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Imported waste paper and recycled pulp may contain pollutants, posing potential environmental risks to the ecosystem of China. This study examined the presence and distribution patterns of heavy metals, phthalate esters (PAEs), and adsorbable organic halogens (AOX) in recycled pulp and production wastewater after various recycling processes of three typical restricted types of imported waste paper. The results indicated that the concentration ranges of heavy metals, PAEs, and AOX in the three types of imported recycled waste paper were 21.61-40.38 mg/kg, 15.35-27.88 mg/kg, and 19.21-57.72 mg/kg, respectively. The comparative analysis with the initial waste paper demonstrated a reduction in heavy metal content in the recycled pulp by 17.80-49.75%, PAEs by 65.42-90.55%, and AOX by 32.80-42.34%. The average concentrations of these pollutants in wastewater were 0.85-1.66 mg/L, 27.28-59.86 mg/L, and 1.15-3.34 mg/L, respectively. Chromium and lead were identified as the primary heavy metals present in the waste paper. Following pulping, No. 1 and No. 2 met the arsenic and lead levels specified in the "Reuse Fiber Pulp" standard (GB/T24320-2021), whereas No. 3 met these criteria after de-inking only. The main PAEs detected in the waste paper were dibutyl phthalate and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, most of which were removed during the pulping stage. Significantly higher levels of AOX were observed in No. 2 and No. 3 than in No. 1, with a minimal impact on AOX removal from the pulp during the recycling process., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval: Not applicable. Consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Paper mill sludge (PMS) is featured with a high content of cellulose and hemicellulose, and using its characteristics to make paperboard can achieve a high-value utilization of PMS, which has attracted growing interest. In this study, currently prevalent landfill, incineration technologies (generating heat and electricity by incineration), and three paperboard technologies (medium density fiberboard, pulp board, and corrugated paper) were evaluated and compared via life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) methods. LCA results show that the PMS-to-pulp board outperforms others with an energy conservation and emission reduction (ECER) value of - 2.86 × 10 -8 , while the landfill exhibits the highest overall environmental impact with an ECER value of 4.80 × 10 -9 . LCC results reveal that the PMS-to-pulp board delivers the highest economic profit with $257.357, while the landfill is the lowest with $ - 35.63. The PMS paperboard technologies are more economically friendly than the incineration technologies due to additional electricity/steam consumption during the PMS pre-drying process in incineration. In addition, different scenarios were set up to explore national GHG emission reduction potential by increasing paperboard technologies application rate and reducing the proportion of landfill and incineration. The scenario analysis suggests that replacing 90% of landfill and incineration ratio with PMS paperboard technologies could tremendously improve the overall emission reduction performance with - 9.08 × 10 10 kg CO 2 eq. This result indicates that the PMS treatment technology transformation has a significant favorable impact on the achievement of the "carbon neutrality" target., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

China's pulp and paper industry (CPPI) has been always the main carbon emission source in recent years. However, the analysis on influencing factors of carbon emissions from this industry is insufficient. To address the issue, the CO 2 emissions from CPPI are estimated in the period of 2005-2019, the driving factors of CO 2 emissions are investigated by the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method, the decoupling state of economic growth and CO 2 emissions is determined by Tapio decoupling model, and finally, future CO 2 emissions are predicted under four scenarios by the STIRPAT model to explore the potential of carbon peaking. The results show that CPPI exhibits a rapid increase and a fluctuating downward trend in CO 2 emissions during the period of 2005-2013 and 2014-2019, respectively. The main promoting and inhibiting factors to the increase of CO 2 emission are per capita industrial output value and energy intensity, respectively. There are five decoupling states of CO 2 emissions and economic growth during the study period, and the CO 2 emissions exhibit a weak decoupling state with the industrial output value growth in most years of the study period. It is very difficult to realize the carbon peaking goal by 2030 under the baseline and fast development scenarios. Therefore, efficient low carbon and strong low-carbon development policies are necessary and urgent for the realization of carbon peaking goal and the sustainable development of CPPI., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The Tibetan Plateau works as an important environmental and ecological barrier for the Asian continent. The researches on Tibetan environment and ecology are becoming extensive, but there is no systematic summary of research hotspots and trends in this field. Here, we analyzed 9180 publications retrieved from the WOS and CNKI during 2000 ~ 2020. The characteristics of publication, keywords with a 5-year interval and co-occurrence analysis were carried out so as to reveal the evolution and development trends of topics. The results show that articles increase dramatically since 2012. Except for common concerns like evolution, climate change, and precipitation, diversity was been studied more by Chinese scholars, while the USA, Germany, UK, and Australia researchers focused more on adaptability, basin western Tibet, lake, barley, and ore-related themes, respectively. Besides, China closely collaborated with the USA, Australia, and Germany in topics of evolution, climate change and degradation, precipitation, and diversity. The institutions located in Chinese different economic regions focused on different research keywords, such as vegetation, growth, trace elements, and geochemistry. The CAS contributed the most articles with 4254, showed advantages both in quantity and quality. Few articles were published by researchers affiliated to Free University of Berlin but with higher citations. It is the only one institute outside of China in the top 20. Main research hotspots include climate change, geology, and diversity. In future researches, ecological management and rehabilitation of mining area and tailings ponds, waste disposal, and changes of soil and water quality are worthy of attention and funding., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction: In this study, we explore the identity of a range of polyfluorinated surfactants (PFS) used for food contact materials, primarily to impart oil and water repellency on paper and board. PFS are of interest, as they can be precursors of poly- and perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), of which several are persistent and are found worldwide in human blood and in the environment., Materials and Methods: To determine the elemental composition of PFS, we combined information from patents, chemical suppliers and analyses of industrial blends using ultra performance liquid chromatography-negative electrospray ionisation quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry., Results: At a high pH of 9.7, both non-ionic and anionic PFS were ionised and were recognised by negative mass defects of exact masses, and neutral fragment losses of n × 20 or n × 100 Da. More than 115 molecular structures were found in industrial blends from the EU, US and China, belonging to the groups of polyfluoroalkyl-mono- and di-ester phosphates (monoPAPS, diPAPS and S-diPAPS), -ethoxylates, -acrylates, -amino acids, -sulfonamide phosphates and -thio acids, together with residuals and synthesis byproducts. In addition, a number of starting materials such as perfluorooctane sulfonamide N-alkyl esters were analysed. Di- and trialkylated PAPS and S-diPAPS were found in migrates from European food contact materials., Conclusion: This study highlights the need to monitor for more types of PFS in order to map the sources of PFAS in humans and the environment.

