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A comprehensive understanding of the impact of environmental regulations on agricultural green growth is crucial for formulating appropriate policy designs and achieving effective climate change mitigation. This study, based on the Porter Hypothesis framework, aims to propose our hypotheses in the influence of environmental regulations on agricultural green growth. This study first utilizes the Super-SBM model combined with the global Malmquist-Luenberger index to measure agricultural green growth in G20 countries. Subsequently, the study analyzes the impact of environmental regulations on agricultural technological innovation and green growth, highlighting variations among countries with different development levels. The results indicate: (1) Significant differences exist in agricultural green growth among G20 countries, generally exhibiting an increasing trend. (2) Environmental regulations have a significant impact on both agricultural green growth and agricultural technological innovation, but the effects of different types of environmental regulations are various. Furthermore, different conclusions are observed for countries with heterogeneous development levels. (3) There is a lag effect in the impact of environmental regulations on agricultural green growth and technological innovation, highlighting the importance of pre-establishing an environmental policy framework. (4) An inverted U-shape relationship exists between environmental regulations and agricultural green growth, while no such relationship is found in agricultural technological innovation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

This paper uses firm-level panel data to study the quasi-experiment of China's low carbon city (LCC) pilots and to estimate the dynamic impact of environmental regulations on firms' trade-offs between green innovation and digital innovation. The results indicate that environmental regulations lead to an increase in firms' green innovation in the short run and promote firms' digital transformation in the long run. Moreover, the key factors influencing firms' trade-offs are their size and the pollution levels of their primary businesses, highlighting the importance of both capability and immediacy for firms when making decisions. Furthermore, the event study shows that environmental regulations initially impact firms' profits in heavily polluting industries in the short run. However, environmental regulations can gradually enhance those profits in the long run by reducing marginal costs and upgrading industrial structures in treated regions. This paper provides insights for a deeper understanding of firms' heterogeneous choices and dynamic effects of innovation behaviors., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:We thank Ziyi Xie of Auckland University for his beneficial perspectives for understanding the impact of environmental regulations. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Achieving natural resource utilization efficiency (NRUE) is a critical objective in addressing the pressing challenges of climate change and the risks associated with the finite availability of mineral resources. Enhancing NRUE can mitigate environmental impacts and support sustainable development for future generations. In this context, green innovation emerges as a pivotal driver of environmental sustainability and resource conservation. However, its potential role in advancing the NRUE has not been fully explored. To fill this gap, this study conducts an empirical analysis of 268 Chinese cities from 2010 to 2022, examining the impact of green innovation on NRUE. This study also incorporates the mediating role of environmental regulations in shaping this impact. The findings demonstrate that green innovation significantly enhances NRUE, primarily by facilitating industrial structural upgrading and reducing resource dependence. Additionally, environmental regulations strengthen the positive effects of green innovation, further amplifying its contribution to NRUE. Moreover, geographical location and differences in resource endowments among cities lead to variations in the effectiveness of green innovation on NRUE. These findings underscore the complex interplay between green technological progress, proactive government policies, and NRUE, offering valuable insights for policymakers and researchers alike., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Currently, China is at a critical stage of accelerating the green transformation of its economic development model, with considerable attention being paid to achieving this transformation while maintaining moderate economic growth. This study uses 271 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2020 to examine the impact of local government economic growth target constraints on the level of green economic development and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. The results show that economic growth targets significantly inhibit the level of urban green development, with this effect being more pronounced in the economically developed eastern regions of China. Hard constraints on economic growth targets have a greater inhibitory effect on green development than soft constraints. The greater the promotion pressure on local officials, the stronger the inhibitory effect of economic growth target constraints on green development. The test of the mediation effect model reveals that economic growth targets can inhibit green development by affecting the degree of regional marketization, leading to mismatches in the capital and labor markets. Moreover, environmental regulations can mitigate the inhibitory effect of economic growth targets on green development levels. The conclusions of this study provide useful insights for local governments to optimize economic development target constraint mechanisms and accelerate high-quality green economic development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The coordination of heterogeneous environmental regulations (HER) is crucial for promoting regional green synergistic development. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of various heterogeneous environmental regulations (HER) on the green economic transformation (GET) of cities in China. We developed a comprehensive index system to measure the GET across three dimensions: the level of economic green development, the capacity for resource and environmental support, and the level of support for green transformation. This study examines 284 Chinese cities during the period from 2011 to 2020. Applying a dynamic panel model, a dynamic Durbin model, and a synergy model, we explore direct effects, spatial effects, and asymmetry of synergistic effects of HER on the GET of Chinese cities. We find that, in terms of direct effects, all environmental regulations can promote urban GET, though the magnitude of effects is heterogeneous. In terms of spatial spillover effects, market-incentive and public-participation environmental policies in a given region inhibit green transformation in neighboring regions, while overall environmental regulation and command-and-control regulation have significant positive effects on neighboring regions' green transformation. Furthermore, the total short-term effect of HER is significantly higher than the total long-term effect. The synergistic effect of HER is positive for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster and the Yangtze River Delta city cluster. This study can provide valuable policy implications for regional coordinated development with a low-carbon focus., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Balancing economic growth with environmental conservation poses a universal challenge for governments worldwide. This study investigates the intricate interplay between governments' economic-environmental trade-offs and their implementation of policies aimed at promoting Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER). Given the discretion of Chinese local governments in economic and environmental policy, we take China as a case study. To conduct this research, we first merge critical data on China's economic growth targets and environmental regulations with information on listed enterprises. Then, we employ a "U-shaped" relationship model to examine the impact of these trade-offs on CER implementation. The results reveal that: (1)The effective fulfillment of CER by enterprises is primarily driven by stricter environmental regulations. (2) Economic growth targets can, to some extent, diminish the policy effect of environmental regulations on CER fulfillment. (3)The crowding-out effect of economic growth targets is particularly pronounced within specific subsets of enterprises, including state-owned enterprises, heavily polluting firms, and those facing high profit pressure. These findings imply that when local governments implement contradictory policies, they must consider not only enterprises' political connections and economic contributions but also pay close attention to the survival dilemma of enterprises. This balancing act aims to harmonize conflicting policy objectives. This research deepens the understanding of how institutional and policy frameworks impact enterprise engagement in CER, especially within the context of governments' economic-environmental trade-offs. It sheds light on the strategies employed by China and other emerging economies to effectively leverage contradictory policies to foster sustainable green growth., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Rapid developments in environmental infrastructure have contributed to significant improvements in green total factor productivity, but further investigation is required to provide a detailed assessment to understand the policy mechanisms involved. This paper analyzes environmental progress in China through MMQR, CCEMG, and AMG as empirical strategies for 30 provinces in China. Our empirical results reveal that energy optimization through renewable energy is the most effective channel to improve green total factor productivity, though it is not the only available option. Since environmental regulations, infrastructure development, and green technology innovation also directly impact energy efficiency, adopting these within policy channels will positively impact