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Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei are located in the Bohai Rim region of Northeast Asia, China. It is the region with the largest economic scale and strongest economic vitality in northern China. Due to historical development and administrative division, the economic strength of Beijing and Tianjin is strong, while the economic strength of Hebei Province is weak. The economic development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is severely uneven. The "Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Coordinated Development Strategy" is proposed and elevated to a national strategy in this context, aiming to explore the path of coordinated economic development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, promote economic cooperation, balance economic differences, and enhance the overall economic strength of the Beijing Tianjin Hebei region through national leadership. The economic collaborative development evaluation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is a classical multiple attribute decision making (MADM) problems. Recently, the TODIM and Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) method has been used to cope with MADM issues. The hesitant triangular fuzzy sets (HTFSs) are used as a tool for characterizing uncertain information during the economic collaborative development evaluation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. In this paper, the hesitant triangular fuzzy TODIM-EDAS (HTF-TODIM-EDAS) method is built to solve the MADM under HTFSs. In the end, a numerical case study for economic collaborative development evaluation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is given to validate the proposed method. The main contributions of this paper are summarized: (1) the HTF-TODIM-EDAS method is proposed under HTFSs. (2) The MADM method is designed based on the information entropy and HTF-TODIM-EDAS method under HTFSs. (3) A numerical case study for economic collaborative development evaluation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is given to validate the proposed method. (4) A comparison between proposed method and existing methods is carried out to check its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, China has implemented several measures to improve air quality. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region is one area that has suffered from the most serious air pollution in China and has undergone huge changes in air quality in the past few years. How to scientifically assess these change processes remain the key issue in further improving the air quality over this region in the future. To evaluate the changes in major air pollutant emissions over this region, this paper employs ensemble Kalman filtering (EnKF) for integrating the national ground monitoring pollutant observation data and the Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (NAQPMS) simulation data to inversely estimate the emission rates of SO2, NOX, CO, and primary PM2.5 over BTH region in February from 2014 to 2019. The results show that SO2, NOX, CO, and primary PM2.5 emissions in the BTH region decreased in February from 2014 to 2019 by 83%, 37%, 41%, and 42%, while decreases in Beijing during this period were 86%, 67%, 59%, and 65%, respectively. Compared with the prior emission inventory, the inversion emission inventory reduces the uncertainty of multi-pollutant simulation in the BTH region, with simulated root mean square errors of the monthly average concentrations of SO2, NOX, PM2.5, and CO reduced by 41%, 30%, 31%, and 22%, respectively. The average uncertainties of SO2, NOX, PM2.5, and CO inversion emissions in 2014–19 are ±14.03% yr−1, ±28.91% yr−1, ±126.15% yr−1, and ±43.58% yr−1. Compared with the uncertainty of MEIC emission, the uncertainties of all species changed by +2% yr−1, −2% yr−1, −26% yr−1, and −4% yr−1, respectively. The spatial distribution results illustrate that air pollutant emissions are mainly distributed over the eastern and southern BTH regions. The spatial gap between the inversion emissions and MEIC emissions was further closed in 2019 compared to 2014. The results of this paper can provide a new reference for assessing changes in air pollution emissions over the BTH region in recent years and validating a bottom-up emission inventory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the launch of the "Channel Computing Resources from the East to the West" project, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, as a national integrated big-data center system, has established a Zhangjiakou data center cluster and continuously optimized the regional computing power layout. Beijing has been accelerating the construction of a global digital economy benchmark city since 2021, committed to forming a collaborative development pattern of computing power integration, and achieving a globally leading density of data centers. The core industry of Beijing's digital economy has strong fundamental advantages, but as a high-energy consuming industry, data centers cannot fully meet real-time computing power needs solely relying on the local infrastructure construction in Beijing. Therefore, this paper explored the promoting role of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei national integrated big-data center system in the construction of a global digital economy benchmark city in Beijing through channels such as computing power resource sharing, green energy consumption support, and industrial development collaboration. Based on this, it analyzed the challenges that still exist in current regional collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production connection is a crucial component of the Inter City Association. An urban network based on the enterprise perspective better reflects the structural characteristics of regional cities. Based on data gathered from the headquarters and branches of the listed manufacturing enterprises in 2020, this paper analyzes the county-level administrative units in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China. Using the subordinate connection model and the social network analysis method, this paper examines the spatial structural characteristics and factors of urban networks in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The results suggest that resource allocation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is unbalanced, with a significant difference in urban radiation and agglomeration capacity. As the administrative centers, Beijing, Tianjin, and Shijiazhuang show a strong ability to allocate resources within the network. The overall network density in the region was shown to be relatively low, with the main links being of low or medium level. The urban network is defined by the network connection led by Beijing and Tianjin with Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan and Beijing-Baoding-Shijiazhuang as the main axis. These cities exhibit a "dense southeast and sparse northwest" pattern. From a hierarchical perspective, high-level network connections are based mainly on spatial proximity. Analyzing the agglomerative subgroups, the study found that the inner and outer connections of the core subgroups were relatively high. Semi-marginal subgroups generally accepted the radiation of core subgroups, while marginal subgroups had little connection with other subgroups in the region. The results of the QAP analysis show that the administrative relationship, spatial distance, city size difference, economic development level difference, industrial structure difference, and labor cost difference have a significant influence on the urban network of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The observation facts of trend and variability are estimated for a century‐long timescale, as well as some possible attributions affecting temperature extremes over Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei region. In this paper, the new constructed daily maximum and minimum temperature series during the last 100 years in situ stations of Beijing, Tianjin and Baoding city are used, and two 30‐year baseline climatology of 1961–1990 and 1980–2010 are both used in calculating extreme temperature events. The results indicate that there are long‐lasting, frequent and serious extreme warming over Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei region, especially for extreme low temperature, with larger declining trends (at 5% significance) from 1981 to 2010 baseline than those from 1961 to 1990 baseline. And from a statistical perspective, El Niño decay years and surface sea temperature (SST) anomalies at some typical ocean regions of the Arabian Sea and the Bengal Bay on the northern Indian Ocean, the Western Pacific and the Mid Atlantic, Southern Indian Ocean and around 45°–85°E, 68°–82°N on the southwest Arctic Ocean can be used as the warning signals denoting extreme warming over Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei region. Additionally, urbanization has a significant (at 5% significance) effect on extreme warming over Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei region since 1979, with 24.3% warming contribution for annual minimum temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking 13 cities in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei as the research objects, this paper constructed the urban smart development index system from three aspects: smart space construction, smart element allocation and smart welfare performance, measured the urban smart development level in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei from 2008 to 2018, and used ArcGIS software to realize the temporal and spatial measurement performance of smart development level. The obstacle degree model was used to reveal the criterion-level factors that hinder the smart development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei cities. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The smart development level in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei is low, the research period shows a weak fluctuation and downward trend, and there is room for improvement. (2) From the spatial difference of smart development level, the double core trend with Beijing and Tianjin as the high level is obvious, showing a downward trend from the center to the surrounding. (3) From the overall barrier performance of study area, smart welfare performance accounts for the largest proportion, smart space construction takes the second place, and smart factor allocation is the lowest. (4) The obstacles to smart development in different cities vary. The obstacles in Beijing and Tianjin are mainly focused on smart welfare performance. As the main core area to undertake Beijing's noncapital functions, smart space construction and smart element allocation are the obstacles in most cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2022 Winter Olympics were held in the three competition zones of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, China. The venues of this Winter Olympics were scattered and the terrain was complex. Moreover, the medical resources of Hebei and Beijing were relatively unbalanced. In the medical security of major events, the connection between first aid and in-hospital processes is of the utmost importance to rescue quality. 5th generation mobile network (5G) applications in medical scenarios are on the rise. It would be of great relevance to fully use 5G's low-latency and high-speed features to share the process information of patients, ambulance personnel, and the destination hospital's rescue team at emergency scenes and in transportation, improving rescue efficiency. This paper proposes a system scheme of cross-institutional emergency health information sharing based on 5G and augmented reality wearable devices. It also integrates the construction method of monitoring and other sign data sharing, in addition to testing the proposed scheme's service quality in 5G environments. In the deployment area of the 5G emergency medical rescue information sharing scheme for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, we selected two designated medical support institutions for testing. The test adopted a combination of fixed-point and driving tests to experiment on the service data, voice service, and streaming media indicators. The 5G signal's coverage rate was close to 100%, the standalone connection's success rate was 100%, and the drop rate was 0. The average downlink rate of multiple scenarios was 620mbps, and the average uplink rate of 5G was over 71.8mbps, which is higher than the average 5G level in China. The downlink rate was more than 20 times larger than the 4th generation mobile network (4G) rate. This study's proposed scheme demonstrates the importance of 5G applications in emergency response and support, in addition to providing a suitable scheme for the integration of 5G networks in the medical scene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether the place-based industrial policy promotes regional economic growth is a hot issue in the field of regional industrial economic practice. As a major national strategy in China, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei industrial coordinated development policy has been implemented more than 8 years. Verifying its effect on regional economic growth and revealing the policy action path will help to further optimize the policy implementation process through feedback. In this paper, the policy effect and its differentiation are empirically studied from 'quality' and 'quantity' respectively by establishing a growth model using the Dual Differences method. The results show that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei industrial coordinated development policy improves total factor productivity by 2.26% in terms of 'quality', and reduces GDP growth rate by 4.65% in terms of 'quantity'. For the different region, the GDP growth rate increased by 1.28%, while total factor productivity decreased by 2.63% in Beijing, the GDP growth rate decreased by 3.17% and total factor productivity increased by 0.87% in Tianjin, and the GDP growth rate increased by 2.56% and total factor productivity increased by 1.58% in Hebei. The policy is mainly realized by fixed asset investment, capital deepening degree and enterprise scale expansion, while the effect of labor input, R&D investment and enterprise number is not significant. The policy is to give full play to the driving role of fixed asset investment such as "new infrastructure", increase investment in labor and research and development in the region, strengthen the construction of a competitive market environment, and stabilize the 'quality' and 'quantity' to further release policy dividends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the accelerating urbanization process in China, the extensive economic growth model with high energy consumption and high pollution aggravates atmospheric environmental pollution and restricts the sustainable development of the social economy. The Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region has the most severe haze pollution and the most acute contradiction between resources, environment and economic development. Based on the physical coupling theory, this paper constructs a coupling coordination degree model of the economy, environment and high haze pollution industries, such as the thermal power industry. Through literature analysis and expert investigation of the economic, industrial and environmental data of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region from 2006 to 2018, the coordinated development of the economy, environment and high haze pollution industries, such as the thermal power industry, in the above region, was dynamically monitored. The monitoring results show that the development level of the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei region is significantly different, and the three subregions have not entered the stage of coordinated development. Moreover, since 2015, they have been in a bottleneck period of development and have not achieved a higher level of progress. The three subregions have different advantages and restraining factors. For example, the backward level of Hebei's economy and high haze pollution industries, such as the thermal power industry, restrict the coordinated development of the region as a whole. Only by accelerating the high-quality development of the Hebei economy can we break through the bottleneck of the development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric oxidizing capacity (AOC) is an essential driving force of troposphere chemistry and self-cleaning, but the definition of AOC and its quantitative representation remain uncertain. Driven by national demand for air pollution control in recent years, Chinese scholars have carried out studies on theories of atmospheric chemistry and have made considerable progress in AOC research. This paper will give a brief review of these developments. First, AOC indexes were established that represent apparent atmospheric oxidizing ability (AOIe) and potential atmospheric oxidizing ability (AOIp) based on aspects of macrothermodynamics and microdynamics, respectively. A closed study refined the quantitative contributions of heterogeneous chemistry to AOC in Beijing, and these AOC methods were further applied in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and key areas across the country. In addition, the detection of ground or vertical profiles for atmospheric OH·, HO 2 ·, NO 3 · radicals and reservoir molecules can now be obtained with domestic instruments in diverse environments. Moreover, laboratory smoke chamber simulations revealed heterogeneous processes involving reactions of O 3 and NO 2 , which are typical oxidants in the surface/interface atmosphere, and the evolutionary and budgetary implications of atmospheric oxidants reacting under multispecies, multiphase and multi-interface conditions were obtained. Finally, based on the GRAPES-CUACE adjoint model improved by Chinese scholars, simulations of key substances affecting atmospheric oxidation and secondary organic and inorganic aerosol formation have been optimized. Normalized numerical simulations of AOIe and AOIp were performed, and regional coordination of AOC was adjusted. An optimized plan for controlling O 3 and PM 2.5 was analyzed by scenario simulation. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is subject to the most severe haze condition in China. Against the backdrop of the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, it is of great significance to explore the space-time distribution characteristics of high haze pollution industries in the above region. The purpose of this article is to find high haze pollution industries scientifically, analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of high haze pollution industries in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei correctly, and formulate effective reduction measures for the spatial distribution of high haze pollution industries in different regions of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. It hopes that the measures provide a basis for effective to reduce high haze pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Using the Gini coefficient and location entropy, this paper explores the space-time characteristics of high haze pollution industries in 13 cities of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The results show that those aforesaid high haze pollution industries present an obvious clustering trend in Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Handan, and some areas along the economic axis of China, overall flooding into Eastern coastal and Southern inland areas. By industry, the petroleum processing and coking processing industry, chemical raw materials and chemical products industry, manufacture of non-metallic mineral products, and ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry witness a declining clustering trend, as opposed to the electricity, heat production, and supply industry. Meanwhile, core cities of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region have developed high haze pollution industries, and the hinterland lags in economic development. It is necessary to face up to the differences in economic development among areas in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, promote the staggered development of high haze pollution industries, and build a high haze pollution industry chain with coordinated economic and environmental development, thus reducing the economic gap with each area, and realizing the coordinated development of economy, industry, and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In terrestrial ecosystems, vegetation is sensitive to climate change and human activities. Its spatial-temporal changes also affect the ecological and social environment. In this paper, we considered the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region to study the spatio-temporal vegetation patterns. The detailed analysis of a moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data were carried out through the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Our results show a slow and tortuous upward trend in the average leaf area index (LAI) in the study region for the periods 2001–2020. Specifically, Beijing had the highest LAI value, with an average of 1.64 over twenty years, followed by Hebei (1.30) and Tianjin (1.04). Among different vegetation types, forests had the highest normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) with the range of 0.62–0.78, followed by shrubland (0.58–0.75), grassland (0.34–0.66), and cropland (0.38–0.54) over the years. Spatially, compared to the whole study area, index value in the northwestern part of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region increased greatly in many areas, such as northwest Beijing, Chengde, and Zhangjiakou, indicating a significant ecological optimization. Meanwhile, there was ecological degradation in the middle and southeast regions, from Tangshan southeastward to Handan, crossing Tianjin, Langfang, the east part of Baoding, Shijiazhuang, and the west part of Cangzhou. Air temperature and precipitation were positively and significantly correlated with net primary production (NPP) and precipitation stood out as a key driver. Additionally, an intensification of the urbanization rate will negatively impact the vegetation NPP, with the shrubland and forest being affected most relative to the cropland. [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]