In the context of China's strategic goal of carbon neutrality, the realization of green technology innovation to reduce the risk of manufacturing default will help promote the green transformation of firms and achieve high-quality economic development. The study explored the relationship between green technology innovation and default risk by taking the manufacturing industry of listed enterprises in China from 2001 to 2020 as research samples. The results showed that green technology innovation is negatively correlated with default risk. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis showed that the benefit effect of heavy-polluting enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and large-scale enterprises was more significant. The mechanism analysis showed that green technology innovation can reduce default risk through market position and capital structure. In addition, the study further distinguished that environmental protection tax was conducive to green technology innovation to reduce the occurrence of default risk. In theory, the study expanded the research paradigm between green technology innovation and default risk in theory, and provided new evidence and enlightenment for reducing the default risk of enterprises and supported the green and sustainable development of enterprises in practice., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Takeaway food has become a prominent component of the diet in urban areas of China, especially for young people. Although dietary intake is a major pathway to contaminants for human exposure, studies on emerging organophosphite antioxidants (OPAs) and organophosphate esters (OPEs) in food are scarce. Here, we investigated four OPAs and 19 OPEs in takeaway foods (n = 99) and paired takeaway food packaging (n = 50) in China. AO168=O (mean: 14.9 ng/g ww), TPPO (mean: 1.05 ng/g ww), and TCIPP (mean: 0.579 ng/g ww) were dominant in the takeaway food. Some OPEs had significant correlations in takeaway food. Emerging OPAs and OPEs in takeaway food varied significantly depending on the packaging materials and food types. AO168 and AO168=O were widespread in the paired takeaway food packaging. The migration efficiencies of emerging OPAs and OPEs were low in takeaway food packaged in aluminum foil. Although the actual contamination of emerging OPAs and OPEs in takeaway food significantly differed from those of in food simulants migrated from paired takeaway food packaging, the results imply that food itself and takeaway food packaging are potential contamination sources of emerging OPAs and OPEs in takeaway food. The average estimated dietary intakes of emerging OPAs and OPEs were 465 ng/kg body weight (bw)/day and 91.9 ng/kg bw/day, respectively. The exposure risk of emerging OPAs and OPEs through takeaway food intake is low in China., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This study analyzes air pollution through the effects of China's FDI in 27 European countries over a 20-year period, with a focus on the impact of environmental tax revenues (ETRs) and the environmental context in China. The relationship is estimated through spatial regressions that account for the presence of air pollutants in neighboring countries. The findings suggest that China's FDI in Europe does not contribute to air pollution but rather has a positive impact. The presence of environmental charges filters out non-polluting investments, which has a non-linear relationship with PM 2.5 pollution rates. The study also concludes that air pollution is closely linked to the global environmental context, highlighting the positive effects of international agreements in the fight against climate change. Specifically, the study finds a link between China's efforts to address its polluting activities and their impact on European air quality., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Many countries attach great importance to the green, low-carbon, and circular development of industrial parks. China is one of them and has entered an exploration journey of national demonstration eco-industrial parks (NDEIPs). However, the impact of the transformation of industrial parks into NDEIPs on local economic development still remains a mystery. To address this issue, we develop an empirical study using a combination of the multi-period difference-in-differences method and the propensity score matching method based on the panel data for 266 cities in China from 2001 to 2021. The results show that industrial parks becoming NDEIPs promotes cities' economic development. This conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests, such as the reverse causality test and the placebo test. Moreover, the park heterogeneity tests show that the economic consequences vary according to differences in levels, industry types, life cycle phases, and the degree of foreign firm agglomeration. The city heterogeneity tests show that the economic consequences differ based on administrative levels, innovation capabilities, technology industrialization, and environmental friendliness. The spatial heterogeneity tests show that the economic consequences differ according to geographical location and whether situated in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The policy upgrading heterogeneity tests show that the economic consequences differ during the process of policy upgrading and transformation. In addition, the mechanism tests reveal that green innovation, human capital level, and firm attractiveness mediate the relationship between industrial parks becoming NDEIPs and cities' economic development. This study provides a new perspective for understanding the economic effects of the transformation of industrial parks into NDEIPs, and provides a reference for the government on how to maximize these economic effects., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The BRICS countries-Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa-are committed to achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13, which focuses on mitigating climate change. To attain this goal, it is crucial to emphasize the significance of ICT, renewable energy sources, industrialization, and institutional quality. This study contributes to the literature by examining the potential role of these factors in environmental sustainability in the BRICS economies from 2000 to 2021, utilizing cross-sectional augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) estimation and other novel econometric techniques. Accordingly, the study suggests that BRICS governments and policymakers prioritize the use of ICT in the industrial and institutional sectors to achieve faster environmental sustainability in the short-run, as per the CS-ARDL results. However, the study advises caution in the long-term as the interaction between ICT and renewable energy sources, industrialization, and institutional quality may not favour environmental quality. Although the renewable energy sources interaction with ICT may not yield immediate progress, strong measures need to be taken to ensure that short-term gains are not nullified. In conclusion, the study highlights the potential of ICT, renewable energy sources, industrialization, and institutional quality in achieving environmental sustainability in the BRICS countries, while recommending cautious measures in the long run to safeguard the progress made., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In the context of pursuing carbon neutrality and balancing the use of fossil fuels with renewable energy, the transportation industry faces the challenge of accurately predicting energy demand, related emissions, and assessing the effectiveness of energy technologies and policies. This is crucial for formulating energy management plans and reducing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and atmospheric pollutant emissions. Currently, research on energy consumption and emission forecasting primarily relies on energy consumption quantities and emission factors, which lack precision. This study employs the low emissions analysis platform (LEAP) model, utilizing a "bottom-up" modeling approach combined with scenario analysis to predict and analyze the energy demand and related emissions in the transportation industry. Compared to previous studies, the methodological framework proposed in this research offers higher precision and can explore energy-saving and emission-reduction pathways for different modes of transport, providing a valuable energy forecasting tool for transport policy formulation in other regions. The forecast results indicate that under the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, by 2049, the energy consumption and related emissions in Shaanxi Province's transportation industry are expected to increase by 1.15 to 1.85 times compared to the baseline year. In the comprehensive (CP) scenario, the industry is projected to reach a carbon peak around 2033. The study also finds that energy consumption and emissions predominantly originate from private passenger vehicles, highway freight, and civil aviation passenger, which have the greatest potential for emission reduction under the transport structure optimized (TSO) scenario. Therefore, policymakers should consider regional development characteristics, combine different transportation modes, and specifically analyze the emission reduction potential of the transportation industry in various regions, formulating corresponding reduction policies accordingly., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Digital finance is a product of emerging technology-enabled innovation in financial services and has a critical impact on the green transformation of the manufacturing industry. We propose a new efficiency measurement model based on the slacks-based measure (SBM) to measure the efficiency of green transformation on regional manufacturing. Chinese interprovincial data from 2010 to 2019 were obtained for the study. In addition, we estimated the effect of digital finance on green transformation of manufacturing using a benchmark panel model. Finally, considering the regional heterogeneity