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Economic relationship has been the cornerstone of the China-EU relation as well as the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership which was established in 2003. On the other side of the coin, economic relations have been main sources of disputes between China and the EU since the 2005–2006 textile disputes. This paper examines their mutual perceptions in this field as one way of explaining the development of the bilateral relationship, supported by substantial empirical data. It is found that the successful economic development of China has generated different perceptions between the EU and China. With the difference in the development level reducing, the EU side was concerned more about the rise of China, while the Chinese side emphasised more the relative decline of the EU's economic might. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rapid economic development has attracted worldwide attention, but the resulting environmental problems also cannot be ignored. Whether environmental regulations can achieve a win–win situation between "green" and "economic growth" has become the focus of academic circles. While related studies have examined environmental regulation through the "Cost-following theory" and "Porter hypothesis", they have mostly focused on a particular region or province, thus neglecting the spatial effects. The spatial effects of environmental regulation are important to study because of the overall environmental correlation across regions and especially adjacent provinces. This paper extends the "cost-following theory" and the "Porter hypothesis" to the spatial perspective and proposes two hypotheses, respectively. Through the spatial expansion of environmental regulation theory, this paper not only analyses the direct effect of local environmental regulation on local economic growth, but also the spatial spillover effect of adjacent provinces' environmental regulation on local economic growth. The empirical results show that the relationship between environmental regulation and economic growth in China is consistent with the spatial perspective of "Cost-following theory", but not with the spatial perspective of "Porter hypothesis". Through the above analysis, this paper is able to address the issues of how to make environmental regulation policies in adjacent provinces or regions as a whole, and how to coordinate environmental regulation with economic growth in adjacent regions. The findings of this paper also suggest that spatial effects need to be sufficiently considered in future studies on environment-related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of global urban development, there are urgent ecological security and environmental pollution problems, green development is the fundamental way for urban sustainable development, economic transformation and mitigation of ecological and environmental problems. Based on the panel data of 283 cities at prefecture level and above in China from 2003 to 2017, this paper analyzes spatial–temporal evolution characteristics of urban green development efficiency (UGDE) and the peer effects of UGDE between cities of different grades. It is found that during the study period, in terms of temporal evolution, the average UGDE in China increased from 0.47 in 2003 to 0.61 in 2017, with a cumulative growth rate of 29.79%, showing a rising trend in general. In terms of spatial evolution, the number of low-efficiency cities and medium-efficiency cities continued to decrease. The eastern region has always been the main distribution area of higher-efficiency cities and high-efficiency cities; in the central region, UGDE in most cities improved significantly; in the western region, UGDE has always lagged behind that in the eastern and central regions. In addition, the center of gravity of UGDE presented a trend of northwest migration in general, with a total displacement of 100.07 km, and UGDE showed a spatial dispersion trend. The empirical results indicate that the improvement of UGDE in large cities has a driving effect on that in neighboring medium cities and small cities through the positive peer effect, and the growth of UGDE in medium cities has a promoting effect on that in neighboring small cities through the positive peer effect; the increase of UGDE in medium cities has a positive peer effect on that in neighboring large cities, and the growth of UGDE in small cities has a positive peer effect on that in neighboring medium cities; UGDE promotes each other between large cities through the positive peer effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial wastewater discharge in China is increasing with the country's economic development and it is worthy of concern. The discharge is primarily relevant to the direct discharge coefficient of each sector of the economy, its direct input coefficient and the final demand in input-output models. In this study, we calculated the sensitivity of the reduction in the Chinese industrial wastewater discharge using the direct input coefficients based on the theory of error-transmission in an input-output framework. Using input-output models, we calculated the direct and total industrial wastewater discharge coefficients. Analysis of 2007 input-output data of 30 sectors of the Chinese economy and of 30 provincial regions of China indicates that by lowering their direct input coefficients, the manufacturers of textiles, paper and paper products, chemical products, smelting and metal pressing, telecommunication equipment, computers and other electronic equipment will significantly reduce their amounts of industrial wastewater discharge. By lowering intra-provincial direct input coefficients to industrial sectors themselves of Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang, there will be a significant reduction in industrial wastewater discharge for the country as a whole. Investment in production technology and improvement in organizational efficiency in these sectors and in these provinces can help lessen the direct input coefficients, thereby effectively achieving a reduction in industrial wastewater discharge in China via industrial restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area has prompted closer cooperation in aquatic products trade between China and Vietnam. Studying the aquatic trade situation and export trade growth dynamics of China and Vietnam can help clarify the aquatic trade relationship between China and Vietnam and promote the sustainable development of bilateral aquatic trade cooperation. This paper analyzes the trade growth dynamics of aquatic products exported from China and Vietnam from 2002 to 2020 using the ternary marginal method. The trade growth pattern of aquatic products exported from China to Vietnam is "both quantity and price growth," and the trade growth pattern of aquatic products exported from Vietnam to China is "quantity growth mainly, extensive growth supplemented." The two countries have apparent differences in the growth dynamics of aquatic products export trade. Moreover, there is a higher complementarity when exporting Vietnam's aquatic products to China than China's aquatic products to Vietnam. Based on these, analyze the factors affecting the growth dynamics of Vietnam's aquatic products export to China: Vietnam's economic development level negatively affects the price index and quantity index of Vietnam's aquatic products exported to China, and Vietnam's aquatic product output affects the price index. China's trade freedom positively affects the price index and negatively affects the quantity index. Finally, this paper put forward suggestions to promote the sustainable development of bilateral aquatic products trade between China and Vietnam to facilitate the formulation of relevant policies between the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the efficiency of factor allocation, breaking the resource curse, and achieving high-quality economic development are an urgent concern in resource-based cities. Using the panel data of 116 prefecture-level resource-based cities in China from 2005 to 2020, this paper constructs the data envelopment analysis-Malmquist index model to measure the level of high-quality economic development; to construct a resource misallocation growth accounting model based on the total production function to measure the distortion coefficient, the threshold panel model is employed to explore the threshold effect of factor market distortion on high-quality economic development. The results yielded three important findings: (1) The green total factor productivity of resource-based cities in China presents spatial heterogeneity and type heterogeneity. (2) Factor market distortion gradient standards are proposed innovatively, and the factor market distortion level shows the spatial heterogeneity and type heterogeneity. (3) The influence of factor market distortion on high-quality economic development in resource-based cities presents a double threshold effect. According to the above research conclusions, this paper gives several policy recommendations to promote the factor marketization allocation and high-quality economic development of resource-based cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing carbon emissions has become an urgent task in China. As the category with the largest economic and emissions contribution to the industry, the carbon emissions research of the manufacturing industry is particularly important. This paper uses the LMDI method to decompose manufacturing