[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]

Based on the PSR conceptual evaluation model of urban green and low-carbon development competitiveness, this paper evaluates the green and low-carbon development competitiveness of 13 cities in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei from 2010 to 2019 and reveals their spatial effects and obstacle factors combined with the spatial autocorrelation and obstacle model. The results show the following: (1) In terms of the overall situation, the evaluation index of urban green and low-carbon development competitiveness in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region shows a fluctuating upward trend as a whole from 2010 to 2019. Among them, the comprehensive evaluation indexes of Beijing, Zhangjiakou, and Tianjin are very competitive, while Hengshui, Handan, and Xingtai are relatively weak. (2) In terms of spatial data analysis, the global and local Moran's I of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cities from 2010 to 2019 were positive and passed the 1% significant level test. This shows that the comprehensive evaluation index of urban green low-carbon development competitiveness of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cities has a positive spatial correlation, and the spatial agglomeration effect is significant. On the whole, it presents a spatial agglomeration pattern of "high in the north, partial jump, and low in the south". (3) In the aspect of obstacle factor analysis, the proportion of the tertiary industry output value in GDP, energy consumption of ten thousand yuan of GDP, the urban green technology innovation level, and industrial soot emission of ten thousand yuan of GDP are the main obstacle factors restricting the improvement of urban green low-carbon development competitiveness in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution caused by coal burning not only increases the cost of environmental pollution but also harms human health. It is urgent for China to change the practice of coal-fired central heating. Therefore, the effectiveness and sustainability of the Coal to Gas and Electricity policy have become the focus of all sectors of society. In this paper, eight cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region were taken as the experimental groups and the other eleven cities as the control groups. Based on the PSM-DID model and the time-varying DID model, a quasi-natural experimental analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of the policy of coal to gas and electricity to improve air quality in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region from 2015 to 2020 and to test the sustainability of the policy. Three research conclusions are shown below: First, during the implementation of the policy, especially in 2019, the AQI index decreased significantly. Although there was a rebound thereafter, it was still lower than before. This shows that the Coal to Gas and Electricity policy has indeed improved the air quality in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei during its implementation. Second, the policy had a great impact on SO2 and PM10 but was relatively weak on PM2.5 and CO. Therefore, there is an urgent need to formulate scientific and accurate policies to control different air pollutants. Third, the time-varying DID model was used to identify the dynamic sustainability effect of the Coal to Gas and Electricity policy. The results showed that the policy had a strong impact in the initial stage, but its effect was greatly reduced at the end of the implementation or near the end, when it was far less obvious than in the initial stage of the policy. Therefore, in formulating relevant measures to reduce air pollution, it is necessary to fully consider the sustainability of the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs a mobility network of Chinese scientists and a cooperation network of scientific research based on data on mobility and research cooperation in China at the urban scale. Through several methods, including spatial analysis, network analysis, and regression analysis, the nodes and bilateral relations in the two networks are found to be highly coupled. Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta are hot spots for the mobility and scientific research cooperation networks of Chinese scientists. Only a few cities in the two networks play important roles, and most of the cities serve as a foil. The spatial mobility and scientific research cooperation activities of Chinese scientists are concentrated in the eastern region, the Chinese scientists' mobility and scientific research cooperation networks are rhombus structure, the two networks both are compact and hierarchical network with Beijing as the single dominant city, and the power‐law distribution in the bilateral relationship of two networks shows a "pyramid structure". Finally, we discuss the possible reasons for the spatial co‐location relationship between the mobility and scientific cooperation of scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial spillover of air pollution in Beijing - Tianjin - Hebei region makes the territorial governance model inefficient. At the same time, it is facing the contradiction between environmental governance and economic development. So far, there is still no regional long-term mechanism for coordinated governance of air pollution. Ecological compensation theory is becoming an effective guiding theory to coordinate economic and environmental benefits. There is relatively little research on ecological compensation mechanism in the coordinated control of regional air pollution. Ecological compensation mechanism is an effective tool to promote air pollution control. At the same time, regional cooperation can realize the efficient control of air pollution. Scientifically constructing the cross regional cooperative control model of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei is a favorable way to implement comprehensive Control of air pollution. This paper discusses the necessity of ecological compensation mechanism for regional coordinated control of air pollution. Referring to practical experience of provinces and cities that have implemented the ecological compensation mechanism for air pollution control, and the effective way to distribute the compensation amount, compensation subject and compensation standard determination method that can be implemented in Beijing - Tianjin - Hebei region are analyzed, further proposing an effective way to establish an ecological compensation mechanism for regional air pollution collaborative control according to its reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract With the wide application of big data technology and the continuous innovation of the financial industry, the development of Internet finance has become irreversible. The new financial model has improved the efficiency of financial services and formed new ways of payment and transaction. The traditional credit information system has been unable to meet the needs of the development of the financial industry. The research methods adopted in this paper mainly include literature research, case analysis and comparative analysis. The development process, current situation and characteristics of China's personal credit system, as well as the development process and current situation of China's personal credit system under Internet finance are analyzed. It also points out the main problems faced by China's personal credit reporting system under the Internet finance. Then, aiming at the specific problems faced by China's personal credit reporting system under Internet finance, this paper makes case studies of representative market-oriented credit reporting institutions such as Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, and uses convolutional neural network to analyze the specific practices of these individual credit reporting institutions and achieves results. At the same time, it compares how different credit agencies make up for the shortcomings of personal credit reporting system. Finally, it draws the conclusion of perfecting the personal credit system of our country under the Internet finance, points out the new problems that may be brought by the superposition of various solutions, and puts forward the countermeasures and suggestions of perfecting the personal credit system of our country under the Internet finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The normal supply of energy is related to the stable development of the economy and society. Forecasting energy consumption helps prepare for the normal supply of energy. In the study of energy consumption forecasting, different scholars have used different forecasting models. This paper uses five-year energy consumption data in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and uses the grey fractional FGM(1, 1) model to analyze the next six years. Then, the energy consumption of three places is predicted. The advantage of the grey score FGM(1, 1) model is that it can get more accurate prediction results based on a small amount of information. In this study, relatively