and spatial effects of green transformation efficiency in the manufacturing industry, we constructed a spatial Durbin model based on an economic-geographic nested spatial weight matrix to analyze the spatial influence of digital finance on green transformation in the manufacturing industry. The results show that the green transformation of the manufacturing industry has significant positive spatial spillover effects owing to the existence of competition, demonstration, and economic correlation effects among regions., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The European Council completed the legislative procedure to establish the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on April 25, 2023, which will be launched in 2027. The iron and steel sector is the main target of the forthcoming CBAM due to the industry's energy-intensive consumption with high carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. However, minimal existing research has been conducted in this regard. This study employs GTAP-e 11.0 and TOPSIS models to estimate the effects of CBAM implementation on the major nations around the world from 2027 to 2030, examining countries' GDP, social welfare, iron and steel production, trade balance, and CO 2 emissions to the global environment. This study concludes: (1) The GDP and social welfare of important iron and steel trade partners throughout the world will be significantly impacted by the application of CBAM. Most nations, including those in the EU, will experience negative GDP effects, with China undergoing the most pronounced social welfare declines followed by India. In contrast, the EU27 will benefit the most in terms of social welfare, followed by the US, Japan, and Russia. (2) Iron and steel production will decrease in all countries outside the EU, but it will have a positive impact on the trade balance of most countries. (3) The CO 2 emissions of all countries except for the EU and Japan will decrease, with a positive impact on preventing carbon leakage in the international iron and steel trade. (4) Comprehensive analysis demonstrates that the EU will benefit the most, and China will suffer the most from CBAM application. Based on the above conclusions, this study proposes corresponding policy recommendations., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The more water quality evaluation indicators, the greater the amount of water quality evaluation calculation. Under the requirements of evaluation accuracy, the index screening method is usually used to optimize water quality evaluation index to reduce the calculation amount of water quality evaluation. Taking Mengcheng Gate of Guo River as an example, the information sensitivity index screening method was used to simplify the water quality evaluation index system from 17 to 12 indicators. The variable fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was used to compare and evaluate the original index system and the optimal index system. The results showed that the water quality results of the optimal index system are consistent with the original index evaluation results. And the water quality of Mengcheng Gate is basically stable at class I level. The information sensitivity method reduced the number of indicators by 29.41%. The error between the water quality evaluation results based on the optimal indicators and the original indicators is less than 10%. The maximum error, minimum error, and average error are 8.92%, 0.08%, and 2.46%, respectively. It revealed that the information sensitivity method can eliminate the information redundancy while retaining the information of the original index system. It can also reduce the calculation amount of water quality evaluation in the future. The variable fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method can reasonably reflect the complex nonlinear relationship between water quality index and water quality category. This accuracy has practical significance for guiding the optimization of water quality evaluation index system, improving the efficiency of water quality evaluation. This model provides a scientific basis for indicator selection methods in similar river water quality evaluations., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The low-carbon transition is a systemic economic and social change that will inevitably have an impact on many areas of the urban system. Has China's ongoing low-carbon transition impacted urban resilience (UR) systems while achieving urban energy saving and carbon emission reduction goals? This paper uses the implementation of the carbon emissions trading pilot policy (CETPP) as a "quasi-natural experiment." It evaluates the impact of the policy on UR using a difference-in-differences model based on the data of prefecture-level cities from 2008 to 2020. The study shows that pilot carbon trading policies favor UR, and the market mechanism of carbon emissions has a heterogeneous cause influence on UR. The impact of pilot carbon trading policies on UR varies according to the respective moderating effects of institutional factors, green technology innovation, industrial structure rationalization, and output effects., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The core of the concept of nature-based solutions (NBS) is ecological protection, which is the same direction as China's double-carbon goal and has attracted much attention in China. Ecological ditch sewage treatment technology has been widely used in controlling agricultural non-point source pollution because of its advantages of high pollutant removal efficiency and low energy consumption. Suppose the NBS concept of sustainable management, restoration, and ecological protection is integrated into the research and development and application of ecological ditch technology. In that case, it can not only improve the effective removal of pollutants, achieve the purpose of recycling water resources and nutrient elements, but also realize economic, environmental, and social benefits. This paper describes the ecosystem service functions provided by ecological ditches in detail, evaluates their economic values through literatures review, so as to raise people's awareness of natural resource conservation and realize the sustainable management of ecological ditches., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The opening of high-speed railway (HSR) has accelerated the reorganization and reallocation of regional production elements, and constantly promoted the adjustment and upgrading of industrial structure. The cleaner production effect produced by industrial structure upgrading is of great significance to industrial pollution reduction. As a bridge connecting resources within the city and elements outside the city, the location of HSR stations has become an important factor affecting the structural emission reduction effect. Based on the data of 285 prefecture level and above cities in China from 2004 to 2018, this paper investigates the structural emission reduction effects of HSR opening and the impact of HSR station location on it by employing difference-in-differences (DID) model combined with mediation effect method. The results demonstrate that the opening of HSR has significant structural emission reduction effect, and the upgrading of inter-industry structure and the intra-industry structure are important mechanisms for HSR to achieve industrial emission reduction. The structural emission reduction effect of HSR opening is closely related to the location of HSR stations. With the increase of the distance between HSR station and city center, the industrial structure upgrading effect will continue to weaken, thus inhibiting the exertion of structural emission reduction effect, of which 10 km away from the city center is the optimal site strategy for the HSR service to give full play to the structural emission reduction effect, and exceeding 50 km will be significantly detrimental to its role in promoting industrial structure upgrading., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Northern cities in China have frequently suffered from ice and snow disasters. On the other hand, Harbin mainly relies on coal-fired plants for heating during the winter time. However, coal-fired plants produce a significant amount of air pollution through the production of numerous hazardous gases. This thesis proposed an urban energy recycling system that uses waste gas from heating facilities to recycle waste heat and reduce air pollution in northern cities during the winter. This research made a hypothesis that wintertime ice and snow on city streets could be melted by using waste heat of waste gases from heating industries. The methodology of this research can be divided into three parts: Firstly, the principle of the energy recycling system is designed based on investigation. Secondly, a simulation experiment is used to analyze the system's difficulties. According to the experiment, when an icy road is far away from the heating industry, ice melting efficiency is low. Finally, this research proposed a method for system improvement based on the findings of the experiment. The system's environmental and social benefits will likely lead to its future application in northern Chinese cities even if there are many application-related difficulties, such as the high cost of construction., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Currently, global warming and air pollution are the world's most urgent issues partly caused by carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions, and prompt actions are needed to address these global concerns. Sustainable development cannot be attained until we reverse the negative impact of economic factors on the quality of the environment. It is noteworthy to offer a new indication on whether and how the empirical liaison between product diversification and environmental degradation evolved in China from 2008 to 2019. Product diversification (PD) is a remedy for reducing environmental degradation (ED). It is a crucial component of energy demand, which a significant impact on reducing energy consumption and ED. