Search

Global climate change is aggravating the occurrence of pests and diseases, however, pesticide residue caused by the abuse of chemical pesticides is emerging as a worldwide issue with a great threat to the ecological environment, human health, and food security. Biopesticide application, a component of climate-smart agricultural practices, is viewed as a vital alternative for agricultural sustainable development. Due to the additional cost attached to externalities and information insufficiency, the adoption rates of biopesticide are still quite low in most developing countries. By using panel data of 3143 rural households from 2020 to 2021 in Jiangsu Province, this paper builds a theoretical framework of whether and how specialized agricultural service (SAS) for specialized pest control affects farmers' biopesticide application, and then employs an Endogenous Switching Probit model to verify this effect and its channels empirically. The empirical results show that the SAS purchase can increase significantly the probability of smallholders' biopesticide adoption by 30.8%. Without consideration of the self-selection bias, this probability would drop to 16.2%. The potential channels of the SAS influencing farmers' biopesticide application are technology popularization (training) and machinery substitution resulting from SAS. Moreover, our findings also indicate that the effects of SAS on biopesticide adoption are heterogeneous, and vary with farmers' education level, cooperative members, and land size. This paper provides the first empirical evidence for the effect of SAS on biopesticide promotion, which is expected to contribute to agricultural sustainable development and food safety in most developing countries. [Display omitted] • Climate-smart agricultural practices play a vital role in global adaptation to climate change. • We examine the effects of specialized agricultural services on biopesticide application in China. • Theoretical framework and endogenous switching probit model are employed to identify these effects. • Specialized agricultural service affects biopesticide adoption mainly through two channels. • These effects are heterogeneous and vary with farmers' different characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution and labor mobility are two important social phenomena associated with China's pursuit of high-quality development. First, this paper matches China's urban characteristics data with China Migrants Dynamic Survey in 2017. Then, the conditional logit model is used to empirically investigate the effects and heterogeneity of air pollution on employment location choice. Finally, combined with the concept of risk perception in psychology, this paper explores the underlying mechanisms. The main results are as follows: (1) Air pollution has a significant negative effect on employment location choice of labor force. Specifically, a 1 μg/m3 increase in PM 2.5 concentration in a city can result in a significant decrease of 0.917 percentage points in the probability that the labor force will choose to work in that city. (2) There are heterogeneous characteristics of the negative impact of air pollution on employment location choice. Those with higher education level, outdoor work, relatively higher individual income, and 1–2 minor children are more sensitive to air pollution when choosing employment sites. (3) The mechanism analysis shows that perceived air pollution is an important channel influencing labor's employment location choice, and the stronger the stimulus of air pollution, the greater the negative impact of perceived air pollution on labor force. • This paper matches China's urban characteristics data with China Migrants Dynamic Survey. • The effects and heterogeneity of air pollution on employment location choice is explored. • Combined with the concept of risk perception in psychology, this paper explores the underlying mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using panel data of 11 provinces in the western region of China, the paper empirically analyzes the influence of public environmental participation on the effectiveness of pollution governance. Based on documents from provincial governments in Western China, the paper uses Nvivo software to extract keywords about local governments' attention to the environment and examines its mediating effect between public environmental participation and pollution governance. Furthermore, a classifiable analysis of government environmental attention is carried out, and the effect of local governments' attention to the environment on pollution governance is studied. The results show that public environmental participation promotes pollution governance by increasing the governments' attention to the environment. Additionally, local governments' environmental attention also has a promotive effect on pollution governance, and the increase in environmental decision-makers' attention to environmental pollution and energy consumption is conducive to the improvement of environmental quality, but the effect of environmental protection and collaborative attention on environmental quality improvement still needs to be explored further. • Local governments' attention to the environment is estimated. • Public environmental participation promotes pollution governance. • Local Governments' Environmental Attention plays mediating role. • Local Governments' Environmental Attention has a promotive effect on environmental quality. • The effect of collaborative attention on environmental quality improvement still needs to be explored further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resource constraints and environmental pollution are common problems that have long plagued sustainable development, and enhancing the efficiency of green development is the key to cracking the problems. Previous studies have not jointly examined the green economic production efficiency and environmental pollution control efficiency of industrial and service sectors, to fill this research gap, this paper use the constructed meta-frontier, dynamic network Super-SBM (slacks-based measure) model to evaluate the environmental efficiency in China's 30 provinces and 107 cities. The results reveal that, (1) the green production efficiency of industrial and service sectors showed a fluctuating downward trend, and the pollution control efficiency improved first and then decreased. The overall environmental efficiency of both sectors is low, indicating a strong potential for improvement of the green development in China. (2) The overall environmental efficiency of industrial and service sectors has obvious regional heterogeneity, and which decreases as the weight of treatment stage increases. Additionly, the overall environmental efficiency of industry is greater than that of service industry. (3) The input inefficiency of the production stage and output inefficiency of the treatment stage are the main sources of inefficiency for the industry and service industry. [Display omitted] • This paper construct a meta-frontier, dynamic network Super-SBM model. • We analyze historical efficiency of GEP and EPC in industrial and service sectors. • Two sectors's efficiency has not been significantly improved from 1991 to 2020. • There is sectoral, regional and stage heterogeneity in efficiency. • "High input of production" and "low output of control" hinder effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is causing profound changes in energy and power systems around the world. Although many papers have confirmed the impact of environmental weather on electricity demand, the complex nexus of regional environmental temperature and electricity demand instability remains incomplete, especially neglecting the understanding from the perspectives of multi-quantiles. This paper uses a unique dataset of 15-min the high-frequency grid load situation of Datong, a northern city in China, to construct a comprehensive indicator to measure the regional electricity demand instability. Then, employing the Quantile-on-Quantile approach, this paper evaluates the association between intraday temperature difference and both the composite and multidimensional electric instability indicators. According to the empirical analysis, a larger environmental temperature difference always rises the instability of the electricity demand, which is stronger when both two variables are at higher quantile states. There are heterogeneities among the effects on multi-dimensional indicators of electricity demand instability. Environmental temperature difference provides a negative influence on the load rate, while it will magnify other instability indicators. Furthermore, we also assess the impact of daily extreme temperatures and divide the realized volatility of load into two directions for discussion. Our research presents important knowledge about responding the climate change-induced electric system risk. • This paper aims to reveal the relationship between climate change and electric system risk. • Using a unique dataset, a regional electricity demand instability indicator is constructed. • Quantile on Quantile approach is used to analyze quantile correlations. • A larger environmental temperature difference is harmful to stabilizing the electricity demand. • The impact of environmental temperature differences will be strengthened at higher quantile states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The national ecological security barrier holds a pivotal position within the framework of the national strategy for ecological conservation and restoration. Concurrently, the border areas, as a focal point of the national homeland security strategy, have garnered considerable attention. These two concepts collectively present a profound implication for upholding national security. To this end, monitoring the ecological changes of the ecological security barriers, and exploring the driving mechanisms of such changes constitutes the foremost imperative in comprehending and advancing the national ecological security barrier theory. However, current research has yet to extend the application of ecological security barrier theory to the national scale.This paper integrates the theory of ecological security barrier with China's land border cities belt, constructing the Ecological Security Barrier of China's Land Borders (ESBCLB). Then, this paper produces a Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) products for the early 21st century (2000–2021, 21 periods) by using Google Earth Engine (GEE). Based on pixel scale calculations and classifications, the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics and patterns of the ESBCLB are objectively obtained. Finally, this paper employs the Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR) model to explore driving mechanisms of six primary indicators, namely, economy, human activity, transportation, topography, hydrography and climate, which may have impacts on the ecological environment of the ESBCLB. Through analysis, this paper concludes that (1) On the whole, the ecological environment changes within the ESBCLB are not substantial, with regions where the ecological environment remains unchanged accounting for 73.78%. Among the regions where ecological changes have occurred, those north of the Aksu Prefecture and Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture exhibit a predominantly improved trend, while those to the south show a degraded trend. (2) Among ten evolution patterns identified based on the evolution characteristics, the primary evolution patterns for the ESBCLB are pattern of no significant change and persistence as well as pattern of no significant change and counter persistence. Apart from these, pattern of very significant better and persistence and pattern of significant better and persistence dominate the majority of cases; (3) Overall, economy, human activity, transportation, topography, hydrography, and climate exhibit