outdated information affects the accuracy of prediction results. However, other prediction models have great limitations on data. Choosing the grey number fractional model for prediction research can get a more reasonable prediction result. We use the FGM(1, 1) model to make predictions and get the prediction results. In Beijing, the growth rate of natural gas consumption has slowed down and will be basically stable by 2023. The average annual deceleration of coal consumption is 32%. The average annual deceleration of coke consumption is 10%. Crude oil consumption decreased by 6.3% annually. Gasoline consumption is slowly increasing. The consumption of kerosene increased about 8% annually. Diesel consumption is slowly decreasing. Fuel oil consumption is reduced by 17% annually. The average annual growth rate of power consumption exceeds 6%. In Tianjin, the annual growth rate of natural gas consumption is about 5%. Coal consumption is reduced by about 8% every year. The average annual deceleration of coke consumption is 7%. Crude oil consumption decreased by 2.4% annually. Gasoline consumption is slowly decreasing. The consumption of kerosene has increased by about 20% annually. Diesel consumption is slowly decreasing. Fuel oil consumption is reduced by 20% annually. Electricity consumption is slowly increasing. In Hebei Province, the annual growth rate of natural gas consumption is about 15%. Annual coal consumption is reduced by about 3%. Coke consumption remained stable. Crude oil consumption is reduced by 3% annually. Gasoline consumption is slowly increasing, and kerosene consumption has increased by about 31% annually. Diesel consumption is reduced by about 3% annually. Fuel oil consumption remained stable. Electricity consumption is slowly increasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand mobility patterns in mega-city regions from perspectives of accessibility and air-rail intermodality. Travellers' preferences for intercity mode and its access and egress modes were simultaneously collected in the context of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei mega-city region. The accessibility of transport hubs and destinations was measured to enable interpreting mobility behaviour in three dimensions, i.e., travel mode decisions, departure transport hub decisions, and transport service decisions. The calibrated behavioural model highlights a series of determinants regarding level-of-service attributes, travel characteristics, accessibility, socio-demographics, and their interaction. Based on the behavioural insights, twenty domestic cities were selected as destinations for analysing the dynamics of mobility patterns in terms of the competition within the multi-airport system and air-rail cooperation potential in the long-haul market. The elasticity of shifts in transport demand between the primary and secondary airports in the Beijing multi-airport system was assessed under various pricing strategies, highlighting the vital role of the most accessible airport in air traveller decision-making. Moreover, the results underline the effect of air-rail intermodal service upgrades, e.g., offering baggage handling systems and flexible tickets, on stimulating air-rail intermodal mobility in the mega-city region. • Behavioural determinants of intermodal travellers. • Joint decisions on transport modes, hubs, and services. • Effect of accessibility on competitive relationships in multi-airport systems. • Market share of air-rail intermodality in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei mega-city region. [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]

Research on ecological total-factor energy efficiency (ETFEE) is conducive to energy conservation, emission reduction, and ecological protection. This paper focuses on the measurement and decomposition of the ETFEE in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region in China. In order to measure the ETFEE values, the window technology is combined with a nonradial and nonoriented SBM-undesirable model considering undesirable outputs to overcome the defect of insufficient data of research objects and ensure the calculation process to be implemented. The findings show that Beijing and Tianjin are DEA-efficient, while Hebei is not. The technological progress rates of Beijing and Tianjin reach up to 11.92% and 14.96%, while that of Hebei retrogresses by 4.47%. The scale efficiencies of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei are 97.75%, 86.60%, and 93.81%, respectively, which means that there are potentials for further optimization in the energy structures. The impulse response results between the energy structure and the ETFEE show that the proportions of coal and petroleum have negative effects on the ETFEE, while that of natural gas has a positive effect. The research results can provide reference for decision makers to formulate regional development plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a series of statistical and regression approaches to investigate city-cluster transport connectivity patterns. Three major city clusters in China are selected for this study, namely, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) economic zones. Our analyses examine three aspects of city-cluster connectivity patterns: (i) connectivity distribution among cities within the city cluster; (ii) dependence of the non-center city on the center city; and (iii) the impact of improved intra-city-cluster rail connectivity on air-connectivity distribution. First, it is found that the BTH has the most concentrated connectivity among the three city clusters, with Beijing clearly dominating the other cities in every kind of connectivity. The connectivity distributions are more balanced in the YRD and PRD. Second, the calculated "survival connectivity" and regression analyses suggest that non-center cities heavily rely on the center city as the hub to develop their network connectivity. Such a "hub-and-spoke system" helps a non-center city improve total connectivity but reduces its direct connectivity to other cities outside the city cluster. Finally, our regression analysis shows that improved intra-city-cluster rail connectivity further deteriorates the air-connectivity disparity within the city cluster, which occurs because the center city benefits more from the upgraded air-HSR (high speed rail) intermodal connectivity because it can attract air passengers from neighboring non-center cities. Relevant policy implications and suggestions are also discussed in the paper. We believe the proposed statistical and regression approaches can be easily applied to examine city-cluster connectivity in other contexts and countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use changes can affect the ecosystem services. Since the implementation of reform and opening- up policy in 1978, the transformation and development of society and economy has led to the land use transition, and furthermore led to the "ecosystem services transition". Based on the data of LUCC, net primary productivity (NPP) and statistics in 1980, 2000 and 2015, this paper analyzed the changes and spatial patterns of two types of ecosystem service, e.g., food production, carbon sequestration and oxygen release, in the Beijing-Tianjin- Hebei region by using the methods of GIS and ecosystem service values calculation, and revealed the reasons for the "ecosystem services transition". The results show that: (1) In the past 35 years, the land use changes in the study region was mainly characterized by the expansion of construction land and the decrease of cultivated land. The phenomenon of conversion of cultivated land to construction land was particularly prominent in this region. Between 1980- 2000 and 2000- 2015, the cultivated land in mountainous areas changed from decrease to increase and the forest land changed from decrease to increase. The cultivated land in dam areas continued to increase and the forest land changed from decrease to increase. Both the cultivated land and forest land in plain area continued to decrease. In 1980 and 2000, areas with high values of NPP were mainly located in mountainous areas, and in 2015, they were mainly found in plain areas. (2) From 1980 to 2000, the ecosystem services in the study area were mainly reflected by the increase of food production service and the decrease of carbon sequestration and oxygen production service. From 2000 to 2015, the ecosystem services in the region were mainly featured by the simultaneous increase of food production function and carbon sequestration and oxygen production function. The pattern of "ecosystem service transition" was "food production + carbon sequestration and oxygen production - " → "food production + carbon sequestration and oxygen production + ". (3) The main reasons for "ecosystem services transition" were the improvement of agricultural productivity, the increase of area and quality of forest land, and the increase of the quality of cultivated land and grassland. In general, the "ecosystem services transition" in the Beijing-Tianjin- Hebei region has a positive impact on food security. It is particularly necessary to pay attention to areas where both food production function and ecological function declined. Policies aimed at improving agricultural productivity should be formulated, while policies for supporting ecological restoration should be continued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a heterogeneity stochastic frontier model (HSFM), we empirically investigated the economic efficiency of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei from 2003 to 2016 and its influencing factors. The key findings of the paper lie in: 1) in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the overall economic and technological efficiency tended to increase in a wavelike manner, economic growth slowed down, and there was an obvious imbalance in economic efficiency between the different districts, counties and cities; 2) the heterogeneity stochastic frontier production functions (SFPFs) of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei were different from each other, and investment was still an important impetus of economic growth in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei; 3) economic efficiency was positively correlated with economic agglomeration, human capital, industrial structure, infrastructure, the informatization level, and institutional factors, but negatively correlated with the government role and economic opening. The following policy suggestions are offered: 1) to improve regional economic efficiency and reduce