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Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and EPD-like demands have been gaining importance, particularly due to the release of Product Environmental Footprint by the European Union (EU). EPDs could be demanded in international trade, potentially creating a technical trade barrier for emerging economy countries. Thus, those countries should evaluate their readiness to successfully meet this demand. In this sense, this paper aims to analyse and propose strategies for EPD promotion in Brazil. Brazil's situation regarding life cycle assessment (LCA) and EPD development was analysed considering its business, academic, public policy and consumers contexts. In addition, an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) was elaborated based on interviews with EPD stakeholders in the country. These allowed some strategies to be proposed considering the principle of connecting strengths and opportunities, compensating for weaknesses and neutralizing threats. The results showed that Brazil has a technical and institutional context that enables EPD growth due to the initial stage of LCA database, EPD programs, stakeholders' engagement, and availability of experts. However, in general, these aspects aren't in an adequate level for successful EPD promotion. There is still a large path for EPD understanding and life cycle data availability. Besides, financial and technical restriction, especially considering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), present structural barriers. Nevertheless, by promoting EPD, Brazil could have gains in terms of credibility, access to global markets and environmental awareness. The opposite could happen if the country doesn't seize these opportunities. Furthermore, to influence Product Category Rule (PCR) definitions was said to be a key opportunity to avoid rules that disregard Brazilian singularities. Strategies for EPD promotion should focus on sensitizing and engaging different stakeholders in strategic sectors (civil construction, paper and pulp, coffee, ingredients derived from soya and livestock), enhancing technical capacities and life cycle data generation, and strengthening EPD programs to boost the Brazilian internal market and PCR development. Brazilian institutions should be encouraged to follow international discussions on EPD and internalize them, fostering sustainable production and consumption in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study establishes a low-carbon construction supply chain (CSC) composed of a developer and a contractor. The developer invests in low-carbon promotion (LCP) to give consumers more accurate information about the project's low-carbon aspects. The contractor invests in low-carbon construction technology (LCT) with the intention of reducing carbon emissions. This paper explores the investment strategies and cooperative behaviors of developers and contractors from the perspective of government subsidies and further studies the conditions that affect the successful implementation of cost-sharing contracts between the developer and contractor. This study considers four decision-making scenarios: decentralized decision-making without government subsidies, decentralized decision-making with government subsidies, unilateral cost-sharing contract (UCC) with government subsidies, and bilateral cost-sharing contract (BCC) with government subsidies. The findings indicate that: (1) The contractor's LCT investment has a better optimization effect on CSC than the developer's LCP investment. (2) When only government subsidies are implemented, subsidizing contractors is more conducive to the optimization of CSC. When UCC and BCC are further introduced, subsidizing developers becomes more beneficial. Moreover, excessively high subsidy standards are not conducive to the sustainable development of CSC. (3) UCC and BCC both hold the potential for Pareto improvements within CSC, with success contingent upon specific conditions, and BCC tends to achieve better optimization than UCC. (4) The marginal profits of developers and contractors primarily drive the effectiveness of contracts. CSC's sustainability is jeopardized by cost-sharing ratios that are either excessively high or too low. This study provides a robust theoretical foundation for promoting low-carbon cooperation among members of CSC and formulating government subsidy policies. [Display omitted] • The dynamic change of carbon reduction is considered. • The investment efficiency of developers and contractors is studied. • Two types of cost-sharing contracts are proposed. • The government subsidy standards and subsidy coefficients are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building operations use 45% of the total energy in Australia, and Net-Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) are instrumental in achieving net zero emissions by 2050. However, research reveals that various factors hinder NZEB adoption in Australia, and it is imperative to contextualise the barriers, thereby highlighting clear gaps that can be addressed to enhance the implementation of NZEB in Australia. This study presents a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis to examine the barriers that hinder the implementation of NZEB contextualised within the Australian building industry. The paper's novelty resides in its contextualisation of barriers to NZEB thereby highlighting clear gaps that can be addressed to enhance the implementation of NZEB in Australia. Emergent results reveal the most impactful barriers experienced and the inter-relatedness between barriers and their effects on each other. These identified barriers are also compared with comparable countries, including the UK, China, Italy and the US. New insight and knowledge acquired provide a basis for assessing potential solutions to the main barriers. Findings show that a lack of knowledge, climate issues, and cost issues, in addition to government policy factors, are considered primary barriers encountered by the industry, hindering the achievement of NZEBs. It is imperative that future studies and initiatives counteract these impacts to realise a better implementation of NZEB in the Australian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of new-type infrastructure plays a crucial role in driving low-carbon economic development in China and worldwide. This work employs fixed-effects model, mediated-effects model, spatial Durbin model, and meta-analysis to thoroughly examine the influence of new-type infrastructure on total factor carbon productivity using panel data of 274 Chinese cities spanning from 2011 to 2021. The findings indicate that: firstly, new-type infrastructure has a notable and beneficial impact on total factor carbon productivity, but there is heterogeneity in resource endowment, city scale, and policy intensity. New-type infrastructure can only promote total factor carbon productivity enhancement in non-resource cities and large cities. Under the influence of smart city policies, new-type infrastructure has a stronger effect on total factor carbon productivity enhancement. Secondly, digital finance and marketization are important ways for new-type infrastructure to improve total factor carbon productivity. Thirdly, via spatial spillover effect, new-type infrastructure may boost total factor carbon productivity not only in the local region but also in places that are spatially connected. Accordingly, this paper offers policy recommendations for the government to encourage the investment and development of new-type infrastructure to support total factor carbon productivity growth. • Increasing total factor carbon productivity can achieve a balance between "carbon reduction" and "economic growth". • In the digital age, the construction of new-type infrastructure is crucial. • Quantitative indicators at the city level can provide a more detailed study of issues. • There are direct, indirect and spatial effects of new-type infrastructure on total factor carbon productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon management of production planning involves multiple supply chain parties in different processes. This paper studies synergistic cooperation among supply chain parties for more effective emission reduction. Since a supply chain generally includes multiple parties, this paper focuses for simplicity on supplier, manufacturer and retailing. It studies a centralised make-to-order (MTO) production system involving a manufacturer and an internal supplier, with an objective to maximise the total profit by optimising the production lot sizes for the supplier and the manufacturer, who each operates a production line under MTO mode. The proposed model considers two carbon management scenarios of carbon cap and product sustainability under consumer green awareness, of which the impacts are deliberated with analytical solutions and numerical experiments. The result shows that the maximal profit can be achieved under carbon management constraints by adjusting the production lot size in both scenarios. Through sensitivity analysis, it is found that the carbon cap policy restricts the company profitability and that a high consumer green sensitivity can improve the profitability of green products. Therefore, the government and companies should cooperate to improve product sustainability and create greener markets. This paper contributes to the burgeoning field of carbon management in supply chain and provides theoretical guidance for adjusting production plans. Image 1 • External pressure from government policy may reduce company profitability. • Developing product sustainability leads to more green consumers and higher profit. • High sustainability development cost may become an impediment for company. • Supply chain parties should collaborate together to achieve synergistic profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Reducing pollutant emissions while ensuring a stable economic growth is an important embodiment of sustainable development. Based on the "National Comprehensive demonstration of Energy Saving and Emission Reduction Fiscal Policy" ("ESER" policy) proposed by the Chinese government in 2011, this paper analyzes the impact of such policy on emissions reduction and economic growth. Under the framework of Differences-in-differences (DID) method, this paper first identifies the implementation conditions of "ESER" policy. Then we adopt three specifications to control the endogenous problem for the selection of demonstration cities. The robustness test verifies the reliability of our findings, and the spillover effect analysis reveals the deficiency of this policy. We reach the following conclusions: (1) Different from the previous studies, we find that the "ESER" policy can effectively reduce the pollutant emissions while ensuring a stable economic growth. (2) However, the event study reveals that