carbon emissions into seven influencing factors (i.e., population, urbanization, economic development, investment share, energy intensity, energy structure and emission intensity), in order to explore the factors driving manufacturing carbon emissions during 2003–2018. Then, the paper analyzes the decoupling relationship between manufacturing investment and carbon emissions in 30 provinces. Finally, three scenarios are developed to project future manufacturing emissions at the provincial level up to 2035, and whether manufacturing emissions in 30 provinces can realize peak is discussed. The paper results in three main findings. First, we find that energy intensity played the most important role in decreasing the manufacturing emissions during the whole study period, while the economic development and investment share were the main effect promoting manufacturing carbon emissions. Second, China experienced a process from weak decoupling to strong decoupling between manufacturing invest and emissions. Third, China's manufacturing carbon emissions can only achieve the carbon peaking target in 2030 under the High scenario, and 7 provinces cannot reach the peak before 2035 under the three scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of population agglomeration on urban economic development quality in various cities of China. The results show that population agglomeration significantly contributes to the improvement of urban green total factor productivity by increasing population diversification, promoting knowledge spillovers, and reducing pollution emission intensity. Moreover, we find that population agglomeration in type II big cities and type I large cities significantly improves green total factor productivity, while the impact of population agglomeration in metropolises and mega-cities on green total factor productivity is not significant. On the one hand, type II big cities and type I large cities are in the period of rising economic development, the population has not yet reached saturation, and there is still a large demographic dividend space. On the other hand, excessive population agglomeration also brings about "urban diseases" such as population congestion and traffic congestion, especially in the metropolises and mega-cities. Finally, using data on producer services and its sub-sectors, we identify a more significant driving effect of high-end talent agglomeration on green total factor productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constraints and incentives of the ecological policy have an important impact on the coordinated development of ecological areas. Based on the panel data of 1613 counties in 23 provinces in China from 2002 to 2019, this paper analyzes the impact of this policy on economic development using the quasi-natural experiment of the transfer payment in national key ecological functional areas (TPNKEFA) and studies the impact of the transfer payment scale on economic development based on the panel threshold model. First, the results reveal that the TPNKEFA can significantly boost economic development, compared with the control group, TPNKEFA can increase gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita GDP by 6.14% and 10.72%, the results have been validated by some placebo tests, and the impact of this policy on economic development is sustained and effective. Second, heterogeneity results show that TPNKEFA has the greatest positive effect on the economic development in the eastern region, followed by the central region, and the least positive effect on the western region. Furthermore, the TPNKEFA facilitates local economic development primarily by increasing human capital in ecological functional areas. Third, the capital scale of TPNKEFA has the double-threshold effect on economic development, the larger the scale is, the stronger the effect is. The capital size of TPNKEFA has the greatest impact on regional economic growth in eastern region, whereas it has the weakest impact in western region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The green transformation of industry and sustainable economic development both require considerable investment. In this regard, green finance that is compatible with economic development can help cope with the massive demand for capital. Taken China's Yangtze River Delta (YRD) as an example, this study is to measure the coordination degree between green finance and economic development. First, the concept, content and scope of green finance is defined based on the new financial regulation mechanism. Second, a green finance measurement index is built to calculate the green finance index for 30 Chinese provinces by the CFA test. Third, based on the economic structure index, an economic development index is built. Testing the rationality of green financial index and the economic development index, this paper finally measures the degree of coordination between green finance and economic development in the YRD. The results reveal that, first, green finance is a financial instrument that integrates financial industry development, environmental improvement, and economic growth. The measurement of the green financial development index includes the sum of regional green credit, green investment, green securities, and green insurance. Second, after years' development, the comprehensive score of YRD's coupling coordination degree exceeds 0.8 in 2020, which shows a high level of coordinated development between green finance and economic construction. However, there is a 2-year timing effect between the economic development and green finance index increase, which reveals that green finance development in the YRD requires further policy guidance and support. This study's findings can provide a theoretical reference and case support for the further development of green finance and related policies in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green finance can promote economic transformation and technological innovation and play a key role in solving the ecological environment and energy crisis. This paper constructs a comprehensive ecological livable environment evaluation system based on the provincial panel data in China from 2011 to 2019. At the same time, the panel mediation effect and spatial econometric model are used to test the impact of green finance on the ecological and livable environment. The main research conclusions include the following: (1) green finance has significantly improved China's ecological and livable environment; (2) green finance improves the ecological and livable environment by improving the level of technological innovation; (3) the impact of green finance on the ecological livable environment has regional heterogeneity, and green finance in the central provinces has a better effect on the improvement of the ecological livable environment; and (4) the ecological livable environment among Chinese provinces has a significant positive spatial correlation. Among them, green finance has significantly improved the local ecological livable environment but reduced the ecological livable environment of surrounding provinces. Based on the above conclusions, this paper suggests that the government should pay more attention to green finance and technological innovation and coordinate the development of the ecological livable environment among provinces. The research results provide empirical evidence for better developing green finance and improving the ecological livable environment and also provide certain theoretical guidance for China's coordinated regional development and high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses Baidu migration data to obtain the intercity trips between cities in China. Taking intercity travel as a functional connection between cities, taking into account the internal and external intercity travel connections of urban agglomerations, an improved rank scale distribution method was used to quantitatively measure the form and function of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Chengdu-Chongqing, Central Plains, Guanzhong, and Harbin-Changchun urban agglomerations. It is found that, firstly, there are differences in the Functional Polycentricity presented by the internal and external connections of urban agglomerations, which are related to the economic development of urban agglomerations and central cities. Secondly, there are differences between Morphological Polycentricity and Functional Polycentricity of the eight urban agglomerations measured by the internal and external connections, indicating that the external connections have a significant impact. The internal and external connections of urban agglomerations are important functional connections of urban agglomerations. The study of urban agglomerations should not ignore the internal or external connections, and the overall consideration can more comprehensively reflect the polycentric characteristics of urban agglomerations. The internal and external connections of urban agglomerations are important functional connections, and the study of urban agglomerations should not ignore internal or external connections. Overall consideration can better reflect the polycentirccharacteristics of urban agglomerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of the green belt and road is an inevitable choice to conform to and lead the green and low-carbon cycle development and an inherent requirement for sustainable development. Therefore, we establish an evaluation system of green development oriented to carbon neutrality, and calculate the green