environmental sustainability. Our empirical approach helps suggest novel environmental policy suggestions. In particular, policymakers must introduce structural changes within energy developments to foster renewable energy. Furthermore, China must increase environmental spending to upgrade its energy infrastructure further and solve ecological issues. These insights offer valuable policy guidance for decision-makers in China and globally, aiming to foster economic and environmental sustainability and achieve zero-carbon transition goals., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper analyses the impacts of trading partners' environmental regulation on the export volumes of the Russian regions, using panel data covering about 140,000 observations in 84 Russian regions and 204 countries for the period 2013-2020. We employ the Gravity Model of international trade and Heckman Sample Selection methodology, with the fixed effects and random effects Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood techniques to analyse two subsamples of the Russian regions with different shares of environmentally sensitive goods in regional exports. As a robustness check, we utilize the non-parametric Driscoll-Kraay approach. The results of the econometric estimation demonstrate that environmental regulations enhance the export of regions with a high share of environmentally sensitive goods in export structure, while for the rest of the regions the environmental regulations negatively affect export volumes. The promoting effect is associated with a higher level of innovativeness of the regions and the role of the global energy transition process. We conclude that the environmental agenda is a challenge for some Russian regional exporters due to the lack of own environmental regulation, and to the specific features of the commodity and geographic structure of exports. To transform the negative impact into the positive one for all Russian regions, policy measures are necessary on the federal, regional, and company levels, encompassing environmental regulations and green development strategies, along with innovation and cluster policies, and the development of human capital and infrastructure., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The Chinese government has attached great importance to pollution emission reduction. Since public environmental preference plays an important role in curbing polluting emissions by companies, this paper aims to explore the impact of public environmental preference and government environmental regulation on corporate pollution emissions. The coordinating role of environmental preference in the implementation of environmental regulatory policies is analyzed using pollution emission data of Chinese enterprises. The results show that both environmental preference and environmental regulation have significant inhibitory effects on corporate pollution emissions. The inhibitory effects are achieved by promoting the green technology progress. With high environmental preference, environmental regulation can effectively curb corporate emissions. This paper is helpful for policy makers to formulate ecological and environmental protection policies and cultivate public environmental preferences., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Our paper focuses on how firms strategically respond to environmental regulations on environmental actions. Given the greater discretion in environmental information disclosure and relaxed environmental regulations enforcement in China, we propose that firms tend to say more while do less to obtain environmental legitimacy, namely corporate environmental actions decoupling. Using a sample of 5422 Chinese firm-year observations over the period of 2012-2018, we document that stringent environmental regulations contribute to a significant inconsistency between environmental reporting and actual environmental performance. Moreover, we demonstrate that this inconsistency is exacerbated when firms possess greater bargaining power and fewer financial resources. Our paper not only advances the understanding of how firms navigate external regulations by examining the tradeoffs between symbolic and substantive actions, but also sheds light on factors influencing decoupling/greenwashing practices from the perspective of government-business relations in China, and potentially in other emerging economies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Environmental pollution has become a global issue attracting ever-increasing attention. Green technology innovation (GTI) is considered an effective strategy in countering this problem and helping achieve sustainability goals. However, the market failure suggests that intervention from the government is necessary to promote the effectiveness of technological innovation and hence, its positive social impacts on emissions reduction. This study investigates how the environmental regulation (ER) influences the relationship between green innovation and CO 2 emissions reduction in China. Employing data from 30 provinces from the period 2003 to 2019, the Panel Fixed-effect model, the Spatial Durbin Model (SDM), the System Generalised Method of Moments (SYS-GMM) and the Difference-In-Difference (DID) models are applied to take issues relating to endogeneity and spatial impact into consideration. The results indicate that environmental regulations positively moderate the impact of green knowledge innovation (GKI) on CO 2 emissions reduction but have a much weaker moderation effect when green process innovation (GPI) is considered. Among different types of regulatory instruments, investment-based regulation (IER) is the most effective in promoting the relationship between green innovation and emissions reduction, followed by command-and-control-based regulation (CER). Expenditure-based regulation (EER) is less effective and can encourage short-termism and opportunistic behaviour among firms, who can accept the paying of fines as a cheaper cost over the short-term than investment in green innovation. Moreover, the spatial spillover effect of green technological innovation on carbon emissions in neighbouring regions is confirmed, in particular when IER and CER are implemented. Lastly, the heterogeneity issue is further examined by considering differences in the economic development and the industrial structure across different regions, and the conclusions reached remain robust. This study identifies that the market-based regulatory instrument, IER, works best in promoting green innovation and emissions reduction among Chinese firms. It also encourages GKI which may assist firms in achieving long-term sustained growth. The study recommends further development of the green finance system to maximise the positive impact of this policy instrument., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Reasonably designing environmental regulations for compliance-driven industrial relocation can avoid new pollution havens. The Cournot duopoly model simulates that the necessary condition for industrial relocation is differentiated market costs. Then, based on the province-industrial data of six Chinese pollution-intensive industries during 2005-2019, this study applies spatial Durbin model to explore the non-linear effects of heterogeneous environmental regulations on industrial relocation. Results shown that command-and-control environmental regulation manifests a U-shaped curve with local industrial relocation, with inverted U-shaped spillover effect radiating a road distance of 650 km, and both internal and external costs play the mediating roles; Market incentive environmental regulation has inverted U-shaped curves with industrial relocation in local and neighboring regions, it creates dual costs and works well in both short and long terms, which is the most potential regulatory tool to avoid pollution relocation accompanying industrial relocation; Voluntary environmental regulation exhibits inverted U-shaped relationships with industrial relocation in direct and spillover effects, and works through increased external cost rather than internal cost. Its spatial spillover radiates the longest 1250 km due to rapid spread of public opinions, but this effect takes more than 3 years to be effective., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The staggering rise in global temperature and abrupt change of climate are the responses of nature alerting humanity to limit the emissions of hazardous gases and adopt environmentally-benign life style. The present study explores empirically whether any changes in environmental policy stringency (EPSI), political risk (PR), and the interaction term of EPSI*PR result in any alteration of consumption-based carbon emissions (CBCE) of the 24 advanced OECD economies over the period of 1990-2020. Prior to the empirical estimations, various diagnostic tests are employed. The empirical techniques include, panel cointegration check, Cross-sectional Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lags (CS-ARDL), and Dumitrescu & Hurlin panel causality test. The findings confirm that imports, gross domestic product, and stringency of environment policies activate CBCE in short-run. Whereas, a unit improvement in political risk and its interaction with environmental policy stringency give rise to 0.231 MtCO 2 of CBCE in long run. Interestingly, the squared term of environmental policy stringency effectively tackles such emissions. Based on the findings, we conclude that the present environment related policies of OECD member states does not effectively limit CBCE. In order to achieve genuine emissions reduction goals, the selected nations should restructure their environment related policies by prioritizing increments in environmental policy stringency along with minimizing the risks involved in the political system., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