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of PD on ED in China using the provincial panel dataset. Employing the fixed effects-Driscoll-Kraay standard errors (FE-DKSE) and feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) methods, we discover an inverted U-shaped link between PD and ED. The control variable urbanization (URB) and technological innovation (TI) reduce ED significantly. However, industry value added (IVA) and energy consumption (EC) promote ED. Our results are robust with the addition of various controls in all models. The policy implication from our findings is that, to achieve a target of carbon neutrality, countries should adopt the product diversification strategy., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Using the value-added method in the global input-output framework, embedded carbon transfers between economies are measured. Then, the international embedded carbon network (IECN) models are constructed and analyzed to reveal the real pattern of the IECN. Influential factors of the IECN are further explored with Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP). The main findings are as follows: first, the IECN has the characteristics of small world and scale-free. Developed economies led by the USA have high centrality indicators and always occupy the core position in the network; the network position of China and India has risen significantly with different network characteristics. Second, the subgroup relationships of the carbon network implied by international trade are becoming more and more complex and diverse, economies' participation in the global carbon chain is gradually increasing, and the number of edge nodes are decreasing. Third, the results of QAP analysis show that in addition to the negative impact of geographical distance on embedded carbon transfers between economies, inter-country trade agreement relations, differences in industrial structure, energy intensity, environmental regulation, economic size, and population size have a positive impact on embedded carbon transfers between economies. These findings can provide important practice implications for the global carbon neutrality., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Recently, the trend of circular economy innovation (CEI) drive SMEs to initiate more sustainable practices to attain market competitiveness but rare attention has been paid in emerging economies. Hence, this study plans to explore the impacts of CEI on the triple bottom lines (TBL) efficiencies in the light of market competitiveness among the production SMEs in emerging economies. The study complied data by using a survey-based technique in Pakistan, Malaysia, and China. With a sample of 306 for each segment, data were evaluated with PLS-SEM to clarify results. The findings reveal that CEI has positive significant effects on the market competitiveness and TBL efficiencies among the production SMEs in emerging economies. The findings also clarify that market competitiveness mediates the relationship between CEI and the TBL efficiencies. The findings elaborate the theoretical foundations for environmental-based production SMEs to formulate more sustainable strategies in the light of CEI to gain market competitiveness. It also clarifies the understandings of policy makers and environmental regulators by providing a novel precursor to frame the environment-based TBL guidelines for SMEs. It adds to the UN sustainability agenda by elevating the role of CEI as a novel domain among emerging economies grounded on the resource-based view theory., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The global "copper-poor and aluminum-rich" situation has made the possibility of "copper saving with aluminum" an important topic. This study established a framework for analyzing multiple substances' coupled flows at the product level based on material flow analysis (MFA), and took the household air conditioning system of the Chinese mainland in 2020 as an example to characterize the coupled flows of aluminum and copper. The results showed that the system consumed 0.69 million tons of aluminum and 2.10 million tons of copper, and discharged 0.17 million tons of aluminum and 0.43 million tons of copper to the environment cumulatively to achieve 13.2 million terajoules of final heat exchanged and serve 1.24 billion square meters during lifetime in mainland China alone, secondary aluminum and copper accounted for only 22.61% and 24.83% of the total consumption, and the in-use stocks increased by 0.19 million tons of aluminum and 0.70 million tons of copper. The external dependency of copper ore was 92.83%, which was significantly higher than the 44.29% of bauxite. The comprehensive utilization efficiency of copper reached 77.88%, which was slightly higher than the 70.80% of aluminum. The conclusion indicates that under the premise of meeting use requirements, promoting "replacing copper with aluminum" can improve the stability and safety of China's material supply chain, but there is a need to further boost the production efficiency of aluminum in primary production., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Establishing an efficient carbon emissions trading market is a priority to achieve the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. In the context of income inequality and emissions inequality, this study examined the efficiency of carbon trading in China from the perspective of resident income. First, this paper used the Cobb-Douglas (C-D) production function to incorporate carbon intensity into the production network model and obtained the expression of household income by solving the Walras equilibrium. Secondly, this study put forward a theory that Carbon trading affects the income level of individuals. Finally, in order to test the theory, the study used the differences-in-differences (DID) method, provincial panel data from 2005 to 2019, and the quasi-natural experiment of China's carbon emissions trading pilot. The results indicated that this policy could reduce the per capita disposable income level. Further heterogeneity research showed that although the emission reduction effect was significant, the pilot policy failed to save emission reduction costs and improve residents' welfare. The low efficiency of the carbon market was mainly attributed to the insufficient liquidity of the pilot carbon market. Therefore, it not only failed to achieve efficiency but also increased unnecessary costs, which had a negative impact on income. In addition, the consumption patterns of residents and the industrial-oriented economic structure exacerbated the decline in income., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The BRICS nations-Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa-have grown significantly in importance over the past few decades, playing a vital role in the development and growth of the global economy. This expansion has not been without cost, either, since these countries' concern over environmental deterioration has risen sharply. Both researchers and decision-makers have focused a lot of attention on the connection between economic growth and ecological sustainability. By using nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach, the complex relationships were analyzed between important economic indicators-such as gross domestic product (GDP), ecological innovations (EI), energy consumption (ENC), institutional performance (IP), and trade openness (TOP)-and their effect on carbon emissions and nitrous oxide emissions in the BRICS countries from 1990 to 2021, this study seeks to contribute to this important dialog. Principal component analysis is formed for technological innovations and institutional performance using six (ICT service exports as a percentage of service exports, computer communications as a percentage of commercial service exports, fixed telephone subscriptions per 100 people, internet users as a percentage of the population, number of patent applications, and R&D expenditures as a percentage of GDP) and twelve (government stability, investment profile, socioeconomic conditions, internal conflict, external conflict, military in politics, control of corruption, religious tensions, ethnic tensions, law and order, bureaucracy quality, and democratic accountability) distinct indicators, respectively. The results of nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag estimation show that increase in economic growth would increase carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions. The positive and negative shocks in trade openness have positive and significant impact on carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions in BRICS countries. Furthermore, the positive shock energy consumptions have positive and significant effect on Brazil and India when carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions are used. However, EKC exists in BRICS countries when carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions are used. According to long-term estimation, energy consumption and technological innovations in the BRICS countries show a strong and adverse link with nitrous oxide and a favorable relationship with carbon dioxide emissions. In the long run, environmental indicators are seen to have a major and unfavorable impact in BRICS nations. Finally, it is proposed that BRICS nations can assure environmental sustainability if they support creative activities, enhance their institutions, and support free trade policies., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Growth target management drives China's economic expansion, leading to potential carbon emission externalities. This study examines the impact of economic growth target setting on carbon emission performance in 257 Chinese localities from 2004 to 2020. Using cluster standard error regression, 2SLS instrumental variable regression, and the spatial Durbin model, the results show that moderate growth targets improve urban carbon emission performance. Conversely, aggressive targets do not enhance regional carbon emission performance. Moderate growth targets foster innovation