Search

The development and renewal of gas sensor technology have enabled more and more low-cost gas sensors to form a carbon monitoring network to meet the requirements of the city. In the context of China's commitment to achieving the "double carbon" target by 2060, this paper reviews the principles of four standard gas sensors and the application of several low-cost sensors in urban carbon monitoring networks, with the aim of providing a practical reference for the future deployment of carbon monitoring networks in Chinese cities. Moreover, the types, prices, and deployment of the sensors used in each project are summarized. Based on this review, non-dispersive infrared sensors have the best performance among the sensors and are commonly used in many cities. Lots of urban climate networks in cities were summarized by many reviews in the literature, but only a few sensors were studied, and they did not consider carbon dioxide (CO2) sensors. This review focuses on the dense CO2 urban monitoring network, and some case studies are also discussed, such as Seoul and San Francisco. To address the issue of how to better ensure the balance between cost and accuracy in the deployment of sensor networks, this paper proposes a method of simultaneously deploying medium-precision and high-precision fixed sensors and mobile sensors to form an urban carbon monitoring network. Finally, the prospects and recommendations, such as different ways to mitigate CO2 and develop an entire carbon monitoring system for future urban carbon monitoring in China, are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing green total factor productivity (GTFP) is essential for achieving the objective of green development, and the effect of environmental protection tax (EPT), a crucial instrument for addressing environmental challenges, on green TFP is crucial. Based on provincial panel data from 2004 to 2020 in China, this study uses inter-provincial differences in environmental protection tax rates as a quasi-natural experiment and utilizes a synthetic control method to assess the impact of the "changing sewage charge to tax" on regional GTFP. The empirical results suggest that EPT can help enhance GTFP, a finding that still holds after regional placebo tests, time placebo tests, and difference-in-differences robustness tests. The mechanism test demonstrates that EPT influences GTFP via the industrial structure impact and the green technological innovation effect. According to heterogeneity research, regions with a high level of marketization and financial growth are more significantly affected by environmental protection tax policy. This paper offers crucial empirical data for assessing the efficacy of environmental protection tax policy and enhancing the environmental tax system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the carbon emission efficiency in the power industry is a crucial step to achieve China's "double carbon" goal. Carbon emission trading (CET) is an important tool for carbon emission reduction in the power industry. This paper collects data on the power industry of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2020 and applies an undesirable super-efficiency epsilon-based measure (EBM) model to measure the total-factor carbon emission efficiency of the power industry (CEEP). A spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model is constructed to analyze the spatial spillover effects of China's CET on CEEP. Then, a spatial mediating effect model is employed to explore the influence mechanism of CET. The results show that (1) during the sample period, CEEP shows a trend of fluctuating growth, and the overall level of CEEP is still relatively low; (2) CET has a significant promotion effect on CEEP, resulting in an average increase of 6.02% in the efficiency value of the pilot areas; (3) the spatial spillover effect test proves that CET not only improves the CEEP in the pilot areas, but also promotes the improvement of CEEP in the adjacent areas; and (4) the influence mechanism test shows that CET can improve CEEP by reducing energy intensity, promoting technological progress, and upgrading industrial structure. This study provides a new perspective for the measurement of CEEP and expands the research on the emission reduction effect of CET in the power industry. Finally, based on the research results, this study proposes targeted suggestions to provide reference for the government to formulate emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As information and communication technologies gain prominence in rural areas, rural e-commerce has emerged as a crucial mechanism for fostering agricultural and rural development. While the economic impact of rural e-commerce is widely studied, its effects on carbon emissions remain underexplored. Utilizing a multi-period DID model and Chinese county-level panel data from 2011 to 2017, this paper examines the impact of rural e-commerce on carbon emission reduction, employing the "comprehensive demonstration of e-commerce into villages" policy introduced by the Chinese government in 2014 as a quasi-natural experiment. Our findings show that e-commerce demonstration counties experienced a 10.6% reduction in carbon emissions compared to the control group, indicating a significant emission reduction effect. Further analysis reveals that rural e-commerce drives carbon reduction through decreased fertilizer usage, altered cropping structures, and enhanced transportation efficiency. Notably, rural e-commerce's emission reduction effect is more pronounced in major grain-producing regions and areas with higher digitalization levels. This study has crucial theoretical and practical implications for achieving carbon emission reduction and sequestration in agriculture and advancing green agricultural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones is an important practical exploration to achieve carbon emission reduction goals through green finance in China. Based on the panel data of 282 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2019, this paper examines the mechanism of China's green financial reform and innovation pilot zone policy (GFRI) on urban carbon emissions (CE) and carbon emission efficiency(CEE) using difference-in-differences model. The study shows that GFRI has a significant carbon emission reduction effect, which is reflected in the significant reduction of urban CE and the improvement of urban CEE. GFRI achieves carbon emission reduction by promoting urban green innovation, while the mediating effect of financial agglomeration has not been verified. The results of heterogeneity analysis show that GFRI has more significant effects on carbon emission reduction in non-resource-based cities, large-scale cities and cities with strict environmental regulation. Financial development and digital infrastructure play a positive moderating role on the carbon emission reduction effect of GFRI. This study provides empirical evidence and policy insights from the Chinese city level for deepening the green finance policy and promoting urban low-carbon development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementing industrial policies to develop the new energy vehicle industry and improve technological innovation related to new energy vehicles is essential for countries dealing with environmental pollution and climate change. This paper first examines the impact of a demand-side industry policy related to new energy vehicles on the technological innovation level of supply-side vehicle enterprises. Regarding the new energy vehicle purchase tax exemption policy implemented by the Chinese government in 2014 as a quasi-experiment, this paper constructs a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model to identify the impact of the demand-side preferential tax policy on the technological innovation level of vehicle enterprises. In our DID design, 178 enterprises are in the treatment group and 166 enterprises in the control group, with 3,440 balanced panel data of observations. The results show that this policy can significantly promote the technological innovation of new energy vehicle enterprises. This promotion effect is greater in magnitude in large-scale enterprises, high-tech enterprises, and enterprises producing passenger vehicles. Theoretically, we believe that the demand-side tax exemption policy mainly indirectly promotes the technological innovation level of automobile enterprises through the signal channel and profit channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving fertilizer use efficiency (FUE) is an effective way to reduce the fertilizer use and non-point source pollution in agriculture production in China. Existing research related to fertilizer use efficiency ignores the impact of famers' social networks, which can significantly affect the fertilizer use and its efficiency. This paper analyzed the impact of social networks on fertilizer use efficiency and the mediator effect of green fertilization technology adoption, based on the calculation of fertilizer use efficiency of 569 kiwifruit farmers in Shaanxi province of China surveyed in 2021 by using stochastic frontier method. The results show that the FUE of kiwifruit production ranged within 0.1027–0.9945, with an