adopts spatial autocorrelation and the spatial Durbin model to detect the coordination relationship. Moreover, examine the influence of population growth, sales of consumer goods, health facilities, green areas, and Tertiary Industry on Ecological-economic coordination. The relationship is tested economic growth, using the internal and external Thus, it determines that the change of coordination degree shows a "V"-shaped development in time and space and gradually realizes the overall coordinated development. It affirmed the judgment that the Ecological-economic coordination degree of each region has an obvious spatial spillover effect. Policy reforms, improved functions, and development mechanisms can enable the balanced and healthy development of the region's ecological and economic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollution havens create environmental inequality issues. China's recent policy of directing high-pollution firms to migrate out of its capital, Beijing, offers a case of a pollution haven that was mandated, rather than resulting from firms' responses to environmental regulation. More importantly, it leads to a question that has been less discussed in previous literature: does a pollution haven strike back? After the highly polluting enterprises moved out of Beijing to neighboring Hebei province, Hebei has been blamed for the continuing poor air quality in Beijing, based on a perception that the pollutants emitted in Hebei are being blown back to Beijing. This paper investigates the existence of a pollution haven in Hebei and quantifies the contribution of Hebei's emissions to Beijing's air quality. We find that the proportion of output values and the relative concentration of high-pollution industries in Hebei increased when the large-scale out-migration began, while the indicators in Beijing decreased. We also find higher emissions of enterprises in Hebei than their counterparts in Beijing. Together, these findings indicate the existence of a "manmade" pollution haven. Further, based on high-frequency spatial data, we combine an Autoregressive Distributed Lag model and a Spatial Autoregressive Model and decompose the factors that affect Beijing's air quality into local and regional transport of air-borne pollutants. We find a significant effect of the neighboring cities' air pollution on Beijing's air quality. This indicates that the pollution haven indeed struck back. These findings imply the importance of regional policies to control air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan cluster has inevitably brought many problems along with its vigorous economic development, one of which is environmental pollution. Based on our previous research, we clarified the mechanisms and characteristics of environmental pollution transfer in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding regions, and this paper refered to the further correct delineation of the responsibility for environmental pollution control in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the surrounding provinces. This study measureed the full cost of environmental pollution control and economic benefits in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and surrounding provinces in terms of the economic costs required for governance, and constructed an inequity index (CG index) to characterise the inequity in the share of costs borne and benefits by the aforementioned provinces. The results of the study showed that there is significant environmental inequity and inequality of responsibility in the process of regional trade among the provinces in and around Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and the surrounding region. The developed provinces (Beijing and Tianjin) benefited more and bore less responsibility for pollution control due to their optimised industrial structure, producing more capital-intensive and high value-added industries, while provinces with heavy chemical, high pollution and labour-intensive industries, such as Hebei and Shanxi, developed their economies more in the primary and secondary sectors due to their irrational industrial structure, and therefore benefited less and bore more when trading goods with the developed provinces (Beijing and Tianjin) benefited less and took more responsibility for pollution control. Based on the above findings, policy recommendations are then put forward to provide suggestions and references for the collaborative management of environmental pollution in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the carbon compensation mechanism as a tool to promote coordinated economic and environmental development in China's Jing-Jin-Ji region (Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei). A novel approach for calculating carbon compensation cost that integrate emission responsibility as well as carbon abatement cost through a bi-level programming model is proposed. Shared producer and consumer responsibility is established for carbon emissions under the multi-regional input-output model. Marginal abatement costs of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei are further calculated through the input-output and linear programming method. Results highlight that the emission responsibility allocation method significantly affects the inter-regional carbon compensation amount. The production-based approach leads to a 77% reduction of carbon compensation amount from Beijing to Hebei, and a 170% overestimation from Tianjin to Hebei compared with the shared responsibility approach in 2060. The optimal carbon compensation unit cost ranges from 1539 to 6438 yuan/ton when the carbon reduction ratio ranges from 10% to 20%. Beijing would compensate Hebei 3.56 and 29.74 billion yuan for achieving 10% and 20% emission reduction, respectively. Similarly, Tianjin's compensation for Hebei would be 0.23 and 1.87 billion yuan in the two scenarios. Results further show that implementing the proposed carbon compensation mechanism can reduce total abatement cost by 43% and 84% in Jing-Jin-Ji under the two scenarios. The methods and results of this paper could help inform future carbon compensation implementation in China and other countries. • Develop a bi-level programming model to determine optimal carbon compensation cost. • Consider emission responsibility and carbon abatement cost in Jing-Jin-Ji. • Resulting mechanism reduces abatement cost by 43% for 10% emission reduction. • Production-based allocation underestimates carbon compensation amount by 62%. • Optimal carbon compensation unit cost changes with marginal abatement cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, ozone pollution is one of the key environmental concerns, and to provide more effective strategies for ozone control, this