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As a traditional energy and carbon intensive sector, it becomes imperative for the global paper industry to realize green development. This paper aims to provide guidance for the green transformation of global paper industry by evaluating the global paper industry green development level in a systematic and dynamic way. This paper employs text-mining method to develop paper industry green development evaluation indicator system and adopts market-extended LCA model and entropy-TOPSIS method to calculate the paper industry green development level of 48 countries/regions. The results show that during 2000–2030 the paper industry green development level of developing countries improves faster than developed countries, where those of developing and developed countries increase from 0.3369 to 0.3938 and from 0.5120 to 0.5517 respectively and the gap between them narrows from 0.1751 to 0.1579. The comparative analysis reveals that the paper industries of developed and developing countries are in different green development stages. Developing countries, represented by China, improve greatly in economic and social dimensions, but decline seriously in ecological dimension due to enlarging resource consumption and environmental damages. On the contrary, developed countries tend to saturate in economic and social dimensions and have been improving fast in ecological dimension, gradually realizing the decoupling of industrial economic development and environmental damages. To further promote the global paper industry green development, developing countries should focus on promoting the coordinated development between economic growth and environment protection and developed countries should play a leading role in the global green transformation by promoting optimal allocation of resources and cross-regional communications of green technologies. • A paper industry green development indicator system is developed based on text mining. • A global paper industry green development model is built with market-extended LCA. • Complex interactions among the indicators are internalized in the evaluation. • A spatial-temporal analysis is performed on global paper industry green development level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green development is the main theme of modern development in China and even the world. Green development depends on green technology innovation (GTI). Therefore, for developing countries like China in the stage of economic transition, it is urgent to accelerate GTI to gain sustained advantages in the new round of international competition. As an important representative of contemporary rapid transportation, high-speed railway (HSR) can not only alleviate the rapidly growing transportation demand of the public, but also have potential benefits to the energy consumption structure and environmental quality. Whether and how HSR affects GTI has become the focus of this paper. Hence, by employing the panel data of 286 cities in China from 2007 to 2018 with the time-varying DID model, this paper verifies that HSR development can contribute to GTI. The main findings of this paper are as follows: (1) The operation of HSR can not only make the incremental development of GTI, but also improve the quality of GTI simultaneously. Moreover, the quality improvement effect of HSR is greater than the quantity increment effect. (2) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect of HSR on GTI is more significant for cities that have implemented LCCP. (3) This paper verifies the mediating effect of high-quality human capital. The opening of HSR further stimulates GTI by improving the level of high-quality human capital in cities and increasing the opportunities for knowledge exchange and diffusion. Based on the above findings, this paper proposes some policy recommendations to help developing countries achieve GTI with positive externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneously achieving economic development and environmental protection is a shared global challenge. While the positive effect of environmental regulations on protecting the environment has been widely recognized, the attention paid to low-carbon governance and corporate green transformation remains insufficient. Based on the two-stage least square regression model (2SLS) of instrumental variables, this paper utilizes panel data from China to identify the influence mechanism of government low-carbon governance on enterprise green development. It explores the effect of low-carbon governance on enterprise green development from the perspective of fiscal decentralization. The findings show that (1) Low-carbon governance significantly promotes corporate green development, primarily through improving industrial structure and technological innovation; (2) Low-carbon governance notably promotes the green development of private enterprises but has little effect on state-owned enterprises. There are also geographical differences, and the results are better in Eastern China than in the Central and Western parts of China; (3) Fiscal decentralization at both central and local levels inhibits the effect of low-carbon governance on driving corporate green development by causing a mismatch of human resources. Therefore, to promote corporate green development, low-carbon governance must prioritize green development, actively guide industrial structural upgrading and enterprise technological innovation, implement differentiated low-carbon governance measures tailored to different ownership enterprises, and optimize the assessment indicators for fiscal decentralization. This paper helps deepen the understanding of the relationship between government low-carbon governance and enterprise green development in developing countries. It can be used as a reference for government departments to formulate relevant policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the path of sustainable development, the key to achieving green and low-carbon transformation lies in green technology innovation (GTI), and how to effectively coordinate the relationship between green finance (GF) and GTI is an issue worth studying. This paper constructed an evaluation system of GF and GTI and combined them with the coupled coordination degree model to explore their coordination of Chinese provinces from 2012 to 2019. Then, the core network evolution and spatial structure characteristics of GTI and GF were studied using the modified gravity model. Finally, based on the link prediction, the general future network prediction is made to provide guidance and direction for the future GTI and GF development and construction. The results found that the coordination level between GF and GTI has been continuously improved from 0.356 to 0.436. The core network structure is keeping changing with their connection becoming more complex, and there is still room for optimization. Network centrality characteristics show that the spatial spillover effects are stronger in the more economically developed regions. The overall network possibility prediction shows the potential network connections in different urban agglomerations. This paper provides a certain reference role for China and developing countries to predict the GF and GTI cooperation network development in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Territorial spatial planning involves fixability and flexibility in different driving factors related to control and development orientation, and they play an important role in regional sustainable development, especially in developing countries such as China. With rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, China has been impacted by conflicts between development and protection in territorial space. To integrate the contradictions among different territorial spatial planning measures, planners and scholars have started to focus on studies regarding fixability–flexibility relationships and integration. However, the relationship between and integration of fixability and flexibility in territorial spatial planning have yet to be clearly summarised. This paper explores an innovative research direction for the fixability–flexibility relations in territorial spatial planning from a new perspective, the Food–Energy–Water Nexus, which is a dynamic and comprehensive framework for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) studies. This paper covers the existing research on fixability and flexibility in territorial spatial planning. Moreover, after summarising the conflicts of fixability and flexibility, the dialectical relationship between and the integration of fixability and flexibility are researched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability has become an extensive concern in biological and social research. As for urban–rural development, narrowing the disparities between urban and rural areas and leading to urban–rural integration is a tendency of urban–rural development worldwide and an inevitable way to create a sustainable human society. China is in a critical stage of significant challenges and opportunities with a scale and pace unique in history. Although some studies have begun to focus on sustainable urban and rural development, they have often neglected to assess issues related to rural areas. China has undergone the adjustment of rural structure and development policies, and the sustainable development of rural areas should be given enough attention. This study constructs a system of indicators related to rural public resources, aiming to assess whether there are distributional inequalities in spatial allocation. The calculations show that: (1) China's rural public resources allocation coefficient is stable at 0.2 to 0.3 at the national level. (2) Even under policy support, a significant