average value of 0.333, which showed great variability, and fertilizer input had an average 66.7% reduction potential without reducing output. Social networks and its four dimensions all had a significant positive impact on FUE, in which network trust and network learning had a greater impact on FUE. Farmers' adoption of green fertilization technology played a positive mediator effect in the process of social networks influencing their fertilizer use efficiency, which was mainly promoted by network trust and learning. Farmers' experience in agricultural production, joining the cooperative, the quantity of village agricultural supply points had a significant positive impact on fertilizer use efficiency, while age and gentle of the head of household had a significant negative impact of fertilizer use efficiency. Planting scale had a U-shape impact on FUE. Policies aimed at improving FUE and reducing non-point source pollution should, therefore, focus on improving the social networks of farmers, especially young farmers, strengthening network trust, promoting network learning, network reciprocity and network interaction, strengthening the research and development and extension of green fertilization technology, encouraging farmers to join agricultural cooperative, improving village production conditions, guiding sustainable agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation has become the driving force behind China's economy's sustainable growth. Due to the efficient transmission of taxation leverage, preferential tax policies are frequently used to stimulate innovation. Therefore, the incentive effect of preferential tax policies on sustainable innovation has gradually become the focus of attention. This paper takes the 2016–2019 China A-share listed high-tech enterprises as a sample, calculates tax incentive intensity with the aid of B-index, and studies the incentive effect of preferential tax policies on the sustainability of corporate innovation. This study shows that: (1) Tax incentive intensity has a positive incentive effect on corporate sustainable innovation. (2) The R&D expenses plus deduction policy and the preferential tax rate policy can significantly enhance corporate sustainable innovation, but there is a substitution effect between them. (3) Based on the heterogeneity of institutional environment and enterprise characteristics, the incentive effect of tax preferential policies is more obvious in enterprises which are non-state-owned and in areas with low government intervention and sound legal system. However, the incentive effect of different types of preferential policies differs in the size of the enterprise. This study will provide reference for the improvement of preferential tax policy system and the optimization of innovation policy environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon emissions of the beer industry have always been a concern. To reduce environmental pollution, this paper systematically calculates the carbon emissions of the beer supply chain and studies the optimization of carbon emissions reduction through scenario simulation. In this study, the boundary of the beer supply chain carbon emissions system is constructed. The scenario simulation and simulation analysis are carried out based on five factors: water recycling utilization rate, power generation mode, weight–volume ratio, recovery ratio, and transportation mode. To obtain the optimal scheme of economic cost and emissions reduction, the cost of the beer supply chain is analyzed under the condition of carbon trading. The results show that the proportion of carbon emissions in each link of the beer supply chain is production, packaging, transportation, and storage, which are 59.58%, 22.27%, 17.67%, and 0.5%, respectively. The improvement of the water recycling utilization rate of manufacturing enterprises can reduce the overall carbon emissions of the supply chain, and the effect is obvious. The highest proportion of carbon emissions in the packaging link is the bottle consumption stage (22.43%). Raw materials transportation accounts for the highest proportion of total carbon emissions in transportation (63.73%). The waterway/railway ratio will be increased to 0.6/0.4, and the carbon emissions in the supply chain will be reduced by 5.7%. In the context of carbon trading, when the carbon trading price is higher than 49.16 yuan/ton, enterprises can achieve a win-win situation in reducing emissions and maintaining positive economic growth by the measures given in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's agricultural subsidy system has increased the investment on the agricultural production factors such as energy and chemistry, which caused an increase of agricultural carbon emissions. Based on the Thousand-Village Survey data from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in 2013, the focal paper uses ordinary and two-stage least squares (OLS and 2SLS) to systematically investigate the impact and mechanism of agricultural subsidies on agricultural carbon emissions in China. Results show that China's current agricultural subsidy system has a promoting effect on agricultural carbon emissions. Four types of agricultural subsidies, namely, direct grain subsidies, subsidies for improved varieties, comprehensive subsidies for agricultural materials, and agricultural machinery purchase subsidies, impact the agricultural carbon emissions in ascending order. The agricultural subsidies increase the agricultural carbon emissions directly and indirectly. The findings indicate that a new type of agricultural subsidy system should be constructed, which mainly includes subsidies for farmers' out-migrating for work and land transfer, direct subsidies for grain, and subsidies for improved seed varieties. Among them, the direct grain subsidies should be implemented on the size of planting area and subsidies for improved seed varieties on the size of farmland to reduce the agricultural carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the increasingly severe environmental constraints, improving environmental total factor productivity (ETFP) is the fundamental way for the sustainable development of heavily polluting enterprises. Based on 3463 panel data of A-share listed companies in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper employs Porter's hypothesis (PH) framework to explore the impact of environmental tax (EN_T) on enterprise innovation and environmental total factor productivity for the heavily polluting manufacturing industry using the propensity score matching (PSM) method. The empirical results show the following. (i) Environmental taxes positively affect enterprise innovation (EI) and environmental total factor productivity (ETFP). (ii) Mechanism analysis verifies a partial mediating effect for EI between EN_T and ETFP. (iii) Regional heterogeneity analysis illustrates the differences in the impact of environmental taxes on innovation quality. (iv) Individual heterogeneity analysis shows that the "strong Porter hypothesis" is only valid for large-scale enterprises. The results are of great importance for both government and enterprises to improve the EN_T system and optimize the allocation of resources in realistic practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article evaluates establishment of development zones and its association with carbon emissions. In the process of industrialization, carbon emissions in underdeveloped regions of the world increase with economic growth. In order to promote economic growth in the western region and strengthen the management of enterprise pollution emissions, the Chinese government has set up hundreds of development zones. Existing research shows that development zone establishment can promote economic growth; however, literature is scarce when the relationship is tested across region. Based on the panel data of five provinces with relatively backward economy in western China from 2001 to 2017, this paper constructs a "multi-period difference-in-difference" (DID) model with the establishment of development zones as a "quasi-natural experiment" to test the relationship. Findings reveal that development zone establishment increases carbon emissions in the region, and has a significant inhibitory effect on carbon emissions at national level. The conclusions of this paper provide empirical evidence and policy implications for reducing carbon emissions in economically underdeveloped areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative human capital (IHC) can boost the economic growth of nations. However, in recent years, economies have become more attuned to sustainable development. In this context, it is important to assess the potential impact of IHC on green growth. Against this background, this study empirically examines the role of IHC on regional green growth in China, considering the spatial spillover effect and focusing on the quantity and quality of human capital and its direct and indirect effects on green growth. To this end, this paper adopts the spatial Durbin model, constructs an indicator system to evaluate green growth, and establishes a calculation formula for the quantity and quality of IHC. The empirical analysis provided some important findings. First, IHC and