paper proposes the use of the Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) in conjunction with MAX-DOAS for observations and ozone sensitivity analysis. Compared to traditional polar-orbiting satellites, GEMS, launched by South Korea in 2019, offers superior spatiotemporal resolution. However, there is a lack of ground validation for GEMS data related to ozone and its precursors. In this study, we conducted validation in the Jing-Jin-Ji (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) region using two typical MAX-DOAS sites and the China National Environmental Monitoring Center (CNEMC) sites, confirming the accuracy of GEMS data. Analysis of the seasonal horizontal distribution results from GEMS and vertical distribution results from MAX-DOAS in 2022 reveals that the concentrations of NO 2 , HCHO, O 3 , and ozone sensitivity not only display seasonality and regional variations but also exhibit distinct characteristics at different altitudes and times, influenced by local climatic conditions, human activities, and topography. When formulating ozone control policies, it becomes imperative to consider factors such as time, regional characteristics, and seasonality. Comparisons between daily results from TROPOMI and GEMS indicate that polar-orbiting satellites may overlook high-pollution periods within a single day, and their measurements may not provide a comprehensive representation of an entire day's data. Consequently, relying solely on polar-orbiting satellite data for shaping ozone prevention and control policies may inadvertently encourage ozone formation during specific time periods, rendering these policies ineffective. Therefore, leveraging GEMS is essential for the development of comprehensive, around-the-clock ozone control policies. Finally, we used monitoring data from Beijing on October 6, 2022, to illustrate how the combination of GEMS and MAX-DOAS enables three-dimensional monitoring of pollutant transport processes on an hourly scale. [Display omitted] • Validation of the accuracy of ozone and its precursor data from GEMS. • Analysis of hourly ozone sensitivity level distribution using GEMS. • Limitations of polar orbit satellites in O 3 sensitivity analysis compared to GEMS. • Observation of the transport of pollutants combining GEMS and MAX-DOAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is an area where the conflict on resource environment and development most acute. Based on the panel data of listed companies in 2010-2019, this paper constructs a panel model on strategic identification degree, which reveals the development strategy of enterprises and the degree of strategic transformation. The results show that environmental and credit policies in this region have been focused on protecting and supporting business-oriented enterprises. The listed company converts monetary funds and some business assets into financial assets through the items available on the balance sheet, which hinders the development strategy of promoting independent innovation in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. We hope that the government should pay more attention to the problem of illegal use of funds in enterprises, and take the necessary regulatory measures to correct the tendency of misallocation of assets. At the same time, the environmental protection department and commercial banks will coordinate and work together to promote the independent innovation and business development of enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan area is a significant carbon emission center. The region's early achievement of peak carbon targets is critical to the nation's achievement of peak carbon targets. In this paper, it is proposed to use different orders of grey models to classify into three scenarios. Based on three scenarios, the grey multivariate convolutional model with new information priority accumulation is adopted to predict carbon emissions in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and select the scenario suitable for local development. The results show that: (1) The Beijing region has already achieved peak carbon, the Tianjin region may not reach its peak carbon target by 2030, and the Hebei region is expected to reach its peak carbon target by 2030. (2) The high rate of carbon emission reduction scenario will greatly improve the air quality of Beijing. The low-speed growth carbon emission scenario is more in line with the future development of Tianjin city. The low-rate carbon reduction scenario is more in line with the synergistic governance of pollution reduction and carbon reduction in Hebei Province. (3) Beijing's population policy in the most recent years has been conducive to improving the local environment. Tianjin's medium-term population policy is more in line with the local area. Hebei's medium-term industrial structure reform is favorable to local development. • Grey correlation analysis is used to analyze the factors affected carbon emissions in a region. • The factors with high correlation are predicted by using grey prediction models of different orders. • The high rate of carbon emission reduction scenario will greatly improve the air quality of Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Water use efficiency evaluation based on 3D water footprint using SBM model. • Two scenarios for water use efficiency evaluation. • Analyzing the driving forces affecting water footprint change using the LMDI model. Water shortage and the conflict between water supply and demand have become the main constraints to the sustainable development of sustainable societies in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region. Scientific evaluation of water usage efficiency and clarification of the three-dimensional water ecological footprint (EF 3D) drivers are of great significance for the collaborative environmental management of BTH region. This paper firstly explores the evolution of water footprint breadth (EF size), depth (EF depth) and EF 3D in BTH region from 2004 to 2020. Using the super-efficient SBM (Slacks-Based Measure) model with EF 3D to evaluate the water use efficiency of BTH region in two scenarios. 