decline rate change still occurs. (3) Western education resources are allocated relatively compared with eastern provinces, but resources are rarely in medical and social security. China has implemented a firm macro-control policy regarding resource allocation in rural areas. Furthermore, the government should continue to increase investment in human resources and public facilities to adjust regional differences. This paper analyzes the allocation structure of rural resources based on China's new policy theory. It has opened a new path in sustainable rural development governance and public resource allocation to provide constructive suggestions for sustainable rural development in China and other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Basin Horizontal Ecological Compensation Mechanism (BHEC) is a significant institutional innovation in China's water environment management, aimed at achieving green, low-carbon, and high-quality development in the basin. This paper examines the current status of the spatial association network of green low-carbon development in Xin'an River basin, using social network analysis based on data from prefecture-level cities between 2006 and 2019. Using a dual difference model, the paper explores the important role of BHEC in promoting green low-carbon development from the perspectives of production and consumption and analyzes the path of BHEC's promotion of green low-carbon development in detail. The results indicate that (1) the green low-carbon development in the Xin'an River basin is universally connected in space, but this connection is uneven among the cities in the basin, presenting a network spatial structure with the central region as the core and the north and south regions approaching the core. (2) BHEC contributes to green low-carbon development, and the "two-wheel drive" of green technology progress and green technology efficiency is essential to improve green low-carbon development. (3) From the perspective of consumption affecting green low-carbon development, the positive impact of BHEC on green low-carbon development is inseparable from the synergistic guarantee of public participation. (4) From the production side of green low-carbon development, the ecological effect, structural effect, and technological effect are significant transmission factors of compensation policies affecting green low-carbon development. (5) The "blood transfusion" pilot policy is more helpful to improve green low-carbon development, and compensation policy has positive spillover effects. Finally, the paper argues that the trans-basin ecological compensation policy is expected to become a long-term mechanism to promote green low-carbon and high-quality development in the basin, providing a theoretical and practical basis for developing countries to achieve green low-carbon development through an ecological compensation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Challenges from the urban–rural disparity immensely burden the world's progress fulfilling Sustainable Development Goals and the goals' central promise, particularly for developing countries experiencing rapid structural change and urbanization. A knowledge gap lies between the epistemology of urban–rural disparity and the practice of integrated urban-rural development. This paper aims to provide a new approach to bridge the knowledge gap based on the recent Chinese experience. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative research reviewed major economic and multidisciplinary studies regarding urban-rural development and the growth-equality tradeoff. Chinese experience is employed to showcase concrete challenges from the urban–rural disparity and how the proposed approach works for urban-rural integration. Findings: Theoretical and practical approaches with urban bias largely fail to counter the challenges. Building on China's recent practice probing beyond urban bias, IFPRI (2019) proposes the term rurbanomics with a highlight of equalized urban-rural economic partnership, whereafter Zhou and Chen (2021) enrich the term into a conceptual framework. This paper further improves rurbanomics as a new viable approach to integrated urban-rural development under the overarching goal of common prosperity. The approach prioritizes driving forces in the economic, demographic, eco-environmental, social institutional and technological aspects for the policy community to leverage. Long-term mechanisms are decerned to link urban-rural integration to common prosperity. Practical implications: China has leveraged ingredients of the rurbanomics approach in the political deployment to integrated urban-rural development. However, the application of this approach is yet to be adapted with local heterogeneities and live up to application's potential. Long-term mechanisms recommended by the rurbanomics approach will need to be carried out. Future improvements will need substantial theoretical extension and micro-level empirical studies. Originality/value: This paper streamlines the epistemological shreds regarding pursuits, challenges, global experiences and theoretical approaches of urban-rural development. The paper also develops rurbanomics to navigate urban-rural integration, Sustainable Development Goals and common prosperity. By decerning long-term mechanisms in the Chinese case accordingly, this paper provides clues for other economies to employ the new approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of green finance and the promotion of green transformation and upgrading of high energy-consuming enterprises are of great significance for China to achieve the "double carbon" goal. This paper employs a dual fixed-effects model to examine the profound ramifications and intrinsic mechanisms of green finance development on the transformative innovation of high-energy-consumption enterprises, using a sample of 462 publicly traded high-energy-consuming corporations from the period spanning 2016 to 2020. The results show that the development of green finance promotes the transformation and innovation of energy-intensive enterprises and that market-incentivized environmental regulation plays a partially mediating role; the results of heterogeneity analysis show that green finance promotes the transformation and innovation of high energy-consuming enterprises with significant differences in different low-carbon pilot regions, company ownership, and enterprise size; the mechanism analysis shows that the development of green finance can increase government subsidies and alleviate financing constraints to promote the transformation and innovation of high energy-consuming enterprises; it is also found that the development of green finance can significantly improve the financial performance of enterprises. The research findings of this paper hold significant implications for promoting the sustainable development of green finance and high-energy consumption enterprises in China. They provide valuable insights and references for facilitating the green transformation and innovation of high-energy-consuming enterprises in China as well as other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the interactions between the human sphere and the natural sphere in key places and regions of the world is crucial for promoting sustainability science and achieving sustainable development. As one of the emerging global city-regions in China and the Global South, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) plays an increasingly nonnegligible role in the globalized economy and telecoupling social-ecological systems (SESs). Considering the well-known importance and representativeness, the YRD has been regarded as an appropriate experimental site of integrated research on geographical and sustainability science at the subnational scale. This paper tries to establish theoretical and practical linkages between regional integration and sustainable development at the subnational scale based on the sustainable development goals (SDGs), the Chinese contexts, and a literature review of relevant researches. We argue that future research should pay more attention to the interdisciplinary, transregional, and multi-scale attributes of issues related to regional integrated and sustainable development in the YRD. The following research agendas, such as linking SDGs to regional integrative development, analyzing the sustainability of regional SESs, assessing the integrated region at the subnational scale, investigating the YRD at different geographical scales, exploring applicable governance structures and institutions, as well as applying multi-source data and interdisciplinary methodologies, call for more scholarly attention. We hope that this paper could be an initial motion to expand and enrich relevant research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mega-urban agglomerations in developing countries have been main parts of economic development. But at the same time, they have become the most prominent and sensitive areas of resource and environment problems. It is important to clarify the mechanism and driving factors of green growth in mega-urban agglomerations. Based on the panel data of 28 major cities in China's Pan-Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration from 2006 to 2015, this paper evaluates the level of green development of urban agglomeration by green total factor productivity index (GTFP) based on Global Malmquist DEA model, and decomposes GTFP into technological progress, pure technical efficiency change, scale efficiency change and technological scale change. On this basis, this paper constructs a panel econometric model to analyze the influencing factors of GTFP and its decomposition factors. The results show that GTFP of Pan-Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration is growing, and