the reduction effect is only existing in the demonstration period, which means that this policy is not sustainable. (3) Furthermore, we find no spillover effect of "ESER" policy on the non-policy targeted pollutant, suggesting that the local government only cares about the reduction of policy targeted pollutants. Based on these findings, we propose that the future energy saving and emissions reduction policy formulation should focus on the policy sustainability and overall environmental performance. Graphical abstract Image 1021 Highlights • We explore the effect of an energy saving and emissions reduction policy. • Differences-in-Differences (DID) framework is applied in this paper. • This policy can effectively reduce targeted pollutants emissions. • No spillover effect of this policy on non-targeted pollutant. • Future policy formulation should focus on overall environmental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Local government policy intervention, especially by means of structural reform, requires a detailed knowledge of the scale and scope characteristics of the local government services, explicitly solid urban waste collection and wastewater treatment. However, unfortunately little is known about scale economies in Portuguese municipal services, apart from water. The main contribution of this paper is to address this gap in the empirical literature on Portuguese local government. The major objectives of the paper are: (a) to investigate whether scale economies can explain differential council performance in terms of treating wastewater and collecting urban waste and (b) how this might shed light on the question of optimal jurisdictional size, i.e., the quantity of consumed resources and the volume of delivered services that maximize council productivity. By using a non-radial input-oriented model, we examine scale economies and optimal scale size for all 308 Portuguese local councils over the years 2008 and 2015. We find that (dis)economies of scale arise within each council cluster considered and as a probable consequence of combining the activities of two or more councils. We attempt to draw various policy implications from the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper aims to identify the main issues and drivers of sustainable corporate governance to prevent corruption, analysing the interaction between the principal governance body–Board of Directors–and the implementation and application of corruption prevention plans by pointing out exploratory evidence from the company sample. This paper is built upon two steps. First, the content analysis research method is applied, selecting a sample of Italian companies and analysing information from the corruption prevention plans to establish the role of the Board of Directors in the management of company's system. Second, the level of the implication of Board of Directors in drafting through the identification of the Global Indicator is investigated, measuring the degree of the Board of Directors' involvement and making use of the content analysis's results. Additionally, a linear regression between the Global Indicator, companies dimensional indicator and performance indicators is carried out with the aim to define variables affecting this process. The paper proposes exploratory evidence which shows a deep understanding of the governance body in the construction and application of the corporate corruption prevention plans, taking into consideration crucial information from: the anti-corruption national legislation (Law 190/2012), risk management and organization model (Legislative Decree 231/2001), corporate sustainability and compliance programs adopted by companies. The originality of the findings derives from the need to establish an integrated sustainable corporate governance model directed at preventing corruption. Thus, this paper proposes not only the analysis of the Italian companies' compliance sustainable models to prevent corruption in their corporate governance but shows the path for future research on the topic. Graphical abstract Image 10800 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Environmental problems and health risks stemming from the household use of traditional fuels remain a significant challenge for households living in poverty in developing countries. This paper applies a logit model to analyze the driving factors of a household's decision regarding the adoption of solar energy technology. To do this, the study uses cross-sectional data collected from two kebeles in the neighborhoods of Woliso, a town of Oromia regional state in central Ethiopia. The results reveal that a great number of factors were found to have positive effect on solar energy technology adoption. The findings of this paper establish that wealthy and more educated households are more likely to adopt solar energy technology compared to poorer ones. Male-headed households are less likely to adopt solar energy technology compared to female-headed counterparts. The main implication of this study is that there is a scope for poverty reduction policies and adult education that targets household heads and spouses to promote adoption of solar energy technology. Therefore, policymakers could target appropriate measures in order to improve household wealth, education, and awareness. In this way, there is a much higher chance for them to successfully promote solar energy use by rural households. Highlights • Econometric model used to analyze determinants of household solar PV technology adoption. • Increase in the household wealth found to increase the likelihood of solar PV adoption. • Higher level of education of head and spouse increased the odd of solar energy adoption positively. • Education and poverty reduction policies promote household uptake of solar energy technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior studies primarily suggest that the generation of medical wastes maintains a positive relationship with national incomes. In contrast, higher incomes may lead to improved health status, consequently resulting in lower generation of medical wastes. Under this circumstance, an inverted U-shaped curve may be used to describe the generation of medical wastes along with economic growth. Additionally, illegal disposal is believed to have a high impact on human health. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the presence of the environmental Kuznets curve for both the generation and illegal disposal of medical wastes by using a model of the environmental Kuznets curve. The results find the generation of medical wastes is positively affected by incomes, but this paper identifies the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve phenomenon for illegal disposal. Both the generation and illegal disposal of medical wastes are positively affected by medical capacity but negatively affected by medical policy. The primary contributions of this paper are three-fold. First, this paper is the first to focus on the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve phenomenon for both the generation and the illegal disposal of medical wastes. Second, this paper confirms the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve for the illegal disposal of medical wastes. Illegal disposal may be blocked when national incomes reach a specific level, and thus, the government may focus on the formulation of medical policy to encourage reduced demand for medical care. Third, this paper finds that the implementation of medical policy may have an important effect on inhibiting the generation and illegal disposal of medical wastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technical qualification is required to adequately meet the responsibilities related to solid waste management (SWM). Given that the successful SW policies requirements implementation at the local level relies on the ability to plan and the efficient management of public services, this paper aims to verify if municipalities have working teams that are prepared for this challenge. To accomplish this goal, three indicators were proposed to evaluate these human resources: Professional Qualification Level (PQL), Multidisciplinary Level (ML) and Leadership Level of Education (LLE). A proportional stratified sample with SWM leaders from 156 Brazilian municipalities participated in a survey. The results showed that although some municipalities were able to provide teams and find solutions to implement plans and actions, some smaller municipalities were not able to organize themselves adequately for this implementation. This paper provides a diagnosis of the human resources dimensions associated with the administrative capacity of municipal governments for the successful implementation of the Brazilian Solid Waste Policy (BSWP) at the local level. There is a need to improve the administrative capacity of municipalities to ensure the satisfactory implementation of the BSWP. The shortcomings identified in this paper should be addressed by the government to ensure that the constitutional right to waste management is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is crucial to economic growth and has major environmental and social impacts. A key impact is the generation of municipal solid waste. Yet, whether and to what extent tourism increases the costs of solid waste collection has seen little attention. To our best knowledge, this is the first study to examine the impacts of tourism activities on the solid waste collection costs of different waste types. Analysing a sample of 68 Italian municipalities, we estimate the tourism's impacts on solid waste collection costs per waste type: organic, paper, multi-material (metal, plastic, glass), and residual undifferentiated. We find that the number of tourists, the number of overnight hotel stays, and tourists' spending significantly increase the collection costs of paper and paperboard, multi-material, and residual undifferentiated. Our findings suggest the need to distinguish between waste types in future investigations about the tourism as a cost driver. The results have interesting practical implications for the waste management systems and for municipalities' overall waste management policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has highlighted the dangers of considering air pollution policy and climate change policy separately. Measures to reduce CO 2 emissions have been adopted in several countries, and in some instances, these have resulted in increases in some air pollution emissions and vice versa. Research has also highlighted the potential co-benefits of air pollution and climate change mitigation policy where these are considered together. This paper addresses the co-benefits of climate change mitigation policies to reduce the air pollution (PM 2.5 ) and climate change (CO 2 ) impacts of passenger cars, using a scenario-based approach in Ireland. Scenario-based approaches