European manufacturing firms have to cope with the new regulations that advocate a greener and more sustainable future with less emissions and at the same time enhance or at least maintain their productivity levels. A unique dataset is constructed by combining information on different firms' pollutants with their financial information during the 2011–2017 period. A non-radial directional distance function analysis is adopted with desirable and undesirable outputs to estimate environmental productivity growth and its components, which addresses the problem of heterogeneity. A regulatory impact indicator that provides information about the loss of outputs resulting from new policies is also computed. Finally, the impact of environmental regulations on productivity growth is explored using a panel vector autoregressive method. Our findings showcase different average values of productivity for each pollutant group. Moreover, results indicate that increasing the index of regulations by 1%, increases environmental productivity by 0.24% and 0.44% for heavy metals and greenhouse gases groups, respectively. Finally, results support the "weak" Porter Hypothesis, which attests that welldesigned environmental regulations can exert a positive effect on environmental innovation. • We estimate environmental productivity, its components and a regulatory index. • We employ a directional distance function under pollutant-technology heterogeneity. • A unique European firms' dataset is analyzed over 2011–2017 period. • Environmental productivity growth has increased for all pollutant types. • Imposed regulation improve productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The response of industry to current environmental regulations in Alexandria, Egypt was investigated. Environmental officers in 55 industrial firms completed a questionnaire examining their opinions about current environmental regulations, the statuses of their companies'' compliance with those regulations, and the environmental management progress and problems in their companies. Although Egyptian industrialists had positive opinions about environmental regulations, their companies were not in satisfactory compliance with those regulations. The context in which environmental concern started in Egypt and the economic environment of Egyptian industry had lead to ‘soft’ enforcement and implementation of environmental regulations. The response of Alexandria''s industrial firms to the issued environmental regulations was limited to adopting symbolic ‘end-of-pipe’ environmental protection measures. Progress in environmental management and problems in industries of Alexandria were also investigated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The objective of this study was to explore the roles of technological innovation, environmental regulations, and urbanization in ecological efficiency within the context of the 2015 Paris agreement. Initially, the study employed the super-efficiency DEA model to estimate the ecological efficiencies of 30 regions in China. Following this, the system GMM method was used to explore the impacts of technological innovation, environmental regulations, and urbanization on ecological efficiency. We used annual data from 2008 to 2018. The results indicate that, in terms of ecological efficiency, the eastern region was the highest ranked, followed by central and western regions, respectively. The urbanization index has a negative impact on ecological efficiency at a national level. However, in the context of regions, it is positively significant in the eastern region, while the results in the central and western regions are insignificant. The influence of technological innovation on ecological efficiency is found to be significantly positive at both national and regional levels. It is generally perceived that environmental regulations are pivotal for sustainability. Our results verify this argument and indicate that environmental regulations have a positive impact on ecological efficiency in the central and eastern regions. However, their impact is found to be negative in the western region. Policy suggestions are discussed, in order to further strengthen environmental laws and sustainability., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Environmental regulations affects the environmental quality of not only local areas but also surrounding regions. It remains unknown whether the effect of environmental regulations on the surrounding regions is free riding or pollution shelter. Based on the data from 2006 to 2018, the spatial correlation of PM 2.5 in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD) urban agglomerations in China was examined in this study. In addition, the spatial spillover effects of environmental regulation on PM 2.5 concentrations were explored while the socio-economic driving factors of the heterogeneity of pollution spillover were identified via SDM based STIRPAT framework. Results showed that the characteristics of PM 2.5 concentrations spatial correlations varies from one urban agglomeration to another. This study revealed that the air pollution is affected by not only local environmental regulations, but also regulations implemented in surrounding cities. The PM 2.5 concentration of BTH, YRD and PRD increased by 0.76, 0.147 and 0.109 for each unit increase in environmental regulation of surrounding cities, respectively. In fact, cities with loose regulation become the pollution shelters. The spatial spillover effects offset the improvement effects of local environmental regulations on the air quality. Furthermore, the comparison amongst three urban agglomerations showed that the spatial spillover effects of PM 2.5 concentration in BTH and YRD are higher than that of PRD. This is attributed to differences in industrial structure, population density, economic development, FDI and geographical location. Therefore, the spatial spillover effects should be taken into consideration and joint regulation should be strengthened to address air pollution issues in urban aggregations., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper used the panel data of various regions in China from 2007 to 2018 and constructs a green economic efficiency measurement index system. Following this, the super-efficient DEA model has been employed to measure the efficiency of China's green economy. Then, the Tobit model is used to verify the environmental regulation influence on efficiency of China's regional green economy extent and direction. The results show that: (1) in 2007-2018, the green economy efficiency level of China's eastern, central and western regions is on the rise, accompanied by more obvious spatial differences. The green economy efficiency basically shows the spatial differentiation characteristics of the highest in the eastern region and the lowest in the western region. (2) From the national perspective, environmental regulation influence on efficiency of green economy presents a "U" shaped curve that promotes and then suppresses. At the eastern and national levels, environmental regulation has the same characteristics for green economy efficiency, and both exhibit U-shaped curve characteristics. Whereas, in the central and western regions shows negative correlation. (3) From the perspective of control variables, there are significant differences in variables at the national and regional levels. Finally, the study concludes with some policy suggestion for future green development and the formulation of environmental regulations in China., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Abstract Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) has worked toward minimizing the degradation of wetlands since its inception. In 1985 the definition of the US waters regulated under Section 404 was expanded due to a Supreme Court ruling in an effort to specifically reduce environmental damage caused by new residential development. This study analyzes the resulting development permit approval process from the new regulatory environment following Section 404's expansion to examine the regulation's efficacy and illustrate potential tradeoffs between water resource protection and land fragmentation. Land use changes are identified using difference-in-difference estimators in duration analysis and a sample selection model. Results indicated that the new regulatory framework significantly slowed development of environmentally sensitive parcels but also decreased the density of new development. Highlights • The Clean Water Act's effect on the rate and density of land development is analyzed. • Regulations decreased the rate of land development near water features by 33%. • New development density decreased following the regulations. • Results are supported using a placebo treatment as a falsification strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of climate change and carbon neutrality, China is actively coping with its carbon lock-in dilemma. In this context, the development of the digital economy is considered a possible path to carbon unlocking. This study contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive analysis of how the digital economy can be leveraged to address carbon lock-in, highlighting the importance of formal environmental regulation and informal environmental regulation in enhancing this effect. Accordingly, following findings are highlighted. (1) Our primary findings provide strong evidence on the negative effect of the digital economy on carbon lock-in; by implication, improving the digital economy is an efficient measure for eradicating carbon lock-in. (2) The digital economy shows the greatest marginal impact on industrial lock-in, while its inhibiting effect on behavior lock-in is the least pronounced. Moreover, the digital economy plays a prominent role in curbing carbon lock-in in provinces with a higher level of physical, human, and social capital. And the asymmetric impacts of the digital economy on carbon lock-in are significant at most quantiles. (3) Environmental regulation is a significant moderator. Put differently, the synergy of formal environmental regulation and the digital economy, as well as informal environmental regulation and the digital economy, are important means to break carbon lock-in. (4) The carbon lock-in mitigation effect of the digital economy is caused mainly by increasing technical market turnover and the efficiency of energy consumption. • We explore the impact of the digital economy on carbon lock-in in China. • The development of the digital economy contributes effectively to the eradication of carbon lock-in. • The nexus between digital economy and carbon lock-in varies in provinces with different levels of capital endowments. • Environmental regulation shows a significant moderating effect in the