the scale effect caused by technological progress is the main driving factor. Green development in the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration takes into account efficiency and regional fairness, which causes differences in GTFP growth patterns of sub-urban agglomerations within mega-urban agglomerations. The technological progress and technical efficiency improvement are becoming the main driving force of GTFP growth in relatively backward areas. Furthermore, according to the influencing factors of GTFP and its decomposition factors, mega-urban agglomeration should eliminate internal administrative barriers to build an integrated market. It should also increase the proportion of technology industries in core cities, and give full play to the role of technology spillover effect on surrounding cities. In addition, improving the efficiency of resource and energy utilization is also helpful to promote the transformation of urban agglomeration development from factor-driven to efficiency-driven and innovation-driven. Our research results have implications for the coordinated development of economy and environment in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coupling and coordinated change characteristics of land-use production, living, and ecological functions (PLEFs) and their relationship with human activity intensity (HAI) in ecologically fragile areas are important to study, especially in promoting the sustainable development of regional land-use and revealing the evolution of the human–land relationship. In this paper, the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model was used to analyze the coordinated development level of PLEF in Wanzhou District from 2000 to 2020. The HAI was measured by the equivalent of construction land. The synchronous development model was introduced to analyze the relationship between them. The results showed that, in Wanzhou District, the PLEFs showed significant spatial distribution differences and evident spatial complementarity. The PLEFs of Wanzhou District were at a good coordination level, but exhibited a downward trend. A spatial pattern of "high in the west and low in the southeast" was presented. The CCD of the production–living function was poor, which is the critical direction of future optimization. The value of HAI in Wanzhou District showed an increasing trend and exhibited a high concentration in the central town and its surrounding regions. According to the synchronous development state of the HAI and the CCD of the PLEFs, Wanzhou District was divided into three development types. The development type of most areas of Wanzhou District was positive, but the area decreased over the past 20 years. Therefore, it is crucial to propose other regulatory strategies for regions with different development types. This research will provide a decision-making reference for promoting the coordination of the PLEFs and alleviating human–land relations in the reservoir area of central and western China, mountainous regions, and similar areas in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rural landscape is an integrated system of tangible and intangible cultural heritages in rural areas, which includes multiple attributes in terms of culture, spirit and nature. The multi-dimensional, holistic protection and promotion of the rural landscape is considered to be a challenging topic in the academic circle. In the past two decades, digital information platforms have been widely used in the field of protecting cultural heritage because of their convenience, as well as their cross-temporal and systematic nature. However, a digital information platform that is specifically designed for a rural landscape is still in the initial stage of experimentation and exploration, and there is a lack of systematic understanding and overall framework conception. In this paper, with the preliminary practice of the rural landscape digital information platform (RLDIP) in China in the past two decades as the example, a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis is conducted to deeply explore the data source, data type, data organization and functional structure of the platform samples. The common characteristics, potential in application and typical problems of the current platform are summarized. What is more, based on the need for a comprehensive rural revitalization in such developing countries as China, a framework conception of the rural landscape digital information platform (RLDIP) is proposed, and its data-classification system, functional structure and digital process are identified. This study will provide a theoretical basis and technical reference for the digital information platform to develop its potential in overall protection, coordinated development and sustainable management of the rural landscape in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aspects, i.e. open trade (OT), foreign direct investment (FDI), capital formation, and information and communication technology (ICT) exports, are fundamental for any nation's sustainable Economic Development (ED). The paper seeks to examine the effect of those aspects on the ED of Saudi Arabia and other Middle East nations which participate in BRI. The study uses the yearly cross-sectional time-series data from 2013 to 2022. The dual-stage Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) is employed in the sample because the sum of parameters is smaller than the sum of moment clauses. The findings reveal that capital formation and FDI significantly and positively affect the ED, while OT and ICT exports negatively and insignificantly affect it. The general findings show that China's external FDI has increased the ED in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East nations whereas OT shows an insignificance as the majority of emerging nations should capitalize industrial development and hearten export expansion. This study is an initial effort to examine the relationships among BRI aspects and sustainable ED in Middle East Nations using the GMM method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses urbanization in the context of China's efforts to meet its commitments regarding the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper focuses specifically on governmental policies to promote polycentricity, with multiple urban centers of a similar scale within metropolitan areas, rather than a traditional single, dominant central business district. Polycentric urban forms have the potential to reduce average commuting times, thereby impacting greenhouse gas emissions. Polycentricity may also enhance access to employment and other opportunities for marginalized households. To this end, we examine the nexus between emerging polycentric urbanization patterns in Chinese cities and modes of governance at the national and local levels. Changsha, in Hunan province, is selected as a case study to illuminate the issues. Our analysis shows that fiscal considerations and other national and local governance imperatives can play a crucial role in determining how urbanization evolves. While China is unique in many ways, there are also important commonalities with other countries in the global South that are experiencing rapid urbanization, so the insights generated here may be more broadly applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Global climate change is becoming an increasingly serious issue. China, the largest carbon emitter, has a long way towards its sustainable development goals (SDGs) and take on its carbon reduction responsibility, especially in the industrial sector. In this vein, industrial intelligence, a key driver in the "Industry 4.0 era", offers an opportunity in this carbon reduction campaign. This paper seeks to examine the influences of industrial intelligence on carbon emissions, their heterogeneous characteristics and transmission mechanisms, and the moderating role of human capital. Therefore, we properly probed theoretical aspects, and then we used China's provincial data from 2006 to 2019 and a number of tests, namely the fixed effect model, the two‐stage test, and the moderating effect model, to test the relevant assumptions. We first unfolded that industrial intelligence can significantly mitigate carbon emissions. Specifically, the heterogeneous analysis found that carbon reduction efforts are more pronounced in China's central and western regions and resource‐based regions. We further highlight the mechanism identification, which reveals that industrial structure upgrading and technological innovation are the main channels for industrial intelligence to abate CO2 emissions. Importantly, we pinpoint the role of human capital, which positively moderates the relationship between industrial intelligence and carbon emissions and can well amplify the industrial structure effect of industrial intelligence. These results are conducive to accurately assessing the environmental benefits of industrial intelligence and providing policy enlightenment for China to alleviate carbon emissions, and they will also offer a reference for other developing countries to learn from. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trade-off between economic growth and environmental pollution is a significant challenge for many developing countries. The emergence of digital technology is reshaping economic development and innovation systems, making it crucial to integrate digital technology and green enterprise innovation. However, local government environmental regulations can impact sustainable green development of enterprises. This study constructs a model of a three-party evolutionary game between the government, digital consulting institutions, and enterprises to explore external incentives for promoting sustainable green development among enterprises. Findings suggest that different instruments of environmental regulation have varying effects on sustainable green development of enterprises. High-intensity command-and-control, middle-intensity market-inspired, low-intensity public participation-based, and low-intensity digital technology subsidies are the optimal combination of strategies that can drive sustainable green development among enterprises more quickly and effectively in the long term. This paper proposes an optimal strategy for sustainable green development of enterprises under the game between local governments, enterprises, and digital consulting institutions from a multi-party evolutionary game perspective, providing a reference for policy development plans and theories of sustainable development for China’s double carbon target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of CEO foreign experience on corporate sustainable development from the angle of firm green innovation. Using manually collected data of CEOs' foreign experience, we find that CEO foreign experience is positively associated with firm green innovation in China. The positive relationship between CEO foreign experience and green innovation (including green invention patents and green utility model patents) is more significant when the firm is state owned, when the firm has better corporate governance, and when the firm is subject to a better institutional environment. Further analyses indicate that both foreign work and foreign educational experiences matter; relative to experiences gained in underdeveloped countries, those related to developed economies tend to be more influential in facilitating green innovation. Finally, the documented association is robust to a series of robustness checks, including propensity score matching, instrumental variable approach, Heckman two‐stage model, and the inclusion of firm fixed effects. Overall, this paper contributes to the upper echelons perspective, and it also offers clear practical implications through showing that hiring returnee CEOs can enhance firms' sustainable development, which could be of interest to policy makers in other emerging markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial planning has become an important measure for countries and regions to promote sustainable development. However, there remains a lack of systematic and quantitative research on spatial planning worldwide. In this study, CiteSpace was used to perform bibliometric analysis and visualization research on the Web of Science core collection and China National Knowledge Infrastructure database. It was found that: (1) The number of papers published in global spatial planning research shows an increasing trend, especially after 2018, with China showing an obvious increasing trend. (2) Globally, the United States has the largest number of relevant research results, and Italy has the most cooperation with other countries. The highest research output is from developed countries, while that of developing countries is relatively weak. (3) There is some intersection among countries, disciplines, and authors but it is not strong, indicating that cooperation should be strengthened. (4) Through keyword cluster, timeline, and time zone analysis, global development can be roughly divided into three stages: the first stage is characterized by the study of spatial planning system theory, the second stage is characterized by building green infrastructure and providing ecological services, and the third stage is characterized by an emphasis on public participation and the establishment of justice mechanisms. China's development corresponds to three stages: the theory and experience learning stage, the spatial planning system focused on economic development stage, and the integration of multiple plans and the sustainable development exploration stage. (5) There are differences in burst words between the world and China, indicating that there are great differences in research hotspots in different countries' periods and conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Business (20789424) is the property of Universidad del Pacifico and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

• The DEA model was proposed for measuring industrial parks' green development performance. • The green development efficiency of the industrial parks exhibits spatial heterogeneity. • The overall scale efficiency outperforms technical efficiency. Greening the industrial parks is one of China's attempts to explore sustainable development for the industrial sector. The efficiency of green development has come to serve as a criteria index to evaluate the performance of green development for industrial parks. In this paper, a non-desired output and non-radial DEA model was proposed for measuring industrial parks' green development performance. We use the panel data of 171 green industrial parks certified by China's central government to evaluate the green development efficiency. It shows that the green development efficiency of the industrial parks exhibits significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity. We further decompose the green development efficiency and analyze the input redundancy and output insufficiency. We also choose Suzhou and Yunnan Anning Industrial Park for case studies, in order to explore the measures which can be replicated and promoted, and contribute to the green development of industrial parks in China and other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is currently the biggest environmental challenge facing sustainable development in human society, and it is an inherent requirement for achieving sustainable development by actively addressing climate change. Under the increasingly strict constraints of climate governance, developed countries such as the United States, European Union countries, and Japan have responded and actively formulated low-carbon development goals and policy measures that are in line with their national conditions. These policies mainly involve various fields such as low-carbon technology, energy conservation and emission reduction, and circular development, with clear policy guidance. In this paper, the evolution of policies on marine carbon sink and carbon trading in China is summarized, providing support for better understanding the background of formulating relevant international and domestic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the effect of government supervision on the development of FFBS by analyzing massive travel information data. Our identification strategy exploits a natural experiment focusing on Mobike in Chengdu. We find that supervision does not necessarily suppress the development of FFBS. It also allows FFBS to increase its focus on alleviating the pressure of public transport and reducing the consumption of public resources. Moreover, we identify that the impact of government supervision on weekends is considerably more significant than on weekdays given that government supervision has a significant suppression effect on the FFBS travel behavior of scattered parking, leisure, and long distance. In contrast, the effect of government supervision on the FFBS travel behavior of commuting and schooling is not significant. We finally present implications for government and operators of FFBS, especially in developing countries, on the sustainable development of FFBS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings account for nearly 2/5ths of global energy expenditure. Due to this figure, the 90s witnessed the rise of green buildings (GBs) that were designed with the purpose of lowering the demand for energy, water, and materials resources while enhancing environmental protection efforts and human well-being over time. This paper examines recent studies and technologies related to the design, construction, and overall operation of GBs and determines potential future research directions in this area of study. This global review of green building development in the last two decades is conducted through bibliometric analysis on the Web of Science, via the Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index databases. Publication performance, countries' characteristics, and identification of key areas of green building development and popular technologies were conducted via social network analysis, big data method, and S-curve predictions. A total of 5246 articles were evaluated on the basis of subject categories, journals' performance, general publication outputs, and other publication characteristics. Further analysis was made on dominant issues through keyword co-occurrence, green building technologies by patent analysis, and S-curve predictions. The USA, China, and the UK are ranked the top three countries where the majority of publications come from. Australia and China had the closest relationship in the global network cooperation. Global trends of the top 5 countries showed different country characteristics. China had a steady and consistent growth in green building publications each year. The total publications on different cities had a high correlation with cities' GDP by Baidu Search Index. Also, barriers and contradictions such as cost, occupant comfort, and energy consumption were discussed in developed and developing countries. Green buildings, sustainability, and energy efficiency were the top three hotspots identified through the whole research period by the cluster analysis. Additionally, green building energy technologies, including building structures, materials, and energy systems, were the most prevalent technologies of interest determined by the Derwent Innovations Index prediction analysis. This review reveals hotspots and emerging trends in green building research and development and suggests routes for future research. Bibliometric analysis, combined with other