the economic gap in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, governments must reduce their intervention in economic activities, stimulate the potentials of labor and capital, optimize the structure of human resources, and foster new demographic incentives; 2) governments must guide economic factors that are reasonable throughout Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and strengthen infrastructure construction in underdeveloped regions, thus attaining sustainable economic development; 3) governments must plan overall economic growth factors of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and promote reasonable economic factors (e.g., labor, resources, and innovations) across different regions, thus attaining complementary advantages between Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The natural formation and development of urban agglomerations is a process in which core cities continue to unite their neighboring cities to enhance sustainability for their own sustainable development. The upgrade mechanism of sustainable development urban agglomeration is a nonlinear composite upgrade curve that is a function of time, increasing with the number of cities. In this paper, the sustainable upgrade function curve, upgrade rate, and upgrade speed of urban agglomerations were solved using a geometrical derivation, and the index system for measuring the upgrade capability of sustainable development of urban agglomerations was established. The dynamic change in economic sustainable upgrade capability, social sustainable upgrade capability, environmental sustainable upgrade capability, and comprehensive sustainable upgrade capability of a Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration from 2000 to 2015 was measured by technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution and a grey correlation method, and a comprehensive, intercity unite strength model and a unite threshold calculation method for urban agglomerations were established. The research shows that the economic sustainable upgrade capability, social sustainable upgrade capability, environmental sustainable upgrade capability, and comprehensive sustainable upgrade capability of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration all show a wave-like rising trend. The average annual upgrade speeds during 2000–2015 are, respectively, 2.4%. 1.67%, 1.1%, and 1.74%, with the intercity comprehensive unite strength of urban agglomerations maintaining a general increase; but there is a limit to the joint threshold. From 2000 to 2015, as the core city of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, Beijing, to enhance its sustainable upgrade capability, jointly developed with Tianjin, Langfang, and Baoding before 2000, Tangshan in 2002, Cangzhou in 2009, Zhangjiakou and Shijiazhuang in 2012, and Chengde in 2014. By 2015, the comprehensive unite strength between Beijing and four cities (Handan, Qinhuangdao, Hengshui, and Xingtai) was still lower than the unite threshold of 6.14. These four cities are relatively far from Beijing, and offer no substantial contribution to the sustainable upgrade capability of Beijing. Through multiple fittings of the upgrade curve using the long-term sequence index of the comprehensive sustainable upgrade capability of Beijing (the core city of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration) from 2000 to 2015, it was found that the simulated curve of the comprehensive sustainable upgrade function of the agglomeration was very similar to the curve of the comprehensive sustainable upgrade capability, which indicates that the simulation results are satisfactory. The future comprehensive sustainable upgrade capability of the agglomeration can be analyzed and predicted by the comprehensive sustainable upgrade function model. This study provides quantitative decision-supporting evidence for promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration and provides theoretical guidance and algorithms for determining the number of cities joined with the sustainable development of national urban agglomerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing urbanization but growing resource scarcities, the securing provision of fundamental resources as food, energy and water (FEW) has become a unique challenge for urban sustainability. This is not only because of continuous demand of resource imports from different regions for urban areas, but also due to the complex interrelationships among FEW systems. In such context, exploring the interactions between FEW resources and economic activities when investigating FEW provisions to meet urban demand through trade is very essential to find effective policy intervention points and priority areas for actions. This paper investigates external binding FEW resource flows with internal certain interlinkages driven by final demand of Beijing city at different nodes along their supply chains, by combing structural path analysis and multi-regional input-output model of China 2010. The results show that the key source regions present overall neighborhood pattern that Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shandong near Beijing are the five leading contributors of tran-regional FEW provisions. The top 20 nexus paths are identified and the most important nexus pathways start with the other services in Beijing. Besides this, the critical supply chains appear divergent directions for FEW flows, driven by food, construction and agriculture industries respectively. Moreover, the key nodes mainly concentrate on less developed regions and energy-related sectors. For example, non-metal products manufacturing in Hebei, petroleum refining and coking in Heilongjiang, and coal mining and washing in Inner Mongolia have larger impacts on all of FEW flows across the supply chains. These results are very informative to targeting our efforts to address the urban FEW nexus issue both from the perspective of supply side and demand side. • Tele-coupling mechanism of urban FEW nexus is explored using MRIO and SPA methods. • Key source regions for urban FEW provisions present neighboring characteristics. • Service sector is the most important final consumption driver for top critical pathways. • Key nodes mainly concentrate on less developed regions and energy-related sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 1990 to 2017, the number of vehicles in China increased sharply from 5 million to 310 million, and vehicle emissions became one of the major sources of air pollution. Among the main sources of PM 2.5 in Beijing, the contributions from vehicle sources increased from 5.6% (2000) to 31.1% (2012) to 45% (2017). In 2010, the CO, hydrocarbon (HC), NO x , and particulate matter (PM) emissions of yellow-label vehicles (YLVs) accounted for 46.1%, 47.9%, 63.1% and 86.1% of the total emissions from on-road vehicles. In recent years, China has been implementing a YLV scrappage subsidy policy to control air pollution, and this policy has cost several hundred billion yuan nationwide. However, China has not evaluated the costs and benefits of the policy. Many people question whether the YLV scrappage subsidy policy is worthwhile, but all the stakeholders involved complicate the process of accurately evaluating the true value of the policy. In this study, we evaluated and compared the costs and benefits of the policy in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region based on 1.362 million YLVs from 2008 to 2015. Because of the implementation of the policy, the PM 2.5 , PM 10 , NO x , CO and HC emissions in the BTH region decreased by 16.46, 18.12, 174.44, 669.11, and 91.64 kt, respectively, in 2008–2015. The results show that the policy played an important role in reducing pollutant emissions and improving environmental quality in the BTH region. The costs, benefits, and net benefits of the policy were 13.69, 34.03, and 20.34 billion yuan , respectively. The cost-benefit ratio in the BTH region was 1:2.49; at the city scale, Beijing ranked first (1:7.27), and the cost-benefit ratios of Tianjin and Hebei Province were 1:2.06 and 1:1.14, respectively. Of the 13 cities in the BTH region, Beijing had the highest net benefits, amounting to 16.43 billion yuan , while Handan City has the lowest net benefits, amounting to −0.58 billion yuan. The results may provide scientific support for the promotion of older vehicle and diesel vehicle scrappage subsidy policies, the development of cost-benefit analysis (CBA), and effective environmental decision-making in China. • Based on net number of scrappage YLVs, net benefits of the policy are calculated. • This paper estimates costs and benefits of the policy based on 1.27 million YLVs. • The costs, benefits, and net benefits are 13.69, 34.03, and 20.34 billion yuan. • The results help China promote vehicle scrappage subsidy policy on a large scale. • The results promote the development of the cost-benefit analysis in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though renewable energy development has gained momentum in China, thermal power generation still accounts for approximately 70% of the county's total power generation serving as the major source of carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions in China. Facing the challenges of meeting 2030 peak target of CO 2 emission and realizing the coordinated development of thermal power generation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, this paper applies generalized Divisia Index Method (GDIM) to decompose the dynamics in the relevant CO 2 emission. The effects of five factors including electricity demand, energy consumption, technology, energy efficiency and energy-mix are considered. The decomposition suggests that electricity demand is the primary factor driving the CO 2 emission up, whereas technology effect decreases CO 2 emission the most. Given the significant roles of technology, energy-mix and energy efficiency in CO 2 emissions reduction, seven scenarios are designed to identify the optimal coordinated development pathway for thermal power generation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Through upgrading energy structure and/or enhancing energy efficiency, the thermal power generation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region can achieve coordinated development and realize the 2030 peak target under four scenarios. The detailed development pathways for CO 2 emissions and specific policy implications for Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei are provided to further govern CO 2 emissions and maintain sustainable development. • Proposed a