nexus between digital economy and carbon lock-in. • The decarbonization effect of the digital economy depends on technological and efficiency effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the impact of ISO 14001 certification on the compliance with environmental regulations by Korean companies. The impact of ISO 14001 certification on the industry was studied through a questionnaire survey and the compliance of environmental regulations were investigated using government-released data. The motivation for an environment management system was a result of the current international situation and the need to maintain fair competition. ISO 14001 certification has been recognized as an essential strategy for industrial competition and to improve company/product recognition. The certified and non-certified companies'' environmental regulation violation (ERV) rates were 3·5% and 11·6%, respectively, in 1997. In 1998, the ERV rate had an eight-time difference with 1·0% and 8·5% for certified and non-certified companies, respectively. Annual regulation violation rates were reduced from 3·5% in 1997 to 1·0% in 1998 with certified companies and from 11·6% in 1997 to 8·5% in 1998 with their non-certified counterparts, respectively. ISO 14001 certified companies showed more improvment than non-certified companies in regards to environmental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental policymakers are concerned that environmental regulations reduce employment. A microeconomic analysis illustrates that environmental regulations have an uncertain effect on employment, making this an empirical question. A standard cost function model, used in the literature, requires a lot of data such as pollution abatement cost data to examine effects of environmental regulations on employment, but such survey data is not always available. In this paper, we develop a nonparametric cost function which alleviates the need for pollution abatement cost data. Our cost function, therefore, allows researchers and policy analysts to estimate employment changes associated with pollution abatement as well as measure the relative importance of other factors related to changes in employment with no pollution abatement cost data. Moreover, this is the first model using a cost function that incorporates the effect of structural change among industries within the economy on employment, which allows researchers to the examine how environmental regulations change the structure of the economy via a structural decomposition component. We illustrate how to operationalize our model using a balanced panel of industry-level data for 26 industries from 17 OECD countries (1995–2006). Our findings suggest that the change in employment due to regulatory induced increases in input costs exhibits both substantial variation among countries and substantial intra-country heterogeneity among industries. • With the goal of reducing data requirements to estimate regulatory-employment effects, the production technology specified in this paper uses exogeneous inputs, e.g., capital, energy (Box A) that jointly produce a good output (Box D) and a bad output (Box E).• This specification treats the transformation of exogeneous inputs into good and bad outputs as a "black box," which ignores the processes inside the dashed lines.• If we look inside the black box, we see some exogeneous inputs are assigned to a subtechnology (Box B) that produces both the good output (Box D) and the gross (i.e., pre-abatement) quantity of the bad output.• A pollution abatement subtechnology (Box C) combines the remaining exogeneous inputs with an endogenous input – the gross production of the bad output from Box B – to produce the net bad output (Box E). [Display omitted] • Policymakers are concerned that environmental regulations will reduce employment. • Determining how regulations affect employment is difficult, requiring a lot of data, including pollution abatement cost data. • Our novel nonparametric cost function eliminates the need for pollution abatement cost data. • Paucity of abatement cost data means our novel method could be the only way to calculate regulatory-employment effects. • Our empirical approach streamlines regulatory-employment analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving sustainable economic development and mitigating climate change require effective green transformation management. This study builds an evolutionary game model for industrial enterprises, local governments, and the central government, analyzing the dynamic interactions among vertical decentralization, environmental regulation, and enterprise pollution. Our research reveals that increasing environmental taxes can incentivize industrial enterprises to adopt green transformation practices and promote governments at all administrative levels to supervise and enforce environmental regulations. Moreover, in the context of vertical decentralization, financial incentives provided by the central government to local governments become critical drivers for promoting green transformation. Furthermore, the additional social benefits resulting from local government supervision and governance are key factors in green transformation management, while the negative social effects of industrial enterprises not rectifying their actions are noteworthy. Our study emphasizes the need for an integrated framework incorporating these critical elements for successful green transition management. The findings of this research provide valuable insights for developing nations seeking to enhance their governance capacity throughout the green transformation process. [Display omitted] • Increased environmental taxes help promote ideal evolutionary results. • Financial incentives can influence game outcomes to a certain degree. • Governmental policies in green transformation must be strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This empirical study examines the impact of environmental regulations on carbon productivity under varying conditions using panel data from Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2019. Prior research has reported inconsistent results regarding the relationships between these variables. We developed a spatial Durbin model (SDM) and tested the non-linear effects of environmental regulation on carbon productivity from a spatial linkage perspective. The results demonstrate a U-shaped curve representing the local-neighborhood effect of environmental regulations on carbon productivity. This curve is further dissected into two components: the average direct effect (ADE) and the average indirect effect (AIE). Furthermore, the findings indicate that green technology progress and pollution transfer act as moderating factors in shaping the U-shaped curve. Green technological progress has steepened the U-shape curve, whereas pollution transfer has flattened it. Based on these findings, we propose three recommendations for the formulation of environmental regulation policies. • We examine the effects of environmental regulations on carbon productivity. • Different conditions are compared and considered. • The local neighborhood effect represents a U-shaped curve. • Moderating roles of green technology progress and pollution transfer are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study extends previous research on motivations for compliance with environmental regulations. It addresses contexts where regulatees have primarily sporadic short term interests, where costs of compliance are modest, and where costs of non-compliance are low. The behavior studied is the movement of firewood for camping, a principal cause for the spread of the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis), one of several invasive species plaguing the eastern United States. Based on a three-wave mail survey that produced 495 usable returns (64% response rate), findings suggest that motivations are influential in these contexts. Calculated motivations exert the greatest influence—especially when related to firewood price and convenience, while normative motivations (civic duty based) exert less influence, as does ability to comply. These findings have important implications, not only for controlling the spread of forest diseases and invasive pests, but also for regulating natural resources in general. They suggest that national, state, and local governments can manage natural resources to encourage user compliance with environmental rules, and develop communication strategies that leverage pro-environment norms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Chinese government has made great efforts in air pollutant reduction and carried out strict regulation policies. Since numerous air pollutants and CO 2 tend to have the same root, source, and process, recent studies argue that environmental regulation may also contribute to reducing carbon emissions. To investigate how various types of environmental regulations affect carbon emissions reduction, this paper constructs the spatial Durbin model and panel threshold model based on provincial panel data in China during 2003–2019. The main findings are as follows: First, China's net carbon emissions show a decreasing trend from east to west, displaying significant spatial agglomeration characteristics. Then, formal and informal environmental regulations have inverted U-shaped impacts on net carbon emissions. The "green paradox" and "reverse emission reduction" effects come into play at different stages. Finally, the threshold model reveals that with the improvement of regional technological innovation levels, the carbon-reducing effect of environmental regulation will increasingly come to the fore. These research findings are conducive to providing theoretical guidance for government to formulate and implement environmental regulation policies rationally. • Carbon sink effect is considered in the carbon emissions assessment framework. • The spatial spillover and threshold effects of environmental regulation is studied. • Environmental regulation has an inverted U-shaped impact on net carbon emissions. • Technological innovation level exerts a threshold effect between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on environmental management systems (EMS) and aims to enhance our understanding of the relationship between environmental state regulation and