useful tools, can quantitatively measure research activities from the past and present, thus bridging the historical gap and predicting the future of green building development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, China, like other developing countries in the world, pursued the goal of rapid economic development at the expense of ecology and ignored the issue of environmental protection. But in recent decades, as environmental problems have become increasingly prominent, developing countries have begun to explore ways to coordinate economy and ecological environment. As the largest developing country, China has been actively exploring ecological governance plans, putting forward the concept of green development, setting the goal of building a "beautiful China" and placing the construction of ecological civilization in the ontological status of social systems and national goals. In order to accelerate the green development process of enterprises in developing countries, based on the actual situation in China, this paper constructs a tripartite evolutionary game model of environmental accounting information disclosure with enterprises, investors and media as the research objects, and analyzes the internal mechanism of environmental accounting information disclosure. The model finds that the equilibrium of the three parties is affected by multiple factors. Therefore, this study further uses system dynamics to explore the dynamic process of evolutionary games and the strategic choices among multiple agents, and explore the mechanism of three types of agents to promote environmental accounting information disclosure. The simulation results reveal that government incentives have a greater impact on guiding enterprises and the media to evolve in the direction of legal disclosure and participation in exposure strategies. In addition, the continuous reduction of the cumbersome degree of disclosure procedures and the difficulty of improving environmental performance can fundamentally promote companies to actively choose legal disclosure strategies, which will help improve the quality of environmental accounting information disclosure, boost investor confidence, and enhance government supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Based on three case studies of rural tourism practices in suburban Beijing, China, this paper proposes a community-driven development (CDD) model in rural tourism. The paper illustrated three principles of the CDD model: localization of supply chain, community-external investor symbiosis, and democratization of decision making. The three principles as a whole serve as key to understanding and successfully implementing the CDD in China. Although the three principles come from the practice of rural tourism development in China, it is hoped that theoretical implications could be derived from this paper to direct tourism planning exercises in other countries, especially those developing countries with similar economic development backgrounds to China. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several developing countries have become world leaders in the field of renewable energy, of which China, but also Brazil and India stand out. This research paper focuses on the positions they occupy in the world rankings of hydro, wind, solar and bio energy capacities, as compared to the developed countries. At the same time, the investigation points to specific catalysts or, on the contrary, deterrents of the "green revolution" in the developing world. Hydropower is the most important form of renewable energy in all the three countries included in this evaluation. It is underscored that China is the first one in each of the four world rankings, taking into account the total installed capacity of renewable energy: hydro, wind, solar and bio. It is also the largest investor in renewable energy capacity worldwide. Brazil ranks second as regards hydropower and bioenergy capacities, while India ranks fourth in wind and bioenergy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land system science has gained prominence over the past few decades due to its role in promoting sustainable development. However, there are still key advancements needed to support land system science in meeting the challenges ahead and further contribute to the achievement of sustainable development. Therefore, this paper uses scientometrics to evaluate the development process of land system science and explore the challenges and weaknesses it faces. Our findings indicate that: (1) The number and citation frequency of land system science publications have been increasing in recent years; (2) Fields like "land use change", "systematic review", "machine learning", "agricultural land", and "environmental science" have gradually become research hotspots with the development and progress of land system science; (3) Land system science has gradually formed as an interdisciplinary subject, with increasing attention on human and environmental issues; (4) Contributions to land system science research mainly come from the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and Germany, while China and Germany still need to strengthen their cooperation with other countries. Meanwhile, the imbalance in participation between the Global North and the Global South remains a significant challenge for global sustainable development; (5) The contribution of land systems science to the SDGs is primarily concentrated within the environment and society groups, including Climate Action (SDG 13), Life on Land (SDG 15), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), Zero Hunger (SDG 02), as well as Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 06). This review highlights the significant potential of land system science in achieving SDGs and identifies key challenges that need to be addressed to advance the field. • The number and citation frequency of land system science publications have been increasing recently. • Fields like "land use change", "systematic review", "machine learning", "agricultural land", and "environmental science" are becoming research hotspots. • Land system science is now an interdisciplinary subject, gaining more attention on human and environmental issues. • Research contributions mainly come from the US, China, the UK, and Germany, but China and Germany need better international cooperation. • The persistent participation imbalance between the Global North and South presents significant challenges to advancing global sustainable development. • Land system science contributions to SDGs focus on environment and society, including Climate Action, Life on Land, Sustainable Cities, Zero Hunger, and Clean Water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Globalization in supply chain networks is urging manufacturing companies for the production of sustainable products with re-engineering technologies that offer competitive advantage in current market. However, the increasing sustainable illumes are influencing reverse logistics (RL) systems to analyze their impacts on economy, environment and society. Recently, China's $62bn investment under the egis of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which comprises a number of infrastructure and energy projects is developing Pakistan as a part of "One Belt One Road" initiative. Accordingly, a substantial number of economical, ecological and social exercises will occur in closest future. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of sustainable practices, i.e., environmental, economic and social sustainability on RL recovery options. Design/methodology/approach: Sustainable concepts including environmental, economic and social and RL recovery options are extracted through extensive literature review. A number of researchers used a variety of methodologies for achieving their research objectives. However, the authors will be using a combination of VIsekriterijumska optimizacija i KOmpromisno Resenje (VIKOR) and grey relational analysis (GRA) technique under fuzzy environment in the case of CPEC. Findings: Results show that waste management, impact on bio-diversity and economic growth are the most significant factors in designing sustainable RL recovery options. Moreover, remanufacture and reuse rank top among RL recovery options due their significant economic and environmental effects, whereas recycle and resell position last due to their high cost and cutting edge modern technologies. Practical implications: Finally based on this model, it is possible for authorities to design a sustainable RL strategy for efficient operations in case of CPEC projects and other developing countries as well. Originality/value: Negligible work has been done regarding sustainable modeling in RL strategies using a combination of VIKOR and GRA techniques subjected to fuzzy environment in the case of CPEC from perspective of developing country, i.e., Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty remains one of the long-term chronic dilemmas facing the sustainable development of human society during the 21st century. The spatiotemporal dynamics of poor regions, particularly in developing countries, is crucial for realizing fundamental sustainable development goals (SDGs). For decades, many scholars have sought to accurately measure, identify and alleviate poverty at different geographical scales. However, reliable data about the estimation of poverty remain scarce for developing countries, hindering efforts to accurately identify poverty. This paper utilizes the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) sensor nighttime light imagery to identify poor counties in China from 1992 to 2013. Using 16 statistical and spatial features extracted from this nighttime light imagery and using 96 poor counties and 96 nonpoor counties from 2010 as