green growth have strong spatial correlation characteristics. Second, the quantity of IHC has a significant positive impact on regional green growth; however, the quality of IHC does not promote regional green growth. Third, the quantity and quality of IHC indirectly improve the level of regional green growth through technological progress. Finally, the role of IHC and its spatial spillover effect in improving the regional green growth level are most obvious in the central and western regions of China. Therefore, promoting green growth requires enhancing the accumulation of IHC and narrowing the gap between eastern and western China in the accumulation of IHC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the relationships between high temperatures (HT) and heat waves (HW) is vital for enhancing human health, especially in areas with dense population. This paper analyzes the temporal and spatial characteristics of different HT and HW intensities, their spatial influence, and the population distribution risk at different HW intensities for 844 meteorological stations between 1951 and 2019. The results indicate that (1) HT and extreme temperature (ET) days are symmetrically distributed along the Huhuanyong Line, from southeast to northwest China. The times, days, and accumulated temperatures of HW, the times, days, and accumulated temperature of strong heat waves (SHW), and the times, days, and accumulated temperature of extreme heat waves (EHW) were distributed similarly; (2) with the increase in high temperatures or heat waves from HT to ET or from HW to SHW, the proportion of stations with an upward trend was always greater in China, while stations with a downward trend were mainly located in the North China Plain and Huai River Basin. For HW, SHW, and EHW, the increasing range of times and days were less than the accumulated temperatures; (3) between 1990 and 2019, there was an expansion of the HW and SHW distribution area with an annual average of more than 10 days, and the EHW distribution area with an annual average of more than 3 days. Moreover, the number of people exposed to HW, SHW, and EHW also increased during this period; and (4) considering the population distribution characteristics and the regional HT and HW characteristics, society needs to form regional adaptation actions for different HT and HW intensities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advancement of electricity market reform highlights the need for China's photovoltaic (PV) industry to enter the stage of market competition. Under the carbon neutrality, what impacts electricity market reform has on China's PV industry is an important issue that needs to be considered. This paper analyzes the driving mechanism of the marketed on-grid price and constructs a system framework for the internal connection within the PV industry under the background of carbon neutrality. Then, two system dynamics (SD) models are built to perform the numerical simulation and analyze the evolution process. The results indicate that during the market competition stage, (i) the on-grid price will be stable at about 0.07 yuan/kWh by 2060; (ii) China's PV industry will go through three stages in the future: the first stage is the "rush to install" period for carbon peaking before 2030, followed by the "sluggish installation" period from 2030 to 2038. The third stage is the outbreak period of "PV + multi-scenarios."; (iii) under three scenarios by 2060, the proportion of PV power generation will account for 46%, 39%, and 32%, respectively, which are higher than those under the benchmark on-grid price; (iv) it is necessary for the government and enterprises to continue increasing support for research and development (R&D). Finally, we put forward corresponding policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the greening of industry is the key to achieving high-quality and sustainable development of the urban economy. It is particularly important for resource-based cities (RBCs) that exploit natural resources as the leading industries. In this paper, the Windows-Bootstrap-DEA model was used to calculate the industrial eco-efficiency (IEE) of 114 RBCs in China from 2003 to 2016, and the regional differences and dynamic evolution characteristics of the IEE were analyzed. The panel Tobit model was used to explore the factors associated with IEE in RBCs. The results showed that the IEE of RBCs in China was at a low level during the study period, and the resource utilization process had not reached an optimal state. There were large regional differences in IEE, and there was a significant degree of spatial agglomeration. The results of conditional probability density estimation showed that the distribution of IEE had strong internal stability on the whole, and the distributions of IEE of RBCs in different regions, different resource types, and different development stages showed significant differences. The results of the panel Tobit model showed that per capita GDP, ownership structure, science and technology input, and industrial agglomeration had significant positive effects on IEE, while industrial structure and employment structure showed significant negative effects. The conclusions of this paper can provide a scientific decision-making basis for industrial transformation planning of RBCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

In the context of global carbon peak and carbon neutrality, the issue of how to effectively encourage enterprises to reduce their carbon emissions has drawn the attention of governments and scholars. This paper uses the difference-in-differences method and joint data (2003–2012) from Chinese industrial firm pollution database and Chinese industrial firm database to evaluate the impacts of environmental information disclosure on enterprises' carbon emissions. We find that environmental information disclosure has a significant effect on enterprises' carbon emission reduction. Moderating effect analysis finds that environmental regulations and punishment strengthen the role of environmental information disclosure in reducing carbon emissions, however, the moderating role of environmental punishment is limited. In addition, mechanism analysis show that environmental information disclosure can reduce carbon emissions by improving their energy structures and encouraging polluting enterprises to withdraw from the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population flow can affect regional carbon emissions. Based on the analysis of the dual transmission mechanism of population flow and its effect on carbon emissions, this paper empirically studies the impact of population flow and other related factors on China's carbon emissions through panel econometric regression and heterogeneity analysis with fixed effect model. The results show that, firstly, in the long or short term, China's population flow can reduce the growth of carbon emissions. Secondly, the regional population aging and knowledge structure improvement caused by population flow are helpful to reduce carbon emissions, while the regional urbanization improvement caused by population flow is not significantly correlated with the growth of household miniaturization on carbon emissions. Thirdly, from the perspective of heterogeneous geographical divisions, population flow promotes the increase of carbon emissions in the northwest region of the Hu Huanyong Line (Hu Line), while it is opposite in the southeast region of Hu Line. Fourthly, China's consumption level, per capita GDP, energy intensity, and energy consumption structure have contributed to the growth of carbon emissions, while carbon intensity has a negative effect on carbon emissions. Finally, this paper puts forward relevant suggestions from the perspective of coordinating population policy and energy conservation and emission reduction policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green technology innovation is an important way to solve the dilemma of economic growth and environmental protection, while the relevant policies issued by the government have an important impact on the promotion of regional green technology innovation. This paper regards the implementation of the Regional Planning of Yangtze River Delta (RPYRD) as a quasi-natural experiment, using the panel data of 274 cities in China from 2003 to 2016 to explore the green technology innovation effect of regional planning and its transmission mechanisms through the double-fixed effect model and the difference-in-difference (DID) method. The results show that (1) the implementation of the RPYRD promotes regional green technology innovation significantly and the green technology innovation effect of the policy is increasing year by year. (2) There is significant regional heterogeneity in the incentive effect of green technology innovation in regional planning. The policy effect is more obvious in cities with a larger scale, a higher level of human capital and less resource dependence. (3) The regional planning promotes green technological innovation by optimizing industrial structure, reducing FDI and increasing R&D investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unequal cost and benefit led by environmental changes may potentially set China's rural areas a "Poverty