self-regulation. Unlike previous studies that treat state regulation as uni-dimensional and focus on externally certified forms of environmental self-regulation, this article takes a more nuanced approach. It looks at how direct and indirect state regulation and its stringency influence both non-certified in-house and externally certified adoption of EMS. Methodologically, the study differentiates from previous research by acknowledging the interconnected nature of in-house and external certification decisions, viewing these decisions as sequential. Based on a survey of 2076 UK firms, findings show that effective environmental protection entails collaboration between environmental state regulation and in-house adoption of EMS. Results also reveal that externally certified EMS substitute for state environmental regulation, filling the void that results from weakening state regulation in the context of neoliberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green technology innovation (GTI) is an effective way to promote the green development of economy, and government environmental regulations are an important means to encourage enterprises to carry out GTI. Taking Chinese A-share listed enterprises from 2010 to 2019 as samples, this paper divides environmental regulations into three categories: command-based environmental regulation (ER 1), market-based environmental regulation (ER 2) and voluntary environmental regulation (ER 3), studies their impact on enterprise GTI, and discusses the joint effect of enterprise research and development (R&D) investment and government support from the perspective of internal and external linkage of enterprises. In addition, this paper also analyzes the compound effect and time effect of environmental regulation. The research conclusions are as follows: (1) From the perspective of policy types, both ER 1 and ER 2 could stimulate enterprises to carry out GTI, and the promotion effect of green utility model patents is slightly higher than that of green invention patents. ER 3 inhibits enterprise GTI. In addition, this paper finds that the effect of three environmental regulations acting at the same time is greater than that of one of them. (2) The mechanism analysis shows that the R&D investment of enterprise positively could moderate the relationship between ER 2 and green invention at the significance level of 5%, positively moderate the relationship between ER 2 and green utility model patent at the significance level of 1%, and negatively moderate the relationship between ER 3 and green utility model patent at the significance level of 5%. The government support could moderate the relationship between environmental regulation and green utility model patents at the significance level of 5% and 10%. (3) The effect analysis shows that the transformation rate of GTI in China needs to be improved. The three environmental regulations could have an effect on enterprise GTI in a short period, and ER 1 has the fastest effect. (4) Considering the differences in the level of economic development and resource endowments in various regions of China, this paper classifies the sample enterprises and finds that the impact of environmental regulation on enterprise GTI is heterogeneous in terms of location, ownership nature, factor density and industry type. The research results provide the important reference for the formulation and implementation of environmental regulation policies according to local conditions. • ER 1 and ER 2 could stimulate enterprise GTI. • The union effect of ER 1 , ER 2 , and ER 3 is better than one of them. • R&D positively moderates the relationship between ER 2 and GTI. • ER 1 has the fastest effect on GTI in three kinds of environmental regulations. • The effect of ER on GTI shows heterogeneity for different enterprise features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of environmental regulations (ERs) and foreign direct investment (FDI) on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of the industrial sectors in 30 provinces in China by controlling human capital, technological innovation, energy structure, degree of opening up, and ownership structure for the period of 2004–2017. This not only helps to explain the influence path of ERs and FDI on green economic growth, but also effectively measures the moderating effect of ERs on technology spillover from FDI. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between ERs, FDI and industrial GTFP from the perspective of regional heterogeneity, focusing on studying how ERs regulate the impact of FDI on GTFP. By constructing an influence mechanism of ERs and FDI on industrial GTFP, this study employs the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) model and dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) model to analyze the effects of ERs, FDI and their cross-terms on GTFP. The empirical results show that (1) the relationship between ERs and GTFP is not linear, but "U"-shaped and China is still in the left half of the "U"-shaped curve; (2) FDI flowing into China has a "pollution heaven" effect on the GTFP in the eastern and central regions while a "pollution halo" effect on the GTFP in the western region; (3) the strengthening of ERs weakens the negative effect of FDI on GTFP and plays a role in "screening" foreign investment; and (4) the spatial heterogeneity could affect the synergistic effect between ERs and FDI. Therefore, it is necessary for China to consider a series of environmental policies to "screen" inward FDI to ensure its move to a green economy benefits its own sustainable development by contributing to the increase in GTFP. [Display omitted] • The influence mechanism of environmental regulation and FDI on GTFP is proposed. • Dynamic FGLS and GMM methods are used for empirical estimations. • Environmental regulations exhibit a significant U-shaped effect on GTFP. • FDI exerts a "pollution heaven" effect on GTFP in eastern and central China. • Environmental regulations weaken the restraining effect of FDI on GTFP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main factor behind green economic development is green technology innovation (GTI). Environmental regulation and green finance (GF), as important ways to promote ecological civilization construction, run through the entire procedure of GTI. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of heterogeneous environmental regulation on GTI and the moderating effect of GF on GTI from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, to provide useful ideas for China's economic reform path selection and environmental governance system optimization. This paper uses information from 30 provinces between 2002 and 2019, and a bidirectional fixed model was constructed. The results show that: First, regulatory environmental regulation (ER 1), legal environmental regulation (ER 2), and economic environmental regulation (ER 3) all have greatly boosted the degree of GTI in each province. Second, GF acts as a highly effective moderator between heterogeneous environmental regulation and GTI. Finally, this article investigates how GF can act as a moderator in various circumstances. The beneficial moderating effect of it is found to be more pronounced in inland areas, areas with weak spending on research and development, and areas with high energy consumption. These research results provide valuable references for accelerating the green development process in China. • Constructs environmental regulation indexes from regulatory, legal, and economic. • Heterogeneous environmental regulation promotes green technology innovation. • Green finance plays a positive moderating role. • The moderating effect of green finance varies greatly in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic differentiation between the north and the south of China, as a long-standing phenomenon of unbalanced regional economic development, is aggravating, and has gradually become a resistance to the construction of a new development pattern and regional coordinated development. Most of the existing studies focus on the comparison of differences between the Eastern, Central and Western regions of China, but there is little discussion on the economic gap between China's North-South economy. In addition, through the literature review, no attention has been paid to the environmental regulation factor that leads to the economic gap between the North and the South. In view of this, the study constructs a benchmark regression model and a non-linear regression model based on the balanced panel data of 285 cities in China from 2004 to 2019, explores the role that environmental regulation plays in the widening of China's North-South economy gap. The results show that, firstly, environmental regulation is significantly conducive to narrowing the economic gap between the North and the South; In addition, with the greater intensity of environmental regulation, the economic gap shows a trend of "narrowing first, expanding then", that is, There exists positive U-shaped nonlinear relationship between them. Finally, the heterogeneity of urban scale leads to significant differences in the position and shape of the positive U-shaped curve, which exists between environmental regulation and China's North-South economy gap. The test results shows that the inflection point level of the U-shaped curve in the North is higher than that in the South. Based on this, the study proposes to adjust environmental policies accordingly under regional differentiated conditions, increase financial investment in improving environmental regulation tools and promote coordinated environmental governance in the North and South regions, to promote regional coordinated and sustainable development, provide empirical evidence and theoretical reference to improve people's livelihood and well-being and ultimately achieve the goal of common prosperity. • Based on the balanced panel data of 285 cities in China from 2004 to 2019, the study constructs a benchmark regression model and a non-linear regression model to explore the impact of environmental regulation on the economic gap between the North and the South. • From the perspective of direct effect, environmental regulation has a significant positive impact on narrowing the economic gap between the North and the South; From the perspective of nonlinear