in green technology, while aggressive ones encourage investment in fixed assets and new city growth, impeding performance. Cities in the eastern and western regions, with larger populations and less reliance on natural resources, benefit more from effective economic development targets. The establishment of local targets negatively affects neighboring regions' carbon emissions performance, particularly at a spatial scale of 100 to 200 km. This paper contributes to understanding the environmental consequences of growth target setting and offers insights for balancing economic growth with carbon emission governance in emerging market countries., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The study analyzes the impact of renewable energy investments (RENIV) on the environment in China. In doing so, the study uses sectoral carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions as the environment indicator, considers RENIV as the explanatory variable, includes monthly data from 2004/1 to 2020/6, runs quantile on quantile regression approach as the fundamental model, and further performs quantile regression for the controlling. The study reveals that RENIV curb CO 2 emissions in all sectors at higher levels of sectoral CO 2 emissions. Also, RENIV have a varying impact based on quantiles and sectors. Moreover, the results are robust based on the alternative approach. Thus, RENIV have a significantly decreasing impact on sectoral CO 2 emissions in China. Accordingly, China policymakers should continue to focus on providing a decrease in energy and industrial sector CO 2 emissions as the highest emitting sectors., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The existing evidence on the environmental effects of vehicular emissions regulation almost comes from developed countries, but the effectiveness of this policy tool in developing countries, especially in China, remains unclear. This study, for the first time, examined the mitigating effects of China's vehicular emissions regulation on air pollution at the prefecture level cities, by using the latest implementation of China's National Vehicular Emissions Standard VI (CHINA-VI) as a quasi-natural experimental process of policy shocks. To this end, monthly data from 2018 to 2020 was applied to construct a difference-in-differences (DID) model. The results showed that pilot cities' air quality index (AQI) significantly decreased by 4.74 compared to non-pilot cities after the implementation of CHINA-VI. Also, the concentration of PM 2.5 , PM 10 , and O 3 has decreased by 3.6 μg∕m 3 , 6.4 μg∕m 3 , and 3.0 μg∕m 3 , respectively, which means the new China's vehicular emissions regulation has comprehensively improved air quality. The findings are still valid after a series of robustness tests using different estimation methods such as PSM-DID and IV-2SLS. In addition, we also found heterogeneity in the environmental performance of CHINA-VI across cities. Specifically, cities with lower levels of green finance development and public environmental concern showed a greater emissions reduction effect, but smart cities showed a greater emissions reduction effect than non-smart cities., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Green finance plays a crucial role in driving green development. By leveraging the implementation of the "Green Credit Guidelines" as a quasi-natural experiment in 2012, our study provides compelling evidence that this green credit policy enhances the efficient investment in labor. Our mechanism analysis indicates that the positive impact primarily stems from the upgrading of human capital and the mitigation of agency conflicts. Moreover, we find that the effect of the green credit policy on the efficient investment in labor by green credit-restricted firms is more pronounced when these firms face robust environmental law enforcement and operate with low labor intensity. Additionally, the enhanced investment in labor demonstrates a significant positive influence on future enterprise value. Overall, our findings underscore the significant improvement in corporate labor investment efficiency resulting from the successful implementation of the Green Credit Guidelines., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Carbon mitigation in the building sector is crucial for China to fulfill its commitments towards achieving a carbon peak and carbon neutrality. However, the impact of societal development and ecological indicators on building carbon emissions remains unclear. This study employs the panel smooth transition regression model to investigate the complex implications of societal development comprehensive indicators, characterized by harmonious development, decoupling, and technological advances, on buildings' total carbon emissions, based on the evidence from China's 30 provinces for the period between 2007 and 2020. Additionally, the robustness of the model confirms that the conclusion is still valid. The empirical results indicate a strongly non-linear relationship between societal development comprehensive indicators and building carbon emissions. Both the harmonious development and technological advances exhibit two transition functions, and decoupling features a single transition function. Harmonious development is more sensitive to the impact of building carbon emissions, while technological advances have tremendous emission reduction potential. From the time dimension, fluctuation trends and ranges are different. From the spatial dimension, the inhibiting and promoting effects on each province have regional heterogeneity. Our results entail suggestions for reduced building total carbon emissions and practical strategies for regional climate resilience and efficiency in mitigating climate change., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The rapid development of the Internet has significantly impacted various socio-economic activities. Using Chinese Industrial Enterprise database and Industrial Enterprise Pollution database, this research examines the impact and mechanisms of Internet development on CO 2 emissions. The key findings are as follows: (1) Internet development has substantially reduced the CO 2 intensity of enterprises, and this conclusion remains robust even after performing a series of robustness analyses. (2) The major mechanisms responsible for the reduction in CO 2 emissions are productivity improvement, technological innovation, and energy structure adjustment. (3) The analysis of heterogeneity reveals that the effect of Internet development on CO 2 reduction is more pronounced in coastal areas, areas with a high share of secondary industry, low-carbon industries, clean industries, small-scale enterprises, and export enterprises. This study provides empirical evidence supporting China's "Internet+" strategy and its progress towards achieving the "Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Goals.", (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Amidst resource loss and environmental protection constraints, achieving green development necessitates enhancing green total factor productivity (GTFP) as a means of promoting rational and efficient resource allocation, thereby balancing economic growth and environmental preservation. Meanwhile, literature on the subject matter of GTFP from a sustainability viewpoint is minimal. As a result, this study employs the panel dataset from 30 provinces of China spanning the period 2005 to 2020 and utilizes the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) developed by Machado and Santos Silva (2019) to analyze the heterogeneous role of green innovation, environmental regulations, and fiscal expenditure on GTFP. Moreover, the controlling variable for this study includes renewable energy and economic growth. Furthermore, this study investigates the heterogeneous combined impact of green innovation and fiscal expenditure (GTE*FSE) on GTFP. The findings of the MMQR reveal that green innovation has a positive impact on GTFP, while fiscal expenditure, environmental regulations, and renewable energy consumption have a negative impact. GTE*FSE has a positive and significant effect on GTFP, indicating that FSE can reinforce and increase the positive impact of GTE on GTFP in the long run. The study also reveals that economic growth has a mixed effect on GTFP, depending on the quantiles. Furthermore, environmental regulation has a significant and negative impact on GTFP, contradicting the Porter hypothesis. Likewise, the robustness of the findings is confirmed by the results of the fully modified OLS (FMOLS) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) estimations, which indicate a similar impact of the determinants on GTFP as observed in the MMQR analysis. This reinforces the validity of the findings and suggests that the observed relationships are robust to different estimation techniques. Furthermore, the findings of the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (D-H) panel causality test reveal significant bidirectional causality between renewable energy consumption and GTFP and fiscal expenditure and GTFP. Policy-makers need to channel a large chuck of their fiscal spending into green innovation so as to boost sustainability., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In China, the proportion of elderly population is growing, influencing economic development and energy consumption. Our study investigates the relationship between population aging and energy consumption in China from 1997 to 2020, considering both short and long-term effects. The analysis employs the pooled mean group (PMG) estimation and explores the underlying mechanisms using mediating effects and threshold effects models. The PMG results reveal a negative long-term impact of population aging on energy consumption, indicating that a 1% increase in population aging leads to a 0.348% decrease in energy consumption. Additionally, GDP per capita and capital stock exhibit positive correlations with energy consumption, while the industrial structure shows a negative correlation. Technological progress is found to significantly increase energy