development level (GDL) of the provinces along the belt and road in China from 2003 to 2018 by using a three-dimensional evaluation model. In addition, this paper employs the Obstacle Degree Model to identify the main obstacle factors that affect GDL, and provides targeted and differentiated countermeasures and suggestions for improving the regional GDL. Our results suggested that the overall GDL has improved, but not obvious, with a low level. The GDL and coordination degree between different regions exist certain differences, and its spatial pattern is characterized by "high in southeast and northeast, low in southwest and northwest". From a regional perspective, innovation capacity is the key factor that affects the green development of the region in southeast, northeast, northwest and southwest China. Driving economic green transformation and promoting industrial energy conservation and emission reduction through technological innovation are the internal driving forces to achieve regional green sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on regional economic development theories, industrial development strategies implemented by governments can distort factor market allocations, change the viability of firms, and thus bring about structural changes in industries. How such policy changes will affect regional environmental performance has been relatively little discussed in the existing literature. This paper attempts to explain whether the implementation of an industrial catch-up development strategy can be a major influence on the level of regional environmental performance from the perspective of comparative advantage, and how this influence can be achieved by changing technological progress. As for the measurement of environmental performance, this paper innovatively adopts two improved measurements based on by-production technology theory to measure the regional environmental performance of Chinese provincial regions from 1997 to 2016. Moreover, the other main novelty is that it adopts Tobit regression models to explicitly explore the effective effects and impact mechanisms of government development strategies on regional environmental efficiency in China. The key findings are as follows (i) the implementation of an industrial catch-up development strategy that defies the comparative advantage of a region can lead to poor environmental performance. (ii). the comparative advantage defying strategy adopted by the eastern regions with higher level of economic development and the regions with priority protection of resources and environment has less inhibiting effect on environmental performance than the central and western regions. (iii). development strategy does impact environmental efficiency through technological progress; more precisely, through technology import and technological transformation rather than independent R&D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's economy has developed rapidly since the implementation of its reform and opening-up policy. However, the long-term extensive development has also brought serious ecological problems to China. Ecological crises, such as air pollution, water pollution and land desertification occur frequently. Green finance has become a path to promote China's sustainable economic development as an economic activity to deal with climate change, improve the ecological environment and make rational use of resources. This paper will construct a spatial econometric model and coupling coordination degree model to carry out empirical research. Based on the data from 1999 to 2020, this paper constructs an evaluation index system of green finance and an economic ecology system. First, the spatial autocorrelation model is used to analyze the spatial relationship. Second, the coupling coordination degree model is used to measure the evolution of the coupling coordination relationship between green finance and economic ecology. The results show that green finance has a strong spatial agglomeration. Economic and ecological development has maintained a stable spatial positive correlation. The spatial difference of economic ecological development is more obvious than the development of green finance. The development of green finance has a significant positive role in promoting the economic and ecological development of its province. The degree of coupling and coordination of green finance and economic ecology shows an increasing trend, changing from transition type to coupling and coordination type. It shows that China's green finance can effectively promote the overall optimal development of economic ecology to a certain extent. However, no high-quality coordination was observed in the result of coupling coordination, and thus, there is still some room for progress in the development of the two. China needs to change the current mode of economic development comprehensively and take the road of harmonious development suited to the economy and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic and technological development zone (ETDZ) serves an essential role in driving green development and ecological civilization. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the impact of ETDZs on eco-efficiency for sustainable development. This paper investigates the impact of the establishment of ETDZs on eco-efficiency by constructing a differences-in-differences (DID) model on the basis of 253 cities in China from 2004 to 2017 as the dataset. This paper also explores the possible intrinsic impact mechanisms through the channels of industrial structure and technological innovation by constructing a mediating effect model, and the heterogeneous effects of ETDZs on eco-efficiency from the perspectives of regional imbalance and city class heterogeneity. Statistical results report that ETDZs significantly positively affect eco-efficiency and such effects are most significant in the first year after the establishment of ETDZs. Industrial structure upgrading and technological innovation are essential role mechanisms for ETDZs to enhance eco-efficiency. Besides, the enhancement effect of ETDZs on eco-efficiency is only observed in the eastern part of the city, with an insignificant inhibitory effect in central and western parts of the cities. However, the establishment of ETDZs in cities with higher city classes is more beneficial to improve eco-efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, China's economy is transforming from rapid development to high-quality development, and environmental pollution stands out as an urgent need to be addressed. Fiscal decentralization is considered to confer economic incentives on local governments to obtain the right to gain and spend in economic growth. However, at the same time, political incentives are given to local officials under the promotion mechanism based on gross domestic product (GDP) assessment, and these two incentives become key to the environmental performance of the jurisdictions. Therefore, this paper incorporates fiscal decentralization, promotion incentives, and environmental pollution into a unified framework and theoretically analyzes the effects of fiscal decentralization, promotion incentives on environmental pollution, and the intrinsic mechanism of action. Using panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2002 to 2018, we examine that fiscal decentralization significantly promotes environmental pollution, and this performance is more obvious in economically underdeveloped regions. In terms of its mechanism of action, fiscal decentralization affects environmental pollution by increasing the demand for foreign direct investment, inhibiting technological progress, and enhancing environmental regulation, while foreign direct investment and technological progress significantly inhibit environmental pollution, but environmental regulation does not present a role of pollution control. Further study finds that under the consideration of "GDP-based promotion incentives," local officials will generate "competition for investment," relax environmental standards for FDI, and generate "competition for growth", which will inhibit technological progress and incomplete enforcement of environmental regulations, thus exacerbating local environmental pollution. On this basis, this paper proposes to further deepen the fiscal system reform, promote the optimization of local government competition system, and effectively restrain the vicious competition behavior of local officials under the fiscal decentralization system, so as to provide relevant insights for realizing China's economic transformation as well as high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the development concepts of "innovation, coordination, green, opening and sharing," a high-quality economic evaluation index system is constructed using city-level data in Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), China. Further, the spatial lag model is used to empirically study the effects of environmental regulation, foreign direct investment, and its interaction term on the high-quality economic development. The results show that environmental regulation is conducive to promoting high-quality economic development, which provides a certain empirical basis for the Porter Hypothesis. In addition, foreign direct investment also plays a significant positive role. Specifically, environmental regulation has positive impacts on the relationship between foreign direct investment and the high-quality economic development. Finally, this paper puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions, such