effect, there is a positive U-shaped relationship between the intensity of environmental regulation and the trend of the North-South economic gap, that is, the North-South economic gap shows an evolution trend of convergence and expansion with the increase of the intensity of environmental regulation. • The heterogeneity of urban scale leads to significant differences in the position and shape of the positive U-shaped curve between environmental regulation and the economic gap between the North and the South. • The inflection point level of the U-shaped curve in the North is higher than that in the South. Based on this, the study proposes to formulate differentiated environmental regulation policies according to local conditions, with a view to providing empirical evidence and theoretical reference for promoting regional coordinated and sustainable development, improving people's well-being, and ultimately achieving the goal of common prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulations often have the objective of eliminating the lower tail of an index of environmental quality. That part of the distribution of environmental quality moves somewhere above a threshold and where in the original distribution it moves is a function of the control strategy chosen. This paper provides an approach for estimating the economic benefits of different distributional changes as the worst environmental conditions are removed. The proposed approach is illustrated by examining shifts in visibility at Class I visibility areas (National Parks and wilderness areas) that would occur with implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Regional Haze Program. In this application we show that people value shifts in the distribution of visibility and place a higher value on the removal of a low visibility day than on the addition of a high visibility day. We found that respondents would pay about $120 per year in the Southeast U.S. and about $80 per year in the Southwest U.S. for improvement programs that remove the 20% worst visibility days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recovery of oil spilled on land or water has become an important issue due to environmental regulations. Canadian biomasses as fibrous materials are naturally renewable and have the potential to absorb oil-spills at different ranges. In this work, four Canadian biomasses were examined in order to evaluate their oil affinities and study parameters that could affect oil affinity when used as sorbent, such as average particle size, surface coating and reusability. Moreover, one oil sorption model was adopted and coupled with another developed model to approximate and verify the experimental findings of the oil sorbent biomasses. At an average particle size of 150–1000 μm, results showed that barley straw biomass had the highest absorbency value at 6.07 g/g, while flax straw had the lowest value at 3.69 g/g. Wheat and oat straws had oil absorbency values of 5.49 and 5.00 g/g, respectively. An average particle size of 425–600 μm indicated better absorbency values for oat and wheat straws. Furthermore, the thermal stability study revealed major weight recovery for two flame retardant coatings at hemicellulose and lignocellulose degradation temperature ranges. It was also found that oat straw biomass could be regenerated and used for many sorption/desorption cycles, as the reusability experiment showed only a 18.45% reduction in the oil absorbency value after six consecutive cycles. The developed penetration absorbency (PA) model showed oat straw adsorbed oil at the inter-particle level; and, the results of the sorption capacity model coupled with the PA model excellently predicted the oil sorption of raw and coated oat straws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strict environmental governance urges firms to implement higher sustainable production requirements and environmental standards for export products, making it challenging for firms to maintain export competitiveness. This study constructs firm-product level markups as the measure of export competitiveness using microdata of millions of observations from Chinese industrial firms. It then empirically investigates the impact of environmental regulations on those firms' export competitiveness. The empirical study finds: 1) environmental regulations have significantly increased the markups of Chinese firms' export products, indicating that firms' export competitiveness is enhanced, verifying the validity of the Porter Hypothesis. 2) Environmental regulations have a greater effect on increasing the markups of non-core products than that of core products. 3) Environmental regulations have significantly increased the markups for private-owned firms, foreign-invested firms, and firms in the eastern region, but not for state-owned and non-eastern firms. 4) Environmental regulation mainly enhances firms' export competitiveness mainly through the TFP channel. Moreover, a series of robustness tests support the empirical results. This research recognizes the positive achievements and benefits of China's environmental governance. It recommends that the Chinese government strengthen the supervision of state-owned enterprises and help enterprises in economically underdeveloped areas overcome the challenges brought by environmental regulation. • The impact of environmental regulation on export competitiveness is discussed. • Export competitiveness is measured by a new indicator: firm-product level markups. • Environmental regulations have significantly increased the export competitiveness of Chinese firms. • Environmental regulation enhances firms' export competitiveness mainly through the TFP channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether and how environmental regulation affects industrial structure upgrading with a panel data of 270 cities between 2006 and 2019. We first adopt two indicators—rationalization and advancement—to quantify industrial structure upgrading and then use kernel density estimation as well as trend surface analysis to investigate these indicators' spatial-temporal pattern. With a spatial Durbin model, we find that environmental regulation has inverted U-shaped and U-shaped direct impacts on rationalization and advancement, and inverted U-shaped indirect impacts on both rationalization and advancement in neighboring regions. Moreover, our subsample tests demonstrate that environmental regulation has various impacts on industrial structure upgrading in different regions. Last, a mediating effect analysis shows that technological innovation is an important path for environmental regulation to promote advancement. Our study provides new evidence for the Porter hypothesis, and offers suggestions for the authorities to formulate and optimize environmental regulation intensity. • We explore environmental regulation (ER) effect on industrial structure upgrading. • We adopt rationalization and advancement to quantify industrial structure upgrading. • ER has (inverted) U-shaped direct effect on local advancement (rationalization). • ER has inverted U-shaped spill-over effect on rationalization and advancement. • ER can promote advancement through technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Venture capital (VC) may play a role in urban green innovation (GI) by providing long-term financial support. Based on panel data from 150 cities in China, this study analyzes the impact of VC on urban GI and the underlying mechanism. The research conclusions are as follows. VC significantly promotes urban GI, and we find micro-level evidence for this conclusion. The results of a quantile regression show that with an improvement in a city's GI level, the positive effect of VC shows an increasing trend. A mechanism analysis shows that VC promotes urban GI by enhancing urban investment and innovative talent agglomeration and that the accumulation of high-quality human capital brought by VC is the main reason for its positive impact on urban GI. In addition, the influence of VC on urban GI exhibits a threshold effect based on environmental regulations. There is an optimal range of environmental regulation intensity that maximizes the effect of VC on GI. This study confirms the important role of VC in regional GI activities, enriching the research on the innovation effect of VC and providing a theoretical and practical reference for promoting green economic development. • Venture capital (VC) plays a role in urban green innovation (GI). • The microscopic evidence was investigated. • Investment and innovative talent agglomeration are mediating mechanism. • There is an optimal range of environmental regulation intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the drivers of distribution of pollution-intensive enterprises (PIEs) at the intraurban level that are less studied. Employing the complete spatial database of PIEs obtained from the National Economic Census of 2004, 2008, and 2013, the paper analyses the spatial restructuring of PIEs within Foshan, China, a typical manufacturing city in transition. We find that the changing role of environmental regulation induced by the environmental policy regime transformation has resulted in the siting strategy shift of PIEs, and both the 'Pollution Haven Hypothesis' and the 'Porter Hypothesis' have been overly simplified in the research conducted at the regional or global level. Based on the Foshan case, we further conceptualize the pattern of spatial restructuring of PIEs that would help to understand the fast green economy transition taking place in Chinese cities, followed by some policy and research implications. • The relocation and drivers of polluting firms at a local level are studied. • The environmental policy regime shift leads to the siting strategy shift of firms. • Polluting firms initially seek a pollution haven before 2008. • New firms after 2008 site in areas with strict environmental regulation. • The local government motivation is more important in the Chinese context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a typical watershed ecological economy in China, the Yangtze River Economic Belt has two equally important objectives, namely ecological protection and economic development. Improving green total factor productivity is an essential approach to achieve these two objectives and promote sustainable