the classification sample, we describe the spatiotemporal dynamics of poor counties based on a random forests approach. Our study finds that the number of poor counties is decreasing in a fluctuating pattern and that contiguous poverty-stricken areas are becoming fragmented. The reduction in poor counties exhibits a manner of moving horizontally from the eastern regions to the central and western parts of China, while the number of poor counties in the central and western regions has decreased around the central cities or areas. The Aihui-Tengchong Line is not the dividing line in the distribution of poor counties in China, which means that China's poor can also be found in areas with relatively high population density. Together, the findings reveal that the key to reducing regional poverty is the development of regional economies and the implementation of national macro policies. This paper provides references for formulating antipoverty strategies for each county and offers new insights into poverty estimation and regional sustainable development for other developing countries. Image 1 • A new research framework is proposed to identify poverty. • Imagery and random forests are used to classify poor counties. • Spatiotemporal dynamics of poor counties are monitored in China. • Poverty dynamics generate implication for poverty policy and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development results achieved by China in the past 30 years are so impressive and evident that they can be neither ignored nor denied. As a result, in many developing and even developed countries there is an interest for understanding what are the characteristics of the Chinese development model, whether there are any prerequisites and what are the costs. The paper analyzes the merits of this model and particularly its effectiveness in achieving tangible results in the development process and particularly in moving from quantitative to qualitative results. The conclusion is that particularly for the developing countries the Chinese development model may become more attractive towards the middle of the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural and Rural Green Development (ARGD) and economic growth are major challenges prevalent in China, but also in other developing countries. A notable gap in current literature lies in the limited holistic approach to agriculture and rural areas, with scant attention being paid to the spatiotemporal evolution of ARGD and its coordination relationship with economic growth. This paper first offers a theoretical analysis of the interactive relationship between ARGD and economic growth and subsequently examines the policy implementation process in China in this regard. It observes 31 provinces in China from 1997 to 2020 to uncover the spatiotemporal evolution of Agricultural and Rural Green Development Efficiency (ARGDE). Using the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model and the local spatial autocorrelation model, this paper analyses the coordination relationship and spatial correlation between ARGDE and economic growth. The results show that ARGDE in China exhibited a phased growth trend and was greatly affected by policies during 1997–2020. The interregional ARGD produced a hierarchical effect. However, provinces with a higher ARGDE did not necessarily exhibit faster growth, leading to a differential pattern of optimization that involved continuous optimization, phased optimization, and continuous deterioration. Over a long period, ARGDE exhibited a trend of significant upward leaps or jumps. Finally, the CCD between ARGDE and economic growth improved, with a clear trend of high-high agglomeration characteristics that shifted from the eastern and northeastern provinces to the central and western ones. This suggests that promoting "quality agriculture" and "green agriculture" can have practical significance in accelerating the development of ARGD. In the future, it is vital to promote ARGD's transformation while mitigating the risk of degrading the coordinated relationship between ARGD and economic growth. • China's Agricultural and Rural Green Development Efficiency (ARGDE) increased. • Provinces with higher ARGDE did not necessarily have a faster growth rate. • ARGDE exhibits a leapfrogging improvement in a period of 4–5 years. • The coupling coordination degree between ARGDE and economic growth improved. • The High-High cluster have shifted to the central and western regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting green urban development has become a common consensus to address environmental pollution and ecological damage, but we know little about the measurement and drivers of urban green innovation efficiency (GIE). In this article, firstly, we established a framework for assessing urban green innovation efficiency through multidimensional data, then used the spatial econometric model to reveal the spatiotemporal evolutionary characteristics of urban GIE, and, finally, analyzed the influencing factors and spatial spillover effects of urban GIE. The results show the following: (1) The overall urban GIE in China was low and had significant spatial agglomeration, mainly concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions with spatial locking characteristics, while the GIE of cities in undeveloped regions does not change much. (3) There was much room for improvement in the input-output system of green innovation, considering that the sources of inefficiency in most cities were insufficient investment in scientific and technological innovation personnel and innovation environment, excessive environmental pollution, and limited technological output. (4) Foreign direct investment, financial development, and manufacturing industry agglomeration had positive effects on urban GIE. These research findings and policy implications are of certain reference value for other emerging developing countries to implement urban governance and green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trade-off between economic growth and ecological improvement has always become an important and difficult issue for many countries, especially for developing countries. Due to a long-term extensive economic growth pattern, the regional resource allocation deviates from the optimal, especially the existence of energy misallocation, which hinders the maximization of economic output. Therefore, considering the characteristics and heterogeneity of resource endowments in different regions and increasing renewable energy consumption, that is, promoting energy transition, is it capable of sustainable development under China's actual conditions? The exploration of the issue is a core step in the research of the impact of renewable energy on industrial green transformation. Based on the panel data of 30 regions in China from 2009 to 2016, this paper constructs a threshold model from the perspective of regional energy misallocation and empirically tests the nonlinear mechanism of renewable energy consumption to promote industrial green transformation. The results show that China's energy allocation efficiency is low, there is a certain misallocation phenomenon, and the improvement effect in recent years is not satisfactory. Further, the relationship between renewable energy consumption and industrial green transformation is not a simple linear relationship, but a double threshold effect due to regional energy misallocation. In areas with severe energy misallocation, renewable energy consumption does not have a significant boost to industrial green transformation. Finally, this paper proposes the policy enlightenment of promoting industrial green transformation from the aspects of performance evaluation, market reform, and factor flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Pilot Free Trade Zones (PFTZ) can promote green technology innovation efficiency. • Providing reference for developing countries to develop green economy. • Proposing a more holistic index system of green technology innovation efficiency. • The impact of PFTZ exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity. • Market potential affects the green effect of PFTZ. The Pilot Free Trade Zone (PFTZ) policy represents a significant step in China's institutional innovation and broader opening-up, crucial for fostering green and high-quality economic growth. The existing literature has conducted in-depth studies on the economic effects, energy conservation, emission reduction and green innovation of PFTZs, but the effect on green technology innovation efficiency (GTIE) remains underexplored. Institutional innovation in the PFTZs will profoundly affect regional green development, and green innovation, and will certainly affect the regional GTIE. Based on this, this paper uses the city-level data of prefecture-level cities in China from 2005 to 2020 to empirically test the impact of PFTZ establishment on GTIE. First, the Super-SBM model was applied to evaluate the GTIE across 281 Chinese cities. Then, taking the establishment of PFTZs as a quasi-natural experiment, the multi-stage differentially differential model is constructed to empirically assess PFTZ policy's impact on GTIE. The findings indicate that PFTZs can significantly enhance the GTIE. This improvement is facilitated through four pathways: the digital economy, the high-tech industries agglomeration, innovation agglomeration, and talent agglomeration. The results offer strategies for balancing external openness with environmental protection in developing countries and furnish empirical support for creating high-quality development frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a number of ideas on how climate change policy implementation in developing countries can be supported by alternative international cooperation mechanisms that are