Trap." Therefore, clarifying the relationship between environmental changes and rural income distribution is of great significance to realize the organic integration of environmental improvement and poverty governance. Based on the panel data of China's coastal areas, this paper explores the mutual influence between environmental changes and fishermen's income distribution, thus testing the hypothesis of the poverty-environment trap. The results show that environmental degradation has a significant negative impact on fishermen's income. To be specific, compared with the middle- and high-income groups, the impact of environmental degradation on people with less income is more noticeable; as for the low-income groups represented by fishermen, the marginal effects of their income reduction on environmental degradation are more prominent; continuous decrease of their income together with environmental deterioration will form a vicious circle, bringing the risk of falling into the poverty-environment trap. In the follow-up environmental governance, authorities need to impose targeted measures and adopt tax or subsidy policies that are inclusive and preferential, so as to address the income gaps between fishermen and further relative poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing literature on smart city pilots mainly focuses on the city level and rarely addresses the firm level. This paper assesses the impact of smart city pilot policy (SCP) on firms' total factor productivity (TFP) and explores the impact of SCP under different heterogeneities as well as the mechanisms of action of the SCP. The LP approach is used in this paper to measure firms' TFP, and the impact of SCP is analyzed by the DID model with firms' panel data from 2009 to 2019 as research objects. First, it was found that the SCP can significantly increase the TFP of firms (0.041). Second, through heterogeneity analysis, we found that SCP can strengthen the monopoly position of monopolistic firms and state-owned enterprises. Moreover, the SCP can also alleviate the development imbalance of TFP between firms in coastal and non-coastal areas. In addition, SCP can significantly improve TFP of heavy polluting enterprises. Finally, we find that the important ways for SCP to improve firms' TFP is increasing investment in technological innovation, talent agglomeration, attracting financing, improving resource allocation efficiency, and digital transformation. The study provides unique insights for policy makers and business managers in China and other emerging countries to enhance TFP and achieve corporate sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rising global concern over environment and energy issues, there are many scholars incorporating them into total factor productivity (TFP) analytical framework. This paper aims to outline the dynamic change trend and convergence characteristics of green total factor productivity (GTFP) of 14 sub-sectors in China's service industry. This is of great significance to the coordinated development and green transformation of sub-sectors of China's service industry. This paper commences to gauge and decompose GTFP of China's service industry by cutting-edge epsilon-based measure (EBM) generalizing slacks-based measure (SBM) and radial measure as well as Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) productivity index, and to examine the existence of convergence hypothesis in China's service industry. The core conclusions are as follows: (1) the average annual growth rate of GTFP in China's service industry is 1.00%, and there exists heterogeneity for GTFP in different sub-sectors; (2) there are phenomena of σ-convergence, absolute β-convergence, and conditional β-convergence in GTFP of China's overall service industry, producer service industry, and consumer-oriented service industry. The main policy suggestions include: increasing investment in green technology innovation of the service industry, formulating more effective industrial development planning and energy policies, and optimizing energy structure and industry structure of the service industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of the digital economy radiates to national ecological protection and resource utilization, holding the key to haze governance. However, as the largest developing country, the impact of China's digital economy on haze pollution has received little attention. Based on the panel data of 275 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2018, this paper studies the impact and mechanism of digital economy development on haze pollution. The results of fixed effect model show that the development of digital economy has a significant negative impact on urban haze pollution in China. The results of heterogeneity analysis show that the development of digital economy has a more significant inhibitory effect on the haze pollution of resource-based cities, non-resource-based cities, eastern cities, and large cities. The quasi-natural experimental results show that the establishment of the "national big data comprehensive experimental area" is conducive to haze pollution control, which proves the conclusion that the digital economy can significantly reduce haze pollution. The development of digital economy can significantly reduce haze pollution by promoting technological innovation and optimizing resource allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving green energy efficiency is crucial to promoting China's high-quality economic development and reducing the environmental pollution. In this paper, the Malmquist-Luenberger index measures the green energy efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2004 to 2019. Based on the measurement results, the spatial Durbin model is used to empirically study the impact of environmental regulation on green energy efficiency and its spatial spillover effects. The results show that China's green energy efficiency is low, and its growth mainly comes from technological progress (TECH) rather than technological efficiency (EFFCH). The eastern region has the highest efficiency of green energy, followed by the West and the lowest in the Central region. The estimation results of the spatial Durbin model show that both environmental regulation and green energy efficiency have a significant spatial correlation. Environmental regulation can improve the green energy efficiency in the local province but inhibit green energy efficiency in the adjacent provinces. Finally, this paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions according to the research results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After years of governance, China's PM2.5 pollution has improved significantly, but some problems remain. PM2.5 is the carrier of many heavy metals, and it has a stronger capacity to carry heavy metals, causing more significant harm to public health. At present, most of the studies on PM2.5-bound heavy metals in China are based on individual cities, and there are few studies from China's provincial capital cities. Given the above reasons, this paper described the pollution characteristics of PM2.5-bound heavy metal (Hg, Pb, Cd, As, Cr(VI), Ni) in 29 provincial capital cities in China (except Hohhot and Lhasa). Furthermore, the human health risk assessment recommended by US EPA was used to evaluate the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of the male adults, the female adults, and the children. The results indicated that (1) the children were facing a higher risk value of PM2.5-bound heavy metals than the adults; (2) Cr, As, and Pb were the top three elements that contributed to the average non-carcinogenic risk, while Cr(VI), As, and Cd were the three elements with the highest carcinogenic risk; and (3) the concentrations of PM2.5-bound heavy metals in the provincial capital cities of northern China were worse than those in the South. In response to the above conclusions, this paper put forward: (1) the government should strengthen the management of metallurgical industry and coal-burning industrial enterprises; (2) establish a real-time monitoring system for toxic and harmful heavy metal pollutants carried in the atmosphere as soon as possible; (3) concern on the regional synergies to form pollution control metropolitan areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the imbalance in regional development and carbon emissions are the two major challenges that China faces in terms of achieving high-quality development. This paper takes regional development differences as the starting point. First, we adopt the improved CRITIC method to measure the comprehensive development level of 30 regions in China and use K-means clustering to divide the 30 regions into five development levels. Second, the structural path analysis for environmental input–output analysis (EIOA-SPA) model is used to quantify the transfer of carbon emissions between sectors in various regions. Finally, a comprehensive analysis is performed based on the development characteristics of each region and the decomposition results of the carbon emission paths. Then, more precise carbon emission reduction strategies are proposed for the development of different regions in China. The results show that first, the development gap between regions in China has improved, and the development of the central and western regions has achieved remarkable results. However, differences between the north and the south and the gap between coastal and inland regions still exist. Second, the direct carbon emissions of regions with different levels of development are mainly derived from high energy-consuming sectors, especially the production and supply of electricity and heat sector. Third, there are certain differences in the indirect carbon emission pathways of regions with different development levels. The transportation, storage, and postal sector in high developed regions have obvious driving effects on carbon emissions. The building sector plays a prominent role in driving carbon emissions in high developed regions and medium–high developed regions. The building sector, nonmetallic mineral products sector, metal smelting sector, and rolled processed product sector in medium developed regions and medium–low developed regions have relatively high carbon emission-stimulating effects. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt differentiated emission reduction strategies for regions with different development levels in China to achieve adequate carbon emission reductions. This effort would further promote the construction of China's ecological civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strengthening the synergistic management of carbon and haze is an important means to realize China's "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals" and green development. In this paper, the entropy method is used to measure the key core technology innovation level of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2021, and the fixed-effect model is used to empirically test the impact of key core technology innovation on carbon haze synergistic governance and the internal mechanism. The study found that (1) key core technological innovation helps to promote carbon haze synergistic governance. (2) The mechanism test shows that key core technology innovation promotes the synergistic management of carbon haze by improving the clean energy structure. (3) The moderating effect shows that both market incentives and government environmental regulations will strengthen the positive relationship between key core technology innovation and carbon haze synergistic governance. The main contribution of this paper is to reveal the influence mechanism of key core technology innovation on carbon haze synergistic governance, and also to provide theoretical basis for the mechanism and law of carbon haze synergistic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using matched data from China Stock Market and Accounting Research (CSMAR) and Wind databases, this paper explores the impact of exports on the green technology innovation (GTI) of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The mechanisms are analyzed through a two-way fixed effects model. First, exports contribute significantly to GTI of SMEs. Second, exports mainly contribute to GTI of SMEs by attracting government subsidies and increasing firms' environmental awareness. Third, from the perspective of heterogeneity, exports significantly positively impact GTI of SMEs especially in medium- and low-technology industries and in eastern China. The impact of exports on GTI is also examined by replacing core variables, modifying the sample for robustness testing, and utilizing both urban river density and distance from the center of the city to the nearest port as instrumental variables for endogeneity test. With the continuous development of international import and export trade, enterprises increase GTI research and development by attracting government subsidies, improving the quality of disclosed information, and increasing environmental awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important way for China to achieve its dual-carbon goal, green finance has become the foundation for promoting high-quality economic development in China. In order to clarify the mechanism of green finance on carbon emissions, this paper puts green finance into the economic model and deduces the relationship between green finance and carbon emission reduction. This paper is based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China (excluding Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) from 2008 to 2019, using the individual fixed effect model, dynamical model, mediator model, and SDM model to study the impact of green finance on carbon emissions and its impact path of upgrading of the industrial structure and the development of science and technology based on the measurement of the green finance development index of each province by the entropy method. The findings show that the development of green finance can reduce carbon emission significantly, which can be sustained until at least the third phase and generates spatial spillover effects; regional heterogeneity analysis finds that the development of green finance shows geographical discrepancies: compared with the eastern and western regions, the development of green finance in central region can reduce carbon emissions more significantly; not only can the development of green finance directly reduce carbon emission, but also through the upgrading of industrial structure and technological innovation. The research not only provides a new perspective and supplementary empirical evidence for understanding the carbon emission reduction effect of green finance, but also offers some useful references for green finance to contribute to carbon emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an innovative financial instrument, green credit is a new driving force for environmental governance. To study the impact of green credit on environmental quality, this paper uses the provincial panel data from 2007 to 2020 to construct a panel model for analysis based on the comprehensive environmental quality index. At the same time, it discusses the mechanism and regional heterogeneity of green credit affecting environmental quality. The results show that green credit significantly improves the overall quality of the environment, which has a significant effect on air quality and green quality but has no significant impact on water quality and soil quality. Green credit improves environmental quality by improving green technology innovation and promoting industrial structure upgrading. At the same time, there is obvious heterogeneity in the environmental effect of green credit. Among them, the environmental quality improvement effect of the eastern region and the carbon emission pilot area is more evident than that of the central and western regions and the non-carbon emission pilot area. This paper has important implications for promoting the development of green credit and giving full play to the environmental effects of green credit to achieve sustainable goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use transition and its impact on ecosystem service value (ESV) are the foundation for optimizing the layout of territorial space and ecological civilization construction. With the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the area of construction land expands in China. To accurately estimate the ESV in industrial counties, the impact of construction land on the ecological environment should be fully considered. This paper took Gangcheng District, Jinan City, a steel base in the Shandong Province of China as an example, then the value coefficients of "three wastes" factors (waste gas, wastewater, and waste) were introduced, and an improved calculation method of ESV was put forward for industrial counties in combination with remote sensing and land use data. Finally, the land use transition and its ESV effect in typical industrial counties were analyzed using geo-informatic Tupu and grid method. The results showed that the most important land use transitions were from grassland and forestland to cultivated land, from cultivated land and forestland to construction land in 1990–2010, and from cultivated land transformed to forestland in 2010–2021. The types of land use transition were mainly repetitive and continuous. The ESV first decreased and then increased, with a slight overall decline for more than 30 years, showing a spatial distribution characteristic of "low in the south-central and high around." Land use transition had the impact on ESV with the negative contribution rate of 68.28% in 1990–2000 and 73.16% in 2000–2010, mainly caused by the transition from forestland and grassland to cultivated land and construction land, and the positive contribution rate of 81.72% in 2010–2021, mainly caused by the transition from cultivated land to forestland. Compared with the ESV calculation method without introducing the "three wastes" factor and Xie Gaodi's method, the improved method in this paper considered the inevitable impact of construction land on ESV in industrial counties and made the ESV calculated more accurate according to the regional nature. This paper cannot only enrich the theories and technical methods of land use transition and its effects, and provide a case reference for similar industrial counties, but also provide data and decision-making support for the