growth in this area as well as the whole country. Therefore, this study explores the impact of environmental regulation on green total factor productivity with a panel data of 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt between 2003 and 2019. We first adopt the super slacks-based measure model to estimate city-level green total factor productivity. With kernel density curve, we find that green total factor productivity shows a downward pressure, and its absolute difference among cities shows a narrowing trend. Trend surface analysis displays an inverted U-shaped as well as a U-shaped spatial structures of green total factor productivity in the north-south as well as east-west directions, respectively. By using Spatial Durbin Model, we find a U-shaped direct impact of environmental regulation on green total factor productivity for the entire sample and three subsamples. For an indirect effect, environmental regulation has a positive spatial spill-over impact in the entire area; an insignificant effect in upstream and midstream areas; and an inverted U-shaped spatial spill-over in downstream area. Besides, we utilize threshold effect analysis to explore the impacts of technology innovation. The results show a single-threshold effect of technology innovation and the promotion effect decreases when technology innovation expenditure exceeds the threshold value. Based on our research findings, we suggest that the authorities should adhere to implementing and increasing the intensity of environmental regulation, so as to achieve better policy results. Moreover, local governments should keep technological innovation expenditure at a reasonable level to maximize the promoting effect of environmental regulation on green total factor productivity. [Display omitted] • We explore environmental regulation effect on green total factor productivity. • We adopt the Super-SBM model to estimate city-level green total factor productivity. • Environmental regulation has a U-shaped direct effect. • Environmental regulation has a positive spatial spillover effect in the entire area. • Besides, technological innovation plays a threshold effect between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There are relatively few Federal environmental regulations that influence agricultural production in the US. However, many local and state environmental rules may influence the management practices on US farms as might interactions between urban population centers and agricultural producers. Detailed analysis of corn farms gives insight into these relationships and suggests that stringent environmental regulations could increase the likelihood of adoption of certain conservation practices, all else being constant, but that the interaction between urban populations has less of an effect on the adoption decisions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The causes for the failure in enforcement of environmental regulations at the Giap Lai pyrite mine in northern Vietnam are considered and the environmental impacts that are associated with this mine are evaluated. It is shown that sulphide-rich tailings and waste rock in the mining area represent significant sources of acid rock drainage (ARD). The ARD is causing elevated metal levels in downstream water bodies, which in turn, represent a threat to both human health and to aquatic ecosystems. Metal concentrations in impacted surface waters have increased after mine closure, suggesting that impacts are becoming progressively more serious. No post-closure, remediation measures have been applied at the mine, in spite of the existence of environmental legislation and both central and regional institutions charged with environmental supervision and control. The research presented here provides further emphasis for the recommendation that, while government institutions may need to be strengthened, and environmental regulations need to be in place, true on the ground improvement in environmental quality in Vietnam and in many other developing countries require an increased focus on promoting public awareness of industrial environmental issues. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A comprehensive understanding of the heterogeneity and threshold effects of environmental regulation on health expenditure is essential for policy design and decision-making. This case study seeks to analyze the heterogeneity and threshold effects using panel data, which covers 30 Chinese provinces from 2007 to 2017. We examine the linear and nonlinear impacts of environmental regulation on health expenditure by using the Bayesian quantile regression and panel threshold regression, respectively. The empirical research results indicate a significant heterogeneous effect of environmental regulation on health expenditure in provinces where health expenditure falls in different quintiles. It shows mainly two effects: a positive effect of environmental regulation on health expenditure in provinces in the low quintiles and high quintiles of health expenditure; and a negative interrelationship between environmental regulation and health expenditure for provinces in the medium quintiles of health expenditure. A single threshold effect of environmental regulation on health expenditure is found to be different among three regions: the eastern, central and western regions. Specifically, in eastern and western China, the environmental regulations are stricter, and this helps reduce the health expenditures relating to environmental pollution. However, it was found that stricter environmental regulations do not reduce health expenditures in central China. • The heterogeneity and threshold effects of environmental regulation on health expenditure are explored. • The mediating role of environmental pollution is considered. • The mediation effect model considers direct and indirect effects. • The Bayesian quantile regression and threshold regression are used for empirical. • Regional characteristics should be considered when developing policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is insufficient research on how to reduce the destructive effects of command-based environmental regulation through institutional design. The implementation of the National Key Monitoring Enterprises provides new evidence to assess the effects of vertical monitoring. This study integrates and matches three types of micro databases in China: industrial, pollution, and patent, and constructs firm-level panel data from 2004 to 2010. The empirical evidence shows that the policy reduces the energy use intensity of monitored enterprises by about 10.4% and sulfur dioxide emission intensity by about 23.9%. The mechanism test shows that this effect is achieved by means of energy structure optimization, process innovation, and end-of-pipe treatment, but the effect on total factor productivity is not significant. Among them, the positive impact is stronger for high-profit and emerging firms. Further, we quantify the policy-induced capacity transfer and technology spillovers from monitored enterprises to non-monitored enterprises. In terms of scale, the policy leads to a simultaneous increase in output and pollution emissions of unmonitored firms in the same industry. However, in terms of efficiency, the policy reduces the energy use intensity and pollution emission intensity of enterprises in the same industry. • We construct the time-varying DID by using a large sample of microdata to examine the effect. • Vertical monitoring by the central government has reduced the energy use intensity of regulated companies by about 10.4%. • Enterprises achieve emission reductions through capacity compression, end-of-pipe treatment, and technological innovation. • Differential regulation of firms leads to the transfer of polluting outputs and technologies to unmonitored enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive understanding of the effect of environmental regulation policy synergy on carbon emissions is essential for the design and decision-making of the other policy combinations. In this paper, the panel data from 30 provinces in China during 2000–2019 are used as samples to investigate the heterogeneity of different policy combinations and compare the differences using a Bayesian non-parametric generalized additive quantile method. The research results imply that the environmental regulation policy synergy has a significant heterogeneous effect on carbon emissions on different levels. Specifically, the effect of environmental regulation policy synergy on carbon emissions has an inverted U-shape trend at the low quintiles, i.e., before the turning point, it shows a "green paradox" effect, and after the turning point, it shows an "emission reduction" effect. However, the effect of environmental regulation policy synergy on carbon emissions shows a significant N-shape trend at the high quintiles, i.e., before the second turning point, it shows an "emission reduction" effect, and after the second turning point, it shows a "green paradox" effect. Moreover, the effect of environmental regulation policy combinations on carbon emissions reduction has been found to vary significantly across regions. • Effect of environmental regulation policy synergy on carbon emissions is explored. • The mediating role of industrial structure is considered. • The effect of ERPS on CE has an inverted U-shape trend at the low quintiles, which shows a significant N-shape trend at the high quintiles. • Significant difference in the efficiency for implementation of ERPS in regions with different levels of CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how cross-country differences in environmental regulatory stringency among member states of the world's largest multinational cap-and-trade system, the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), influenced the FDI location choice of listed multinationals (MNEs) regulated by the environmental policy. After controlling for other country characteristics driving FDI location choice, we find that the likelihood of EU ETS-covered MNEs locating new FDI projects in less environmentally stringent member states strongly depends on firm- and industry-specific environmental characteristics during the system's first two phases. Our results are robust to different measures of environmental stringency and provide evidence for