five-factor Generalized Divisia Index Model (GDIM) for CO 2 emission analysis. • Analyzed the CO 2 from thermal power generation in China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. • Electricity demand and technology contributed the most to the positive and negative changes of CO 2 , respectively. • Designed seven thermal generation development scenarios to study the CO 2 change until 2030. • The 2030 CO 2 peak target can be achieved under four scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the development strategies of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei port cluster. Based on the data of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei port cluster in 1980~2014, a VAR model was established with such four variables as total handling capacity, import and export, GDP and the employment. Then, the economic relationship between the port cluster and the hinterland was analysed by impulse response, and the four variables were subjected to the Grainger causality test. The results show that the total handling capacity of the port cluster has a positive effect on the import and export, GDP, and employment, but the increase in GDP is not the Granger-cause of the increase in the port cluster throughput. The GDP growth only has a short-term driving effect on the port cluster throughput. The long-term growth of port throughput largely depends on international economy. What is worse, the positive effect of port throughput on hinterland economy is rather limited. The research findings and suggestions provide meaningful reference for the research on port cluster economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The middle route of south-to-north water transfer project is a canal system. The downstream part from Anyang to Beijing has ice in winter every year. And the water resources requirement of this part is still hard in winter. . Ice condition is important to operation the canal system in winter. Ice evolution simulation is an important method to improve ice hazard threat of the middle route of south-to-north water transfer project by ice prediction and canal system automation operation. In this paper, a one dimensional operation simulation model for the middle route of South-to-North water transfer project has been established, which including unsteady flow simulation, water temperature simulation, ice cover evolution simulation and PI controller. It could describe the ice evolution process, hydraulic responses and gates operation process. And the model had taken the canal system characteristics into consideration including ice cannot flow through downstream gate of each pool and coupling of system hydraulic response. Ice observation is a dangerous work, and the project is so long. So, just limited ice observed data at some canal pools of the project is used to confirm the parameters value for the model. The parameters calibration results showed that the heat exchange coefficient of open channel hwi was 18 W/(m2·°C) and heat exchange coefficient under ice sheet conditions hwai was 26 W/(m2·°C), and the averaged error Ec of ice cover thickness and water temperature were 0.67 cm and 0.07 °C respectively. So the reliability of the model was confirmed to calibrate water temperature process, ice cover formation process and ice cover thickness process. And then, the model was applied to Beijing-Shijiazhuang part of the south-to-north water transfer project case simulation to study the ice situation evolution, hydraulic response and gate group regulation process in Ianuary-February 2016. The simulated canal system consists of 13 channels separated by 14 control gates. Water transfer flow of Hebei terminal and Tianjin were set as 20 m3/s and 10 m3/s. Two working conditions were simulated according to the temperature conditions. The results showed that the ice evolution parameters value can worked well to simulate ice evolution for long distance canal system, but the air temperature input conditions of the model must be the local value near each pool. The applied case results show that the canal system hydraulic response processes are complicated caused by ice evolution process, and the PI controller can reduce water level fluctuant amplitude and keep on the downstream water level operation mode well. The prediction of ice evolution process and gates operation processes was helpful to improve safety and economic benefit of the engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We establish a Rosen-Roback spatial equilibrium model which decomposes the total economic growth into the change of labor input, total factor productivity (TFP) and wage differences. We calculate the model-based contribution of the cities, especially megacities, to Chinese aggregate economy. By using data of 285 cities from 2002 to 2015, we find out that the model-based contribution of Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing and Guangzhou to aggregate growth turn out to be higher than what is simply inferred from the share in GDP. Factor decomposition shows that the positive impact of megacities on Chinese economy comes from the increase in TFP and the increase in labor input, while the megacities widen wage dispersion of the whole country, generating a negative effect on economic growth. "Counterfactual" studies show that for the period 2002-2015, the top-five megacities increase the Chinese aggregate economy by 25.33%, and if the top-five did not enlarge the wage dispersion, then the aggregate economy would increase by 40.42%. Our research also shows that the overall development of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions is more balanced, while the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region still have a long way to go to reach the coordinated development. Since no previous study has used city level data in China to analyze the impact of megacities on Chinese economy, our research will fill this gap. According to the empirical results, this paper puts forward two suggestions, one is to further reduce the wage dispersion in China, the second is to further coordinate the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region for more balanced development. [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]

The green growth of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration plays a leading and exemplary role in overcoming internal resource restrictions, addressing climate change, and supporting China's high-quality growth. From the standpoint of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, this paper first conducts a comprehensive evaluation of the environmental impact based on combined weighting technique. The Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model is used to decompose the environmental impact drivers in distinct areas. A decoupling effort index is further constructed to measure the effect of various efforts on the decoupling of economic growth and environmental impact, the improved grey Markov model is applied to predict the future trend of regional decoupling efforts. The results of empirical analysis based on data of the BTH region during 2011–2018 show that: 1) the environmental impact index of Beijing is the lowest followed by Tianjin and Hebei; 2) environmental regulation exerts the most significant impact on reducing environmental pressure in Beijing while technology progress and energy intensity have the most significant effect on easing environmental pressure in Tianjin; 3) strong decoupling efforts have been found in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, however, such effect is more significant in Beijing; 4) Beijing's decoupling state is mostly driven by regulatory effect, intensity effect, and scale effect, while Tianjin and Hebei's decoupling states are primarily driven by improvements in environmental regulation and energy intensity; 5) according to the forecast outcome of the improved grey Markov technique, a state of strong decoupling effort will be maintained in the BTH area by 2025, and the decoupling effort index in Beijing will remain the highest while the index in Hebei will remain the lowest. • A comprehensive evaluation of the environmental impact of BTH based on combined weighting method is estimated. • Determinants of environmental impact is decomposed as regulatory, technological, intensity, growth and scale effects. • LMDI model is constructed to estimate the five determinants of regional environmental impact. • Decoupling effort approach and improved grey Markov model are used to analyze and predict the status of various decoupling efforts. • Various suggestions are proposed from the perspective of regional heterogeneity. [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]

• The feasibility of integrating large-scale heat pumps in the BTH region is studied. • Regional integrated planning is compared with independent planning. • EnergyPLAN is adopted to simulate the operation of heating and power systems. • The maximum economic feasible potential of heat pump penetration is identified. • Heat pumps earn energy and environmental benefits without increasing cost in 2030. Promoting cleaner heating is one of the key pathways towards future energy transition. One promising solution is to implement large-scale heat pumps into the existing heat supply system. This paper aims to investigate whether the integration of large-scale heat pumps can be the first feasible step for cities towards clean heating transition. As opposed to the traditional way of conducting independent energy planning within a single city/region, this paper presents a novel approach of employing integrated planning for the multiple neighboring regions to explore the advantages of interregional energy collaboration. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration is taken as a case study, which is the most polluted region in China caused by the coal-based heating system. By implementing a series of simulations for the heating and power systems in the EnergyPLAN tool for six predesigned future scenarios which consider different planning strategies and analysis focuses, this paper analyzes to what extent heat pumps can help to achieve energy and environmental improvement for the whole BTH region by 2030 while ensuring economic feasibility. This is done by creating three independent models for respective Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, and one integrated model for the whole BTH region. The results suggest that when guaranteeing economic feasibility, the integration of large-scale heat pumps can potentially result in at least 9.5% energy saving and 9.28% reduced CO 2 emission compared to the baseline. The integrated planning strategy can furthermore be more efficient in the urban agglomeration, which reduces 1.92% and 2.27% more energy and emissions in 2030 compared to the independent planning results. Based on cost analysis, the maximum economic feasible potential of heat pump penetration is identified as well. This paper can provide references for policymakers in the BTH region and the rest of Northern China, as well as present a principle of energy planning for cities on a general level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an analysis of the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of arable land in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from 1990 to 2015 and detects the driving factors of arable land change. On the basis of the study, the existing problems of arable land are discussed and some suggestions to promote regional rural development are proposed. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The proportion of arable land gradually decreased from 1990 to 2015 and the proportion of arable land in the south of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was larger than that in the north of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region: arable land with a proportion of more than 75% lies in the low elevation and slope. The proportion of arable land in Beijing has also decreased faster than in other regions because most arable land was converted primarily into construction land due to urban expansion. (2) The mechanism showed that county economies and populations influenced the change in the quantity of arable land, and the position and natural conditions influenced the pattern changes in arable land. (3) Finally, this paper details some suggestions on the terms of legal institutions, the land consolidation project, and developing modern agriculture and industrial upgrading, which could provide scientific support for rural sustainable development and arable land protection in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. • This paper analyzed the spatiotemporal differences of arable land in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from 1990 to 2015. • The study detected the driving factors and mechanism using multiply regression models and geographical detector. • This paper proposes to develop land consolidation project and modern agriculture to realize arable land sustainable use. [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]

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) has been suffering from severe groundwater storage (GWS) consumption and land subsidence (LS) for a long period. The overexploitation of groundwater brings about severe land subsidence, which affects the safety and development of BTH. In this paper, we utilized multi-frame synthetic aperture radar datasets obtained by the Rardarsat-2 satellite to monitor land subsidence's temporal and spatial distribution in the BTH from 2012 to 2016 based on multi-temporal interferometric synthetic aperture radar (MT-InSAR). In addition, we also employed the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mascon datasets acquired by the Center for Space Research (CSR) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to obtain the GWS anomalies (GWSA) of BTH from 2003 to 2016. Then we evaluate the accuracy of the results obtained. Furthermore, we explored the relationship between the regional GWSA and the average cumulative subsidence in the BTH. The total volume change of subsidence is 59.46% of the total volume change of groundwater storage. Moreover, the long-term decreasing trend of the GWSA (14.221 mm/year) and average cumulative subsidence (17.382 mm/year) show a relatively high consistency. Finally, we analyze the heterogeneity of GWS change (GWSC) and LS change (LSC) in the four typical areas by the Lorenz curve model. The implementation of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project (MSWDP) affects the heterogeneity of GWSC and LSC. It can be seen that the largest heterogeneity of LSC lags behind the GWSC in the Tianjin-Langfang-Hengshui-Baoding area. The largest uneven subsidence in Beijing and Tianjin occurred in 2015, and the largest uneven subsidence in Hengshui-Baoding occurred in 2014. After that, the heterogeneity of subsidence gradually tends to stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Li, Z.-W., 2019. Statistical analysis of the development of the port cluster economy in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. In: Gong, D.; Zhu, H., and Liu, R. (eds.), Selected Topics in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 94, pp. 692–695. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. This paper aims to explore the development strategies of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei port cluster. Based on the data of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei port cluster in 1980∼2014, a VAR model was established with such four variables as total handling capacity, import and export, GDP and the employment. Then, the economic relationship between the port cluster and the hinterland was analysed by impulse response, and the four variables were subjected to the Grainger causality test. The results show that the total handling capacity of the port cluster has a positive effect on the import and export, GDP, and employment, but the increase in GDP is not the Granger-cause of the increase in the port cluster throughput. The GDP growth only has a short-term driving effect on the port cluster throughput. The long-term growth of port throughput largely depends on international economy. What is worse, the positive effect of port throughput on hinterland economy is rather limited. The research findings and suggestions provide meaningful reference for the research on port cluster economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We improved the urbanization effects indicator by considering built-up areas. • Urbanization promoted annual precipitation in developed urban areas of temperate zone. • High uncertainties of urbanization effects existed in coastal cities. Rapid urbanization plays important roles in modifying regional climate. The effects of urbanization on annual precipitation in temperate climate zone were complicated and have not been fully investigated. In this study, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region of North China was selected as research area and field observations of inter-annual precipitation from 1980 to 2015 were utilized to conduct the spatiotemporal analysis and to extract the urbanization effects. Combined statistical methods were applied and the urbanization effects indicator (UE) was created to quantify the roles of urban development on annual precipitation by combining the land cover change of cities and urban–rural precipitation differences. The paper found following main results: (1) In 2000 s, annual precipitation increased faster in urban areas (slope = 7.165 mm/yr) than in rural areas (slope = 4.954 mm/yr). The urbanization effects on the increasing of precipitation have been implied by comparisons of urban–rural difference between 2000 s (slope = 2.211 mm/yr) and 1980 s (slope = 0.165 mm/yr). (2) Rapid urbanization led to increasing of annual precipitation. Built-up areas correlated higher with urban precipitation than with rural precipitation in 9 of 13 cities, and were used as weights to improve the urbanization effects indicator (UE). (3) As the largest and the most developed city, Beijing presented the highest urbanization effects (UE = 44.5) on the increasing inter-annual precipitation, which was 51% higher than the secondary city of Chengde (UE = 21.71). The coastal cities such as Tianjin, Qinhuangdao and Tangshan presented negative UE values probably due to the strong sea-land energy interactions. This study contributes new findings to the effects of urbanization on annual precipitation in temperate climate zone and could help understand the feedback of land surface changes to variations of atmospheric circulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A mathematic model is built to evaluate the air pollution of heating consumption. • The coal substitution policy can reduce the PM2.5 concentrations by about 20 μg/m3. • Effect of renewable energy and its development to air quality is considered. • PM2.5 concentration in 2030 will drop by about 27% in Northern China compared to 2016. The Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan proposed in 2013 has contributed to the fossil fuel reduction in central heating, but the consumption of scattered coal in rural areas should not be overlooked as it accounts for nearly 50% pollutant emissions during the heating season. Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Surrounding Areas was issued to solve the problem of scattered coal consumption and improve the heating energy structure in 2017. In this paper, an air quality-heating model is established to evaluate the air quality improvement potential and far-reaching influence of scattered coal consumption reduction in rural areas. Distinct from other air quality evaluation models, the proposed model is to evaluate the regional air quality related to the heating factors. The results indicate that the coal substitution policy can reduce PM2.5 concentrations in the heating season by about 20 μg/m3 in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas. Furthermore, predictions about the variation of PM2.5 concentration in the heating season are conducted, which indicate that the PM2.5 concentration of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and surrounding areas in 2030 will drop by 48%, 35%, 29% and 23% respectively compared to that in 2016. The reduction could be further enhanced to be 55%, 40%, 32% and 27% with the consideration of clean power development. This study is conducive to evaluate the clean heating technologies role in improving the environment and air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-speed rail (HSR) is considered a safe, fast, comfortable and ecological mode of transportation, which has profoundly changed the way passengers travel. However, how green it is and how it affects county air quality remains to be investigated. Based on panel data of 51 counties in southern Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Jing-Jin-Ji) from 2014 to 2018, Fixed Effect Model (FEM) and Propensity-Score-Matching and Difference-in-Difference (PSM-DID) methods are used to study the impact of HSR on air quality in counties. FEM is used as the preliminary regression and PSM-DID model is used to avoid