have previously been adopted for these pollutants in several co-benefit studies. However, a detailed disaggregation of non-exhaust PM 2.5 by brake, tyre and road abrasion, and a disaggregation of both PM 2.5 and CO 2 by a number of current and future passenger car technologies have not been considered to date. The current study, therefore provides deeper insights into the impact of policy on exhaust and non-exhaust emissions. In order to derive detailed disaggregated emission, an add-on module was developed for a well-known emission modelling software (COPERT). The add-on module adopted concepts and parameters from previous research papers and analysis from the COPERT software to estimate fuel-based emissions e.g. exhaust and disaggregated non-exhaust PM 2.5 and CO 2 emissions. To analyse future scenarios (2015–2035), estimation was initially conducted using that software for the current Irish fleet data. This estimation was later replicated using the add-on module, as a baseline scenario considering a different disaggregation of the same passenger car fleet. Two additional estimations were conducted in the add-on module: An Electric Vehicle policy scenario, and a scenario to show the effects of a ban on the sale of conventional vehicles by 2030. The results revealed that CO 2 emissions continuously decreased in the projection period, however, reductions of PM 2.5 reversed from the year 2028 due to increases in the non-exhaust component of PM 2.5 emissions. Under the two alternative scenarios, a 52–69% reduction of CO 2 could be possible whereas only a 9–15% reduction in PM 2.5 could be achieved by 2035. In conclusion, non-exhaust PM 2.5 was found to have a larger share (as much as 34 times that of exhaust emissions) in 2035 where passenger cars with alternative technologies represented a major share in the fleet. The research also provided a methodology capable of detailing the CO 2 and PM 2.5 emissions in future scenarios for a range of vehicle technologies. This research also highlights an urgent need for investigation of emission factors for several emerging passenger car technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commercial sector is one of the key sectors in China’s economic transformation and carbon emissions control. This paper applies VAR and STIRPAT models to investigate the major influencing factors of CO 2 emissions in China’s commercial sector over the period 1980–2014. According to the empirical results, per capita GDP, urbanization and energy structure have positive effects on CO 2 emissions while energy intensity has negative effect on CO 2 emissions in the long term. Besides, per capita GDP ranks as the most important driving factors of CO 2 in China’s commercial sector, followed by urbanization, energy structure and energy intensity in that order. This paper argues that reducing energy intensity and improving energy structure are the means to realize CO 2 emission reductions in the commercial sector in the short and long term, respectively. Besides, this paper forecasts that CO 2 emissions in China’s commercial sector will be 1942 Mt by 2030, which is huge and about half of the CO 2 emissions of the European Union in 2014. The findings have important implications for policy-makers to enact CO 2 emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative fuel vehicles (AFV) are a promising alternative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector and ultimately, to contribute to a more sustainable society. Within the current commitments of the Brazilian Government to international agreements, in terms of emissions reductions by 2030, some new policies have been implemented, in order to incentivize the diffusion of AFV in the country. Yet, how will these policies contribute to the goal of increasing its fleet in the long-term, how long will it take and what are the differences (if any) among the policies, in terms of their effectiveness, are questions that remain unanswered. In this sense, the main aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of public policies in the long-term diffusion dynamics of AFV in Brazil. In order to do so, a system dynamics model is developed, based on the Generalized Bass Diffusion model, the Cobb-Douglas function and the learning curve theory. The model is used to test four different policies and some uncertainties related to: (i) the exemption of the import duty; (ii) the reduction of the motor vehicle property tax; (iii) the exemption of the tax on manufacturing goods; and (iv) a banning regulation for internal combustion engine vehicles in the long-term. The results highlight the importance of the current incentive policies but at the same time call for reinforcing efforts in order to increase the AFV fleet to significant values by 2030. Conversely, the banning regulation obtains a higher diffusion rate, but only achieves significant values by 2060. The paper concludes by showing the main contributions and policy implications of the effectiveness of the four policies studied as well as some suggestions for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities around the world have launched greening initiatives to reduce their carbon footprint and to become more sustainable. At the same time, they have also sought to use these initiatives to position themselves as climate change leaders and green champions. This paper focuses on the City of Vancouver's Greenest City 2020 Action Plan as urban policy strategy to reduce carbon emissions. Based on interviews with actors and experts involved in the development and implementation of the plan, the paper evaluates the role green leadership aspirations play in shaping urban climate change policy and how policy makers and stakeholders use policy to position the city and its greening initiatives locally and globally. In particular, it analyzes the role of competitive positioning and green leadership in sustainability initiatives and change within and beyond urban boundaries. While leadership suggests increased buy-in of residents and those involved in the implementation of the strategy and multiplication effects through learning within the region and between (peer) cities, it can also pose challenges as the interest in meeting leadership claims can impede more radical change through specific targets and implementation strategies and challenge other sustainability objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, China’s oil safety is seriously endangered with its oil dependence on imports exceeding 60% for the first time. One of the most direct and effective ways of improving oil safety is to reduce oil consumption by substituting automotive fuels. This paper, from the perspective of reducing the cost of oil dependence, constructs a conceptual model of substituting automotive fuels and an evaluation model, and studies the substitutive effects of three kinds of substitutive policies in transportation industry: natural gas, ethanol, and methanol, which have been either put into real practice or in the period of demonstration, and are attached great importance by Chinese government. The results show that the international oil price will drop after implementing the alternative fuel policies, and the absolute value of Chinese economy to oil price elasticity is smaller. The three substitutive policies can obviously reduce the cost of oil dependence, among which ethanol does the best, followed by natural gas and methanol, though the effects vary insignificantly. Taking environmental effect, resource and technology of three alternative policies as a whole, this paper suggests that China should promote natural gas alternative policy in short-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate calculation of CO 2 emissions in every province in China is the basis for developing regional energy policies. There is a huge fossil-fuel reserve and production capacity in western China, whereas their underdeveloped social and economic status means that there is lower demand. The more developed eastern coastal regions of China show dynamic economic momentum and, hence, higher energy demand. Based on the carbon emission flows in network theory, this paper proposes an approach to recalculate provincial CO 2 emissions from the perspective of secondary energy consumption. This approach attributes CO 2 emissions to final energy consumers after considering cross-provincial secondary energy trading, especially cross-provincial electric power trading in the regional power grid. Given the uneven distribution of energy resources and the imbalance of energy consumption among regions, cross-provincial secondary energy trading in China is significant, especially in the power industry. By adopting the approach proposed in this paper, the provincial carbon intensity and the corresponding energy policy can be modified to make energy end users pay rather than the primary producer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, China has been facing serious water pollution crises. To address this problem, discharge standards for wastewater treatment plants in China are becoming more and more stringent. Also, the sewage charge for compliant emissions and the penalty rate for non–compliant emissions have increased significantly. This paper comprehensively investigates the economic and environmental implications of such wastewater management policy in China. In this paper, a general framework for the analysis of WWTPs’ behavior and the resulted economic and environmental consequences is presented, and the impacts of discharge standard, charge rate, and penalty rate are analyzed. The trade–offs between the operational cost, environmental impact, and pollutant emissions are identified. This study also provides some insightful management implications for concerned policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shore power (SP) can provide electricity from the land for ships instead of from ship engines; this approach can eradicate carbon emissions and foster green port development. However, due to the high SP installation cost and high electricity prices faced by shipping operators, the utilization rate of SP is still low. For the government, it is important and urgent to develop an effective policy to promote shore power usage. However, previous studies have not compared the effects of different government policies and have ignored the differences in SP usage stages. Therefore, in this study, three kinds of policies, subsidy, carbon tax and shipper green awareness improvement, are taken into consideration. The SP usage process is divided into two stages, namely, stimulating ship retrofitting for SP in the short term and sustaining SP usage in the long run. The purpose of this study is to provide policy-selection suggestions for short- and long-term SP promotion. Considering shipping supply chain competition, game theory is applied, and a series of Nash game models are formulated to