spatial heterogeneity in driving mechanisms of the RSEI. Among them, human activity, topography, hydrography, and climate show positive correlations with the RSEI of the ESBCLB. While economy and transportation show negative correlations. The significance of this paper lies in that it provides a scientific basis and theoretical support for the specific application of national ecological security barrier and the study of the evolution of regional ecological environment. • Provide a way to put theory of ecological security barrier to practices at the national level. • The Hurst Index is used to identificated evolution patterns of the ecological environment. • A comprehensive indicator system is constructed to explore the driving mechanisms behind ecological environmental changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighborhood regeneration has become essential component of environmental improvement, and promoting resident participation is a key aspect of effective environmental management. However, in China, the legacy of the former housing allocation system and specific cultural contexts have led to residents' psychological inertia towards participating in neighborhood regeneration. Although there has been extensive research on encouraging resident participation, most studies fail to recognize that cultivating active participation behavior among residents usually requires overcoming their existing reluctance or psychological inertia first. Grounded on the innovative notion of psychological inertia, this paper puts forth the perspective that to foster resident participation, it is imperative to initially disrupt their current participation inertia and subsequently facilitate the reconfiguration of their participation behavior. Specifically, it addresses two key research questions: (i) which factors are conducive to stimulating residents to overcome inherent psychological inertia and stimulate their positive participation attitudes? (ii) How do these stimuli shape and reconstruct residents' participation behavior? Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theory and structural equation modeling (SEM), this paper unveils the mask of intrinsic mechanism for overcoming psychological inertia and reshaping residents' participation behavior. The empirical results show that three stimulating factors (information acquisition, social norms, and perceived grassroots government support) directly impact residents' participating attitudes; these stimuli reconstruct participation behavior by triggering individual psychological changes and then inducing behavioral changes. With the new insight of "overcoming psychological inertia" and the incorporation of behavioral psychology in restructuring resident participation behavior, this paper presents implementation strategies for promoting resident participation in neighborhood regeneration. [Display omitted] • Overcoming psychological inertia is a prerequisite for active resident participation. • Identified three stimuli for fostering resident participation by overcoming inertia. • The research reveals how stimuli shape residents' participation behavior using SEM. • Incorporated behavioral psychology in restructuring resident participation behavior. • Provided practical strategies and theoretical support for resident participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synergistic governance of emission reduction between pollutants and CO2 (hereinafter referred to as synergistic governance) reflects China's proactive response to climate change and will become a central task in China's environmental governance over the next decade and beyond. Given this, this paper aims to systematically understand why synergistic governance is possible and what China has achieved in synergistic governance. In order to achieve these aims, this paper constructs a scientific indicator system based on synergistic governance theory and applies the composite system synergy model to assess the level of synergistic governance in China. The results show that China has made great progress in synergistic governance in the past decade, achieving a leaping development from mild non-synergy to moderate synergy. The achievement mainly comes from the efforts of nearly 1/3 of Chinese provinces in advancing synergistic governance, and the improvement direction of synergistic governance in these provinces is consistent with the national level, jumping from mild non-synergy to moderate synergy. However, the level of synergistic governance in some provinces has decreased rather than increased. It is worth noting that the widening gap in the level of synergistic governance within China's regions may become a vital factor that hinders the sustainable promotion of synergistic governance. This paper clarifies the operational logic of synergistic governance and provides a comprehensive evaluation method, which is beneficial to provide some references for other countries that intend to work on synergistic governance. • Theoretical explanation on synergistic governance from resource flow and energy flow. • A composite system synergy model for the synergistic governance is developed. • Spatial-temporal evolution of synergistic governance in Chinese regions is analyzed. • Widening differences will constrain the sustainability of synergistic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the coal reliance of all 31 provinces in China and assesses the potential for a just energy transition towards cleaner energy sources. The authors calculate a coal reliance index (CRI) for each province based on China statistical data. The CRI takes into account factors such as coal production, consumption, and import/export, as well as GDP, population, and gender differences in mining employment. The authors highlight the importance of considering the varying degrees of coal reliance among provinces in developing effective policies for a just energy transition. The findings suggest the provincial CRI has generally been decreasing across most provinces over the past 16 years. When looking at regional CRI rankings, the northwest region has the highest average CRI compared to other regions, while the northeast region has the lowest CRI, followed by the north, east, south central, and southwest regions. The gender CRI indicates that women in China are not benefiting as much as men from economic growth and development. The paper provides insights for policymakers seeking to achieve a more sustainable and just energy system in China. • Coal reliance is critical to developing effective policies for a just energy transition. • The authors calculate a coal reliance index (CRI) for 31 provinces in China. • The research provides insights for policymakers to achieve a just energy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether a low-carbon strategy can force manufacturing enterprises to step up digital transformation is essential to the decarbonization of cities. Using China's low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) as a quasinatural experiment, this paper tests its effect on the digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises by applying the difference-in-differences (DID) method. Furthermore, this paper conducts a heterogeneity analysis and tests for influence mechanisms. The results show the following. (1) The LCCP has promoted the digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises in pilot cities, as verified by several robustness tests. (2) The promoting effect of the LCCP on digital transformation has remarkable enterprise heterogeneity, industrial heterogeneity, and regional heterogeneity. The LCCP has resulted in a stronger driving effect on the digital transformation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), enterprises in high-carbon industries, and enterprises in financially developed areas. (3) The LCCP has promoted digital transformation by not only strengthening fiscal expenditures on science and technology (S&T) but also alleviating financing constraints. This study presents a realistic basis for refining LCCP policies and formulating incentive measures for digital transformation. • Regard China's low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) as a quasi-natural experiment. • Evaluate policy effects upon the digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises. • Digital transformation effects vary from the heterogeneity of enterprises, industries, and regions. • Strengthening fiscal expenditures on science and technology and alleviating financing constraints are important driving mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restrictions on travel and quarantine on arrival are typical strategies imposed by public health authorities during pandemics. While much research has analyzed the consequences of policies about global public health emergencies including COVID-19, to date there has been little discussion of the social consequences of these policies. We undertook an exploratory study using qualitative research to understand the social impacts experienced by travelers as a result of the restriction policies implemented in China following its implementation of a zero-COVID policy. Using online sources and 40 interviews with quarantine hotel staff, government officials, and arrivees to China, we found that the people with a strong justification for travelling during the pandemic were significantly affected by the restrictions, resulting in them experiencing a wide range of negative social impacts, including on their: psychosocial health and wellbeing; family cohesion; social networks; the experience of unexpected and unpleasant circumstances; and a sense of persecution. These outcomes were partly a consequence of the characteristics of Chinese society and the returnees themselves, and were influenced by the government's COVID management strategies. With medical experts having dominated the battle against the virus, ordinary people's feelings and concerns were ignored. We argue that these also need to be understood and considered in the planning of public health strategies. To improve outcomes in future situations, much can be learned from the field of Social Impact Assessment (SIA), especially in terms of understanding how people are affected, and to achieve acceptance and a social licence for pandemic management strategies, the importance of meaningful community engagement, ongoing monitoring, adaptive management, and an effective grievance redress mechanism. Our paper enriches the understanding of SIA when applied in the policy arena, and it demonstrates the value of a SIA perspective for improving social outcomes in public health emergencies. It also adds to understanding the consequences of pandemics and restriction policies on people. • The concerns of arrivees have been ignored in management of the COVID pandemic. • Restriction policies have significantly affected people other than just travelers. • Although various elites dominate the battle against virus, people's feelings matter. • National policies should consider the unintended consequences of actions. • A Social Impact Assessment perspective helps analyze the social impacts of policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving climate justice is an important goal and basic principle of global climate governance. This paper evaluates the progress of achieving global climate justice by quantitatively depicting the evolution characteristics, group differences and driving factors of global embodied carbon emissions. The results indicate that the phenomenon of embodied carbon inequality is more obvious. Furthermore, a data-driven clustering algorithm is adopted to divide the world's major economies into four convergence clubs based on the embodied carbon emissions levels. We find that the embodied carbon emissions gap between different clubs has widened since 2008, which may be related to the re-industrialization of developed countries. The results of SDA analysis indicate