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• Public environmental concerns inhibit the market entry of polluting enterprises. • Public environmental concerns affect enterprise entry with heterogeneity. • Environmental regulation, investment and innovation are internal mechanisms. • Public environmental concerns can reduce the emission intensity of new enterprises. • Public environmental concern can encourage new enterprises to layout boundary. When constructing a multigovernance environment system, it is important to systematically study the impact of the public's environmental concern on the behavior of polluting firms. In relation to the market entry of polluting firms, this paper explores whether public concern for the environment can effectively reduce the likelihood of such firms entering the market to achieve control of pollution emissions at the source. Benchmark analysis shows that an increase in public environmental concern can inhibit the market entry of polluting firms in the region. Heterogeneity analysis shows that public environmental concerns exert a stronger effect on preventing the market entry of nonstate-owned firms and firms in developed regions than on other firm types. Mechanism analysis shows that improving the severity of environmental regulations, encouraging firms to make greater investments in environmental protection, and inducing firms to pursue additional environmental R&D innovation are effective mechanisms by which public environmental concern restrains the market entry of polluting firms in the region. Expansion analysis demonstrates that public concern about the environment can lessen the pollution emission intensity of new firms and promote certain new firms to carry out boundary layout. This research offers a scientific basis and policy reference that can serve to guide the public in actively participating in environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• System GMM model was applied to test the mechanism of environmental regulation on the pollution-intensive industry transfer. • The transfer shows a general trend from the east to the central and western in China. • The central and the western have become "pollution paradise" for pollution-intensive industries. The pollution associated has intensified the environmental pressure within industrial transfer between the central and the western region in China. It's the key issue that how to use environmental regulations to promote the orderly pollution-intensive industries transfer and the optimization of industrial structure to realize the construction of ecological civilization during the transformation and upgrading of economic. By constructing the index of environmental regulation and industry transfer, this paper analyzed the spatial-temporal change of pollution-intensive industry transfer. We collected panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2004 to 2016 and studied the spatial differences of pollution-intensive industry transfer from the perspective of environmental regulation. This paper studied the path and mechanism of environmental regulation on the pollution-intensive industry transfer theoretically and empirically with System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) model. The conclusions are as follows: Firstly, the pollution-intensive industry transfer in China shows a general trend from the east to the central and western regions. Secondly, there are obvious differences in environmental regulation between different regions. Thirdly, there are some differences in the impact of environmental regulation on industrial transfer. Therefore, the central and western regions should coordinate economic development and environmental protection when undertaking industrial transfer from the east, to optimize and upgrade industrial structure, and promote long-term economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We analysed the influencing factors of urban eco-efficiency in Western China. • The US-SBM model and spatial econometric models were used for 84 cities' data. • Urban eco-efficiency showed a fluctuating upward trend during 2004–2017. • Economic development and urbanization had U-shaped impact on urban eco-efficiency. • Four explanatory variables showed a positive impact on urban eco-efficiency. Improving eco-efficiency can promote sustainable development. This study first evaluated the urban eco-efficiency of 84 cities in Western China from 2004 to 2017 by the undesirable-super-slack-based measure (US-SBM) and analysed their spatiotemporal characteristics, and then investigated its influencing factors using spatial econometric models. The results indicated that the urban eco-efficiency in Western China was at a relatively low level and showed a fluctuating upward trend with the highest average value of 0.65; however, capital cities of Western China have improved their eco-efficiency rapidly. Furthermore, there were obvious spatial spill-over impacts of the urban eco-efficiency in Western China. This paper also found that both the economic development level and urbanization level have "U" shaped impacts on Western China's urban eco-efficiency, which decreases at first and then rises. Similarly, increasing the proportion of secondary industry promotes urban eco-efficiency, and FDI, trade activities, improved environmental regulations as well as technological innovation capabilities have a positive impact on urban eco-efficiency in Western China. This paper also put forward corresponding policy suggestions to promote Western China's urban eco-efficiency. The present study may be helpful for policy-makers to balance economic development and environmental protection in Western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]