investigate the equilibrium strategies of shipping operators on SP usage under different policies. A comparison of the results reveals that in the short run, the subsidy policy is superior to the carbon tax policy when both can promote SP usage. However, a moderate carbon tax is able to remedy the failure of subsidies. In the long run, a carbon tax may promote SP at the cost of diminishing social welfare. Improving shipper green awareness is more likely to be a preferable choice for both SP usage and social welfare. This paper also analyses the impacts of scale-based port congestion and green awareness. These findings can provide valuable suggestions for government and shipping operators to promote SP usage, reduce emissions and achieve the goal of green port construction. [Display omitted] • Explore policy selection to promote shore power usage in the short and long run. • Compare multiple policies and analyze their impacts on stakeholders' decisions. • Consider the shore power usage promotion and social welfare when selecting policy. • Study the impacts of port congestion and green awareness with scale effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textile waste presents significant environmental risks for the textile and apparel (T&A) industry; however, most textiles can be recycled, enabling the remanufacturing of energy and fiber for resale in the secondary market. In this regard, the importance of a Government Fund Policy (GFP) has been emphasized to promote recycling and remanufacturing efforts aimed at establishing T&A closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs). Simultaneously, blockchain technology and green-product design have transformed T&A brand marketing dynamics due to their crucial roles in enhancing brand trust and increasing market demand. Nevertheless, there is limited research dedicated to examine the interactive effects of GFP and blockchain technology within T&A supply chains. This paper proposes a stylized CLSC game involving a T&A manufacturer and a retailer. The manufacturer sells new and remanufactured T&A products to the retailer while determining green-product design efforts (i.e., green degree). The retailer determines selling prices but incurs usage costs associated with adopting blockchain technology. Through equilibrium analyses, we find that the simultaneous implementation of GFP and blockchain technology can incentivize T&A manufacturers to enhance the green degree of their products, thereby improving brand trust and market demand. All supply chain agents can benefit from adopting blockchain technology as long as its usage cost is below a threshold level, regardless of whether GFP is implemented or not. Similarly, irrespective of whether blockchain technology is adopted or not, if the ratio between remanufacturing subsidies and environmental taxes exceeds a specific threshold value, GFP will serve as an incentive for sustainability efforts among T&A firms while providing them with greater advantages. Additionally, the simultaneous implementation of GFP and blockchain technology holds significant potential for mitigating environmental pollution, i.e., by carefully selecting appropriate degrees of GFP and blockchain technology parameters, a mutually beneficial outcome can be achieved for T&A firms, consumers, and the environment. These findings have important implications for T&A supply chain managers seeking to optimize CLSCs while integrating blockchain technology. Furthermore, they provide valuable insights into government strategies for implementing GFPs. • The optimal blockchain introduction strategy in a textile and apparel closed-loop supply chain (T&A-CLSC) is investigated. • The interaction of government fund policy and T&A-CLSC firms' blockchain introduction decisions is investigated. • Blockchain and government fund policy could encourage firms to heighten brand goodwill, and expand more potential demands. • An "all-win" situation for T&A-CLSC, consumers, and society can be achieved under certain conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2018 European bioeconomy strategy sets a new vision for Europe's sustainable development: a transition to regenerative resource usage that embraces circular principles. Similarly, various member states have developed national bioeconomy strategies. To be effective, such strategies require methodologically sound monitoring tools that support the alignment of national and urban policies. Indeed, cities are central to the bioeconomy, mobilizing ever increasing amounts of biogenic materials. To better understand the suitability of national bioeconomy strategies for guiding urban circular bioeconomy transitions, this paper examines the composition, features, and topical coverage of national bioeconomy indicator sets with a threefold analysis: (1) assessment of the integration of circularity principles in the sets and their alignment with existing policy frameworks; (2) appraisal of quality and the fulfillment of the sets' functional purposes; (3) evaluation of the breadth and depth of tackled issues. Of the 27 EU member states, only nine have a dedicated bioeconomy strategy, of which four propose an indicator set. While there is a general lack of sophisticated monitoring, the tools proposed after the publication of the 2018 bioeconomy strategy (Germany and Italy) follow indicator development standards rigorously. They include circularity in their notion of bioeconomy and combine indicators for a comprehensive, substantial, informative and politically relevant analysis. These characteristics strongly improve the potential for alignment and coherence with urban-level bioeconomy monitoring efforts. Although national measuring tools are not intended to cover all urban needs, the findings of this paper give insight into their remaining gaps and highlight improvement pathways for an efficient EU-wide circular bioeconomy transition. [Display omitted] • Most EU national bioeconomy strategies lack sophisticated indicator sets. • National bioeconomy strategies should favor alignment with other policy levels. • Thoroughly developed indicator sets allow targeted answers to environmental change. • Recent strategies follow indicator development standards more rigorously. • Recent indicator sets enable monitoring of urban circular bioeconomy transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public environmental awareness (PEA) is critical to the implementation of environmental policies by governments and product strategies by companies, however, there is less literature discussing its drivers. Environmental information disclosure (EID), as a bottom-up environmental policy, promotes public environmental management. This paper takes the Pollution Information Transparency Index (PITI) as a proxy for the degree of EID and discusses its impact on PEA. Using the PITI of 113 cities and the Baidu index-based PEA for 30 provinces from 2010 to 2019, we find a significant increase in PEA with the widening of EID, and the impacts of EID get larger as the quantile increases. Moreover, the effects of EID on PEA are amplified in areas with heavy pollution, high levels of green innovation, and stringent environmental governance capacities, but are diminished in areas with rampant corruption. The findings of this paper provide recommendations for optimizing EID implementation. • With the expansion of EID, PEA has increased significantly. • The impacts of EID on PEA are amplified in areas with high pollution, green innovation, and strict governance capacities. • The impacts of EID on PEA are diminished in areas with rampant corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product-Service Systems (PSSs) constitute a family of service-based business models designed to satisfy our societal needs in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner. To date however PSS application has remained niche due to a variety of critical barriers. This paper explores how ‘demand pull’ national government policies could support PSS activity by addressing these barriers and cultivating market demand. Lessons are drawn from a case study of how regulatory , economic incentive , informative and procurement policies have supported Energy Service Company (ESCo) activity in the UK; a sub-set of the PSS family focused on energy service provision. Subsequently five policy recommendations are presented to support PSS activity: (1) balancing economic incentives and regulatory disincentives; (2) promoting indirect policy support; (3) redesigning existing market structures; (4) promoting locally-led PSS activity; and (5) creating stable policy frameworks. The paper warns however that national government policy cannot easily address all PSS barriers, such as customer preferences, international developments, technological progress and inherent business model weaknesses, pointing to the need for other complementary solutions. Furthermore, other governance actors beside national government could also implement PSS supporting policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing globalization, territorial competitiveness is considered by (French) public policy makers as promising both economic and social value creation locally. Companies consider territorial specificities when selecting a location (e.g. low production costs, highly qualified labor pool) in a utilitarian perspective. This research proposes encouraging companies to consider territory as a value creation network where exploitable resources flow. The proposal presented in this paper is to integrate these latent territorial resources into the product development process to create value for both the company and its territory in a sustainable perspective. The literature review highlights that current eco design practices have great impact on territories, but that this dimension is not considered in terms of resources. Moreover, current assessment practices are not adapted to overall performance evaluation and need revision to meet the system innovation goal. After clarifying the concept of territory, two industrial cases are provided to analyze how territorial resources were included in the design process and how it improved the overall performance of the company-territory system. From the success factors emerging from literature and cases, a method to release the potential of territorial resources is presented. A revised strategic process dedicated to senior management is proposed as the enabler of system innovation with the intention of improving the design of sustainable products. This paper concludes with the necessary cultural evolution that every stakeholder in the value network must undergo to promote territorial values in a sustainable perspective. This study contributes to the emerging discipline of design for local value creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental issues have gradually become one of the most important concerns for society. The