consumption. The mechanism analysis suggests that the mediating role of scale and technological effects contributes to the negative effect of population aging on energy consumption. Furthermore, a nonlinear relationship between population aging and energy consumption is observed, influenced by both population size and technological progress. The policy implications call for a comprehensive approach that addresses elderly population growth, enhances energy efficiency, and promotes sustainable technologies to ensure sustainable economic development., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Agricultural carbon emission reduction is an important issue in environmental protection and development in China and the world. The farmland spatial transition is an important path for agricultural modernization in developing countries such as China. How can farmland spatial transition promote agricultural carbon emission reduction? This paper aims to explore the mechanisms and spatial-temporal effects of farmland spatial transition on agricultural carbon emission density. To study the mechanisms and effects, we establish the random effect model, the threshold model, and the GTWR model with 2018 counties in China from 2000 to 2020. The research shows the farmland spatial transition mainly promotes agricultural carbon emission reduction through the interaction mechanism of large-scale production and specialized production, intermediary, and threshold mechanisms of agricultural technology. The result also shows that specialized farmland management is the main driving force of agricultural carbon emission reduction for farmland spatial transition. Moreover, the impact of farmland spatial transition on agricultural carbon emission reduction has significant spatial and temporal differences. The most significant regions are located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River plain, while the least are the north and southwest. Besides, the impact of the farmland spatial transition on agricultural carbon emissions reduction has a "V" shape over time, indicating China's agricultural carbon emission reduction is facing enormous economic and social development challenges. Our research reveals the various mechanisms and spatial-temporal effects of the transition of farmland spatial morphology on agricultural carbon emission with an evaluation framework, which is crucial to low-carbon agriculture with proper farmland use., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The relationship between water, energy, food, and the environment has piqued the interest of the global community due to the critical interdependence of these resources for long-term development. This article investigates research within the field of the quadruple nexus. Data from Scopus documents, with the keywords "water, energy, food, and environment" from 2011 to 2022, were processed and analyzed. Further research revealed that scientific exploration of the water-energy-food-environment relationship is rapidly expanding. The Scopus database was used to extract information about countries, institutions, highly cited publications, keywords, hot topics, and future research trends for this study. Additionally, the VOSviewer bibliometric software was employed to evaluate the scientific citations in this article. The results indicated that the USA, compared to other nations, publishes a larger quantity of articles in this field. Recently, China, India, and Middle Eastern countries have garnered significant attention and have been extensively researched. The Philippines, Finland, and Iran have also emerged among the top nations publishing recent articles on the water-energy-food-environment nexus (WEFEN). This article attempts to study the bibliography on the WEFEN connection, identify popular topics, and discern the fields of future studies in this discussion. Furthermore, it investigates the effects of economic and social factors as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this quadruple nexus., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Economic and social development, the state of the environment and a propensity for disasters are closely intertwined. Therefore, environmental policy integration (EPI) across development and disaster management (DM) policies and plans is important. Pakistan as a country is highly vulnerable to climate-induced environmental changes and associated disasters. In this paper, the extent to which its national environment and climate change policy, disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy as well as disaster management (DM) plans are aligned is established, based on a review of government documents and expert opinions. In this context, a particular emphasis is put on China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that led the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Plan (CPEC; 2017-2030). While environmental assessment (EA) is currently not conducted for any DM policies and plans, DM and EA are well integrated into provincial environmental protection acts, in national as well as most provincial DM plans. It is concluded that a regulatory framework to guide EPI in DM for BRI and CPEC projects is needed., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Environmental pollution control and greenhouse gas emissions reduction have become the main ecological protection issues. The digital transformation of the financial sector provides a vital opportunity to holistically promote environmental governance. This article incorporates the synergistic reduction of pollution and carbon emissions into the environmental governance system of digital financial development. Using panel data from 280 cities in China between 2011 and 2018, we examine the impact of digital financial development on the synergistic reduction of pollution and carbon emissions. We find that (1) digital finance development can significantly improve the synergistic reduction of pollution and carbon emissions, effectively lowering carbon emissions while reducing pollution. External environmental concerns can further unleash the potential for digital finance development to enhance its synergistic reduction of pollution and carbon emissions. (2) The key transmission mechanism lies in the dual guidance of digital finance development toward biased technical change, i.e., toward energy-saving elements on the input side and toward reduced pollution output on the output side, thereby inducing the synergistic reduction of pollution and carbon emissions. (3) The synergistic effect of digital finance development on pollution and carbon reduction depends on the necessary regional development endowment, such as strong green technology innovation capabilities, lower traditional financial accessibility, and carbon sink reserves. This study expands the understanding of the environmental effects of digital finance development and offers crucial insights for exploring the optimal development path under green strategies., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In the context of the dual carbon targets, digital trade brings new impetus to China's economic development to achieve low-carbon emission reduction. This article uses panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, and uses a two-way fixed effect model to empirically investigate the impact of digital trade development on regional carbon emissions and its heterogeneity. The results show that the development of digital trade significantly reduces regional carbon emissions, and the conclusion is still valid after conducting the robustness tests. Digital trade can reduce regional carbon emissions by exploiting its effects of expanding economic scale, upgrading industrial structure, and promoting green technology innovation. In addition, the carbon reduction effect of digital trade varies due to differences in regions, trade openness, and carbon emission intensity. The carbon reduction effect of digital trade in central and western regions is larger than that in eastern regions, and the effect in inland regions is greater than that in coastal regions. As the degree of trade liberalization increases and carbon intensity decreases, the carbon reduction effect of digital trade will also weaken. The research conclusions have profound practical significance for achieving the carbon neutrality target, effectively addressing climate change, and promoting high-quality economic development., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Emission trading scheme (ETS) is one of the most important ways to mitigate carbon emissions. As the largest carbon emitter in the world, China implemented ETS policy in 2013. Whether ETS policy can boost enterprise green technological innovation (GTI) quality in China remains to be discussed after reviewing the previous studies. All 318 A-share listed enterprises of China's eight high-carbon emission industries from 2008 to 2021 are chosen to investigate the influence of the ETS policy on enterprise GTI quality by the difference-in-difference (DID) method. Furthermore, heterogeneous effects of ETS policy on the quality of enterprise GTI are analyzed from three aspects: enterprise life cycle, corporate environmental management, and industry classification. The findings indicate that China's ETS policy has a positive influence on the quality of GTI in eight high-carbon emission industries. Further heterogeneity analysis demonstrates (1) China's ETS policy has varying effects on the eight high-carbon emission industries; (2) China's ETS policy can improve GTI quality of enterprises in the maturity stage of their life cycle, but not for those in their growth stage. (3) Comparing the effect of China's ETS policy, GTI quality of enterprises with higher environmental management score is stimulated, while GTI quality of those with lower score is not., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The construction of trade power and green low-carbon transformation are common high-quality development goals for countries worldwide. The depth of the environmental provisions contained in different countries' intercountry trade