the existence of an intra-regional pollution haven effect (PHE). This investment behavior by MNEs is, moreover, only found in the industries least compensated for the environmental costs induced by the policy. This suggests that the EU inadvertently promoted an intra-regional PHE not only by allowing cross-country variation in environmental stringency but also by overly focusing on and compensating for external carbon leakage risk. Our conclusions have major implications for countries and regions currently establishing or implementing an emissions trading system. • We examine the largest multinational cap-and-trade scheme in the world, the EU ETS. • Current research on the pollution haven effect focuses on FDI outside the EU ETS. • We explore intra-EU ETS differences in environmental stringency among member states. • Using a conditional logit model, we find evidence of an intra-regional PHE. • PHE driven by most polluting firms in industries with limited strategic flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the link from the stringency of environmental regulation to facility level employment. Much of the literature examining the effects of regulation on employment finds no significant links. However, this literature fails to distinguish between production labor and environmental labor. Our study contributes to this literature by (1) distinguishing workers based on their purpose, jointly estimating these separate outcomes (while controlling for facility heterogeneity), and using cross-equation tests to assess the need for separation, (2) theoretically identifying causal mechanisms linking environmental regulation to employment, and (3) examining the effects of the enforcement of environmental regulation, rather than its imposition, while exploring the heterogeneity of effects by specific enforcement tool. Empirical results reveal that greater enforcement of environmental regulation reduces both production employment and environmental employment. Despite this commonality, cross-equation tests reveal that environmental enforcement differentially affects production and environmental employment, implying that the estimation of overall employment appears misspecified. • The relationship between environmental regulation and employment is ambiguous, as prior work does not consider employee type. • Our study distinguishes workers by type and estimates the effects of environmental enforcement on employment. • We identify a causal mechanism for the effects of environmental regulation on employment: a reduction in production. • More stringent environmental regulation results in a decrease in both environmental and production employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water rights trading is a market mechanism that promotes the conservation, protection and optimal allocation of water resources. This paper takes the water rights trading pilots' policy as a quasi-natural experiment, and then adopts the spatial difference-in-differences model to investigate the water-saving and wastewater-reducing effects of water rights trading pilots by using the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2019. The results indicate that water rights trading has good environmental governance effects on water-saving and wastewater-reducing in the pilot areas. However, water rights transactions are mainly concentrated within provinces, and there is no spatial spillover effect. Besides, the pilot policy has more long-term dynamic effects in reducing sewage discharge than water-saving due to rebound effect possibly. The optimization of the industrial structure and environmental regulation play important roles in the realization of the policy effects of the water rights trading pilots. An important implication is that water rights trading pilots are worthy of promotion throughout China in view of the policy effects, and China should focus on inter-regional market transactions and industrial structure transformation to promote the optimization of the water rights trading mechanism. • Take the water rights trading pilots' policy as a quasi-natural experiment in China. • Adopt the spatial difference-in-difference model with the panel data of 30 provinces. • Evaluate the water-saving and wastewater-reducing effects and exploit its drive mechanism. • Has good environmental governance effects on water-saving and wastewater-reducing in the pilot area. • The optimization of the industrial structure and environmental regulation are important mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many empirical studies have examined firms' decisions to participate in voluntary environmental programs, relatively few have examined why firms choose different levels of compliance with environmental regulations. This paper uses primary data to examine why some firms violate regulatory standards on water pollution, solid waste, toxic and hazardous waste, and hazardous air emissions, while others over-comply with them. The results suggest that different factors drive decisions to violate or over-comply with an environmental regulation. Some evidence was found to support the strategic behavior theory of environmental over-compliance, but no corroborating evidence was uncovered to support the green consumer theory. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Numerous studies have examined the correlation between economic growth and air pollution, but few focuses on the nexus between environmental regulation and <2.5 μm (PM 2.5) fine particle matter. Using Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) and Spatial Two-stage Least Squares (2SLS) methods to analyze 277 Chinese cities over the period 2002–2010, this paper finds inverted U-shaped relationships between PM 2.5 concentration and formal/informal environmental regulations for the whole and eastern and western regions. By removing the depression year of 2008, regulation effect on pollution strengthened, indicating that the main task for local governments in crisis is to avoid GDP decline rather than official promotion. Further, green technological innovation and industrial structure optimization induced by environmental regulation is shown to be beneficial for haze pollution mitigation. Some policy recommendations are proposed in conclusion. • The Spatial Models are used to examine the effect of regulation on the PM 2.5 of 277 Chinese cities during 2002–2010. • An inverted U-shaped relationship is found for the nexus. • Eastern and western China generally has an inverted U-shaped relationship. • Technical innovation and industrial structure are confirmed to be important mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental complaints serve as a crucial means for citizens to participate in environmental regulation, providing precise insights for real-time identification of pollution issues and understanding public environmental concerns. This study analyzes 102,782 environmental complaint texts from China's e-government platform between 2016 and 2022, firstly employing an ensemble machine learning model (Stacking-BERT) to examine the hot topics and sentiment characteristics of these environmental complaints. The results indicate that: (1) The number of environmental complaints exhibits an "M-shaped" fluctuation, with the proportion of complaints related to noise, waste, and radiation continuously rising. The sentiment orientation of these complaints has shifted from predominantly negative (2016–2020) to more neutral (2021–2022), indicating a positive trend. (2) Complaints regarding air, water, land, noise, and waste demonstrate significant seasonal cyclical fluctuations, characterized by a homogenized pattern. (3) Approximately 70.41% of environmental complaints express negative emotions. Noise complaints are the dominant topic of negative emotions, while air and radiation complaints are the core themes of extreme negative emotions. (4) There is a high overlap between major complaint regions and hotspots of negative emotions. The dual hotspot areas (Guangdong, Hebei, Shandong, Henan) are identified as critical regions requiring urgent attention to resolve environmental complaints. • A dataset of environmental complaints from 31 Chinese provinces is constructed. • A Stacking-BERT model is designed to explore the textual information of environmental complaints. • The seasonal cyclical fluctuations of the "homogenized" patterns in different complaint topics are revealed. • The sentiment orientation of complaints is firstly categorized as neutral, negative, and extremely negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on panel data of listed companies in China from 2006 to 2020, this study takes the establishment of automatic air quality monitoring stations as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the staggered difference-in-differences method to explore whether the establishment of monitoring stations promotes green innovation of listed companies. The empirical results show that: (1) The green innovation of companies achieves an increase of 3.5% with monitoring stations in their locations, and an increase of 2.3% with the establishment of each additional monitoring station. This conclusion is valid after a series of robustness tests and exclusive tests. (2) The heterogeneity analyses show that monitoring stations have a greater role in promoting green innovation for non-state-owned enterprises, enterprises in heavy polluting industries and enterprises in key cities for environmental protection. (3) The transmission mechanism test results show that the establishment of automatic air monitoring station has crowding-out effect rather than leverage effect on green innovation, substantial innovation rather than strategic innovation. (4) The further analyses manifest the promotion of end-to-end green innovation, independent invention and quality of green patents. • Establishing automatic air monitoring station significantly promotes the company's green innovation. • There are different effects on green innovation, due to ownership, pollution intensity and regulatory pressure. • Establishing monitoring station affects green innovation, displaying crowding-out effect and substantial innovation. • Establishing monitoring station can promote independent invention, end-to-end green innovation and quality of green patents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]