concept of green development has attracted increasing attention, and the green supply chain is generated under this background. Governments have played an important role in encouraging enterprises to make green investments. To identify the optimal green investment strategy under a government subsidy policy, this paper studies the strategy of green investment for manufacturers and material suppliers in a two-echelon supply chain. First, an evolutionary game theory model is developed between a population of suppliers and a population of manufacturers under a government subsidy mechanism. Then, the evolutionarily stable strategies for suppliers and manufacturers are discussed. Finally, a simulation of the model is conducted to further clarify the impact of the green investment and government subsidy of the model. The results show that the green investment input-output ratio of suppliers and manufacturers, or the government subsidy changes, will cause the system to evolve into a different evolutionarily stable strategy. The initial proportion of green investment can predict the trend of future evolution in the market, provide a reference for enterprises to choose their strategies, and facilitate further macro-control of the market by the government. Setting the government subsidy value in the relevant range can reduce the free-riding behavior of suppliers or manufacturers in the market. Image 10910 • Strategies of green investment under government subsidy are studied. • Three different government subsidy cases are considered in evolutionary game model. • The profit from free-riding is considered into the model. • The initial proportion of green investment can predict the future evolution trend. • Government subsidy can reduce the free-riding behavior in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in Nanhai, this paper adopts an analytical framework to examine how a combination of infrastructure-pull, supply-push and demand-pull initiatives implemented by a small district government in southern China were able to facilitate socio-technical transitions to the public transport decarbonization through the establishment of hydrogen refuelling infrastructures, the adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), and the development of production network on FCEVs. With neither massive investment from the central government nor captive linkage with global automakers, Nanhai out-performs other automotive powerhouses in China by accounting for 9.85 percent of FCEVs and 4.59 percent of all operating hydrogen refuelling stations in China, despite its land area only accounting for 0.01 percent of the country. The provision of hydrogen infrastructures and other pro-active local government initiatives (including financial incentives) facilitate the development of a competitive regionalized production network of about 90 (privately-owned) fuel cell electric buses makers and parts suppliers around the Xianhu Hydrogen Valley in Nanhai. This finding enhances our understanding on effects of (local) state policies on the socio-technical transitions to public transport decarbonization and the long-term development of hydrogen economies in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public acceptance of sustainable energy innovations and policies is of crucial importance in enabling the transition to decarbonized energy systems necessary to meet the key climate targets of the Paris Agreement. This is particularly important in the context of the European Union, which is the third largest energy-related greenhouse gas emitter in the world. However, achieving acceptance is complex and requires improved understanding of the underlying conditions that are likely to motivate it. To contribute to this understanding and overcome common shortcomings in the literature, this paper presents a multidimensional and cross-national framework for the factors that have the potential to motivate both dimensions of acceptance, namely adoption and support. The innovations of interest are numerous and include electric vehicles, residential solar panels, energy-efficient home insulation, environmental taxes and incentives. The paper employs multilevel regression analysis and combines individual and contextual data from all the European Union nations to demonstrate the significance of various types of predictors in motivating acceptance. It is found that citizens' personal capabilities and attitudes towards life satisfaction, climate change and the environment influence both dimensions of acceptance. Attitudes towards broader socio-political dimensions such as representation, equity and transparency primarily influence support, whereas national environmental and energy policy indicators primarily influence adoption. Overall, this paper provides evidence suggesting governments should simultaneously address both dimensions of acceptance, through a combination of different means: enhancing support through strategies that target attitudes and preferences, and market-based environmental policies that promote adoption at the household level. • A comprehensive framework to explore citizen adoption and support of energy innovations • Both technological and economic innovations are investigated • Combining individual and contextual data from all the European Union nations • Market-based policies and citizen attitudes to climate change affect technology adoption • Attitudes to socio-political dimensions affect support for renewables and environmental taxes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the restriction of carbon neutral and carbon peak, the development of green building has become the strategic demand of most countries in the world. Despite the rapid development of green building in China, there are still some problems, such as insufficient market development force under the government's leadership, emphasizing design and neglecting operation. In order to realize high-quality synergistic development of green building market, this paper constructs a new synergistic development framework of green building market, establishes a tripartite evolutionary game model including local governments, developers and consumers, uses the analysis tool of evolutionary game theory and synergistic theory to explore the unilateral ESS and the system ESS of green building market. In order to verify the model, this paper adopts a case study method, takes a residential building project in Tianjin, China which has awarded a three-star mark in green building design evaluation as an example for numerical simulation, discusses the influence of government guidance on the system evolution trajectory, demonstrates the interactive process of stakeholders' behavior, and finds out the key factors affecting the system equilibrium strategy. The result shows that (1) the means of government guidance will affect the speed and result of system evolution; (2) the strategy of stakeholders depends on the comparison of costs and benefits; (3) the probability of ideal events is positively correlated with the economic benefits and negatively correlated with incremental cost of green building. This study can provide theoretical guidance for local governments, developers and consumers to make scientific decisions, and provide practical enlightenment for government to play a more active role in green building market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The promotion of modern industrialization has caused heavy environmental pollution. Environmental protection is a basic national policy of China. In 2011, China began to implement the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Environmental Protection" (12th FYP_NEP). Using the survey data of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Shandong Province of China, this paper empirically explores the impact of 12th FYP_NEP on the energy utilization and operating efficiencies of SMEs. It is found that the environmental policy "12th FYP_NEP" has a significant incentive effect on both efficiency performance of Chinese SMEs, and has a greater positive impact on operating efficiency. Our heterogeneity analysis showed the following results. The incentive effect is different in different industries and enterprises of different sizes. The policy "12th FYP_NEP" has a greater positive impact on the energy utilization efficiency of SMEs in China's first and second tier cities, but it has no significant impact on their operation efficiency. This shows that SMEs in first and second tier cities are more effective in coping with the national environmental policy reform strategy. It can be seen that the promulgation of China's environmental policies can significantly improve the energy utilization awareness of these SMEs. The incentive effect of the policy on the two efficiency performances of SMEs in cities with "heavy air pollution" is greater, indicating that the implementation effect of "12th FYP_NEP" on SMEs in such cities is better. The enlightenments are as follows: the current situation of Chinese SMEs is that the energy utilization efficiency is low, while the operating efficiency is high. Most enterprises attach great importance to their own operating profits and economic development, and the awareness of energy utilization needs to be greatly strengthened. "12th FYP_NEP" has obvious positive effect on the energy utilization and operating efficiencies of SMEs, but there are slight differences among different types of enterprises. It is suggested that governments can refine their own environmental regulation standards and implement different environmental regulations for different types of enterprises, so as to enhance the performance of domestic enterprises most effectively. • This paper used the China survey data on SMEs over the period 2010–2013. • It is found that the Chinese "12th FYP_NEP" has a significant incentive effect on efficiency performance of Chinese SMEs. • The incentive effect is different in different industries and enterprises of different sizes. • The policy makes for improving the energy efficiency of SMEs in first and second-tier cities and heavy-polluted cities. • Chinese SMEs should attach great importance to energy utilization rather than operating profits only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing the transition to a low carbon economy is a complex challenge that needs both early wins and a longer-term alternate technologies leapfrog, to better supplement existing public policies. Relative to the significant investment and policy focus on renewable energy generation and Electric Vehicles (EV) - both globally and in India - Stationary Energy Storage systems (ESS) have received far lower investment and policy attention. This is an important issue to redress for two key reasons. Firstly, ESS is a key rate limiting constraint to achieve the desired benefits of further increasing the share of renewables in the energy generation mix, in India's case from the current 20–25% to a target 40%+ range by 2030. Secondly, several ESS applications are already/very nearly economically viable. Although the dominant discourse focuses on EVs, our analysis in this paper shows that there is a bigger near term opportunity in India for Stationary Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) to replace diesel gensets for power backup. Interestingly India offers a meaningful level of scale for power-backup applications, for adoption directly by end-users. BESS as an alternative to Diesel Generator (DG) for power backup is economically viable in the Telecom sector and for roof-top solar installations; further non-subsidy levers e.g. differential tariffs and an annual cess on DG use, can drive economic viability in large campuses e.g. residential, schools and commercial buildings. These applications could offer a BESS demand ranging from 40 to 145 GWh over the next three years – which is more than the BESS demand estimates for EV segment of 40 GWh. Our study is verified and supported by experiential insights derived through primary research, personal interviews and hosting round-table discussions with relevant private and public policy experts. The conclusions from this paper raise the interesting public policy and business strategy implications, 1 of given the economic viability and significant demand why has the adoption up to this potential not yet taken off, and what will it take to achieve this potential? 