agreements and the implicit carbon data of intercountry trade are accurately measured based on the textual analysis of trade agreement rules, and it is empirically found that enhancing the depth of the environmental provisions contained in trade agreements can significantly reduce CO 2 emissions embodied in international trade. The capacity of intercountry green technology cooperation to strengthen the internal environmental governance capacity of countries and to enhance carbon productivity is an important transmission mechanism. The effect of the environmental provisions in different types of trade agreements on reducing trade-implied carbon is obviously heterogeneous; the higher the level of correlation with carbon emissions is, the stronger the effect of trade agreement provisions, and that effect is more significant in developed countries and in the reduction of foreign carbon emissions that are embedded in export products. In this paper, the impact of the depth of the environmental provisions of trade agreements on trade-implied carbon under the same framework is directly studied, which not only advances the measurement of the depth of the environmental provisions of trade agreements and expands the research field on the scope of influence of existing trade agreements but also fully accounts for the role of the effectiveness of environmental provisions in different contexts and provides a theoretical basis for the optimization of future environmental provisions., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Carbon emission reduction in the construction industry is vital for realizing sustainable development, and the development of the digital economy plays an important role in this process. The impact of the digital economy on reducing carbon emissions in the construction industry is empirically explored through econometric analyses on a sample of panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2021. The empirical results show that developing a digital economy can significantly reduce the construction industry's carbon emission intensity. Additionally, this impact has a significant spatial spillover effect and can benefit the neighboring regions. The mechanism test shows that the digital economy can reduce carbon emissions by improving the technological level of the construction industry. Moreover, the inhibiting effects of the digital economy on carbon emissions in the construction industry vary across different regions. They are more pronounced in the eastern and western regions of low coal-consuming regions. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers to help drive the deeper integration of the digital economy with the construction industry and facilitate its transition to low-carbon development., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval: Not applicable. Consent to participate: This study has not directly/indirectly involved humans and/or animals. Consent to publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Large-capacity toluene storage tank leakage accidents can lead to severe casualties and environmental damage. In this study, numerical simulation of the toluene leakage accidents is performed using PHAST and ALOHA softwares across 16 scenarios. The present research focuses on the dispersion of toluene lethal and toxicity clouds, as well as the associated risks from vapor cloud explosions and pool fires resulting from the large-capacity toluene storage tank leakage. Meanwhile, the effects of influential factors such as leakage height, wind speed, ambient temperature, and atmospheric stability on toluene leakage accidents are also discussed, and then the worst-case scenario of the toluene leakage accident is obtained. The effects of wind speed, ambient temperature, leakage height, and atmospheric stability on outcomes such as toxic clouds, vapor dispersion, explosions, and pool fires are also analyzed. The result reveals that toxic cloud dispersion increases with ambient temperature, while the impact of vapor cloud explosions and pool fires decreases with the increase of leak heights. Wind speed significantly affects pool fire spread. The influential factors related to maximizing hazard range including low leak heights, low wind speeds, high temperatures, and stable conditions are obtained. Risk analysis indicates that vapor cloud explosions significantly impact outdoor potential loss of life (PLL outdoor ) compared with other incidents. Scenario 4 within a directional range from 33.8 to 56.3° shows the highest incident frequencies, highlighting its importance for risk monitoring. These findings are crucial for enhancing emergency response strategies and safety protocols in industrial safety management., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethical approval: Not applicable. Consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Green industrial policies (GIPs) aim to promote the adoption of green technology within a sustainability framework. While previous evaluations of GIP have focused more on the policy itself and the impacts within the policy boundaries, this paper further introduces the geographical factor to analyze the impact of different spatial geographic distances on implementing GIP. By integrating geographic distances into a spatial difference-in-differences analysis to assess the effects of municipal green industry policies (referred to as green industry pilot policies in this paper) enacted in 11 cities in China from 2006 to 2010, we find that these policies not only improve environmental and economic outcomes in targeted regions but also have spillover effects that may affect neighboring areas negatively, highlighting the importance of geographic considerations. The effectiveness of green industrial policies varies across cities, influenced by local socio-technical systems and regional characteristics such as infrastructure and information technology. These findings suggest that policy impacts are complex and multifaceted, requiring a comprehensive understanding of geographic interdependencies. By incorporating geographic factors, this research contributes to sustainability transition theory by offering insights into the spatial and temporal dynamics of socio-technical systems. The results underscore the need for policymakers to consider spatial-temporal aspects and potential secondary effects on adjacent regions when designing and implementing green industrial policies., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In 2020, China pledged carbon reduction targets at the United Nations: peaking emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Research and prediction of regional carbon emissions are crucial for achieving these dual carbon targets across China. This study aims to construct an indicator system for regional carbon emissions and utilize it for forecasting. Analyzing carbon emission data from a specific area in Hainan Province from 2010 to 2020, we established an indicator system. Using the interpretable SHAP model, we assessed indicator importance and trends. Employing an improved STIRPAT model with partial least squares regression to address multicollinearity among influencing factors, we developed a carbon emission prediction model. Based on this, we forecasted carbon emissions from 2021 to 2060 in the specified area under three scenarios: natural, baseline, and ambitious. The results show that the growth of resident population and per capita GDP has the most significant promoting effect on carbon emissions in the region while optimizing industrial structure, energy consumption structure, and reducing energy intensity will inhibit carbon emissions. The prediction results indicate that in the natural scenario, regional carbon emissions will peak in 2035, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 is not feasible, while the baseline scenario and ambitious scenario can achieve the dual carbon targets on time or even earlier. The research results of this article provide a reference method for predicting carbon emissions in other regions and a guide for future regional emission reduction., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Digital inclusive finance eases credit constraints on innovative small and medium-sized enterprises which contributes to urban green technology innovation in China. Government intervention plays an essential role in the development of digital inclusive finance. Based on the panel data of 243 cities in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper empirically examines the relationship between digital inclusive finance and urban green technology innovation as well as the intrinsic mechanism of government intervention. The findings show that, even after a series of robustness tests, digital inclusive finance can promote the quantity and quality of green technology innovation. In terms of its mechanism, digital inclusive finance can empower green technology innovation by complementing traditional financial development and stimulating green consumption, both in terms of supply and demand. At the same time, in the dynamic process of digital financial inclusion from low to high, the development of traditional finance and green consumption level on the marginal promotion of green technology innovation continues to strengthen. The nonlinear relationship test reveals that there is a significant double threshold effect on the positive impact of digital inclusive finance on urban green technology innovation with the evolution of government intervention. The innovation incentive effect of digital financial inclusion will be marginal decreasing with the increase of government intervention. Further considering the heterogeneity of urban geographic location and environmental regulation, it is found that digital financial inclusion promotes green technology innovation more in eastern and high-environmental regulation cities. Based on the above research conclusions, this paper argues that while developing digital inclusion finance, government support policies should be adjusted promptly to constantly stimulate the "Metcalfe's law" effect of digital inclusive finance