as improving environmental regulation policy and actively introducing high-quality foreign direct investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional view is that local governments are inclined to ease environmental regulations in response to fiscal pressure (FP) and alleviate FP by sacrificing the environment for economic development (ED). This paper takes Chinese Mainland resource-based cities (RBC) as the research sample but draws different conclusions. The research results are as follows: firstly, for RBC, although FP reduces environmental pollution (EP), it is not conducive to ED. Compared with non-resource-based cities (NRBC), the economic negative effect of FP in RBC is more obvious. Secondly, FP is detrimental to ED by reducing EP, and RBC have not sacrificed the environment to promote ED in the context of FP. This paper summarizes that the development path of RBC should be "optimizing government behavior → increasing FP → improving environmental quality → reducing ED level." Thirdly, the impact of FP on cities with slower economic growth and smaller economic gap is greater, and the impact of FP on cities with better environment is more obvious. This paper argues that facing FP, RBC in China will not trade EP for ED; at the same time, we suggest RBC in other countries in the face of the FP, not only thinking of promoting ED at the expense of the EP and ease the FP, but also the development of green ecological requirement, overall consideration of the relationship between EP and ED, and then achieve green and sustainable ED without degrading the environment as far as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water resources are the source of life for people to survive, especially in agriculture. Water resources provide necessary support for agricultural economic development and irrigation management. Using the panel data from 2013 to 2019, this paper uses the coupled coordination model to explore the degree of synergy between agricultural water resources efficiency (AWRE) and agricultural economic development level (AEDL), and analyzes the spatial correlation of coupling coordination degree (CCD) between the AWRE and AEDL, and further predicts the relationship between the two. The results are as follows: (1) There are superb variations in the CCD among provinces, and the diploma of coordination is greater in the south than in the north; (2) In the spatial correlation pattern, high–high agglomeration areas exhibit an growing trend, and the variety of low–low agglomeration areas is small; and (3) Through the prediction, it is found that in the further, the CCD will show a trend of slow increase in future. For purpose of the coordinated perfection of the two systems, we need to completely discover the connotation of coordinated improvement and promote regional cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental resources play an extremely important role in economic development. In the context of China's economic development entering a new normal, attaching importance to environmental protection and strengthening environmental regulations will have an important impact on the original foreign direct investment (FDI) and China's economic development. Therefore, this paper combines the characteristics of the "new normal" of China's economic development, takes 30 provinces in China from 2008 to 2017 as the research object, and uses the PVAR model and impulse response function to re-verify the interaction mechanism and path among environmental regulation, FDI and high-quality economic development. The study found that: (1) There is an obvious mutual promotion relationship between environmental regulations and the quality of China's economic development and economic development environment. Strengthening environmental regulation is conducive to the realization of China's economic "new normal" development goal. (2) Although the strengthening of environmental regulation will have a significant constraint effect on FDI and China's economic growth rate, but the effect is relatively small. (3) FDI and economic growth rate variables are mutually motivated and promote each other, but both of them have a significant inhibitory effect on regional environmental regulation. In general, under the background of the "new normal" of China's economic development, appropriately increasing the intensity of environmental regulation is not only conducive to environmental protection and promoting high-quality and sustainable economic development, but also can serve the purpose of guiding the structure of foreign investment and transforming the mode of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a relative dearth of empirical studies quantitatively analyzing the implementation effect of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones (GFRIs) on green innovation at the micro-enterprise level. Thus, this paper aims to construct the difference-in-difference-in-difference method to explore the influence of Chinese GFRIs on corporate green innovation of heavy-polluting enterprises based on green patent data. Results show that the pilot policy has significantly decreased green patents of heavy-polluting enterprises by approximately 42.64%, indicating that the policy has a significant innovation inhibition effect and fails to exert the Porter effect. Furthermore, establishing GFRIs has a more effective inhibition effect on the green invention patent than the green utility model patent. Moreover, although enterprises of different scales have different innovation capabilities, the negative impact of GFRIs on green innovation of heavy-polluting enterprises is widespread. Still, the negative impact is more pronounced for big-scale enterprises. The above empirical evidence is essential in formulating green finance development strategies and promoting green economic transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a noteworthy initiative of financial supply-side reform to precisely support the green development system, can green finance (GF) help achieve the dual goals of "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality"? Using data from China's provincial panel between 2007 and 2019, this paper measured the green finance index by the entropy method and the carbon emission efficiency (CEE) with carbon emission as the non-desired output by the Super-SBM model. Then, the influence of GF on CEE was empirically investigated by the dynamic panel model and the spatial Durbin model. The findings show that GF can significantly improve CEE and has a positive spillover impact on CEE in provinces with close economic ties; the upgrading of the industrial structure is a key mediator in the transmission of GF to CEE; and regional heterogeneity analysis finds that GF notably improves CEE in eastern, high development levels of economic and GF regions. The research can offer some theoretical and empirical references for green finance to contribute to low-carbon economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment and environmental pollution have been a prominent topic in China's economic development. Therefore, this paper investigates the relationship between foreign direct investment and environmental pollution, and makes practical policy recommendations to support the harmonious development of economy and environment based on the study findings. In this paper, the spatial econometric approach framework with the spatial weight matrix of the Delaunay method is used to examine the influence of foreign direct investment on the level of urban air quality. It uses air quality index as an indicator to measure air pollution comprehensively. Based on the spatial autocorrelation with the aggregation and radiation effects of foreign direct investment, the results show that the distribution of air pollution has considerable spatial impact in terms of spatial nonequilibrium. Through the empirical analysis, our finding reveals that the increase in GDP, the share of secondary industry, and population growth are the important elements affecting the change in air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The massive use of energy has caused a rapid increase in global carbon dioxide emissions, resulting in a series of environmental problems such as climate warming. Investment in the energy industry can guide funds into green and clean production, reduce carbon emissions in the energy industry, and promote the green development of the energy industry. This paper considers the energy, the environment, the economy, and other factors and focuses on energy consumption and investment structure. Taking 30 provinces in China as research samples, a dynamic spatial Durbin model is established. The results show that the first-order term of carbon emissions has a driving force of 0.5068% for current carbon emissions at a significance level of 1% and that the increase in current carbon emissions will lead to a continued increase in carbon emissions in the next period. The increase in the carbon emissions of neighbouring provinces will increase their carbon emissions through the spatial spillover effect. Whether in the short term or long term, the increase in energy investment and the optimization of the energy investment structure can reduce carbon emissions. The above conclusions can provide a reference for the formulation of government environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to study the influencing factors of the ecological pressure of the energy carbon footprint (EPECF) of China's whole industry from 2000 