the endogenous problem and selection bias. Research shows that HSR has direct and indirect effects on air quality in counties. HSR directly affects it by changing the way of long-distance travel. Furthermore, HSR indirectly affects it by promoting the regional economy, which affects air quality through scale effects, innovation effects and structural effects caused by regional economy development. The results show that the operation of the HSR reduces the air quality index (AQI) by 11.2% and the concentrations of the three major pollutants index, including PM2.5 by 10.1%, PM10 by 14.8% and O 3 by 11%. We also find that HSR brings at least 4% more environmental benefits on the side closer to Beijing and Tianjin in southern Jing-Jin-Ji than the farther side. Among the two sides, the closer side has more government concern and economic activities. In addition, we conducted further robustness tests and concluded that HSR improves air quality in counties. This paper provides some policy implications for improving county environmental quality and planning of HSR stations. • The direct and indirect impacts of HSR on air quality are considered. • Two models are used to improve the robustness of empirical analysis results. • The results indicate that HSR has positive impacts on air quality of counties. • The impact of HSR on air quality in counties shows regional heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban agglomerations are considered as significant space typologies in the post globalization & digitalization era. The spatial linkage intensity of cities in urban agglomeration is an important basis for evaluating the development and compactness of urban agglomerations. The requirements associated with the major national strategy to achieve the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region and the research methods made possible by Big Data in the Internet era have created the realistic possibility of revealing the strength of spatial networks and the spatial differentiation rules of urban agglomerations. This study uses Web Crawler to obtain 500,000 sets of Weibo data in 13 cities of the BTH urban agglomeration. Three criteria and nine indicators are used to construct an index system and a model to quantitatively evaluate the strength of spatial networks in the BTH urban agglomeration. The results show that spatial network connections between cities in the urban agglomeration are not strong overall, reflecting the limited development of urban agglomeration; the spatial networks in the urban agglomeration have hierarchical and centralized characteristics, which reflect the imbalanced development of the city network; Beijing, Tianjin, and Shijiazhuang are the centers of the social network connections in the BTH urban agglomeration, which means that Weibo's online space reinforces the existing urban system; there is a positive correlation between network spatial connectivity and the hierarchy of cities in the urban agglomeration, where cities with higher levels would have more urban network connections; Generally, Weibo network connections are stronger than economic or transport links between the cities, and the development of information technology may reduce the disparity of regional development. This research innovatively uses social network big data to reveal the strength of spatial network connections and spatial differentiation rules in the urban agglomeration. The methodology provided in this paper is systematic enough for generalization. • The spatial linkage intensity is an important basis for evaluating the development and compactness of urban agglomerations. • We construct a new index system using network big data to measure the strength of connection between cities. • The methodology can be applied to other regions when examining social network big data from Facebook or Twitter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Li, M.; Li, W.; Xu, Y.Q.; Lin, W., and Li, T., 2020. Evaluation of water resources carrying capacity of Bohai coast Jing-Jin-Ji regions. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 414–418. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Water resources are an irreplaceable natural resource for human survival and economic and social development and an important guarantee for sustainable economic and social development. This study looks at the ecological footprint of the water environment in coastal areas and evaluates the ecological deficit or surplus in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Jing-Jin-Ji) region based on empirical results. The results showed that the water ecological footprint of the Jing-Jin-Ji region is generally in a state of deficit, with Beijing being the most serious, followed by Tianjin and Hebei. Finally, this paper puts forward countermeasures and suggestions to promote carrying capacity of water resources in coastal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Studying on dynamic ecological footprint (EF) in Jing-Jin-Ji from 1996 to 2020. • Six impact factors for driving EF is decomposed. • The EF in Jing-Jin-Ji will increase of 10% from 2015 to 2020. The ecological footprint (EF) describes the complex relationship between the eco-environment and economic development. EF dynamics can better reflect the appropriation of natural resources in various countries or regions compared with previous studies. This paper identified six dominant factors including population, per capita GDP, three major industrial added values, and energy consumption using grey correlation model for the EF changes of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Jing-Jin-Ji) region from 1996 to 2015. Then, we predicted the EF of the Jing-Jin-Ji region from 2016 to 2020 based on support vector machine model. (1) Since 1996, the EF and per capita EF of the overall Jing-Jin-Ji region have increased, of which those of Hebei Province and Tianjin increased while Beijing decreased. (2) Energy consumption dominated the EF of Jing-Jin-Ji region. The population of Beijing had a high correlation coefficient of 0.735 with the local EF, and the degree of correlation between the EF and per capita GDP was 0.812 in Hebei Province. In Tianjin, the added value of the tertiary industry was closely correlated with its EF, with a correlation coefficient of 0.741. (3) The EF of the Jing-Jin-Ji region will reach 778.30 million hectares by 2020, an increase of 10% compared with the value in 2015. Finally, suggestions for the development of industrial structure and energy consumption are listed for the sustainable development of Jing-Jin-Ji region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to build an objective and effective environmental performance evaluation model of air pollution control. Based on the severe air polluted region in China, that is Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, this evaluation model consists of four parts, including economic benefits, public service, government management and development potential, and uses the balanced scorecard theory. The weights of the indexes are measured by comprehensive evaluation method, which combined entropy weight method and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). To test the applicability of the evaluation method to different stages, back propagation (BP) neural network is introduced to simulate air pollution control in the future. The results reveal that the environmental performance of air pollution control in Beijing had an upward trend during 2010–2016, and the trend would continue in the next five years. The environmental performance of Tianjin continuously increased, especially from 2014 to 2016. Tianjin has great potential of air pollution control in the future. The environmental performance of air pollution control in Hebei fluctuated from 2010 to 2016 and it dropped to the lowest level in 2015, which mainly due to the large increase in number of days with air quality levelⅡor above compared with 2014 and the nonsignificant growth in the amount of expenditure on atmospheric prevention and control, the amount of investment in the control of industrial pollution sources and the number of law enforcement personnel. Moreover, the environmental performance of air pollution control closely related with industrial structure, especially with the proportion of the tertiary industry. The upgrading of urban industrial structure and the coordinated development of green industry should be implemented to restructure the environmental transformation in air-polluted region. Image 1000 • The traditional Balanced Scorecard is revised and applied into the environmental performance evaluation. • The effective control of vehicle emission directly determines the air quality of Beijing. • A fundamental improvement in air quality in Hebei requires a large amount of environmental investment. • The environmental law enforcement is an important guarantee for air quality improvement of Tianjin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-term overexploitation of groundwater leads to serious land subsidence and threatens the safety of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH). In this paper, an interferometric point target analysis (IPTA) with small baseline subset InSAR (SBAS-InSAR) technique was used to derive the land subsidence in a typical BTH area from 2012 to 2018 with 126 Radarsat-2 and 184 Sentinel-1 images. The analysis reveals that the average subsidence rate reached 118 mm/year from 2012 to 2018. Eleven subsidence features were identified: Shangzhuang, Beijing Airport, Jinzhan and Heizhuanghu in Beijing, Guangyang and Shengfang in Langfang, Wangqingtuo in Tianjin, Dongguang in Cangzhou, Jingxian and Zaoqiang in Hengshui and Julu in Xingtai. Comparing the different types of land use in subsidence feature areas, the results show that when the land-use type is relatively more complex and superimposed with residential, industrial and agricultural land, the land subsidence is relatively more significant. Moreover, the land subsidence development patterns are different in the BTH areas because of the different methods adopted for their water resource development and utilization, with an imbalance in their economic development levels. Finally, we found that the subsidence changes are consistent with groundwater level changes and there is a lag period between land subsidence and groundwater level changes of approximately two months in Beijing Airport, Jinzhan, Jingxian and Zaoqiang, of three months in Shangzhuang, Heizhuanghu, Guangyang, Wangqingtuo and Dongguang and of four months in Shengfang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]