that the embodied carbon emissions of developed countries, such as the United States, are more driven by per capita end-use. On the contrary, unclean consumption and investment structure is the main driving force for the increase of embodied carbon emissions in developing countries such as China. Therefore, efforts should be made in developing countries on the clean adjustment of consumption and investment structure to promote the convergence of embodied carbon emissions with developed countries. • Phenomenon of global embodied carbon inequality is more obvious. • Driving factors of global embodied carbon inequality is examined. • Embodied carbon emissions gap between different clubs has widened since 2008. • Clean adjustment of consumption and investment structure should be emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of sustainable corporate energy-saving behaviors (CESB) is key initiatives to ease the pressure on energy resources and reduce the impacts of climate change. This paper constructed a quantitative research model of how perceived organizational green climate (POGC) and CESB promote each other using eastern and central China as an example, analyzing 859 valid questionnaires. Using a combination of analytical techniques such as multiple linear regression, partial least squares-structural equation model (PLS-SEM) and multi-group comparisons, the following findings were found. (1) Companies are more likely to implement day-to-day energy efficiency management practices than deeper social energy-saving behaviors (SEBs). (2) POGC effectively promotes the implementation of CESB and its sub-types, with member environmental perceptions having a mediating effect in some of pathways. (3) Behavioral implementation has a feedback effect on POGC and members' environmental cognition (MEC), in which leaders play a moderating role. (4) There is heterogeneity in the degree of industry pollution in their mutual reinforcement relationships. Finally, relevant recommendations are proposed to promote corporate energy-saving. [Display omitted] • Distinguish between corporate investing, managing & social energy-saving behavior • Introducing stimulus-organism-response theory to organizational behavior • An integrated model to explore the relation between green climate and energy saving • Multi-group comparison revealed the heterogeneity in industry pollution levels. • Promoting the implementation of sustainable corporate energy-saving behavior [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the intricate relationship between agricultural productivity and the pursuit of a just energy transition in China. As the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases and a nation grappling with environmental degradation and socio-economic disparities, China faces the imperative to transition toward a more sustainable and equitable energy system. This paper investigates the role of agriculture in this transition, recognizing its pivotal position as a significant emitter of greenhouse gases while also being vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. By examining the potential synergies and conflicts between agricultural productivity enhancement and the goals of reducing emissions and promoting social justice, this study aims to shed light on strategies that can effectively align agricultural development with the objectives of a just energy transition. The result indicates substantial internal disparities and strong agglomeration effects (referring to areas with similar agricultural total factor productivity) within China's agricultural total factor productivity distribution. Over the past 17 years (2005–2021), the average agricultural productivity has shown a commendable upward trend, marking a 2.8% growth rate. This increase signifies ongoing efforts and advancements in the agricultural sector, leading to improved productivity levels. Our results also show a significant positive spatial correlation in agricultural total factor productivity, suggesting a tendency for spatial agglomeration. The years 2005 and 2021 stand out as periods marked by significant adverse effects resulting from the interplay of diverse factors on agricultural productivity. By integrating findings from various sectors, this study provides insights into the complex interplay between agriculture and energy transition, emphasizing the need for integrated, holistic approaches that prioritize sustainability, fairness, and resilience in China's pursuit of a just energy future. • This study explores the relationship between agricultural productivity and energy transition. • Our aim is to align agricultural development with the objectives of energy transition. • The analysis connects productivity and equity. • We emphasize sustainability and resilience in China's pursuit of a just energy future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, data is increasingly becoming a crucial production factor and strategic resource for economic development. However, there is no consensus on whether data plays a significant role in promoting city green development. This paper examines the effect and the mechanism of big data on carbon emission reduction based on a quasi-natural experiment of Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zones (BDCPZ) in China, using a difference-in-difference approach and combining panel data from 261 cities in China from 2010 to 2019. The study found that: (1) The policy of BDCPZ significantly reduced carbon emissions, which confirms the critical importance of the digital dividend in China's green development process. (2) We find the emission reduction effect of BDCPZ is achieved in three main ways: promoting industrial upgrading, improving energy use efficiency and increasing green TFP in manufacturing. (3) Further analysis reveals that the carbon emission reduction effect of BDCPZ varies depending on city population size, levels of manufacturing development, resource endowments, and pilot cities with low carbon related policies. This paper empirically confirms the digital dividend in city green transformation, provides evidence and policy guidance for the broad application of the digital economy in the field of green and low-carbon development, and enriches research in development economics and environmental economics. It helps to provide novel policy insights for the government to implement proactive policies of carbon reduction, and to build a diversified carbon reduction governance system to successfully achieve "carbon peak" and "carbon neutral" targets. • We empirically identified the digital dividend in China's green transformation using the BDCPZ policy. • We explored three mechanisms of BDCPZ construction for green development. • The digital dividend is greater in large cities, advanced manufacturing bases and non-resource-based cities. • The digital dividend is amplified in pilot cities for carbon trading and low-carbon cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aggravation of carbon emissions and global warming, the probability of various natural disasters and environmental risks will increase significantly. Therefore, carbon emission reduction and low-carbon development have become the focus of environmental economic research. This paper uses the information about the opening of high-speed railway (HSR) in China to comprehensively explore the effect of infrastructure construction on urban carbon total factor productivity (CTFP) in China, which is calculated by the novel non-parametric method named biennial non-radial Luenberger productivity indicator (BLPI). Our results reveal that in China, an extra HSR line significantly improves the CTFP of local cities by 0.63%, while the CTFP of related surrounding cities increases by 6.3%. We confirm the robustness of our empirical findings and perform the mechanism analysis from several aspects. The mechanism analysis shows that the HSR improves the CTFP of local cities mainly via industrial upgrading and technological progress, and improves the CTFP of surrounding cities via industrial agglomeration and factor spillover. Besides, the impact of the HSR is more pronounced for the core cities, large cities, and innovative cities. Our results suggest that the HSR makes cities more carbon efficient, which is a non-negligible advantage of infrastructure construction in reducing environmental risks. • Governments around the world have been committed to reducing external environmental risks by adopting urbanization. • This paper analyzes the spillover effect of the onening of HSR on CTFP in China. • This paper provides a novel framework, which uses the LPI combined with the BNDDF to measure CTFP. • An extra HSR line significantly improves the CTFP of local cities by 0.63% and surrounding cities by 6.3%. • The mechanism analysis reveals four channels, including industrial upgrading, technological progress, industrial agglomeration, and factor spillover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been nearly 20 years since the Law of the People's Republic of China on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) formally came into effect in 2003. The development of China's EIA system has gone through the stages of exploration, practice and reform. The evaluation objects have expanded from construction projects to planning, and then to policies, forming an EIA system with Chinese characteristics. This paper first draws on the experience of international EIA effectiveness evaluation and puts forward a checklist combined with China's practice. Based on this checklist, the development of China's EIA system is systematically reviewed and analyzed from the perspective of effectiveness evaluation. Finally, this paper proposes keys and priorities for the future effectiveness improvement of China's EIA system, and puts forward policy recommendations of realistic value for EIA to help China achieve high-standard protection and high-quality development. It is found that, as an important means of environmental management, the laws and regulations system, and administration system of China's EIA system play an important role. However, there are still some imperfections. The connotation of Strategic Environmental Assessment in China still needs to be further enriched, and support system such as public participation need to be strengthened. • Establishing a checklist of China's EIA system based on effectiveness evaluation. • A comprehensive review of the development of China's EIA system. • Using EIA-related government documents, reports and practices as evaluation basis. • Four suggestions proposed to improve the effectiveness of EIA system of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective resistance and rapid recovery from external environmental risks has risen to be a social challenge in the accelerated urbanization process of China. However, the current measures for urban high-rise and high-density core area with high-volume pedestrians and high pollution are often focused on one-dimensional means, which cannot meet the multi-objective demands simultaneously. Therefore, this paper is aimed to explore a prevention-oriented route - a vertical pedestrian system for high-rise buildings based on scheme phase, with multiple objectives optimization of strengthening the ability of ecological order restoration and assisting occupants in recovering psychological and physiological injury from high-density environment in a relative fast speed. The feasibility and effectiveness have been verified by a complete technology route of scheme selection, numerical simulation and field measurements. The results show that, first, after the integration of secondary ground pedestrian system (SGPS) basic unit, the average predicted mean vote (PMV) improves 75.45%, the average air temperature declines 2.75 °C, and the average spatial integration increases 35.35%. Second, the optimal range of unit height difference in SGPS under hot-humid climate condition is suggested to be 6–9 