to 2018. First, the EPECF of 48 sub industries is calculated, then divides 48 sub-industries into high-, medium-, and low-pressure industries, and uses the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method to analyze and summarize the main driving forces of China's industrial EPECF changes. Finally, policy suggestions for the future industrial decompression are put forward. The main results are as follows: (1) Economic development is the most important factor to promote the growth of EPECF of the three major industries. (2) At present, the population pressure factors of forest and grassland have little effect, and the effect of returning farmland to forest and grassland has not been truly played. (3) The adjustment of industrial structure has gradually become a key factor in reducing EPECF of the three industries. (4) The gradual stability of energy intensity has a certain inhibitory effect on the increase of EPECF in high-pressure industry. (5) The adjustment of energy structure in low-pressure industry has gradually worked. Therefore, the government should establish an economic sustainable development system, vigorously develop clean energy, and realize the green transformation of various industries. This provides an empirical example for other countries in the world to reduce the EPECF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater discharge reduction (WDR) is a key breakthrough point for China's environmental protection. Based on China's 30 provincial data from 2011 to 2017, this paper applied the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method to clarify the determinants of WDR at national, regional, and provincial levels. Except for wastewater discharge factor, economic development, and total population, four innovative factors, total water application intensity, water environment cost, water treatment industry development level, and drainage infrastructure investment scale were first proposed in this study. The results indicated that from 2011 to 2017, at the national level, total water application intensity and water treatment industry development level were dominant contributors to WDR, while other factors all inhibited WDR. At the regional level, the results of wastewater discharge factor, economic development, and water environment cost were similar to the national level. The drainage infrastructure investment scale had a positive effect on WDR in Northeast and South China while having a negative effect on other regions. And except for Northeast China, the water treatment industry development level promoted WRD, while the total population inhibited WDR. Finally, the determinants of WDR at the provincial level were investigated. On this basis, targeted corresponding policies were provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly uses the super-efficiency EBM model to measure the environmental efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2019, utilizes the Theil index to analyze the degree of differentiation, and investigate the stochastic convergence of environmental efficiency in different regions. At the same time, it focuses on exploring the direction, intensity, and changing trend of the internal driving factors of environmental efficiency including fiscal decentralization and tax competition, so as to measure and show the overall situation of circular economy development. The research results show that (1) from a national perspective, environmental efficiency shows a pattern of gradual convergence from east to west and from coast to inland. There is a significant stepped regional imbalance in the development level of circular economy in the eastern coastal areas and the central, western inland areas. (2) The differences in environmental efficiency among the four major economic regions were apparently significant while the differences inside each region itself were relatively minor, although in a trend of being gradually widened. There are differences in the development level of circular economy in different regions or within the same region. (3) The inter-provincial efficiency in the eastern, western and northeastern zones maintained relatively stable, while the inter-provincial differences in the central region were expanding. The environmental deficit problem caused by economic development has been alleviated and the basic development model of circular economy has been initially established. (4) Economic development has played a positive role in improving the environmental efficiency of the region. But the resident consumption level inhibited the improvement of the environmental efficiency level of the surrounding areas. The conclusion of this paper can provide a macroscopic reference for the government in finding effective countermeasures to improve environmental efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the tightening of resource constraints and the proposal of the Chinese High-quality Development strategy, innovation-driven has emerged as a new option to balance economic progress with environmental protection. The paper takes Chinese inter-provincial panel data from 2007 to 2017 as a research sample and is based on a spatial Durbin model, investigating the association among green technology innovation (GTI), "green technology-institution" collaborative innovation, and ecological efficiency (EE), while fiscal decentralization is discussed as a moderating factor. According to the results, "green technology-institution" collaborative innovation is positively promoting ecological efficiency and causing spatial spillovers if the economic distance is taken into account. Compared with the single role of green technology innovation, collaborative innovation has a greater role in improving ecological efficiency. Among them, to improve ecological efficiency, it is best to develop green technology innovation and encourage production institutions in a coordinated manner. According to the moderating effect, fiscal decentralization moderates the impact of innovation collaboration on ecological efficiency in a negative way. Therefore, balancing the decentralization of local fiscal expenditures is important to promoting China's ecological efficiency. In addition, China should purposefully promote the degree of synergy between green technology innovation and related institutions for enhancing eco-efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The remarkable prediction of petroleum consumption is of significance for energy scheduling and economic development. Considering the uncertainty and volatility of petroleum system, this paper presents a nonlinear grey Bernoulli model with combined fractional accumulated generation operator to forecast China's petroleum consumption and terminal consumption. The newly designed model introduces a combined fractional accumulated generation operator by incorporating the traditional fractional accumulation and conformable fractional accumulation; compared to the old accumulation, the newly optimized accumulation can enhance flexible ability to excavate the development patterns of time-series. In addition, to further improve the prediction performance of the new model, marine predation algorithm is applied to determine the optimal emerging coefficients such as fractional accumulation order. Furthermore, the proposed model is verified by a numerical example of coal consumption; and this newly established model is applied to predict China's petroleum consumption and terminal consumption. Our tests suggest that the designed ONGBM(1,1,k,c) model outperforms the other benchmark models. Finally, we predict China's petroleum consumption in the following years with the aid of the optimized model. According to the forecasts of this paper, some suggestions are provided for policy-makers in the relevant sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a simple model to theoretically analyze the impacts of emissions of waste gases on industrial profit and mainly finds that industrial producers yield products to pursue profit but emit waste gases, protecting atmospheric environment demands for decline in waste gases, emissions impact profit when the process of production is altered as result of public regulations, and actively treating emissions ease the distortions of production and maintain profit. As a comparison, industrial profit is not impacted by emissions when producers are allowed to emit freely. After theoretical analysis, this study also empirically tests the relationship between the emissions of waste gases and profit as evidenced in China and finds that emissions do not significantly impact profit, except for sulfur dioxide with significantly negative impact; industrial producers with increased capacity for treating waste gases obtained more profits. As a result, the cost expended on treating pollution was compensated in the Chinese industrial sector. Successfully declining waste gases for atmospheric environmental protection and maintaining industrial profit for economic output and social development in the Chinese local economy has global implications because many other countries and regions primarily pursue green and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the environment and optimizing industrial structure are the primary tasks of resource-based cities in western China. This paper analyzes the impact mechanism and path of environmental effect on the industrial structure using the panel data of 37 prefecture-level resource-based cities in western China from 2008 to 2019. The results show that the environmental effect is beneficial for