enabling green technology innovation., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Drawing on the textual contents of the Chinese local government work reports, this paper focuses on the impact of leading officials' audits of natural-resource assets on the local environmental attention allocation. The study has found that during the pilot period of audits, compared with the non-pilot cities, the local government in the pilot cities has concentrated more on the ecological environment field and has placed greater emphasis on the actual environmental governance. The results of mechanism analysis show that differences in the personal and take-office characteristics of local officials, may lead to different promotion pressure and performance evaluation modes, and then have a different impact on local environmental attention. The test results of consequence analysis show that the environmental attention in the pilot cities can be further transformed into environmental administrative and financial governance behavior. The paper discusses the policy effect and internal mechanism of leading officials' audits of natural-resource assets from the perspective of local governments' environmental attention, providing empirical evidence for China to carry out the top-level design of environmental policy based on the idea of optimizing officials' performance evaluation mechanism., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Environmental justice is an important safeguard for pollution control, and this paper is interested in its ability to promote carbon emission reduction. One unique facet of reinforcing local environmental justice involves the establishment of environmental courts by Intermediate People's Courts. Taking this as the starting point, this study constructs a quasi-natural experiment to investigate the strengthening of urban environmental justice. Analyzing empirical data from 283 prefecture-level cities in China spanning 2006 to 2019, we employ multi-period and spatial difference-in-differences approaches to probe the impact of environmental justice strengthening on carbon reduction. Our results indicate a substantial contribution of strengthened environmental justice to reducing carbon emissions. Specifically, the establishment of environmental courts can curtail carbon emissions by an estimated range of 11.7 to 12.9%. Also, the mechanism analysis underscores that the carbon reduction effect primarily arises from enhanced efficiency in processing environmental cases. Moreover, this effect is notably pronounced in regions with robust governmental environmental regulations. Notably, in areas with limited public environmental concern, environmental courts effectively complement existing environmental regulations. Furthermore, a significant positive spillover effect of environmental courts on carbon emission reduction is observed in geographically adjacent economic zones., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In the light of China's carbon-neutral goal, this study examines how food production, forest cover, trade openness, and rural population contribute to the quest of addressing China's agricultural nitrous oxide emissions. Time series data ranging from 1971 to 2018 was used for analysis in this study. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique was employed to evaluate potential cointegration as well as to ascertain the long and short-run effects of food production, forest cover, income, trade openness, and rural population on agricultural nitrous oxide emission. The Toda-Yamomoto causality analysis was also used to identify the causal relations between covariates (food production, forest cover, income, trade openness, and rural population) and the outcome variable (agricultural nitrous oxide emission). The long-run evidence is that rural population in itself tends to increase agricultural nitrous oxide emissions likewise food production. There is also validation of the existence of environmental Kuznets curve for agricultural nitrous oxide emissions. Moreover, income interacts with rural population to reduce agricultural nitrous oxide emissions in the long-run. Causality analysis indicated rural population affects the level of forest cover; forest cover is found to cause agricultural nitrous oxide emissions but the converse is not established, and income as well as the interaction between income and rural population determines agricultural nitrous oxide emissions. The short-run dynamics results establish an oscillatory equilibrium convergence for agricultural nitrous oxide emissions in event of structural disturbances. From the findings, the EKC hypothesis is relevant by offering avenue to reduce emission. Thus, income growth remains helpful in addressing nitrous oxide emission from the agricultural sector. However, research is needed to unravel why nitrous oxide tends to increase in many forest areas. Since food production cannot be halted, policy makers need to enhance the uptake of efficient food production technologies including developing and using more renewable energy for food production. It is important for authorities to attend to rural development in order to mitigate agricultural nitrous oxide emissions in China., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

China Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (COCZs) which as a platform for China's foreign investment and trade has a potential impact on CO 2 emissions, while strengthening bilateral investment and trade between China and the host countries. Since most of the COCZs are located in countries along the "Belt and Road," the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of COCZs on CO 2 emissions of the countries along the "Belt and Road" and the mechanism of this impact. We constructed a panel data of 63 countries along the "Belt and Road" from 2000 to 2020, and conducted an empirical study using the difference-in-difference (DID) model. Our research result show that COCZs can significantly increase the CO 2 emissions of the countries along the "Belt and Road." Then, we conduct a series of robustness tests and endogeneity test on the estimation results of the baseline model, and the results of the tests all support the conclusion reached by the baseline model. Our heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effect of COCZs on CO 2 emissions is more significant in Asian countries with lower national income or industrialization and higher country risk. Finally, we analyzed industrial value added and energy depletion as possible impact mechanisms, the results of mechanism model shows that COCZs can increase the industrial value added and then significantly increase CO 2 emissions, but energy depletion was not an efficient mechanism. Our paper provides a new insight into the impact of bilateral economic and trade cooperation zones on CO 2 emissions in host countries., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

China has abundant agricultural and forestry waste resources that are crucial sources of energy for substituting fossil fuels and achieving the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. These resources play an essential role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and promoting sustainable development. This paper presents an estimation of the number of biomass resources that can be used for energy in 2020 by using parameters such as the grass-to-grain ratio coefficient and excretion coefficient. Moreover, the potential for conversion of biomass resources into biomass energy is evaluated by using parameters such as lower heating value and gas production coefficient. Finally, based on the whole life cycle theory, the potential of biomass energy utilization to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and its impact on carbon peaking is calculated. It was found that the total amount of fossil fuels that can be replaced by biomass energy is 256 million tons of standard coal. Utilizing biomass energy can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 520 million tons, with a peak impact of 4-6% on carbon peaking. The research results presented in this article can provide valuable data to support the promotion of green transformation in various regions. The findings can serve as a useful reference for formulating localized biomass utilization plans and designing effective emission reduction policies., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), spearheaded by China, is anticipated to bolster trade, investment, and economic growth among participating countries to advance the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 7 through international trade. Within this context, renewable energy has emerged as a promising avenue to address environmental degradation and foster sustainable development. However, the impact of BRI's trade volume on renewable energy development and adoption in these nations remains unresolved. To address this, our study examines the influence of trade openness, foreign direct investment, economic growth, and oil prices on renewable energy consumption in 94 BRI countries with varying income levels from 2000 to 2019. Employing panel data analysis, including fixed effects (FE), random effects (RE), and the system generalised method of moments (GMM), we present findings across income groups: i) Trade openness exhibits a positive effect on renewable energy consumption in high-income and upper-middle-income countries; ii) In contrast, it diminishes renewable energy consumption in lower-middle-income countries; iii) Trade openness demonstrates insignificant effects on renewable energy consumption in low-income countries; iv) On the panel level, trade openness significantly and positively impacts renewable energy consumption. Our research underscores the significance of trade openness as a crucial instrument for advancing renewable energy development in high-income BRI countries, thereby fostering environmental sustainability. Policy interventions targeting renewable energy hold promise for enhancing environmental quality in low-income countries., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)