storeys. Third, compared with single-sided "E-type" connection, the thermal comfort improves 70.49% and the indoor average PMV is optimized by 2.56%, with a more stable wind speed by using bilateral alternating "S-type" connection. Finally, compared with connections among low-integrated secondary ground units, the average integration is up to 6.98% with visual and path links of high-integrated-orientation. This paper objectively answers the question of whether and to what extent the combination of vertical greening and walking system contributes to ecological order restoration, which provides a new orientation for exploring the routes of maintaining urban ecological stability and optimizing environmental structure. • It evaluates the effect of SGPS on the high-rise and high-density environment. • It analyzes SGPS's effects from a multi-objective perspective. • The SPGS plays a positive role in environmental regulation and health promotion. • The union of walking system and ventilating shaft effectively integrate resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial development and energy consumption are expected to exert a significant effect on CO 2 emission changes. However, there remains a research gap in optimizing pathways to carbon peaking under financial and energy drivers. This paper constructs a novel model covering finance and energy consumption using the generalized Divisia Index (GDI) method. The GDI allows to quantify the drivers behind the CO 2 emission change in China during 2005–2020. Furthermore, it combines a Monte Carlo simulation with scenario analysis to forecast the path of CO 2 emissions during 2021–2030. The results demonstrate that energy structure and carbon factor remain the principal drivers for CO 2 emission growth in China. Thus, it is still pivotal to optimize energy saving and carbon reduction policies. Financial energy saving has enormous potential for reducing CO 2 emissions over time, even though the immediate influence on CO 2 emission is not significant. China has a substantial probability of reaching the peaking target in 2026 under the technology breakthrough scenario, whereas in the other two scenarios the target cannot be achieved. • The main factor in mitigating CO 2 emissions is the carbon intensity of financial development. • Energy consumption and carbon factor are essential factors to the increase in CO 2 emissions. • Energy intensity of financial development presents a strong potential for emission reductions. • Peaking targets will be achieved by 2030 only under the technology breakthrough scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy making is a highly interactive process with environmental systems. Evaluation of policy's potential environmental impacts has been regarded as an efficient precautionary measure to avoid unexpected losses and environmental risks. One of the greatest challenges is how to streamline the policy-making process through an integrated evaluation approach. This paper formulated a process-based framework for environmental impact assessment of policy making (PB-EIA), by integrating policy problem identification, environmental impact assessment, and policy cost-effectiveness evaluation. Using China's wastewater resource utilization (WWRU) policy as a case study, the institutional, technological, and economic constraints or limitations related to wastewater resource utilization were identified, and the potential environmental impacts of policy implementation on energy consumption and carbon emissions were evaluated. The expected ecological and environmental benefits of the WWRU policy were supposed to be significant, and the cost of recycled water was relatively low compared with other unconventional water resources in China. Furthermore, significant variations in the environmental impacts and policy effectiveness were found across different sectors and regions. According to the evaluation results, some recommendations for supporting policy improvements and follow-up policy implementations were proposed. The specific technical procedures and application of PB-EIA were also discussed. This study demonstrates that the process-based framework can effectively incorporate environmental considerations into policy-making processes and promote sustainable development. • A process-based framework for environmental impact assessment of policy making (PB-EIA) was formulated. • The PB-EIA integrated policy problem identification, environmental impact assessment, and cost-effectiveness evaluation. • The PB-EIA framework was adopted in China's wastewater resource utilization (WWRU) policy evaluation. • The PB-EIA can help to integrate environmental considerations into policy making processes for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasingly critical ecological environment in the major grain-producing regions (MGPRs) of China has attracted widespread attention, but there is limited research at the city level. This study presented a land ecological security (LES) evaluation index system based on the pressure, state, response (PSR) model. It used the panel entropy weight method, kernel density function method, Moran index model, and spatial econometric model to measure LES of 158 cities in MGPRs from 2005 to 2020, and analyzed the spatial and temporal evolutionary trends, spatial divergence characteristics, and influencing factors of LES. The results are as follows. (1) From 2005 to 2020, the overall trend of urban LES level was rising, but it experienced an N-shape fluctuation trajectory of "rise-fall-rise". The state index and response index were on an upward trend, while the pressure index had a certain degree of decline. (2) LES was characterized by the spatial distribution of "high in the north and low in the south" and "high in the east and low in the west", while spatial heterogeneity became increasingly significant, with greater spatial differences within the northern cities and within the central cities. (3) There was a significant spatial spillover effect of LES, but the effect decreased with the expansion of spatial divergence. The spatial association patterns mainly exhibited "high-high" (HH) and "low-low" (LL) agglomerations. (4) The response layer was the main obstacle subsystem, while green space per capita, environmental governance investment, precipitation per capita, arable land per capita, and agricultural development were the main obstacle factors. (5) Economic development, fiscal decentralization, industrial advancement, and innovation input were the positive factors of LES, whereas financial development and industrial development were the negative factors of LES. The findings provide effective policy reference for the sustainable utilization of urban land resources. • Constructed an evaluation index system for land ecological security at the city level. • The land ecological security was generally on the rise, but with increasing spatial differences. • There was a significant spatial spillover effect of land ecological security. • The paper conducted obstacle factor identification and influencing factor analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban land green use efficiency (ULGUE) is a vital component of urban sustainability and resilience. However, imbalanced ULGUE can undermine these goals. Collaborative innovation has emerged as a promising approach to address this pressing challenge, yet its impact on the inter-city ULGUE gap remains largely underexplored. This paper aims to fill this gap by proposing a theoretical framework of collaborative innovation affecting the ULGUE gap. To validate this framework, we devised a comprehensive evaluation index of the ULGUE gap based on the core-periphery theory and employed a system generalized method of moments model (Sys-GMM) and a threshold model to analyze a sample of 19 urban agglomerations in China. Our study uncovers several vital insights. Collaborative innovation significantly diminishes the ULGUE gap within urban agglomerations, exhibiting a double-threshold effect in this relationship. The threshold values are 1.5821 and 2.0246, respectively, allowing us to categorize urban agglomerations into three stages based on their collaborative innovation levels. Besides, government intervention can mitigate the effects of collaborative innovation on the inter-city ULGUE gap, potentially delaying the trend of the narrowing ULGUE gap. These findings imply that the phased characteristics of collaborative innovation should be considered when designing policies for urban development and sustainability. • An innovative approach to narrow the ULGUE gap is proposed. • The ULGUE gap among China's 19 urban agglomerations decreased year by year. • GMM and threshold effect models are employed to construct a practice framework. • Collaborative innovation impacts the ULGUE gap in a non-linear way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, information and communication technology (ICT) innovation has been an essential part of China's strategy for achieving low carbon and improving carbon emission efficiency (CEE). This research innovatively calculates ICT innovation indexes for 30 Chinese regions and 12 ICT innovation indexes from 2007 to 2019 across 30 regions in China. Based on this, this study investigates how ICT innovation affects CEE from a digital technology innovation perspective by applying the system-generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) dynamic technique. This study also explores the mediating effect of industrial structure upgrading and R&D intensity and the threshold effect of human capital. The results show that ICT innovation facilitates CEE improvement, with High-speed network and Large-capacity and high-speed storage technologies being the main contributors to green technology. ICT innovation indirectly improves the CEE level by enhancing the industrial structure and R&D intensity. Additionally, the impact of ICT innovation on CEE tends to grow when human capital quality rises. The results of this paper will benefit policymakers in developing emission reduction plans from an ICT innovation perspective. • This study explores the impact of ICT innovation on carbon emission efficiency (CEE) in China. • We evaluate the carbon mitigation effects of 12 ICT innovations. • ICT innovation effectively promotes the level of CEE. • ICT innovation indirectly increases CEE by upgrading the industrial structure and increasing R&D intensity. • A human capital threshold can effectively strengthen the link between ICT innovation and CEE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating and improving the environmental efficiency of the power system is the key to achieving sustainable development. However, the classic DEA approach is susceptible to producing biased results due to its inability to address spatial dependence across factors. Considering the spatial dependence of inputs and outputs, this paper proposes a dynamic spatial network DEA model with slacks-based measure (SNSBM) to examine the environmental efficiency of China's power systems, with a focus on the undesirable outputs of CO 2 , NO x , and SO 2. The investigation incorporates the Moran's I test to account for the spatial interactions of patent counts, coal consumption, CO 2 emissions, and renewable power generation. Compared to the classic network DEA, the SNSBM results reveal distinct spatial characteristics and a heightened level of differentiation, which highlights the importance of eliminating spatial dependence. From a dynamic perspective, environmental efficiency shows a visible surge in transmission and distribution divisions after 2015, confirming the success of China's market-oriented reform. In addition, CO 2 is the largest contributor to the environmental inefficiency of the power systems, followed by NO x and SO 2. This study highlights the importance of spatial dependence and provides many insightful policy recommendations for improving the environmental efficiency of China's power systems. • A dynamic spatial network DEA model with slack measures is proposed. • A spatial weight matrix is used to introduce the spatial inputs and outputs into the spatial DEA. • Environmental efficiency of China's power systems is studied with SNSBM model. • Environmental efficiency seems to be overestimated if ignoring the factor's spatial dependence. • CO 2 contributes most to the inefficiency of China's power system compared to SO 2 and NO x. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The core of dual circulation in the Loess Plateau and the greening Yellow River is sustainable development. Gully agricultural sustainable production is extremely important to ensuring a more sustainable Loess Plateau. Here, we investigate the overall characteristics of gully agricultural production sustainable transformation (GAPT) in the Loess Plateau from a macro perspective. We also analyze the evolution, stage characteristics, and trends in gully agricultural production space using theoretical analysis and empirical research from the multi-dimensional perspective of spatio-temporal-development. The findings reveal that: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the gully agricultural production structure in the Loess Plateau exhibited a trend of hierarchical upgrading. In general, gully agricultural production in the Loess Plateau has entered a relatively stable new normal stage of structural adaptation adjustment. (2) Throughout the past two decades, gully agricultural production development in the Loess Plateau has gradually improved, progressing from a low to a high level. Additionally, overall regional disparity has diminished over time. (3) The overall fluctuation of GAPT in the Loess Plateau has increased, with more pronounced changes observed in agricultural functions and ecological security maintenance. At different stages, various factors had demonstrated varying effects on the GAPT, leading to significantly diverse outcomes in production sustainable transformation in response to changes in factor levels. Overall, understanding sustainable gully agricultural production is immensely important for exploring human-earth interactions and forging a sustainable path within this intricate balance. Our research outcomes offer valuable insights for fostering gully rural transformation, optimizing crop planting modes, enhancing the gully living environment, and ultimately propelling the Loess Plateau towards a more sustainable and prosperous future. • This paper proposed a multi-dimension analysis framework for gully agricultural production sustainable transformation (GAPT). • We quantified GAPT 's trends and characteristics of Loess Plateau, China. • Policy suggestions were given for strategy for more sustainable Loess Plateau. • This research has significance for the gully rural revitalization and green sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the digital age, most state-of-the-art research has investigated the influence of industrial robot applications (IRAs) on labor and income distribution, but its environmental impact remains underexplored. This paper uses regional panel data in China from 2006 to 2017 to explore the nonlinear effect of IRAs on carbon emission (CE), as well as its optimal conditions by using fixed effect model with quadratic term and threshold regression model, respectively. The results show that: (1) An inverted U-shaped relationship was verified between IRAs and CE, which means when the IRAs exceed a certain threshold, carbon emissions will be curbed. (2) IRAs accelerate the advance of the inverted U-shaped turning point by improving the factor allocation efficiency and optimizing industrial structures. (3) The CE reduction effect of IRAs depends on the scale of the highly skilled labor force, digital endowment and environmental regulation intensity in the region. These conclusions not only broaden the theoretical horizon of existing effects of IRAs in the environmental fields, but also provide practical implications to maximize the carbon reduction effect in IRAs. • Analyze the inverted U-shaped impact of industrial robots applications (IRAs) on carbon emissions. • Discuss the transmission of IRAs on carbon emissions. • Explore the problem of endogeneity with the solving method of instrumental variables method. • Examine the threshold effect of IRAs on carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trade between regions not only brings about the exchange of goods and services but also leads to the transfer of emissions. As one of the larger emitting industries, the unequal exchange between environmental costs and economic benefits embodied in trade of the Construction industry has rarely been quantified. This paper applied a multi-regional input-output model to quantify the Construction -related carbon footprint (CF) and carbon emission flows among Chinese provinces. Subsequently, a regional environmental index was built to investigate the unbalanced exchange between Construction -related environmental costs and economic benefits embodied in the interprovincial trade. We found that the provincial per capita CF of Construction was unevenly distributed, with wealthier coastal regions generally having larger CF than poor inland regions. Compared with inland provinces, coastal ones have gained more economic benefits and lower environmental pressure. For example, over 75% of Construction -related carbon emissions in wealthier provinces (Beijing and Shanghai) were outsourced, while 60% of the value-added triggered by these provinces' Construction was retained within the region. However, with the progress of technology and the optimization of trade structure, the REI index decreased by about 30% during 2012–2017. This inequality problem gradually alleviated. Addressing these inequality issues could provide a basis for developing mitigation strategies across different provinces in the Construction industry. • The inequality of carbon footprint of Construction in China's provinces was analyzed. • A regional environmental inequality index was used to measure the inequality. • Developing provinces suffered both economic and environmental losses in interprovincial trade. • The inequality problem gradually alleviated during 2012–2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By positioning in the discourse that economic output is always coupled with natural resource depletion, pollution, and carbon emission, decoupling analysis is widely adopted to evaluate how “quality” economic growth can lead to fewer such downsides so as to encourage sustainable development. This paper aims at examining the decoupling relationship between economic output and carbon emission by focusing on China's construction industry, which is a pillar industry for national economic growth, meanwhile contributes a huge amount of carbon emission. The method of Tapio decoupling model is used to examine the decoupling relationships at both national and provincial levels from 2005 to 2015. It continues to identify the driving force leading to a certain decoupling state by adopting the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI). Results show that: (1) there existed an expansive decoupling relationship between economic growth and construction carbon emission in most provinces of China during 2005–2015; (2) Shanghai presented the best decoupling performance, while in contrast, other provinces such as Guizhou and Fujian displayed expansive negative decoupling state; and (3) “Economic output” played the most significant role in inhibiting the decoupling at both national and provincial levels, while “Indirect carbon intensity” was the main driver for promoting the national decoupling. Although the paper refers to the specific construction of China, the decoupling analysis approach can be extended to other countries as well as to other pollutants such as land pollution, waste water and haze. The understanding of driving forces for the decoupling state in China's construction industry provides international policy-makers with valuable reference for formulating effective measures to balance the dilemma between economic output and carbon emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilient city construction requires cities to be able to cope with and resist disasters on their own. With the advent and explosive growth of social media such as microblogs, citizens manage to show strong presence in disaster relief and the construction of resilient cities, which has resulted a huge amount of user-generated data. This paper took China's heavy rain disaster in 2021 as an example, collected 111,248 messages on the Chinese microblog platform, and analyzed the reactions of citizens during emergency rescue as social media users. Results show that social media users play an important role in disseminating disaster information, and the topics discussed by users follow the characteristics of information transmission before emotional expression. By analyzing the emotions exhibited by social media users, we discover that users are particularly concerned about whether information would be accurately and efficiently disseminated. Social media users seldom express emotions when publishing information, and a few users have a negative attitude in the face of disasters. Meanwhile, by examining the influence of different social media on disaster relief, we find that government's official media along with other news media acts as the main information disseminator, while influential individual bloggers serve as the main mediators in the information dissemination process. This paper on the whole offers a new lens for analyzing the role played by social media users in disaster relief, the implications of which could be referred to by the public and government agencies, so as to improve the city's adaptability to disasters through cooperative production and accelerate the construction of resilient cities. [Display omitted] • Social media users play the role of information dissemination in disaster rescue. • Users do not have obvious emotional tendencies in social network rescue. • Negative emotions cause a small spread, while positive emotions spread more widely. • Institutionally verified accounts are the main information disseminators. • Influential personal accounts are the main information mediators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the residents' perceptions on the urban resources environment (URE) in the context of China. Previous studies have suggested that the urban resources environment has been improving in recent years. However, it is unknown whether this improvement is perceived by the residents. The data for analysis in this paper are from a comprehensive questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was designed to understand the residents' satisfaction with water resources (W), energy resources (E), air environment (A), land resources (L), culture resources (C), human resources (H), transportation (T), infrastructures (I) and public service resources (P). The questionnaire was distributed to the residents in 35 large Chinese cities. In total, 4792 valid questionnaires were collected, which were analyzed by using statistical methods. The research results conclude that there are differences in the perceptions on URE by different groups of residents who are with different background characteristics. The residents have different levels of satisfaction with different types of urban resources. And different cities perform differently in satisfying their residents in managing URE. The findings of this study provide policymakers with important references for designating measures to improve URE. • The connotation of urban resources environment is expanded. • The data referring to URE is collected through a comprehensive questionnaire survey. • Different types of URE dimensions presents different level. And different cities perform differently in providing URE to local residents. • Urban managers