1 1 These issues are addressed in the author's subsequent working paper, interested readers can contact the corresponding author • Techno-economic feasibility study of battery energy storage systems (BESS). • Identify early adopter consumer scale use cases that are/near economic viability in India. • Demand estimates for BESS as Diesel genset replacement in Telecom, Consumer & Industry. • Our Results confirm greater near term for this application than EVs. • Raises important implications for greater Public policy and Business Strategic focus on this opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper aims to link two debates and literatures at the cutting edge of sustainable development research and governance: sustainable consumption and degrowth. Interestingly, these literatures have only recently started to exchange and integrate insights, despite their similar interest in the fundamental systemic challenges to sustainable development. The paper argues that this lack of connection is due to a predominance of perspectives in sustainable consumption governance that focus almost exclusively on questions of efficiency gains. This “weak sustainable consumption” governance, however, is not able to address the challenges to sustainable development arising from overconsumption in general or the rebound effect and distributive issues in particular. In contrast, a “strong sustainable consumption” perspective provides a basis for a promising inquiry into the linkages between consumption and sustainable development as well as a fruitful exchange with degrowth. Specifically, it allows the delineation of relevant insights on the role of values in governance, obstacles to political reform, and promising political strategies for the degrowth debate and literature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study investigates the impact of government incentive measures on the energy-saving behavior of residents and the impact path. Previous literature has discussed the influencing factors of residents' energy-saving behavior but rarely considered the intrinsic relationship and interaction among those factors. Thus, this paper studies the effect of government incentive measures and the moderating effect of psychological factors on the energy-saving behavior of residents. Random questionnaires are used to obtain responses, followed by test analysis. Results show that the energy-saving attitude and environmental responsibility (ER) of residents have a significant positive impact on energy-saving behavior, whereas consumer values (CV) have none. This result differs from the findings of previous studies. The government subsidy policy has a vital role in promoting energy-saving behavior and a significant positive moderating effect on attitude and energy-saving behavior. However, it has a significant negative moderating effect on ER and energy-saving behavior. These interesting findings fill in some gaps in the literature and can provide good recommendations for governments to formulate and implement energy conservation and environmental protection policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selection of alternatives for sustainable infrastructure development is governed by many quantitative and qualitative factors that may be conflicting such as life cycle cost, environmental concerns, expansion feasibility, projected community growth, perception of the communities, lobbying efforts, and regulatory requirements. A framework to integrate these intrinsic factors is the basis of an optimal, sustainable, transparent, and practical decision. In this paper we present a decision model to reflect social and political dynamics in a multi-criteria decision making framework at the early stages of sustainable infrastructure development. The concepts of choosing by advantages (CBA), equilibria of social power between actors, and life cycle cost analysis are used to assess the decision in environmental/technical, social/political, and economic dimensions. Application of the model is discussed for the case of selecting urban/rural wastewater system alternatives. Theoretically, the proposed multi-dimensional decision model aims to integrate the political and social dynamics of the actors including their incentives into the structured decision space of sustainable infrastructure. The proposed model also further extends the existing literature through transparent account of trade-offs across technical, economic, and political dimensions of the selection of alternatives. Policy makers can specifically apply it in the feasibility stage of infrastructure development to facilitate integration of sustainability goals within a network of involved actors, observe the potential trade-offs between sustainability metrics, increase practicality and transparency of the public policy making, and explore the potential impact of nudges to instigate sustainability within infrastructure development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest from the research and policy community in the circular economy (CE) is growing. This research describes how the potential for a circular economy in open economies can be estimated by using different assessment methods. Methods and indicators have been selected that have a relevance for one or more of the public policy objectives for circular economy: Openness Index, economic structure, Balassa Index, value chain analysis, substitution potential of Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) strategies, waste treatment scenarios based on physical and hybrid Input-Output (IO) analysis. These methods differ in scope and degrees of complexity and are used at different assessment levels. The potential for a circular economy in this paper is assessed by evaluating the contribution to the public policy objectives for CE: resource efficiency, reduction of dependency on materials, competitiveness, creation of domestic jobs, reduced Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Results obtained by these methods are shown for Belgium and, in some cases, compared to the results of other countries to illustrate the differences between economies. CE activities (in response to public policy objectives) will enhance the ongoing trend of reducing the share of primary sectors in economies. The openness of an economy is expressed as the ratio of sum of import and export and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Imported products add to the potential of domestic closed-loop circular initiatives like re-use, repair, remanufacture, recycling, but this will require knowledge about composition and spare part availability. Exported products are no longer available for these domestic CE initiatives, reducing the domestic potential for CE and the domestic export activity is vulnerable to CE activities abroad. Especially the increasing geographical distance in trade complicates the practical and legal barriers to close the loop. In open economies, both global and domestic substitution effects due to new circular economy policy initiatives are important to consider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid industrialization, urbanization, and motorization lead to hiking of air pollution in various mega cities including Delhi, India. Studies done to analyze pollution suggests that vehicle exhaust emissions are major contributor to the urban air quality along with many other comparable sources. Hence to check instantaneous pollution increment, government aims to reduce vehicle emission. Traditional policies are working at times for holding sudden increase but long-term effects are not seen which need meso-spatial and small temporal policy. For optimizing meso-spatial policies implementation, many intricacies related to moving and stationary sources in near real-time have to be monitored including vehicular emission, itself. Analyzing these moving source emissions on the meso-spatial level is challenging. Therefore, the present study is an attempt to first understand the need of meso-spatial and near real-time checking policy and then leveraging the usage of previous region specific pollutant survey reports to map real-time pollution monitoring parameters. For that, a real-time vehicle monitoring strategy is proposed to map city-wide traffic congestion and emission using crowd-source data of Google Maps. For comparative study of different meso-spatial regions real-time moving source pollutant parameter 'μ' is calculated using a factor 'F'. Also, the different effects of congestion on vehicular emission in two different meso-spatial areas of Delhi is presented using comparative case study. Analysis of case study revealed that Anand Vihar area is more prone to vehicle emission variability in case of congestion fluctuation. Further the discussion of short temporal and spatial emission calculation, for weekly pollution evaluation is presented in the paper. This will be helpful to the authorities in formulating technological, institutional and traffic management policies. • Traditional pollution checking policy and different emission models are discussed for Delhi region. • A methodology to map real-time congestion for city-wide area on small tempo-spatial basis is provided. • A factor 'F' is introduced for relating congestion to vehicular and dust emission. • Vehicle proportionate area specific moving source emission 'μ' is calculated and analyzed by comparative emission study. • Suggestions on checking policy and the methodology