based on stakeholder interests and policy priorities including broader economic and social development issues. It includes a brief review of current development policies, technological research and promotion efforts, and climate change that demonstrates that mutual policy initiatives undertaken by governments and the private sector actually have major positive impacts on climate change without being initiated by this global policy concern. Furthermore a number of examples are given on how future development objectives in Brazil, China, and India jointly can support economic and social goals and global climate change concerns if these goals are taken into consideration and supported by international cooperative mechanisms. The paper proposes international cooperative mechanisms that can support the implementation of integrated development and climate change policies. The mechanisms include an international sustainable development (SD) and Climate Finance Mechanism (SDCFM), technology development and transition programmes, technology standards, and other measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many developing countries including China are implementing increasingly stringent environmental regulations to achieve sustainable development. However, we have limited understanding about whether environmental regulations promote enterprise innovation. To address this research gap, this study empirically analyzes the impact of environmental regulations which is represented by the China Environmental Protection Law (2015) on enterprise innovation and it explores the moderating effects of official communication on environmental regulations and corporate innovation. The Super-Slacks-Based Measure (Super-SBM) model and Multiple Nonlinear Regression model are used to analyze 34,074 samples in China's A-share market during the 2015–2017 period. Our results show that, in general, a higher intensity of environmental regulations is more beneficial to incentivize enterprises to implement innovation. Meanwhile, there is an inverted U-type relationship between official communication and innovation of enterprises. Furthermore, at present, the average level of official communication in China is too high, which will weaken the role of environmental regulation in promoting enterprise innovation. Overall, this study can help us better understand the politics behind enterprise innovation in countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address global climate change, achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality has become a global consensus. However, the means to simultaneously achieve carbon reduction and promote green economic development, particularly in developing countries, require further investigation. This study evaluates the impact of e-commerce on CO 2 emissions. Through an examination of the effects of the National E-Commerce Demonstration City (NEDC) policy from 2006 to 2017, this paper reveals that e-commerce growth facilitated by the NEDC policy resulted in a 7.89% reduction in total CO 2 emissions and a per capita reduction of 1.1146 tons in the pilot cities. Mechanism analysis demonstrates that the upgrading of industrial structure, development of digital finance, and the growth of innovation and entrepreneurship serve as primary pathways for this impact. The robustness of the findings is supported by parallel trend tests, placebo tests, and additional sensitivity analyses. Furthermore, the research reveals that the NEDC policy exhibits a more significant reduction in CO 2 emissions in cities with higher levels of economic development and non-resource-based cities. Welfare analyses show that the NEDC policy has significant socio-economic effects. These findings provide new evidence on the environmental effects of the digital economy and offer insights into achieving carbon neutrality. • The National E-commerce Demonstration Cities (NEDC) policy reduced CO 2 emissions. • Optimizing industrial structure, enhancing digital finance, and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship are mechanisms. • The effect is more pronounced in cities with high economic levels and high resource dependence. • The NEDC policy substantially enhanced social welfare by reducing CO 2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The escalating challenge of municipal solid waste (MSW) critically tests the sustainable development capacities of urban centers. In response, China initiated pilot policies in 2017 aimed at bolstering MSW management. The effectiveness of these initiatives, however, necessitates empirical scrutiny. This study leverages panel data spanning 95 cities at the prefectural level or higher, covering the period from 2006 to 2020, to assess the impact of the MSW sorting pilot policy on urban sustainable development using a difference-in-differences approach. The research found that the MSW sorting pilot policy has significantly increased the processing volume of MSW, thereby enhancing the sustainable development capabilities of cities. Further, the study identifies augmented fixed asset investments as a key mechanism through which pilot cities have enhanced their MSW management capabilities. Notably, the policy's stimulative effects are more pronounced in less densely populated and economically lagging regions. These findings provide critical insights for developing nations in shaping MSW sorting strategies and advancing urban sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political corruption is considered one of the major obstacles to achieving high-quality economic development in developed and developing countries. This study first calculates the ecological footprints of 29 provinces in China based on China's provincial panel data from 2006 to 2015. The provinces' ecological efficiencies were then calculated. The relationship between government corruption and ecological efficiency is researched, and the result shows that such a relationship is not linear. At different levels of ecological efficiency, government corruption has different effects on ecological efficiency. Finally, the resource misallocation index is introduced, and the spatial error model is used to further test the impact of government corruption and resource misallocation on ecological efficiency. The regression results show that high levels of government corruption and resource allocation distortion will cause a decrease in regional ecological efficiency, which adversely affects the sustainable development of the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As we approach the deadline for achieving the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is less than a decade away, it is crucial for researchers and research institutions at both national and international levels to conduct rigorous scientific assessments of the progress made towards these goals. The assessment is of utmost importance as it will provide valuable insights and information to political leaders and other stakeholders, guiding their actions and efforts towards successfully attaining the SDGs by the year 2030. This study aimed at providing vivid descriptions of the SDG 2 – zero hunger-related research endeavour. It employed bibliometric analysis and geographical patterns of SDG 2-related publications extracted from Scopus database from 2015 to 2023. A total of 397 documents were extracted where Sustainability journal ranked 1st among the journal outlets of zero hunger-related publications. The publication of zero hunger-related documents grew from 1.5% in 2016 to 29.7% in 2022. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Chinese Academy of Sciences were the top 2 institutions publishing zero hunger-related documents while the lead article was published by Journal of Cleaner Production with 128 citations. The funding sponsors of SDG 2-related publications were dominated by sponsors from developed countries (such as China, Belgium, United States, and United Kingdom) while no funding sponsors from developing countries were among the top 10. The United States and United Kingdom were the two most productive countries while only one African country (South Africa) made the list of top 10 countries publishing zero hunger-related documents. This study provided political leaders and key stakeholders with in-depth understanding of the SDG 2-related research activities and highlighted research funding and collaboration gaps facing the developing nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heavy fog and smog in Beijing lets citizens and policy makers reflect on the moral and political ramifications of the rapid economic growth, and determine a strong policy towards a green future. This paper first investigates the serious impact of the fog and smog, and the response of citizens and municipality, then discusses the possible causes of this disastrous fog and smog, and reflects on why and how developing countries like China should accommodate a green future. In discussing the case of heavy fog and smog in Beijing, I aim to show that disastrous environmental incidents related to the rapid economic growth are beneficial to the sustainable development of developing countries like China, and the urge to survive and to live a good life will drive people to take the common requirements and interests of the social community, including future generations, into moral consideration, and guarantee the possibility of a green future, regardless of the possible huge costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The top 3 countries are the US, China, and the UK in terms of the production in the field of ecological compensation. • Developed countries produced more research papers with higher influence in the field. • Some developing countries or regions, e.g., China, Costa Rica, Mexico, Vietnam, and Latin America, also appear as