spatial layout and ecological protection in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The in-depth implementation of the "Broadband China Strategy" is of great significance in promoting the synergistic governance of urban carbon reduction and pollution reduction. In this paper, based on the "Broadband China" pilot program implemented in China in 2014 as a quasi-natural experiment, the coupled synergy model is used to measure the carbon and pollution reduction synergy index based on the balanced panel data of 277 prefectural-level cities and above in China from 2006 to 2020, and the staggered and synthetic DID methods are applied to investigate the impact of the Broadband China strategy on carbon and pollution reduction synergy and its mechanism. strategy on carbon and pollution reduction synergy and its mechanism. The conclusions of the study show that (1) the Broadband China strategy significantly improves the synergistic governance of carbon reduction and pollution reduction. (2) The mechanism results show that Broadband China mainly realizes carbon and pollution synergistic governance by promoting source control and process innovation but does not have an effective mediating role in end-of-pipe treatment. (3) The results of heterogeneity analysis show that Broadband China weakens the traditional geographic advantage, narrows the carbon pollution synergistic governance gap at the national and regional levels, and significantly improves the regional carbon reduction and pollution reduction governance level. This paper examines the micro-mechanism of the Broadband China strategy on carbon pollution synergistic governance from the whole process of production activities, which provides a new perspective for the study of carbon pollution synergistic governance, and provides an empirical basis for carbon pollution synergistic governance in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of increasingly severe global climate change, finding effective carbon emission reduction strategies has become key to mitigating climate change. Environmental Protection Tax (EPT), as a widely recognized method, effectively promotes climate change mitigation by encouraging emission reduction behaviors and promoting the application of clean technologies. Based on data from 282 cities in China, this paper takes the official implementation of the EPT in 2018 as the policy impact and the cities with increased tax rates for air taxable pollutants as the treatment group and uses DID model to systematically demonstrate the relationship between the implementation of the EPT and carbon intensity (CI) and further explores the possible pollutant emissions and green innovation mediating effects. The findings show that (1) the implementation of EPT can effectively reduce CI by about 4.75%, and this conclusion still holds after considering the robustness of variable selection bias, elimination of other normal effects, policy setting time bias, and self-selection bias. (2) The implementation of EPT can reduce CI by reducing pollutant emissions and improving the level of green innovation. (3) There is obvious regional heterogeneity in the carbon reduction effect of EPT, and the implementation of EPT has a more significant effect on CI in medium-tax areas, low environmental concern areas, general cities, and eastern regions. This paper not only provides a new analytical perspective for systematically understanding the carbon emission reduction effect of EPT but also provides policy insights for promoting regional green transformation and advancing carbon peak carbon neutralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to maintain the balanced stability and resilient development of rural systems is an important issue that needs urgent attention in the field of sustainable rural development at present. In this paper, the entropy method, spatial autocorrelation model, and Geodetector were used to explore the rural resilience level, spatial distribution characteristics, and driving factors of 31 cities in the urban agglomerations in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (UAMRYR), and to put forward corresponding policy suggestions. The results are as follows: (1) From 2005 to 2020, rural resilience in the UAMRYR showed an upward trend with an average annual growth rate of 8.26%. The ranking of the three major urban agglomerations is Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomerations > Wuhan urban agglomerations > Poyang Lake urban agglomerations. (2) During the study period, the spatial distribution of rural resilience gradually developed from a negative correlation to a strong positive correlation and generally showed the characteristics of high in the west and low in the east. (3) The urbanization rate, the size and structure of the economy, the difference in consumption and income between urban and rural areas, the local fiscal revenue, and the number of village committees are the key factors affecting the level of rural resilience. On this basis, we proposed policy recommendations to improve the economic, social, and ecological resilience of rural areas in the UAMRYR. The findings of this paper are expected to provide insights into the policy formulation of China's rural revitalization strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimization and transition of the industrial structure help improve the quality of the economy, moving it toward low-carbon development. By using the Instrumental Variable Generalized Method of Moments model and a city-level dataset covering the period 2006–2019, this paper explores the carbon lock-in mitigation effects of industrial structure optimization and industrial structure transition, respectively. The heterogeneity and the synthetic industrial structure adjustment effect are detected, and the potential impact mechanism is also explored. Some findings have been generated. (1) Both industrial structure optimization and industrial structure transition realize carbon lock-in eradication. (2) Industrial structure optimization and transition are more effective in inhibiting carbon lock-in in cities with a higher level of economic background. (3) By generating an interaction term of industrial structure optimization and transition and examining the impact of the interaction term on carbon lock-in, this paper detects that industrial structure optimization and transition have a synthetic impact on carbon lock-in, showing a "1 + 1 > 2" effect. (4) Industrial structure optimization and transition both affect carbon lock-in by improving technological innovation level, which is the impact mechanism. Some policy implications, such as sectoral diversification and promoting research and development, are put forward for better industrial structure development and carbon unlocking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating the effects of China's carbon emission trading scheme (ETS) is crucial for the coordinated development of Chinese cities. Therefore, based on the panel data of 242 cities in China from 2008 to 2019, this paper uses the multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model to comprehensively evaluate the impact of carbon market on the coordinated development of cities from the perspectives of carbon market policy and carbon market efficiency, and then analyzes the mechanism and heterogeneity of the effect of carbon market efficiency. The results show that both carbon market policy and carbon market efficiency can promote the coordinated development of cities. Science and education expenditure plays a significant intermediary role in the impact of carbon market efficiency on the coordinated development of cities. The heterogeneity test finds that the stricter the performance penalty system, the higher the level of urban coordinated development, and the stronger the effect of carbon market efficiency. The findings of this paper provide policy recommendations for further improving the construction of China's pilot and national ETS and enhancing the coordinated development of Chinese cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric resources provide important support for human economic and social systems through their unique ecosystem service functions. Implementing the off-office auditing of atmospheric resources for leading cadres holds great strategic significance for fundamentally solve air pollution problems. Exploring the compilation of an atmospheric resource balance sheet is a necessary pre-step in the implementation of outgoing audits. In this paper, atmospheric resources are innovatively divided into atmospheric capacity resources and atmospheric quality resources from the perspective of the ecosystem service functions of atmospheric resources. The value of atmospheric resource assets is calculated by combining the environmental capacity value method and the environmental loss evaluation method. This study evaluates atmospheric ecological achievements based on the atmospheric resources balance sheet and related accounts as the data carrier and opens up the key "blocking point" of the off-office auditing of atmospheric resources. This paper takes Anhui Province as an example and applies the accounting results of the prepared atmospheric resource balance sheet to evaluate the atmospheric