to judge their effectiveness for immediate action is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residents' gas-saving intention is of great significance to energy conservation, environmental protection, and sustainable development of clean energy. Based on micro household-level survey data from the city of Hefei, this paper uses logit and probit models to examine the relationship among residents' knowledge, acceptance of the increasing block tariffs policy for household gas (IBTsPHG), and their gas-saving intention; the consumption characteristics of residents were discussed. The results show that residents' knowledge of the IBTsPHG has a significant positive impact on its acceptance, which has a significant positive impact on residents' gas-saving intention; the higher the average gas price, the lower the willingness of residents to accept the IBTsPHG; compared with low-income households, high-income households have a lower willingness to accept the IBTsPHG; and households using wall-mounted gas boilers have a lower willingness to accept the IBTsPHG and stronger gas-saving intention but higher gas consumption. In addition, household characteristics, such as dwelling area, education, and occupation significantly affect residents' saving intention. Policy implications are derived from the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract China's fallow compensation policy is known to be relatively simple and unsophisticated, and in much need of improvement. In seeking such improvement, this paper designed some alternative compensation schemes that include recultivation insurance, priority right of participation in the fallowing work or free agricultural inputs, but lower income subsidy, and reported on a choice experiment of alternatives with 421 peasant-farming households in Chaling County, Hunan Province – a fallow area of heavy-metal-contaminated farmland. A mixed logit model was used to compare the choices made between pilot and non-pilot villages, and the influencing factors involved. The results showed that most farmers preferred the alternative compensation schemes to the current policy, and income subsidy was not the only factor affecting their choices, which indicated recultivation insurance and a longer period of free agricultural inputs were also important. However, the preferences differed between pilot and non-pilot village farmers, in which the pilot village farmers were more willing to accept less income subsidy in favor of increased recultivation insurance and an extended period of free agricultural inputs. By contrast, non-pilot village farmers preferred to adopt an alternative compensation scheme with a priority right of participation in the fallowing work and high level of income subsidy. The possible reason for the differences was that the publicity and training activities provided by the government had changed the preferences of pilot village farmers. Generally, the effects of various forms of economic compensation and single cash payment were different about fallow compensation policy, and the preferences of farmers from different backgrounds might also vary from person to person. Different regions needed to design the fallow compensation policy according to practical problems in the use of farmland and farmers' preferences. Highlights • Choice experiment is used to compare the preference between pilot and non-pilot village farmers. • The effects of various forms of economic compensation and single cash payment are different. • The preferences of farmers from different backgrounds may be different. • Extra attention should be given to works such as fallow publicity and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It is optional for a non-ferrous original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to rely on a domestic contract manufacturer (CM) for metal material purchasing and manufacturing services. It is also optional for an OEM to purchase scrap metal abroad due to the government's encouragement, although the OEM suffers from quality uncertainty of the scrap metal, and still need rely on the CM for processing and manufacturing services. In this paper, we characterize the tradeoffs between economics sustainability and environmental sustainability from the perspectives of the OEM, the CM and the government. First, we derive threshold policies for the OEM to select the sourcing strategies, with respect to the quality of the scrap metal. Then, we analyze the supply chain parties' alignment opportunities of their preferences over the OEM's sourcing strategies. Interestingly, we find that win-win situations exist when (1) the quality of the scrap metal is high and the CM's procurement cost is high (both the OEM and the CM prefer cross-border sourcing), and (2) the quality of the scrap metal is low and the CM's procurement cost is low (both OEM and the CM prefer domestic sourcing). Regarding the government, we find that it would encourage the OEM's cross-border sourcing to maximize the social welfare if one of the following conditions is satisfied: (1) the environmental concern is low and the quality of the scrap metal is high; (2) the environmental concern is high and the quality of the scrap metal is low. If the government wants to save domestic resource, CS is always prefered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Industrial symbiosis (IS) emerged as a self-organizing business strategy among firms that are willing to cooperate to improve their economic and environmental performance. The adoption of such cooperative strategies relates to increasing costs of waste management, most of which are driven by policy and legislative requirements. Development of IS depends on an enabling context of social, informational, technological, economical and political factors. The power to influence this context varies among the agents involved such as the government, businesses or coordinating entities. Governmental intervention, as manifested through policies, could influence a wider range of factors; and we believe this is an area which is under-researched. This paper aims to critically appraise the waste policy interventions from supra-national to sub-national levels of government. A case study methodology has been applied to four European countries i.e. Denmark, the UK, Portugal and Switzerland, in which IS emerged or is being fostered. The findings suggest that there are commonalities in policy instruments that may have led to an IS enabling context. The paper concludes with lessons learnt and recommendations on shaping the policy context for IS development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The combined impacts of the financial crisis and climate change are driving the evolution of sustainable business and changing the way that governments plan for development. Markets are emerging for a range of environmentally orientated products and services as societies move (or lurch) towards reducing impacts and adapt to changing conditions. National governments are actively formulating policy and providing investment to develop green economies as one of the responses to the global financial crisis. Many of the political and economic drivers have been focused at the international and national scale, and while critical for setting the national framework for development, it often neglects the key role that regions and localities can play in ecological modernization. This paper explores two regional case studies in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, that are initiating shifts towards networks of sustainable businesses and communities and offers recommendations for further policy development. The focus of this paper is on the evolving regional sustainability market and its relationship to other social institutions including governments, communities and the individual. The unifying concept is the idea of the ‘natural advantage’, a model that integrates innovation and sustainability as a part of the regional development policy agenda. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A number of different tools for analysing environmental impacts of different systems have been developed. These include procedural tools such as strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and environmental management systems (EMS) as well as analytical ones such as life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), cost–benefit analysis (CBA) and the system of economic and environmental accounts (SEEA) including input–output analysis (IOA). Descriptions or scenarios of the future are typically relevant elements in these tools, since they are often used to describe impacts in the future. For futures studies a number of different approaches and techniques have been developed. In an earlier paper we have presented a typology of different types of scenarios that respond to different types of questions. These include predictive scenarios, explorative scenarios and normative scenarios. The aim of this paper is to explore connections between selected tools for environmental systems analysis and different scenario types. Although there is a clear need for futures studies in several tools for environmental systems analysis, it is interesting to note that the literature on methodologies for and case studies of combinations of futures studies and environmental systems analysis tools is rather limited. This suggests that there is a need for further research in this area including both methodology and practical case studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Whether the power battery can be recycled efficiently is related to the sustainable development of the electric vehicle industry. It is noteworthy that government intervention plays an essential role in promoting power battery recycling. However, there is no consensus on the impact of government policies to promote power battery recycling on social welfare. This paper constructs a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) consisting of a single battery manufacturer, vehicle manufacturer, and third-party recycler under seven recycling models. The government intervenes in the CLSC through subsidy, deposit-refund, and reward-penalty policies to increase the recycling rate and supply chain profits. We compare these policies' social welfare including economic benefits, environmental benefits, consumer surplus, and government surplus. Results show that: (1) Subsidy policy has prominent performance in economic profits and consumer surplus. And the remaining capacity-based subsidy policy is better than the fixed subsidy policy. (2) The deposit-refund policy has a good performance in alleviating government financial pressure. (3) The performance of the reward-penalty mechanism depends on the reward-penalty intensity. Under certain reward-penalty intensity, the reward-penalty mechanism can increase the recycling rate significantly. (4) In terms of the influence of recycling