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Highlights • A Super-SBM with undesirable output model is applied. • The environmental efficiency of 283 Chinese cities during 2003–2016 is analyzed. • The overall environmental efficiency performance across the Chinese cities is low. • China has achieved significant improvement in environmental efficiency across survey period. Abstract In the past decades, unprecedented dramatic economic development in the Chinese cities has also brought serious environmental problems. In line with this, the Chinese government has been investing great efforts and resources in addressing environmental problems. However, little previous studies have been conducted in examining whether this development is efficient from a win-win perspective balance between economic growth and environmental protection. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis on the environmental efficiency (EE) in the process of dramatic economic development in the Chinese cities. The Super-slack-based measure (Super-SBM) model is adopted to analyze the EE performance. Data used for analysis are collected from 283 sample cities in China. The research results indicate that the overall EE performance across the Chinese cities is relatively low, and the differences in EE performance among the 283 cities are significant. The top three EE performers are Shenzhen, Sanya and Erdos, and Baiyin, Xinzhou and Liupanshui are the bottom three performers. The results also suggest that the EE performance in the Eastern area, where most first-tier cities are located in, is significantly higher than that in the Central and Western areas (aggregated with fourth and fifth tier-cities). From the dynamic perspective, the results show that China has achieved significant improvement in environmental efficiency across the surveyed period of 2003–2016. The research findings provide valuable references not only for the Chinese policy-makers and practitioners to adopt measures for promoting a win-win balance between environmental protection and economic development in the Chinese context, but also for further studies on environmental efficiency in the international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The vegetation cover status of 9 provinces in the Yellow River basin was analyzed. • The water poverty status of 9 provinces in the Yellow River basin is analyzed. • There is a U-shaped relationship between vegetation cover and water poverty. • There were differences in the effects of vegetation cover on WPI components. Vegetation plays an important role in improving the water resource environment. Faced with the serious water poverty problem in various regions of China, whether vegetation restoration can further alleviate water poverty needs to be studied urgently. Taking 9 provinces in the Yellow River basin in China as an example, this paper first uses the framework of the existing water poverty index (WPI) to calculate the WPI of each province over the years from 1999 to 2019 and evaluate the water poverty status of each province. Later, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used to analyze the vegetation restoration status of each area. Finally, using provincial panel data for the study area from 1999 to 2019, a comprehensive feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) model was used to analyze the impact of vegetation cover on water poverty. It was found that there was no pure linear relationship between vegetation cover and water poverty; instead, there was a significant U-shaped relationship. Moreover, the influence of vegetation cover on each component of the WPI has certain differences. This research advances knowledge on the relationship between vegetation cover and water poverty and provides ideas for effectively alleviating regional water poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The relation between urbanization and water environment in Hanjiang Basin was studied. • Coupling coordination degree model between UAWE of Hanjiang Basin was established. • The positive interaction effect of UAWE is mainly focused on the middle and lower reaches of the Hanjiang River. • Put forward feasible measures to realize the sustainable development of UAWE. The urbanization process of the Hanjiang Basin is speeding up and facing many challenges. It is necessary to take active actions to realize the balance between urbanization development and water environment protection. This paper aims to establish a comprehensive evaluation model of urbanization and water environment (UAWE) and explore the development of UAWE in the Hanjiang Basin in China from 2010 to 2018. In terms of methodology, these evaluation models are combined with the Coupling coordination degree model (CCDM), Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), and Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR) to measure and analyze the coupling degree (CD) and spatiotemporal heterogeneity of UAWE. Our findings include the following: (1) From 2010 to 2018, in all regions of the Hanjiang Basin, urbanization showed a gradual upward trend. Among Them, the comprehensive urbanization index (CUI) of Xiangyang increased by 25.37%. (2) The comprehensive water environment index (CWEI) presents a fluctuating growth, with the rate of increase in Jingmen's reaching 17.44%. (3) There is heterogeneity in time and space between cities in the Hanjiang Basin, and the positive interaction effect of UAWE is mainly focused on the middle and lower reaches of the Hanjiang River. (4) Coupling coordination degree (CCD) in the basin shows an increasing trend, and the areas with high CCD are mainly concentrated in Xiangyang and Xiantao. (5) ESDA shows that the CCD among cities in the basin has spatial correlation and heterogeneity, and the regions with similar CCD tend to be distributed centrally in space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]