resource ecological achievements of leading cadres from 2016 to 2020. The results clearly reflect the ecological achievements and shortcomings of local leading cadres during their tenure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an inevitable part of construction and demolition (C&D) waste, muck has a dreadful environmental impact due its inadequate management by the traditional governance process. This paper therefore focuses on the management of muck generated from C&D waste by utilizing platform governance as an alternative process, which should more effectively contribute to China's circular economy. The study explores the feasibility of providing such a platform governance mode by using Petri net to compare the traditional governance process and platform governance process for the management of muck trucks, and by using Nanjing's muck smart supervision platform as a case study to assess the effectiveness of the platform governance mode. Results from Petri net simulation modeling reveal that the platform governance mode is more effective than the traditional mode, and from the case study it is found that the success of Nanjing's muck waste management can be attributed to the platform governance mode. The platform management approach can therefore contribute to the sustainability of muck waste governance, and is suitable as an integrated and effective management mode for current practices of muck waste management and resource recovery in China. The main finding from the study is that the platform governance mode significantly improves the efficiency of muck waste management as compared with the traditional governance mode and can therefore provide greater economic and environmental benefits as part of a circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collaborative agglomeration of manufacturing and producer services is an essential tool for the green transformation of China's economic model. This paper explores the impact of industrial collaborative agglomeration on carbon intensity, using the spatial Durbin model (SDM) based on China's provincial panel data from 2012 to 2019. The empirical results indicate that there is an inverted N-shaped relationship between industrial collaborative agglomeration and carbon intensity, with the turning points of 2.5255 and 2.8575. Regional industrial collaborative agglomeration tends to initially reduce carbon intensity, then aggravates to carbon emission, then finally inhibits carbon intensity. There is an obvious heterogeneity in the impact of producer-service subsectors and manufacturing collaborative agglomeration on carbon intensity. When the industrial collaborative agglomeration level exceeds a certain threshold, the clustering of information transmission, software and information technology service, and financial intermediation service have the greatest emission reduction potential. Industrial collaborative agglomeration has obvious spatial spillover effect, and carbon intensity has obvious spatial convergence effect. This paper provides some novelties for research perspectives on carbon intensity reduction and theoretical references for the development and implementation of differentiated industrial collaborative agglomeration policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on the impact of the digital economy on total factor carbon productivity. Based on the panel data of China's provinces from 2009 to 2019, this paper incorporates undesired output, namely carbon emissions, into the evaluation index system, and uses the SBM-ML index to measure regional total factor carbon productivity, and uses the RAGA-PP model to measure the digital economy development index, which includes three dimensions: digital infrastructure, digital industry development, and digital economic environment. Moreover, this paper incorporates the heterogeneous threshold of technological accumulation into the framework of the impact mechanism of total factor carbon productivity and builds a threshold model to examine the impact of the digital economy on total factor carbon productivity under different technological accumulation thresholds. The research shows that, first, during the sample period, total factor carbon productivity fluctuated around the frontier, showing a certain upward trend, with significant regional heterogeneity. Second, the digital economy has a promotional effect on the total factor carbon productivity level in China and can become the new energy for the country to improve the level of green development. Third, the impact of the digital economy on total factor carbon productivity presents a significant heterogeneous threshold effect of technological accumulation, along with the increasing level of technology accumulation, the effective coefficient of the digital economy on total factor carbon productivity is increasing, and the level of significance is increasing. Last, the low-carbon driving mechanism of the digital economy has temporal and spatial heterogeneity of regional technology accumulation levels. The conclusions of this paper provide an effective reference for exploring the realization mechanism of regional total factor carbon productivity improvement, ecological civilization construction, and high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent two decades, construction and demolition (C&D) waste is becoming a major source of municipal waste which causes severe damage to the environment. To solve the problem, waste recycling measures are gradually used to turn waste into treasures. Meanwhile, several kinds of policies such as waste disposal charging fees have been issued to stimulate stakeholders' behavior to take waste recycling measures to promote the C&D waste recycling industry. However, the C&D waste recycling rate is still too low in China. In order to promote C&D waste recycling industrial development, this paper aims at introducing subsidy and environmental tax policies to promote C&D waste recycling. Based on system dynamics method, this study establishes a model to determine the proper subsidy and environmental tax range. According to the simulation results, three kinds of incentive policies are obtained, namely, single subsidy policy, single environmental tax, and combined incentive policies. Optimal single subsidy and environmental tax are in the interval, [10, 30] and [20, 60], respectively. The best combination strategy is subsidy = 10 yuan/ton and environmental tax = 20 yuan/ton. The results from this paper could be a foundation for government to establish incentive policies to promote C&D waste recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the data of Chinese A-share-listed companies from 2004 to 2017, this paper builds a difference-in-differences model to investigate the impact of air pollution collaborative governance on green technology innovation. The main results show that air pollution collaborative governance promotes green technology innovation, and a series of robustness tests also verify this conclusion. Patent heterogeneity analysis suggests that air pollution collaborative governance increases the number of green utility model patents, but has no obvious impact on green invention patents. In terms of enterprise heterogeneity, air pollution collaborative governance can effectively stimulate the non-heavy-polluting enterprises to innovate green technology, but the incentive effect on heavy-polluting enterprises is not evident. Moreover, by constructing a mediating effect model and a moderating effect model, mechanism analysis reveals that R&D investment plays a positive mediating role in the impact of air pollution collaborative governance on green technology innovation, and the increase of government subsidy also enhances the promotion effect of air pollution collaborative governance on green technology innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rapid road infrastructure construction (RIC) occupies farmland and promotes the flow of rural development factors, which causes farmland use transition (FUT). Although prior research on RIC and their impact on FUT has attracted considerable attention, few studies have investigated the threshold effect of RIC on FUT. Threshold effect is the phenomenon that when the level of RIC reaches a certain critical value, the level of FUT changes abruptly. This paper uses China's provincial panel data from 2004 to 2018 to evaluate FUT. We also consider the spatial spillover effect of RIC and construct a panel threshold regression model to assess the impact of RIC on FUT. The results demonstrate that, considering the spatial spillover effect, RIC significantly promotes FUT, and the threshold effect first rises and then falls. Also, the threshold effect of RIC on FUT also has significant regional heterogeneity. There is a significant single threshold effect for RIC in central and western China, with threshold values of 0.90 and 0.84, respectively, while the spatial lag of RIC in eastern China has a single threshold with a value of 1.10. Our research indicates that the Chinese central government should promote the synergistic increase in RIC and sustainable farmland use by improving the accessibility of road infrastructure and basing RIC planning on the actual development needs of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very