in China should give priority to improving the levels of air environment, human resources, infrastructure, and public services resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explicitly addresses the key works of public participation in subjective policy evaluation from the perspective of smog governance. Based on the unique data from a large survey distributed to more than 3500 respondents in 37 key cities of China, we adopt the ordered probit model to identify the factors affecting public evaluation towards the smog-governing policy. To solve the endogeneity problem, we construct an effective instrumental variable - the policy strength of government in eliminating smog to analyze empirically. The results suggest that public participation are significant and important predictors of the public evaluation, higher degree of participation is associated with more positive subjective evaluation. Further, this paper explores the role of effective public perception and concern as well as the expected subsidy. The results show that the public who actively participate into the co-governance of smog are more concern about the air quality and also have lower expected subsidy. • The impact of public participation on smog-governing policy evaluation is identified. • The policy strength of government in eliminating smog is used as instrumental variable. • Environmental and energy characteristic factors on policy evaluation are identified. • The public who actively participate into the co-governance of smog tend to give higher evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the primary source sector of carbon emissions, the power industry's green innovation is an indispensable component of China's low-carbon transformation. This paper took China's Carbon Emission Trading Scheme as a quasi-natural experience and adopted the synthetic control method to evaluate the impact of Carbon Emission Trading Scheme pilot policy on power industry's green innovation based on the provincial industrial level data. Furthermore, this paper examined the impact mechanisms of Carbon Emission Trading Scheme on the power industry's green innovation through policy comparison, moderating and mediating effect analyses. The research findings show that: 1) there is heterogeneity in Carbon Emission Trading Scheme's effectiveness in inducing green innovation in China, the power industry only in Beijing and Guangdong has been significantly promoted, while other pilots have not; 2) the success of Beijing and Guangdong can be attributed to distinctive features of their carbon market and power industry, including the refined quota accounting mechanism, the application of paid quota allocation, the larger enterprise scale and more research and development investment; 3) enterprise scale and research and development investment have positive moderating effect and mediating effect in the promotional effect of the Carbon Emission Trading Scheme on green innovation respectively. Finally, some policy recommendations are put forward to promote the power industry's green innovation and carbon market construction. • Evaluate the impact of China's CETS on the power industry's green innovation in each pilot. • The CETS effects among pilots are heterogeneous, only significant in Beijing and Guangdong. • Rational CETS mechanism design could improve the power industry's green innovation. • Enterprise scale and R&D investment positively moderate and mediate the CETS effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of municipal solid waste (MSW) in developing countries like China is changing from mixed treatment to classified treatment, with the need of urban development. This variation calls for assessment of the MSW policies, in particular, whether the MSW policies formulated in the past can well guide the demand of the current MSW system. Quantitative evaluation of MSW policies from the perspective of policy consistency is conducive to systematically identifying common problems existing in policies and providing possible new ways for policy improvement. However, quantitative evaluation of MSW policies is under-represented in the existing literature. This paper employs the Policy Modeling Consistency Index (PMC-Index) approach and text mining technology to quantitatively evaluate the consistency level of China's 26 MSW policies, and comparatively analyze the common problems of 26 policies in the horizontal dimensions. The results indicate that sixteen policies belong to the good consistency level, ten pertain to the acceptable level. In other words, none is able to attain the perfect policy level. This demonstrates that while China's MSW policies are generally reasonable and consistent, there is some room for improvement. Further comparative analysis reveals that policy release agency, policy timeliness and policy instrument are main reasons for the results of policy imperfection. Thus, these three aspects may be the starting points to effectively improve China's MSW policies. • This paper quantitatively evaluates the consistency level of China's MSW policies. • The reasons for common policy gaps of China's MSW policies are analyzed. • This is the first study to employ the PMC-index method to evaluate MSW policies. • There is some room for improving China's 26 MSW policies. • Policy release agency, timeliness and instrument are the key to improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has set an ambitious national determined contributions target to peak CO 2 emissions by 2030 and aims to be carbon neutral by 2060. One of China's top energy consumers and CO 2 contributors, the steel industry accounts for 13% of the country's total consumption and 15% of CO 2 emissions. In response to the present global warming trend, there is an urgent need to cut energy consumption and CO 2 emissions to promote low-carbon growth. This paper attempts to provide a detailed analysis of the steel industry's CO 2 emission reduction path to carbon neutrality. Further efforts in terms of industrial structure, material efficiency, energy efficiency, and low- or zero-carbon technologies are required to achieve a low-carbon transition. Given that decarbonization is a significant priority in the steel industry in many countries, this study focuses on the goals and technological paths of low-carbon emissions projects to optimize existing technology priorities and propose development directions. Deep decarbonization is also projected to be achieved by combining CCUS and hydrogen metallurgy technologies. The steel industry requires collaborative efforts to standardize CO 2 emission accounting methodologies and establish a carbon trading system to strengthen carbon emission management. • The steel industry is one of the key contributors to carbon neutrality which needs to accelerate decarbonization. • Reducing energy consumption and CO 2 emissions to keep up with the current global warming trend are reviewed. • This paper selects low-carbon emission projects to optimize current technology priorities and provide development directions. • Policy recommendations and next steps for low-carbon transition are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's carbon neutrality target is not only a new requirement for energy development, but also a guide for the green and low-carbon development mode and direction of the whole economy. In order to achieve green and low-carbon goals, promote the construction of ecological civilization, and realize high-quality urban development, the Chinese government proposed the construction of "smart cities" in 2012. Using data from 279 cities in China from 2008 to 2020 and a multi-period difference-in-differences method, this paper empirically tested the impacts of the smart city constructions on the development of urban green economy. The results show that: the implementation of smart city has a significant impact in promoting the development of urban green economy, which is manifested in significantly reducing the pollutant emissions and energy intensity and has regional heterogeneity; Endogeneity issues arising from pilot selection are effectively addressed with the help of instrumental variables; Furthermore, the impact mechanism of smart city on green economy is also analyzed. • We analyze the impact of smart city pilot policies on the green economy. • China's smart city pilot policy provides a good quasi-natural experiment for this study. • The method of multi-period DID and Bacon decomposition for ATT are used in this paper. • We choose Internet broadband access subscribers as IV to address the endogeneity. • We conducted a mechanism analysis from the perspective of technological progress and government subsidy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the dual context of the pursuit of carbon neutrality and the continued relaxation of the fertility policy in China, this study uses a panel data of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2012 to 2018 to reveal the environmental performance brought about by the relaxation of the fertility policy. The article finds that an increase in the proportion of children in the household is accompanied by a decrease in the embodied carbon emissions (E -CO 2) of the household, indicating the relaxation of the fertility policy is synergistic with the realization of the carbon neutrality. Furthermore, in terms of the influential mechanism, This paper confirms that the inhibitory effect of the rising proportion of children on E -CO 2 is due to the constraint of lower household income. On the one hand, lower income expectations from raising more children make households consume less, which reduces household E-CO 2. On the other hand, the negative effect of lower income on consumption is unevenly distributed to each category of consumption. Specifically, parents spend more on their children, such as increasing spending on education. However, the increase in education spending comes at the cost of a reduction in other aspects of consumption, which brings a more environmental-friendly consumption pattern. In addition, we find that having more children has a stronger effect on E -CO 2 reductions for families in rural areas, families with only daughters and no sons and families with low-income. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on families in urban areas and with high-income to realize household E -CO 2 reduction, thereby achieving carbon neutrality under the trend of larger families (more children). Specifically, the government should actively guide families to reduce non-essential and high‑carbon consumption and promote an environmentally friendly consumption structure. • This paper focus on the environmental performance resulting from the relaxation of the fertility policy. • The relaxed fertility policy is synergistic with achieving carbon neutrality. • The rising proportion of children brings greener household consumption patterns. • Urban and high-income households should take more responsibility for reducing carbon emissions after having more children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China Railway Express (CRE) has changed the cargo transportation between China and Europe, as well as the environmental efficiency of relevant cities. This paper uses panel data for China's 256 cities from 2005 to 2018 and multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) method to study the impact and influence mechanism of CRE on environmental efficiency. The results found that the implementation of CRE has significantly improved environmental efficiency. The opening of CRE has improved environmental performance by promoting technological innovation and reducing the introduction of polluting foreign investment. The paper further examines and verifies that there are effects on resource crowding out and knowledge spillover between cities. The opening of CRE has a much greater impact on knowledge spillover. This study provides useful policy insights for improving environmental efficiency. • Cargo transportation and environmental efficiency have been changed. • China Railway Express has significantly improved China's environmental efficiency. • Technological innovation and Foreign investment are two influence channels. • There are both pollution transfer and knowledge spillover effects between cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National civilized city selection activity organized by Chinese government is a kind of policy taking both environmental protection and economic growth into consideration. It is of great importance to high-quality economic growth of China. This paper mainly selects data of 280 at and above prefecture-level cities in China from 2005 to 2016 and combines multi-stage difference-in-differences model to test the impacts of national civilized city selection on green total factor productivity (GTFP). The empirical results show that national civilized city selection activity can significantly promote the GTFP and have strong robustness. And the positive influence can be achieved through the mechanism of city innovation. In addition, heterogenous effects exist under different city administrative hierarchies and different regions. Finally, conclusions of this research for one thing provide empirical evidences for mutual development of economic growth and environmental protection; for another thing, this paper enriches policy evaluation researches of national civilized city by including environmental factors in total factor productivity calculation. • City carbon emission is used in evaluating green total factor productivity (GTFP). • National civilized city selection has positive impact on GTFP and is robust. • City innovation plays a vital role in the process of the policy promotes GTFP. • The policy effect varies in different city administrative hierarchies and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the problems arising out of the EIA review and approval by examining 63 administrative judicial decisions. Each of the 63 administrative judicial decisions have been analyzed in this paper to determine the causes of actions, what the specific claims made by plaintiff and to summarize the features of the relevant cases. The results indicate that, problems arising in the procedure of EIA examination and approval by Chinese local administrative organs mainly consist of insufficient information disclosure, infringement of the public's right to know, violation of public participation provisions, unlawful revocation of EIA permission, delay in review and approval, and failure to perform the examination duties, all of which can be further categorized into following types, that is, deficiency in the EIA information openness and deficiency in procedural justice and legitimacy in respect of the EIA review and approval procedure, which show that the legal principles stipulated in the Administrative Licensing Law of People's Republic of China are ignored in respect of EIA approval. In order to solve these problems, this paper is of the opinion that the Chinese local environmental protection departments should not only abide by the Environmental Impact Assessment Law of the People's Republic of China, but also strictly follow the legal principles stipulated in the Administrative Licensing Law of People's Republic of China , such as the principle of lawfulness of administration doctrine, openness, procedural fairness, reliance protection, supervision, etc., so as to ensure that China's EIA permits are carried out along the track of legalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighborhood renewal projects in China have distinct characteristics. Unlike other government-led public affair, these projects entail extensive participation from the residents in the decision-making process. However, the behavior of the residents is often influenced by the complex social relationships among them, which in turn can impact the implementation of the renewal project. This paper aims to identify the relationships between residents' cooperative behavior and their social relationship in the context of neighborhood renewal. Social capital is taken as a lens to examine residents' social relationships, and the theory of planned behavior is used to study residents' behavior. Data from 381 residents in 75 neighborhood renewal projects was collected using questionnaire surveys and was analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling. The results show that the social relationships not only affect the residents' opinions regarding the renewal, but also directly influence their intention to engage in cooperative behavior. Moreover, the findings further suggest that gender and age play an important role in the relationship between residents' social capital and cooperative behavior. These finding contributes to a better understanding of residents' cooperative behavior in neighborhood renewal and provides important insights for the design of initiatives that effectively inspire cooperative behavior among residents. • The role of social capital in shaping residents' cooperative behavior is confirmed. • The integration of social capital and planned behavior theory provides a comprehensive explanation for cooperative behavior. • Gender and age differences can affect the impact of residents' social relationships on behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine zoning has been widely used to effectively manage the relationship between economic development and marine environmental protection. However, it remains challenging for marine environmental management to integrate land–sea coordination and effectively implement spatially differentiated control under the existing technical framework. This study aims to explore the development and practice of marine zoning in China. This paper discusses the technical framework and key technical methods of marine zoning under the "Three Lines One Permit" policy. The main effectiveness and shortcomings of this strategy are described in the Hainan Free Trade Port case. The Hainan Free Trade Port has 276 marine control units, of which 36% are priority protection units and 6% are priority control units. These marine control units help improve the orderly development and utilization of land and sea resources and promote construction of an ecological security pattern of land–sea coordination. The marine zoning under the "Three Lines One Permit" policy complements and enhances the existing marine zoning system and promotes the potential for integrated coastal zone management. Suggestions are proposed to promote a more efficient marine zoning strategy towards land–sea integration and science-management integration. • Discussed the technical framework of marine zoning based on the land–sea coordination under the "Three Lines One Permit" policy. • First proposed a technical framework of marine zoning using the four-step method of "challenge-goal-zoning-regulation". • Established a quantitative response relationship between pollution discharge and marine environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although China boasts the largest online consumption market, there has been no prior case study addressing the carbon footprint of online consumption. The rapid expansion of online consumption has posed a challenge to China's carbon neutrality pledge. This paper aims to fill this crucial gap by conducting a pioneering study based on survey data collected from 6000 households. To achieve this goal, this study has combined provincial Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) tables with residents' online consumption calculated by the Non-Linear Optimization model, and applied the Environmental Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) model to calculate the carbon footprint of residents' online consumption. Result indicated that the average carbon footprint of residents' online consumption was 0.46 tCO 2 e in 2016, accounting for 12.30% of the total consumption carbon footprint. Notably, high-emission regions include Beijing-Tianjin, Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai, and Hubei. Moreover, the dominant sources of the online consumption carbon footprint were electricity, food, clothing, and beauty products. Furthermore, we found that the carbon footprint of online consumption tends to increase with income, with differential income elasticities observed for various products and income groups. We also quantified the average expenditure-based life-cycle carbon coefficient for parcel delivery (0.22 kgCO 2 e/yuan) and conducted two scenario analyses to assess its impact. From a policy perspective, our research on measuring the carbon footprint of residents' online consumption can provide valuable insights for designing future policies and decisions related to e-commerce and key sectors along the supply chains. Additionally, it will further encourage Chinese residents to adopt low-carbon lifestyles. • Identifies the expenditure structure of residents' online consumption. • The carbon footprint of Chinese residents' online consumption in 25 regions. • The income elasticity of online consumption carbon footprint. • The last mile emission intensity of e-commerce is quantified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of international specialization has evolved from "intra-industry" to "intra-product," resulting in the establishment of value chains that traverse all participating nations. However, it might lead to the "lock-in low-value" effect of global value chains (GVCs) and the consequential "pollution shelter" effect, which have both hindered the green transformation of the economy. Rather than solely focusing on promoting participation in GVCs, this paper seeks to expand its purview to include national value chains (NVCs) based on endogenous resource integration, with a focus on constructing and nurturing NVCs to enhance regional green economy performance index (GEPI). We find that improving NVCs positions can increase regional GEPI, while GVCs and NVCs participation inhibit GEPI. Moreover, the impact of GVCs and NVCs positions and participation on GEPI presents significant and spatiotemporal heterogeneities. Finally, the mechanism analysis demonstrates that GVCs positions increase human capital investment and NVCs positions increase the rationalization of the industrial structure, promoting green economy performance. Meanwhile, China's GVCs and NVCs participation increase the industrial proportion, which is not conducive to improving green economy performance. • Quantifying China's international trade's environmental effects through value chain specialization. • NVCs positions can strengthen the effect of the green economy performance. • Participation in value chain displays an adverse impact on green economy performance. • Investigating the heterogeneities of green economy performance along GVCs and NVCs position and participation. • Exploring channels through which of value chain specialization affect green economy performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary environmental regulations play a crucial role in promoting green innovation. However, the existing literature on the subject has yielded inconsistent conclusions. To address this issue, this study utilizes data from China's list companies between 2008 and 2020, employing both the difference-in-differences (DID) and instrumental variable methods to accurately estimate the impact of ISO14001 certification on green innovation. Our findings indicate that ISO14001 certification enhances both the quantity and quality of green innovations. Furthermore, our results remain robust even after implementing the propensity score matching (PSM) method and conducting placebo tests. This paper also excludes heterogeneous treatment effect bias in staggered DID. In addition, the impact of ISO14001 on green innovation is focused on green innovation related to source control. The study also considers the impact of greenwashing and ownership on