22 impact factors were selected to analyze the dynamics affecting the change of EF 3D in BTH region by using the LMDI (Logistic Mean Divided Index) model. The results show that: (1) The water resources pressure of the three provinces are in the overload state from 2004 to 2020, and the EF 3D is at its maximum in 2011–2015. The EF depth of BTH region is fluctuating up and then fluctuating down around 2012, and the most serious capital consumption of water resources stock is in Tianjin. (2) The water resources in Hebei are all in inefficient use. The water resources in Tianjin are in a state of inefficient use in some study years, and since 2014, the water resources are in a state of fluctuating increase and high efficiency. As for Beijing, the water resources are in a state of efficient use in the study years. On the whole, scenario 2 better reflects the water resources utilization efficiency situation and is more in line with the real situation. (3) The water structure and endowment of water resources are pivotal factors positively influencing the EF 3D. To mitigate EF 3D and achieve sustainable utilization of water resources, both Hebei and Tianjin have ample room for progress in elevating agricultural water-saving technologies, optimizing industrial structure, and enhancing water usage patterns. Agricultural water consumption is no longer the primary driver of water resource depletion in Beijing, necessitating focused attention on the impact of external water diversions in terms of local water displacement, optimization of water usage structures, and their role in supporting socio-economic development. Additionally, excessive reliance on external water diversions may entail associated risks that warrant consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land-use change and the associated influences on the carbon metabolism system should not be overlooked in the context of rapid urbanization. By combing carbon emissions/sequestrations accounting and ecological network analysis, this paper quantitatively described the general situation and spatial distribution evolution of carbon metabolism in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration from 2015 to 2019, investigated carbon flows induced by land-use change, and revealed the ecological relationships between the components of the system. The spatial distribution of carbon emissions showed a trend of high in the southeast and low in the northwest, while carbon sequestrations were the opposite. At the early stage of regional coordinate development, the migration of enterprises with heavy energy consumption and emission and expansion of the transportation network has promoted the economic development in the surrounding area of Beijing, but also lead to the carbon emission transfer and the severe imbalance of carbon metabolism. Despite that a slight improvement can be found in the carbon metabolism system of Beijing and Tianjin, Hebei province still faces intensely competitive ecological relationships between industrial land and other land use, and has a relatively low mutualism index. It is suggested that integrated land use planning, strict cultivated land protection policies, and proper ecological compensation mechanism are the key measures to facilitate the sustainable development of the BTH urban agglomeration. • A temporal-spatial evolution of carbon metabolism in the BTH urban agglomeration is presented. • The impacts of land use change on urban carbon metabolism system are investigated. • Ecological relationships between land-use changes are explored based on the ENA method. • Industrial transfer and expanded transportation exacerbate carbon metabolism imbalance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's most critically air polluted area, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region has attracted significant attention; the regional linkage of environmental indicators in BTH has been widely studied in recent years. The city-level air pollutants and economic benefits hidden in trade activities are still poorly understood. This paper examines air pollutants and economic benefits embodied in BTH's consumption based on a city-level input-output table. Our results show that transfer flows of air pollutants and value-added between different cities lead to the unequal exchange of air pollution and economic benefits in BTH. Beijing gains more value-added (38.40%) through trade compared with its atmospheric pollutant equivalents (APE, 1.75%) induced by consumption demand in BTH. Conversely, Tangshan, Shijiazhuang, and Handan emit more air pollutants compared with the benefits they gain through trade. The results provide evidence for the establishment of compensation mechanisms between cities. • Trade between cities lead to the unequal exchange of air pollution and economic benefits in BTH. • Beijing gains a higher proportion of value added compared with its air pollutants induced by trade. • Cities in Hebei province gain lower proportions of value added compared with their air pollutants induced by trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A CG-GSO model is proposed to measure the urbanization development level. • The model restores the nonlinear urbanization development in urban agglomeration. • The JJJ urban agglomeration is worse than single regions on urbanization development. • The obstacle factors of single regions and urban agglomeration are different. The Beijing(Jing)-Tianjin(Jin)-Hebei(Ji) (JJJ) urban agglomeration is one of the three major urban agglomeration in China, which plays an important strategic role in China's regional development pattern. Based on the concern of inter-relationship within urban agglomeration, this paper creatively proposed a comprehensive gravity-Gram Schmidt Orthogonalization coupling model (CG-GSO) to quantitatively measure the urbanization development level at different regional scales. Compared with the information entropy method, the CG-GSO model was more reliable and fairer in evaluating the urbanization development of an urban agglomeration in the inter-annual dimension. We used the obstacle factor model to find out important ways to realize sustainable development at different regional scales. According to the trends from 2003 to 2017, the urbanization development levels were predicted by using the gray forecast model at different regional scales during 2018–2030. There was an upward trend in urbanization development at different regional scales. Compared with the internal single regions, a high starting and slow developing trend was in the urban agglomeration. In Beijing, the obstacle factors in urbanization development were in the demographic, social and eco-environmental subsystems. However, the obstacle factors were in the economic, eco-environmental and social subsystems in Tianjin, Hebei and JJJ urban agglomeration. The forecast results showed that urbanization development was going strong in internal regions from 2018 to 2030, while the overall urbanization development was slow in urban agglomeration. Urbanization development should focus on labor redistribution, weakening the boundary on social welfare, improving the efficiency of economic development and paying attention to protecting eco-environment for taking the sustainable development road in the JJJ urban agglomeration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]