optimizing the industrial structure of resource-based cities in western China. The economic development and resource endowment amplify the positive impact of the environmental effect on industrial structure upgrades. In resource-based cities with different growth cycles, environmental effect has different impact on industrial structure upgrades. Technological innovation of enterprises and public awareness of environmental protection are effective paths for environmental effect to promote industrial structure upgrading. Therefore, it is really crucial to promote environmental protection, identify regional characteristics, and enhance departmental cooperation for resource-based cities in western China, realizing industrial structure upgrades and sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current period of rapid industrialization has not only brought about rapid economic growth but also caused serious energy shortages and environmental pollution, which have affected the sustainable development of the economy. Therefore, it is of great significance to analyse the changes in regional economic, energy, and environmental carrying capacity (3ECC); analyse the interaction among them; and propose corresponding optimization strategies for promoting regional sustainable development. In this study, a 3ECC simulation system is constructed from the pressure and support levels of load-bearing capacity. A system dynamics model is used to simulate the evolution path and action relationship of the 3ECC system, and an empirical test is completed in the Yangtze River Economic Belt region in China. A coupling coordination model and Bayesian vector autoregressive model are used to further explore the degree and action mode of the 3ECC system support and pressure indices. The results show that the model can truly reflect the characteristics of regional development and is suitable for prediction in this study. From 2015 to 2035, driven by technological progress, China's economic aggregate will grow by 223%, oil consumption by 33%, coal consumption by 23%, soil pollution by 197%, water pollution by 134%, and air pollution by 80.9%. Moreover, the coordination degree of the 3ECC supporting indicators gradually increases, while that of the pressure indicators gradually decreases, indicating that economic growth has a synergistic effect on environmental protection and energy conservation, thus further expanding the differences between environmental pollution and energy consumption. Finally, the supporting index of the economic carrying capacity and supporting index of the environmental carrying capacity have the widest influence range, and the optimization of economic and environmental development status is beneficial to the overall improvement of the 3ECC system. The influence range of the energy carrying capacity support index is small, indicating that coal and oil are being gradually replaced by other energy sources. Therefore, the research results of this paper can provide a reference for the sustainable development of other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high-tech industry, as a two-stage system consisting of technology development and economic transformation, plays an important role in the transformation and upgrading of China's economic development. Productivity analysis is the primary method for assessing the performance of economic growth. Hence, it is important to accurately measure productivity changes, which can provide valuable guidance for its further development. Accordingly, based on the provincial-level sample data of the high-tech industry, this paper measures the productivity changes of the whole system and each stage by adopting Malmquist and Hicks–Moorsteen indices both under the convex and nonconvex measures. Further, a comparative analysis of productivity changes from the national and regional high-tech industry perspective has been performed. Empirical results suggest that productivity changes differ significantly among the national, Eastern, and Northeast regions only for the variable returns to scale assumption under the nonconvex measure, specifically for the whole system. Moreover, more contradictory results between Malmquist and Hicks–Moorsteen indices occur under variable returns to scale and nonconvex technology. Furthermore, productivity growth for the whole system is primarily attributed to that of the technology development stage, except for the Central region. In addition, the differences in productivity changes across regions are reduced. Finally, some constructive suggestions have been made so that policymakers can provide theoretical references when making decisions for the high-quality development of the high-tech industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mega-urban agglomerations in developing countries have been main parts of economic development. But at the same time, they have become the most prominent and sensitive areas of resource and environment problems. It is important to clarify the mechanism and driving factors of green growth in mega-urban agglomerations. Based on the panel data of 28 major cities in China's Pan-Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration from 2006 to 2015, this paper evaluates the level of green development of urban agglomeration by green total factor productivity index (GTFP) based on Global Malmquist DEA model, and decomposes GTFP into technological progress, pure technical efficiency change, scale efficiency change and technological scale change. On this basis, this paper constructs a panel econometric model to analyze the influencing factors of GTFP and its decomposition factors. The results show that GTFP of Pan-Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration is growing, and the scale effect caused by technological progress is the main driving factor. Green development in the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration takes into account efficiency and regional fairness, which causes differences in GTFP growth patterns of sub-urban agglomerations within mega-urban agglomerations. The technological progress and technical efficiency improvement are becoming the main driving force of GTFP growth in relatively backward areas. Furthermore, according to the influencing factors of GTFP and its decomposition factors, mega-urban agglomeration should eliminate internal administrative barriers to build an integrated market. It should also increase the proportion of technology industries in core cities, and give full play to the role of technology spillover effect on surrounding cities. In addition, improving the efficiency of resource and energy utilization is also helpful to promote the transformation of urban agglomeration development from factor-driven to efficiency-driven and innovation-driven. Our research results have implications for the coordinated development of economy and environment in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the extensive development model carries China's economy at the forefront of the world, it has brought great environmental pollution problems. The Chinese government hopes to control environmental pollution through green finance and achieve high-quality economic development. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces and cities in China from 2009 to 2019, this paper examines the impact of green finance (GF) on China's high-quality economic development (EQD), environmental pollution (EP), and clean energy production (CEP). In order to study the spatial impact of GF, we put spatial geographic factors into the analysis category, and use the spatial Durbin model to empirically examine the spatial effect of GF on EQD, EP, and CEP. It is found that GF can promote EQD and curb EP in China. However, GF also weakens China's CEP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerating industrial green transformation (IGT) is the intrinsic requirement of realizing low-carbon and green economic development. Inward Foreign Direct Investment (IFDI) and Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) are the main channels of international technology spillover. Whether the coordination of IFDI and OFDI (CIO) can promote IGT and what role the Chinese government's innovation support plays need to be investigated. Using China's provincial panel data from 2003 to 2019, this paper discusses the impact of CIO on IGT and the moderating effect of government's innovation support. It is found that the CIO can significantly promote the IGT. Government providing R&D funds directly can enhance the promotion of CIO to IGT. However, government releasing innovation signal indirectly shows a significant negative impact on the promotion of CIO to IGT. In addition, the impact of CIO on IGT and the moderating effect of government's innovation support are heterogeneous significantly among different regions. This study not only helps to clarify the relationship between CIO and IGT but also provides enlightenment for government to scientifically formulate innovation policies to achieve green economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of clean energy can promote the coordinated development of the economy and the ecological environment. However, few studies have paid attention to the changes in the health status of residents in the process of economic development and energy use. To fill this gap, this paper uses health energy intensity, which refers to the amount of energy consumed per unit of health status (composed of population mortality, maternal mortality, and perinatal mortality), to explore