the relationship between ISO14001 certification and green innovation. Greenwashing is found to have a negative impact on green innovation, especially in terms of quality, and enterprises with more greenwashing tend to have a weaker response to ISO14001 certification. Finally, our mechanism test indicates that ISO14001-induced green technology innovation serves as a leverage effect on existing innovation activities, rather than a crowding-out effect on other technological innovations or a speculative activity aimed at defrauding government subsidies. • Enterprise ISO14001, green patent, and greenwashing data are applied. • ISO14001 certification has promoted the green innovation of Chinese enterprises. • Source control is the direction of green innovation caused by ISO14001 certification. • Greenwashing has a significant negative impact on the improvement of the green innovation. • ISO14001 certification is a leverage effect on the existing innovation activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floods pose significant threats to farmers, and engaging in effective disaster avoidance behaviors can mitigate some of these risks for farmers in flood risk areas (FRA). However, due to farmers' bounded rationality characteristics, they often have a cognitive bias of blindly overestimating or underestimating flood risk, thus failing to perform correct disaster avoidance behaviors. Based on survey data from 180 farmers in FRA in southwest China, this study constructs an assessment method for farmers' subjective and objective flood risk and analyzes the characteristics of farmers' subjective and objective flood risk. A probit regression model explores the correlation between subjective and objective flood risk consistency and farmers' willingness to purchase natural disaster insurance (WPNDI). Results showed that of the 180 farmers surveyed, 63.89% had inconsistent subjective and objective flood risks, mainly reflected in an underestimation of objective flood risk. Farmers' subjective and objective flood risk consistency was found to be positively and significantly correlated with their WPNDI. When other conditions remain unchanged, for every unit increase in the consistency of farmers' subjective and objective flood risk, their WPNDI increased by 0.601 units on average. This paper originally proposed the hypothesis that the consistency of farmers' subjective and objective flood risk is positively and significantly correlated with their WPNDI, and proved the reliability of this hypothesis through research. These findings can provide policy references for disaster risk management and resilient disaster prevention system construction in FRA. [Display omitted] • The subjective and objective flood risk of farmers in FRA is assessed. • The correlation between farmers' subjective and objective flood risk consistency and WPNDI is analyzed by probit model. • Inconsistency of farmers' subjective and objective flood risk mainly reflected in underestimating the objective flood risk. • Farmers' subjective and objective flood risk consistency is positively and significantly correlated with their WPNDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-fossil energy increases the non-dispatchability of power system, requiring fossil-based technologies to provide back-up capacity as dispatchable source. In a coal-based economy like China, it is coal-fired units that act as back-up capacity. This paper shows that increase of non-fossil energy generation is associated with higher heat rates of coal-fired units, which can be explained by the decreased operating hours for dispatching. This side-effect is sizeable, accounting for 13% of carbon mitigation from non-fossil energy. The extra fuel cost is estimated to be 10.9 billion US dollars. This paper thus calls attention to alternative technologies, such as large-scale storage, as dispatchable source. • Dispatching policy ensures the exogeneity of non-fossil energy in regression. • Discussing how non-fossil energy increases the heat rate of coal-fired units. • Calling attention to the essential role of coal-fired units as dispatchable source. • Highlighting the indirect cost of integrating non-fossil energy for power system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mineral resources are an essential foundation for economic and social development. However, many tailings generated and stockpiled during the mining process have become an obstacle to developing a low-carbon and green economy. In this paper, we selected copper tailings as a representative case study. First, we used material flow analysis for copper tailings in Tongling City and then constructed a life cycle assessment model. Finally, we set up a detailed scenario analysis of the carbon reduction benefits of copper tailings resource utilization. The results show that (1) the current comprehensive utilization of tailings is relatively single, with low added value, a common problem in the tailings resource utilization industry. (2) The resource utilization of tailings has positive environmental benefits. The global warming potential (GWP) is more prominent (e.g., preparation of cement and autoclaved blocks can achieve carbon emission reduction benefits of about 200 kgCO 2 /t tailings). (3) In a scenario in which the historically stockpiled tailings can be used rationally, the indirect carbon emission reduction is comparable to the carbon emission of power generation in Tongling City in one year. The resource utilization of tailings will relieve the pressure on resources and contribute to the realization of China's 'Carbon Peaking and Neutrality Goals,' with a significant benefit of emission reduction. At present, there are few such studies on bulk industrial solid waste. The research framework in this paper can provide reference for environmental impact assessment of other types of bulk industrial solid waste and provide policy guidance for industrial layout and development planning in similar resource-based and industrial cities and even at a larger scale. • MFA and LCA are combined to assess the environmental impact of solid waste. • The environmental benefits of tailings utilization are seriously underestimated. • The rational use of historically stockpiled tailings will help China fight climate change. • Promoting solid waste resource utilization needs to develop relevant standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's urban and rural landscape has been undergoing tremendous changes since the introduction of the Chinese version of Transferable Development Rights programme, known as the "Link Policy", which calls for rural resettlement and land consolidation for farmland preservation and urban development. Aiming to examine the influence of the Link Policy on urban growth, this paper used Ezhou located in central China as the case study and modelled urban growth scenarios before and after the policy implementation with the development of a Logistic-Markov-CA model. The established model shows sufficient accuracy in modelling the urban growth pattern under the Link Policy and justified that new expansion of urban areas appeared on the planned new towns and industrial parks after the policy implementation instead of the growth of original sites prior to the Link Policy. Additionally, with the analysis of modelling results and the understanding of Ezhou urban developments before and after the Link Policy implementation, policy implications are provided for future Ezhou development. • This paper introduced contemporary China's Transferable Development Right programme – the Link Policy in its rapid urbanisation process. • A Logistic-Markov-CA model was developed and modelled urban growth before and after the Link Policy implementation. • The established model shows sufficient accuracy in modelling the urban growth pattern and revealed the key features of urban growth in different scenarios. • Current urban growth issues under the Link Policy were revealed and policy suggestions were offered for future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fair regional CO 2 allocation scheme is an important guarantee to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Most existing studies on CO 2 allocation focus on carbon sources while ignore the role of carbon sinks. By combining the carbon sinks estimated by remote sensing technology with the carbon sources identified from multiple dimensions, this paper first analyzes the characteristics of China's net CO 2 emissions in 2015. Then a centralized DEA model is developed to construct a net CO 2 allocation scheme in 2020 and 2030 using historical data in 2015 with the help of the Python programming. On this basis, the allocation schemes considering carbon sinks or not are further compared to verify the rationality of the proposed allocation results. It concludes that a net CO 2 allocation scheme considering carbon sinks delivers significantly better results as it eases the dispersion of inter-provincial carbon quota and balances the development among regions. Geographically, Southwest China, rich in carbon sinks but less developed, will be given more quotas if carbon sinks are included than if they are not, while North China, poor in carbon sinks but more developed, will assume more responsibility for reducing emissions. Our paper sheds light on the importance of incorporating carbon sinks into the CO 2 allocation issue. • A fairness-oriented regional CO 2 allocation scheme considering carbon sinks is proposed. • A new centralized DEA model is developed to balance the allocation over the past and in the future. • The inclusion of carbon sinks breaks and restructures the layout of China's CO 2 allocation. • The allocation scheme is beneficial to Southwest China while unfavorable to North China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese electric power sector (EPS) contributes 52% of China's total CO 2 emissions. Given the severe global warming situation, carbon information disclosed by Chinese electric power enterprises (EPEs) has received extensive attention. Therefore, to understand the current level of carbon information disclosure (CID) in EPS and improve the CID quality, this paper evaluates the CID quality of public companies in the EPS. Based on the characteristics of the EPEs, this paper established a CID quality evaluation system from five aspects: integrity, relevance, reliability, comprehensibility, and comparability. An ANP-Cloud model is employed to evaluate the CID quality of 62 public companies in China's EPS. The analytic network process (ANP) method can quantify the correlation among evaluation indexes. The Cloud model achieves the transformation from qualitative evaluation to quantitative scoring with consideration of the uncertainty and fuzziness of the expert's evaluation language. The integration of two models, therefore, improves the comprehensiveness and objectiveness of the evaluation results. The evaluation results indicate that: (1) "Carbon emissions", "Carbon emission reduction targets" and "Independent chapter" indexes disclosed by the EPEs have a significant impact on CID quality. (2) The CID quality of the entire EPS public companies is low. The carbon information disclosed by EPEs cannot effectively represent the carbon management behavior of enterprises. (3) From the internal perspective of the EPS, the CID quality of thermal enterprises is relatively high, while hydropower enterprises are relatively low. Finally, this paper proposes viable suggestions to improve the CID quality from three aspects: EPEs, government, and public monitoring. • Constructed a carbon information disclosure (CID) quality evaluation system for electric power sector. • Integrated analytic network process (ANP) method and Cloud model to make the evaluation result reasonable. • Evaluation results show that the overall disclosure quality is low. • Indexes concerned by the carbon information users are determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]