models, alliance recycling models have the potential to achieve the highest social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) domain has garnered considerable attention from scholars and practitioners. The increasing number of publications makes it necessary to study this domain comprehensively. To achieve this goal, this paper makes the first attempt to investigate the knowledge base and knowledge diffusion paths of the whole area systematically from both static and dynamic perspectives. Based on 1041 papers published in 2001–2020 from Web of Science, the characteristics of publications, productive authors, institutions, countries/territories and journals, as well as the co-authorship relationships are investigated by using bibliometrics. In addition, the evolution of hot topics and the historical development of CLSC domain are vividly described by keyword analysis and main path analysis respectively. The results show that: (1) Van Wassenhove, LN, Guide, VDR and Govindan, K play an important role in this domain and in addition Govindan, K has established extensive cooperative relationships; (2) INSEAD and Penn State Univ are more influential and they cooperate closely; (3) Several countries such as Italy, UK, Iran and China have begun to pay more attention to CLSC research in the past five years; (4) the hot topics revolve around the three aspects of network design, coordination and circular economy, and the trajectories of knowledge diffusion of this domain show that the focus has shifted to the green and sustainable CLSC recently. This study is able for researchers to grasp the general information, identify hot topics and capture history, development status and possible directions for the future research in the CLSC domain. • 1041 papers from Web of Science in closed loop supply chain (CLSC) domain are analyzed. • Bibliometrics and main path analysis are adopted to study the overall development of the CLSC domain. • The hot topics revolve around network design, coordination and circular economy. • The network design of CLSC is the main concern in the process of knowledge dissemination. • The influence of government policies on the CLSC in the e-commerce environment is attractive recently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental pollution has become a major threat to the survival and health of human beings, and has attracted the worldwide attention. With the implementation of low-carbon policies, how to change marketing strategy is a realistic and serious problem of enterprises. This paper examines the manufacturer's channel selection and emission reduction decisions when considering carbon emission constraints. A two-echelon supply chain consisting of one manufacturer and one retailer under the cap-and-trade regulation is explored. Non-perishable products' and perishable products' carbon emissions are distinguished according to their sales channels. The results provide useful insights for supply chain members. Firstly, the results show that products' properties and consumers' channel preference are key factors affecting manufacturer's channel selection. When consumers prefer online shopping, the manufacturer, who produces perishable/non-perishable products, should choose single online channel structure to maximize his profit. But, this choice cannot make as same contributions to the environment if the manufacturer produces perishable product as that under retail channel. Secondly, the results demonstrated that under cap-and-trade regulation, the channel conflict appears to have abated somewhat. The retailer can accommodate the additional online channel under certain conditions. Additionally, numerical results further illustrate the following insights from the respective of the government: It is more effective to set larger carbon quotas and encourage the manufacturer to develop a dual-channel mode when not too many consumers prefer to online channel. With more and more consumers preferring to online shopping, it can formulate more stringent emission control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's “Developing a Water-saving Society” policy is an ambitious water conservation strategy. However, there has been little evidence of the policy's effectiveness in terms of saving water at a river basin level. In this paper, we used a basin-scale hydroeconomic input-output model to calculate the water consumption ( WC ) by producers and consumers ( WC p and WC c ), respectively in the first pilot area for implementation of this policy, the Heihe River Basin, which belongs to an arid area in inland China. The results show that, after implementation of the policy, WC c decreased sharply but WC p only decreased slightly. A structural decomposition analysis revealed that decreased water consumption intensity played an important role in reducing water consumption. However, this effect was largely offset by the increasing exports of virtual water in goods and services. Our results suggest that in arid river basins, measures in saving water must be accompanied with a cap on total water consumption which is set in accordance with the local water endowments and consideration of environmental water requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In developing countries, coal power plants still play a major role in the power sector and they are considered as a major emission source of air pollution. Strict regulations have compelled the coal power plants to improve environmental performance by reducing carbon emissions and the emission of pollutants. However, due to cost disadvantages, the coal power plants often lack motivation to internalize environmental externalities through investing in green technology. This situation raises a question: is there any alternative to reduce pollutants in operations economically? With a focus on service supply as well as a consideration of government policies, this paper develops a model to investigate the opportunity of outsourcing a pollutant-reduction service to meet the environmental constraint. The service supply chain consists of a coal power plant (end user) and a pollutant-reduction service provider, with the former outsourcing the service to the latter. We study the policy for improving the profit of this service supply chain whereas the benefit allotment is adjusted through outsourcing price negotiation between the two partners. The results show that the green service outsourcing price is interrelated with the government incentive policy which defines the shares of the two partners. Our key contribution lies in integrating the complex factors affecting the supply chain collaboration such as green service, financial feasibility, environmental constraint, government policies, outsourcing price negotiation, and profit sharing. Our research findings have the following implications: considering environmental externalities, the government should motivate the collaboration between supply chain partners; the economic scale of output and sales price subsidy of electricity generation are the primary factors affecting the price of outsourcing green service and, consequently, the allotment of supply chain profits. The study results indicate the collaboration is potentially effective in improving environmental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid development and large scale urbanization, China's environmental and resource constraints are becoming increasingly severe. Compared to other industries, China's heavy industry is energy-intensive and emission-intensive, which exerts pressure on energy conservation policies. In this paper, by establishing a theoretical model of the impact factors of energy intensity, we investigate the effects of energy prices, ownership structure, and industrial concentration and R&D investment on the energy intensity of China's heavy industry, and seemingly unrelated regression model was used in the estimation of corresponding coefficients. The results show that increase in energy prices, decrease in state-owned enterprises and increase in industrial concentration may reduce the energy intensity of the industry. Also, the study points to evidence that an increase in R&D investment may reduce the oil intensity of heavy industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty eradication and sustainable development are common missions of humanity and are top priorities of the Chinese government. Nevertheless, the poverty of reservoir immigrants is usually interwoven with eco-environmental and geo-disaster factors, making poverty alleviation the most challenging task in rural China. In this context, a System Dynamics Model (SDM) is used to explore interactive mechanisms of eco-environment, geo-disasters and immigrant poverty as well as enable policy makers to understand the impacts of different investment strategies on the key variables and the sustainable development of China's Poverty-stricken Reservoir Regions (CPRR). Based on data from 1998 to 2014, this paper simulates the Wanzhou reservoir area. It designs four policy scenarios to simulate changes to the major variables: sewage treatment investment, disaster control investment, soil erosion control investment and poverty alleviation fund, from 2015 to 2020. It is found that 1) China's Poverty-stricken Reservoir Regions are highly likely to achieve the poverty reduction goal by 2020 by taking the coordinated strategy and pay more attention to disaster management; and 2) the coordinated development scenario could reduce poverty, sewage discharge, disease incidence, geo-disasters and soil erosion, and increase the areas of forest cover and agricultural land systematically. The SDM method is reliable for the dynamic development analysis of CPRR. The results could offer policy recommendations to policy makers and provide a method to implement best practices for the sustainable development of CPRR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the driving factors behind energy consumption changes provides insights about consumption patterns and can inform targeted energy saving polices. This paper applies a joint decomposition approach, introducing an index decomposition analysis (IDA) method into a production theoretical decomposition analysis (PDA). This integrated approach decomposed energy consumption changes into eight drivers. A subsequent empirical study of China resulted in three key findings. First, regardless of the geographic area considered, potential economic development was the largest factor driving energy consumption growth. Second, the technological change effects associated with economic development and energy savings both played significant roles in reducing energy consumption. Third, the efficiency change effects of energy use and economic development were generally unable to relieve the pressure of increases in energy consumption, especially in the eastern regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]