the impact of clean energy (expressed by the share of clean energy consumption in total energy consumption) on economic development and healthy energy intensity. By using the panel data of 30 provinces and cities in China from 2005 to 2019, this paper constructs a simultaneous equation model for empirical analysis from the perspective of the whole country and areas with different income levels. The results show that from the national perspective, in the early stage of clean energy development, the level of economic development and healthy energy intensity increased; however, with the further development of clean energy, the sample period shows that the level of economic development and the healthy energy intensity decreased. Heterogeneity analysis shows that in both high-income and moderate-income areas, clean energy has a U-shaped effect on economic development; but in low-income areas, clean energy has an inverted U-shaped effect on economic development. In high-income and low-income areas, clean energy has an inverted U-shaped effect on healthy energy intensity; but in moderate-income areas, clean energy has a U-shaped effect on healthy energy intensity. China's clean energy market is still in its early stage, and the research conclusions of this paper provide a theoretical basis for the realization of China's clean energy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new financial model that balances economic and ecological benefits, green finance (GF) plays an important role in promoting green economic development and ecological environmental protection. Based on the panel data set of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2020, this paper uses the synthetic control method (SCM) to explore the impact of the green financial reform pilot policy (GFRP) on the green technology innovation (GTI) capabilities of pilot areas and evaluate the policy effects. The specific research conclusions are as follows: (1) On the whole, the GFRP has a positive role in promoting the GTI capability of the pilot areas, but this role is different due to the different resources, environment, and economic development levels of each region. The areas with economic development levels in the middle and head are obviously affected by the policy, and the less developed areas are less affected by the policy or even have a restraining effect. (2) Although the pilot policy has improved the GTI capability of the pilot area, the promotion effect is unstable, that is, the implementation effect of the policy is unstable. In the early stage of policy implementation, the promotion effect of the policy on the regional GTI capacity is the most obvious, and this promotion effect begins to show a downward or stable trend in the 2–3 years after the policy is implemented. Based on the above conclusions, it can provide some reference for the revision and improvement of GFRP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green technology innovation is the basic driving force of green economic development. The compatibility of the composite system composed of green technology innovation, green finance, and environmental regulation is the decisive factor of whether regional economy can achieve sustainable development. Based on the data of regional green technology innovation in China from 2012 to 2020, this paper discusses the coupling coordination mechanism and coupling coordination level among green technology innovation, green finance, and environmental regulation based on entropy method. It is found that the coupling and coordinated development of regional green technology innovation-green finance-environmental regulation system in China is above medium level. However, there is a big gap in the coupling coordination level among different regions. The coupling coordination level in eastern China is relatively high, and the coupling coordination level in other regions is deviated. Most regions of China have a great potential for improvement. On this basis, this paper puts forward policy suggestions for improving the overall coupling and coordination level of the system to promote national green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dislocation between regional innovation and economic development directly influences the economic effect of regional innovation. However, no in-depth researches have been made on how to solve this problem. Using data from Henan Province, China, employing geographical detector technology, this paper focuses on testing whether the industry-university-research cooperation can contribute to coordinating the relation between regional innovation and economic development. It is shown that: 1) the industry-university-research cooperation in Henan Province is increasing gradually, and the network presents a core-edge structure, and the coupling degree between regional innovation and economic development is spatially unbalanced, which is similar to the spatial distribution of the intensity of industry-university-research cooperation; 2) as an important approach to effectively connect scientific researches with market demands, the industry-university-research cooperation can help form an interactive, interconnected, coupled and coordinated virtuous relation between regional innovation and economic development. Compared with the cooperation between organizations of the same type and the separate innovation of organizations, the improvement of the industry-university-research cooperation level can better coordinate the relation between regional innovation and economic development; 3) the cooperative innovation model between enterprises and universities can better promote the coupling between regional innovation and economic development, compared with many industry-university-research cooperation models. For underdeveloped areas lacking local knowledge base, industry-university-research cooperation should be considered as a long-term development strategy, especially using the knowledge sources of external universities and scientific research institutions to enhance innovation capability and achieve economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to examine how economic development and stability are affected by carbon trading pilot programs. Using panel data from 31 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions between 2005 and 2021, two hypotheses were tested using the DID model. The findings indicate that (1) the carbon trading market pilot program has an immediate effect on economic stability. (2) High-quality economic development is positively and significantly impacted by the carbon trading market pilot program. Regional heterogeneity exists in the effects of carbon trading pilot programs on high-quality development and economic stability. The relationship between carbon trading pilot programs and economic development is not conclusive, despite the growing number of these policies. Given this, additional investigation into this connection is required. Understanding the results of carbon trading pilot programs can be used to gauge how successful these initiatives are. This research adds to the body of knowledge regarding the impact of the carbon trading pilot programs. It then makes policy recommendations that may serve as a guide for future "double carbon" research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming poses a prominent challenge to every country. As one of the largest developing countries, China has experienced rapid economic transformation in its pursuit of sustainable development. This paper delves into a quasi-natural environmental experiment conducted in China, specifically focusing on the low-carbon city program initiated in 2010. Our study uncovers the phenomenon of regional competition among Chinese local governments with regard to carbon emissions, which in turn generates spillover effects stemming from the policy. To identify the effects of the low-carbon city policy on both economic and environmental development, we employ the spatial difference-in-differences approach. Our analysis suggests that reductions in carbon emissions in the pilot cities will lead to a decrease in carbon emissions and economic performance in the surrounding areas. Finally, by exploring firm-level data, we find that the policy significantly impacts large private firms operating in non-secondary industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resource-driven models and technology-driven models appear in different stages of economic development. In the early stage of industrialization, resource-driven economic development is usually the main development mode. Due to the impact of scientific progress and resource shortages, technology-driven economic growth has gradually become mainstream in the middle and late periods of industrialization. However, what are the differences between these two development models in driving economic growth? What is the asymptotic and iterative relationship between them? Understanding the interaction between the two is helpful to promote high-quality economic development. Therefore, by constructing a comprehensive evaluation framework of economic growth-resource consumption-technology progress and using the system dynamics model to simulate the evolution characteristics of the regional economic development driving force in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), the study finds that there is a long-term stable interaction between economic development and the resource- and technology-driven system in the YREB from 2015 to 2030. The energy of the simulation model is accurately reflects the regional development status, and the error of all simulation values is controlled within 5%. With the continuous improvement of economic aggregates, the contribution of technology input to economic growth gradually increases, while the driving force of resource input to economic growth shows a downward trend. Technological progress has become the most important driving force for sustainable economic development, especially the investment of technical personnel and technological capital. This study deepens the understanding of the driving mode of economic development and provides a reference for the development practice of other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) stated: "We should focus on the construction of One Belt and one road, insist on introducing and going out, implement high-level trade and investment liberalization and facilitation policies, and promote the formation of a new pattern of the comprehensive opening." Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), as part of its opening-up, has a direct impact on the quality of China's economic development. This paper studies the impact of FDI quality on the economic development of the provinces in the 30 inland provinces of China, excluding Tibet, from 2007 to 2015. This paper does not find that comprehensive FDI quality has a significant impact on China's high-quality economic development. The further study sample is divided into three texts in the East and West, and found that the export capacity of the eastern provinces of FDI significantly promote high-quality economic development in the region; the technical level of the central provinces of FDI significantly promotes high-quality economic development in the region, but then the actual size of the FDI has a significant inhibitory effect on central provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs data from 30 provinces in mainland China from 1997 to 2016 and mainly adopts panel data fixed effects models to investigate how the promotion pressure on local officials affects regional carbon emissions. Our empirical results show that the relationship between the promotion pressure on local officials and regional carbon emissions has a dynamic evolution characteristic during our research period. Specifically, the promotion pressure on local officials is positively associated with regional carbon emissions before 2009; however, this relationship weakened after China's carbon emission regulatory policies were strengthened in 2010. Furthermore, our heterogeneity analysis results show that the effect of promotion pressure on regional carbon emissions is moderated by the regional industrial structure, the economic development level, regional innovation capability, the tenure of officials and the age of officials. The conclusions of this study are helpful for understanding the driving factors of regional carbon emissions from the political economy perspective, and they also have implications for the formulation of performance evaluation and carbon emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the rapid development of digital finance in China has exerted a subtle influence on many aspects of social and economic development. However, the research on the impact of digital finance on corporate green innovation is rather lacking. In order to fill this gap, this paper uses the "Peking University Digital Finance Index" to evaluate the micro impact of financial innovation development on environmental governance from the firm level. The results show that digital finance can significantly improve the quantity and quality of corporate green innovation, and this effect still exists after considering endogeneity and a series of robustness tests. The promotion effect of digital finance on the quantity and quality of corporate green innovation is more obvious in state-owned, eastern, and mature enterprises. In addition, we find the mechanism behind the positive relationship between digital finance and corporate green innovation: digital finance makes firms more transparent and funds flow more convenient. Overall, this paper provides a micro explanation of environmental governance for the accelerated popularization of digital finance in emerging markets, which is urgently needed for most emerging economies seeking high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of global climate change is a common problem faced by all countries, and developing countries will face heavier pressure to reduce carbon emissions while promoting economic development. China is currently in a period of economic transformation, and the contradiction of industrial structure upgrading is becoming more and more prominent. The unreasonable industrial structure has caused a large consumption of resources, hindering the optimal allocation of resources and affecting carbon emissions. Technological innovation is an important force to cope with environmental changes, promote economic growth, and improve comprehensive competitiveness. Can technological innovation achieve carbon emission reduction under industrial structure upgrading? In this paper, industrial structure upgrading, technological innovation, and carbon emissions are studied together, and the impact of industrial structure upgrading, technological innovation on carbon emissions is theoretically analyzed, as well as how industrial structure upgrading acts on carbon emissions through technological innovation. An empirical test is conducted using 30 provincial panel data in China from 2005 to 2017, and it is found that industrial structure upgrading can reduce carbon emissions. An econometric analysis based on the mediating effect model finds that industrial structure upgrading has both a direct carbon emission reduction effect and a mediating effect of reducing carbon emissions through technological innovation, and the mediating effect of technological innovation in reducing carbon emissions remains significant in the regression analysis of sub-regions. Based on the research of this paper, it is suggested that the advanced development of industrial structure should be promoted, the rationalization of industrial structure should be promoted, the innovation development strategy should be firmly implemented, and the level of technological innovation should be promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three types of spatial function zoning is an effective measure for regional environmental protection and orderly development. For ecological and economic coordinated development, spatial function zones should be divided scientifically to clear its direction of development and protection. Therefore, based on ecological constraints, a beneficial discussion would be about the key ecological function areas adopting the concept of ecological protection restriction and supporting socioeconomic development for spatial function zoning. In this paper, the researchers, taking Tacheng Basin, Xinjiang of China as an example, choose township as basic research unit and set up an evaluation index system from three aspects, namely, ecological protection suitability, agricultural production suitability, and urban development suitability, which are analyzed by using spatial analysis functions and exclusive matrix method. The results showed that: 1) This paper formed a set of multilevel evaluation index systems for three types of spatial function zoning of the key ecological function areas based on a novel perspective by scientifically dividing Tacheng Basin into ecological space, agricultural space, and urban space, which realized the integration and scientific orientation for spatial function at the township scale. 2) Under the guidance of three types of spatial pattern, the functional orientation and suggestions of development and protection was clearly defined for ecological protection zones, ecological economic zones, agricultural production zones, and urban development zones. 3) A new idea of space governance is provided to promote the coordinated and sustainable development between ecology and economy, which can break the traditional mode of thinking about regional economic development, and offers a scientific basis and reference for macro decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a comprehensive coordination and cross-efficiency evaluation model, aimed at tackling the problems evident in self-evaluation systems based on data envelopment assessment models, such as "developing strengths and avoiding weaknesses," "ranking strengths and weaknesses completely," extreme weights, and so on. Based on environmental sustainability, economic development sustainability, social well-being sustainability, and scientific and technological innovation sustainability these four dimensions, this paper proposed model contains 19 evaluation indicators, of which 11 are inputs and 8 are outputs. This model can overcome the problems of multiple solutions and the instabilities of the average cross-efficiency model by relaxing the average hypothesis of the general cross-efficiency model, thereby reducing the distance between the weighted input and the weighted output of the regional sustainable development system assessment. Taking the evaluation of the sustainable development efficiency of 31 provinces and regions in China as an example, the results showed that the evaluation function of the comprehensive coordination and cross-efficiency evaluation model constructed in this paper has potential in measuring regional sustainable development system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]