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Environmental pollutants (EP) and carbon emissions (CE) generated by fossil fuel combustion have the same root and origin, but the synergistic effect of EP and CE in specific management is not clear. This study develops a systematic method to evaluate the synergistic effect of EP and CE, which combines the EP-CE synergy performance under different scenarios and the process decomposition of “source prevention-process control-terminal output” based on the construction of the EP-CE synergy performance assessment, and forms a complete chain of EP-CE synergy performance assessment under the system view of ecological civilization. Furthermore, the synergy of EP and CE in 79 prefecture-level cities of the Yellow River Basin (YRB) is evaluated as an example. Results show that: (1) The overall EP-CE synergy performance in the YRB is in the transition to high-quality development, and the EP-CE synergy performance of each reaches show the evolution of “the lower the performance, the faster the progress”; (2) The EP-CE synergy performance under the scenario of collaborative pollution control and carbon reduction is significantly higher than those of separate pollution control, separate carbon reduction, or no consideration of environmental constraints, and there are noticeable spatial differences, with the upper reaches having the highest EP-CE synergy performance; (3) The EP-CE synergy performances among the different process decomposition in the YRB needs to be strengthened. The process control had the highest overall performance level, but the inclusion of environmental factors could significantly decrease the performance level, while the opposite is exact for the terminal output. The study provides a multi-scenario and process decomposition approach to assess the synergistic effects of EP and CE, and the scenario simulation assessment, process decomposition analysis, and synergistic control recommendations can be used as references for other regions or countries suffering from both EP and CE to formulate environmentally synergistic management development strategies and improve ecological quality according to local conditions.

The inter-regional payments for watershed services (PWS) is an important policy to promote environmental cooperation in the river basin management. However, existing PWS in China may overestimate the value of watershed-related ecosystem services (WES) and induce a mismatch between ecological benefits and costs of stakeholders. A equitable framework of inter-regional PWS standards is necessary for the policymakers, especially in Yellow River Basin. For this reason, the focus of current article was emphasized on green ecological spillover value through multi-regional input–output model deducting suppliers’ own watershed services consumption, then explored the influencing factors of watershed-related ecological benefits, ecological profit or loss and spatial spillover conditions within Yellow River Basin, finally designed inter-regional PWS transfer standards. The estimated results revealed that watershed-related ecological benefits within Yellow River Basin had obvious heterogeneous characteristics and spatial spillover. The implementation of economic financial power, awareness of water resources ecological functions, and inter-regional PWS policies could significantly improve watershed-related ecological benefits, and the increase in water resources protection routine power led to the loss of watershed-related ecological benefits. Based on the green ecological spillover value, we comprehensively considered factors such as water resources protection routine power, economic financial power, and awareness of water resources ecological functions to design an inter-regional PWS transfer program, which was reasonable and feasible in theory and practice. For regional ecological and environmental cooperation, it is essential to strengthen spatial spillover and improve the level of inter-regional PWS, which may pave the way for other river basins or countries.