few studies exist in rationalizing comprehensively the relationship between market integration and green economic growth in China. This paper tries to answer the question whether and how market integration influences regional green economic growth in China. Based on the panel data of 285 city-level regions from year 2004 to 2018 in China, this paper develops explanatory mechanism and discusses the influence theoretically and empirically. To advance the analysis, we construct market integration indicator through relative price variance method based on commodity retail price index and employ the Malmquist–Luenberger (ML) productivity index and DEA-SBM (data envelopment analysis–slacks-based measure) model to evaluate green total factor productivity (GTFP) as indicator for green economic growth. Our empirical findings are: (1) Apparent regional imbalance exists in both the development of market integration and green growth and gaps are expanding from year 2004 to 2018. (2) Market integration promotes regional green growth significantly. (3) Mechanism analysis illustrates that market integration fosters green growth through economies of scale effect, composition effect and spillover effect, respectively. (4) Heterogeneous analysis suggests that the influence from market integration on green growth varies depending on region's difference in traffic situation and in overall development level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fluctuation of the carbon price and its related components can effectively reflect the overall economy. This paper explores the fluctuation of the carbon price and its influencing factors. First, the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) method is used to decompose the carbon price series of eight pilot projects at multiple timescales. Second, according to the historical trading records in the eight pilot projects, this paper constructs a national carbon price under a variety of scenarios. Finally, based on the average of the eight pilot market daily trading datasets, the national carbon price is constructed, and a short-term prediction is made. The results show that: (1) the pilot projects in Beijing and Hubei are susceptible to short-term external factors, and Beijing's pilot internal market mechanism has a large impact on the carbon price; (2) in most scenarios, the national price fluctuates, with the highest carbon price approaching 70 CNY/tCO2 and the lowest falling below 10 CNY/tCO2; and (3) China's carbon price is still has ample room to rise in the future. This paper provides a theoretical basis and practical guidance for the prediction of carbon prices in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Free-trade zones are highlands of regional development that have a radiating effect on surrounding cities. This paper uses Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) data from 2003 to 2018, to examine the impact of the China (Shanghai) pilot free-trade zone (SPFTZ) on green total factor productivity (GTFP) in the YRDUA. It uses the regression discontinuity (RD) method and analyzes the influence mechanism with the help of the mediating effect model. The paper presents the following major findings. The establishment of the SPFTZ significantly promoted GTFP in the YRDUA, with technological progress being the main driving force. An analysis using the mediating effect model found that financial efficiency and industrial structure upgrading play a complete mediating role in GTFP growth in the YRDUA. Therefore, the SPFTZ should make use of its policy advantages, take full advantage of the effect of the green growth pole, and promote green mutual development with the YRDUA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban carbon emissions are one of the most important areas contributing to the growth of carbon emissions, and resource-dependent cities with natural resource extraction and processing as their leading industries tend to have higher carbon emissions. Ordos is the city with the highest coal production in China, and its economic development is dominated by coal, oil and gas, and other resource extraction and processing industries, with industrial activities making a large contribution to carbon emissions. At the same time, Ordos has undergone rapid industrialization in recent years, but still faces the problem of environmental pollution, epitomizing a typical resource-dependent city in China. Therefore, this paper takes Ordos as an example and uses the Generalized Divisa Index Method (GDIM) to study the drivers of industrial carbon emissions in Ordos from 2005–2020, a typical resource-dependent city in China, and further analyzes are conducted in relation to the three phases of development. Based on the key drivers, the Monte Carlo method is used to forecast industrial carbon emissions from 2021 to 2030. The results show that the most important factors driving the growth of industrial carbon emissions are the scale of industrial output and industrial energy consumption, while the intensity of industrial energy investment is the most important factor mitigating industrial carbon emissions, and that energy efficiency and carbon intensity of energy consumption can also mitigate carbon emissions after economic transformation. At the same time, investment is the factor with the greatest potential for optimization on the path to emissions reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intellectual property demonstration city (IPDC) not only promotes innovation, but also brings many unexpected gains, the most prominent of which is carbon reduction. Unfortunately, few scholars have included IPDC and carbon emissions in a unified research framework, ignoring the role of intellectual property protection in environmental governance. Therefore, this paper investigates the impact of IPDC on carbon emissions through a multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model, a spatial DID model, and a mediating effect model with IPDC policy as a quasi-natural experiment. The research results are as follows: (1) IPDC policy has a significant inhibitory effect on carbon emissions. Compared to non-pilot cities, IPDC policy can reduce carbon emissions by about 20.6%. (2) There are temporal and regional heterogeneity of the IPDC policy on carbon emissions. More specifically, the carbon reduction effect of IPDC is more effective in large cities and cities with richer human capital, stricter environmental regulation, and higher financial development. Meanwhile, the policy effects in 2012 and 2015 are larger than those in 2018, while the policy effects in 2014, 2016, and 2019 are not significant. (3) IPDC policy reduces carbon emissions mainly by stimulating innovation and green innovation, and promoting R&D element agglomeration. (4) IPDC policy has obvious spatial spillover effects and leads to the surrounding cities becoming pollution havens. The above conclusions have implications for designing a better urbanization model to promote innovative development and reduce carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vast majority of rural settlements in Western China are located in the ecologically sensitive and diverse mountainous environment, which also experienced rapid changes in policy and institutional interventions over the past 40 years. At present, in the transitional period of "post-poverty alleviation," they have more opportunities to re-integrate themselves into the large regional development. However, there is a lack of systematic evaluation and cognition of the related functions of the spatial structure between the settlements at the regional village scale and town scale. Therefore, in this paper, the theory of complex adaptive system and its analytical NK model were introduced, and a quantitative measurement framework was constructed for the adaptability level of this kind of rural settlement spatial structure organization so as to explore the effective path for its global optimization. Taking Xinglong Town of Chongqing in the western mountainous area as an example, it was found from the analysis that (1) the number of villages at a high comprehensive adaptation level has increased over time, which has an obvious positive correlation with the construction of transportation network, and a structural adsorption effect. (2) The spatial structure of the rural settlement system in the region has changed from weak industrial nodes – traffic single branch connection – public service decentralized coverage in 2010 to the organizational adaptation characteristics of stable industrial agglomeration – traffic expansion and extension – public service continuous coverage in 2019. (3) The spatial elements related to industry and public service in each village have an increasingly significant impact on the reconstruction and differentiation of its spatial structure. Finally, based on the changing trend of adaptability level and the correlation characteristics of regional space, in this paper, the spatial structure optimization strategy of Xinglong Town is put forward, which provides a reference basis for the coordinated development of the town and village space under the township-level planning in the western region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]