high-frequency keywords. • The research themes have gradually been enriched, and the scope of research topics has gradually enlarged. Ecosystems are facing severe destruction and threats due to unreasonable human utilization. Repairing damage to nature and protect biodiversity through ecological compensation will be an inevitable measure for achieving sustainable development. To explore the current research hotspots and future research directions of ecological compensation, this paper tries to search the WoS Core Collection and collects 685 ecological compensation papers published between 1990 and 2020. R language and CiteSpace software were applied in this paper. It is found that: (1) The number of articles has gone through the initial explorations, fluctuating growth, and rapid development of the field from 1990 to 2020. Only 7.5% of authors have published more than two papers. (2) Regarding the production of papers, the top 3 countries are the US, China, and the UK. At present, the majority of countries focus on independent research, and international cooperation is gradually strengthening. (3) The current research hotpots mainly invlove biodiversity and sustainable development, ecological compensation for forests and water resources, China's Grain-to-Green Project, poverty reduction, livelihood issues, public participation willingness and equity issues, indicating that ecological compensation is a rapidly emerging interdisciplinary academic field. (4) The results reveal several research directions in the future: strengthening theoretical research, resolving issues pertaining to the complex relationships among stakeholders, encouraging a transformation from qualitative to quantitative research, increasing the focus of ecological compensation models on local conditions, and applying more scientific models and high-tech tools in effect evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract As the number of scrap cars increases rapidly, the management of their reverse logistics (RL) process has become an urgent issue for decision-makers in contemporary China. The process, capable of generating profits as well as minimizing negative environmental effects, mainly includes products acquisition, collection, inspection and disposition. Although the selection of take-back patterns is an essential part in the process, it is not well addressed by existing studies. Involving numerous related factors, the evaluation and selection of the take-back patterns of scrap cars are a comprehensive problem that can be formulated as a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. In this paper, we propose a complete method to solve it systematically. Three patterns quite suitable for China are presented and a novel criteria system is developed for choosing the best one. The unavoidable uncertainty in practical situation is also considered in this work. We integrate the grey method and Decision-making and Trial Evaluation Laboratory (grey DEMATEL) to determine the weights of nine criteria, and a fuzzy method and Vlse Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (fuzzy VIKOR) are adopted to rank the three patterns based on expert evaluations. Sensitivity analysis is also used to test and verify the robustness of the proposed method. Finally, we draw a conclusion that the Producer Responsibility Organization Take-back pattern whose main body is formed by manufacturer union organization is most suitable for China. The study results could provide a theoretical guideline for decision-makers in China as well as other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We estimate the energy rebound effect caused by technological progress in Shanghai. • We use the state space model with time-varying parameter based on the IPAT identity. • Shanghai has a high partial rebound effect on average at the overall-economy level. • Mitigating the energy rebound effect can significantly reduce carbon emissions. • Energy efficiency improvement should not be the only way to conserve energy. Abstract The energy rebound effect is regarded as an obstacle of achieving the expected target of energy-saving policies, especially under a rapid urbanization background in developing counties, such as China. This has become a substantial drag of sustainable development in some cities. Shanghai is the economic center of China, and it is also a typical energy import-dependent mega-city. Investigating the evolution of Shanghai's energy-saving performance and the energy rebound effect is significant for the implementation of energy-saving policies in other similar cities of China and other developing countries. Using the state space model with time-varying parameters and based on the IPAT identity and the Solow residual approach, this paper is the first study to present a specific estimation on Shanghai's energy rebound effect caused by technological progress. The results show that, during the period of 1991–2016, the average energy rebound effect of overall economy and secondary industry in Shanghai was 93.96% and 73.10%, respectively, indicating a high partial rebound effect. Most of expected energy saving caused by improved energy efficiency is offset by extra energy consumption caused by technological progress. Regarding tertiary industry, the average rebound effect was 146.61%, indicating a backfire effect. However, the average energy rebound amount of tertiary industry is less than that of secondary industry. In particular, there is an increasingly negative impact of the rebound effect of tertiary industry on energy conservation in recent years, with the sector's rapid expansion and corresponding increase in energy demand. Furthermore, we estimate the carbon rebound amount (i.e., carbon emissions caused by the energy rebound effect) and find that, on average, the energy rebound effect caused 13.1% and 0.41% increases in carbon emissions in Shanghai and China, respectively. Therefore, mitigating the energy rebound effect can significantly reduce carbon emissions. Due to the substantial impact of the rebound effect, technological progress and energy efficiency improvement should not be the only way to achieve energy-saving target, especially in energy import-dependent mega-cities like Shanghai. Some supporting policies should be implemented to ensure that the expected outcome of energy-saving effort can be realized as far as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of local (city-level) sustainable development (LSD) is explored against the backdrop of urban dynamics and the international discussions on sustainable development. Urban metabolism is a key concept used in the analysis. Overall, sustainable urban development is seen to have an internal dimension and an external dimension, even though urban jurisdictions may be restricted to the former. Sustainable cities (SCs) and policies for LSD are discussed conceptually and in terms of their operational use, with a focus on urban policies in developing and emerging countries. Examples are given of SCs in China. Cities with strategies related especially to climate change are considered separately and analysed in terms of developed-developing, adaptation or mitigation focus. Again, examples of especially 'low-carbon' cities in China are presented. From these elements, this paper extracts some elements of a (social science) research agenda in urban environmental studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) emerged under the Kyoto Protocol to facilitate collaboration between developed and developing countries in order to mitigate greenhouse gases. The CDM allows developed countries to receive credits towards meeting their obligatory targets by investing in emission reduction projects in developing countries. The countries are required to set up a Designated National Authority (DNA) to approve the CDM projects. This paper examines the role of the DNA in ensuring sustainable development, using the empirical case of China and India. Three aspects of the DNA's role are examined: the institutional structure, the policy context and the CDM project market. All three aspects highlight the important role of the DNA in meeting the countries' sustainable development priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — The main purpose of the paper is to propose an empirical analysis of the relationship between total consumption of different key metals (aluminium, copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc) and per capita income of some important developing countries (Brazil, China and India) today present in the international scenario with very different perspectives from in the past. Design/methodology/approach — The research is carried out investigating a double aim. Mainly, whether the environmental Kuznets' Curve (EKC) model related to material consumption (and hence ‘renamed’ as material Kuznets' Curve) could be used — in empirical terms — as a possible explanatory pattern of past and current trends for these three important countries. Second, whether the observable trends in industrialised countries is similar to those already implemented in the developing ones. After a brief, but ineluctable, premise considering the theoretical basic assumptions to define the issue and regarding general statements, the specific cases for Brazil, China and India are proposed. Findings — Results do not closely fit the theoretical expectations but, as has already been seen for industrialised countries in previous research work, there is a prevailing trend in the lowering of material intensities with rising per-capita income levels. Originality/value — Without pretending to be exhaustive, this paper can be useful in improving the understanding of such developing economies, considering features not yet included in the international literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]