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Refereed/Peer-reviewed Growing public concerns about sustainability and adopting environmentally responsible practices increase risks as well as opportunities for firms and banks. It is unclear whether being environmentally responsible matters for unlisted firms, which are significant contributors to the degradation of the environment but which are not under strict scrutiny like public listed firms. Using a sample of 3915 firms from developing economies, we investigate whether the superior environmental performance of unlisted firms leads them to better loan conditions. After controlling for endogeneity and sample selection bias, we find that firms with better environmental performance received approximately 6.4% higher loans (as a ratio of total sales) and that this effect is more prominent in small and medium firms. This finding supports an information asymmetry view of agency costs. Our results, however, show that environmental performance does not affect loan duration and collateral requirement, indicating no spillover economic effect of corporate environmental performance on loan conditions. This partially supports a new perspective of legitimacy theory in relation to the ‘greenwash strategy’. Overall, our study shows that strategically engaged environmental activities that are integrated with core business objectives represent an important business strategy for firms to enhance credit access.

Introduction. The article addresses the problem of irrational treatment of solid municipal, production and consumption waste in Russia, as well as the prospects of using secondary raw materials in the construction of buildings. The research is focused on environmental standards, environmental certification systems in the construction industry, as well as recycled materials. The study encompasses the construction of buildings using recycled materials, taking into account the requirements set in environmental standards. Materials and methods. The article presents several types of secondary raw materials and an overview of sustainable approaches to the construction of buildings using recycled materials in Russia and abroad. Most widely spread construction technologies, used to build houses using secondary raw materials, are described. An environmentally friendly facility constructed in Russia using secondary raw materials is described as an illustration. Results. The state of the Russian legislative framework governing the treatment of solid municipal, construction, and consumption waste and the requirements of international and Russian environmental standards applicable to buildings are analyzed. The percent ratio of waste management actions is determined in relation to other requirements set by environmental certification systems applicable to real estate items. Conclusions. A new classification of construction products made of secondary raw materials is presented. Conclusions are made about the feasibility of reusing solid household, industrial and consumption waste in the construction industry. The need to revise environmental standards in Russia is identified. The Russian environmental standards should have a larger number of criteria determining the rational treatment of solid municipal, construction, and consumption waste as well as the use of products made of secondary raw materials.

In this paper we present the idea of a case study designed to examine the effectiveness of those regulations that aim at combating air pollution. We believe that the specific situation we encountered in one of the most contaminated regions of Poland provides an unique research opportunity to shed some light on the question of estimation of effectiveness of law and to develop and refine the highly debated theory of wicked problems. Because our research project is at the preliminary stage, our claims and observations are still tentative.

As climate change becomes an increasingly greater global concern, reducing net emissions has grown to be the key objective when building new infrastructure. Currently, infrastructure project planning tools use simulations and analytical modeling to forecast gas emissions and lifecycle costs. Such tools can be costly or do not combine the two facets intuitively. The goal of this capstone group is to create a cohesive, accessible tool that will take user input of a building to determine its effect on the environment while taking finances into consideration. Using a similar, preexisting tool from University of Virginia, the new tool will be built with location specific policies and up-to-date prices of resources based on data from nationwide databases. This tool will ask for user input in an excel spreadsheet. Results will appear on the same slide that will give the user insight into the financial investment, estimated lifetime cost, as well as the estimated impact of lifetime carbon emissions. Then I will take a look at regulation in the United States electric utility industry and how its response to scientific findings regarding climate change and sustainability will continue to be a driving force for social innovation as well as technological.

La opción de grado en su modalidad de Pasantía Empresarial se desarrolló realizando las actividades técnicas e ingenieriles propias bajo el cargo de Inspector de Interventoría para el Contrato de Interventoría AIM No. 155 de 2018 – Proyecto No. 059 de 2017 cuyo objeto es: CONTROL MEDIANTE INTERVENTORÍA TÉCNICA, LEGAL, ADMINISTRATIVA, FINANCIERA Y AMBIENTAL AL MEJORAMIENTO DE LA VÍA PRINCIPAL QUE CONDUCE DESDE INTERSECCIÓN FUNDADORES HASTA ACCESO CIUDAD PORFÍA EN EL MUNICIPIO DE VILLAVICENCIO, META ETAPA 02. The degree option in its Business Internship modality was developed by carrying out its own technical and engineering activities under the position of Audit Inspector for the AIM Audit Contract No. one hundred fifty five of Two thousand and eighteen – Project No. zero fifty nine of two thousand seventeen whose purpose is: CONTROL THROUGH TECHNICAL, LEGAL, ADMINISTRATIVE, FINANCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL INTERVENTION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE MAIN ROAD THAT LEADS FROM THE FUNDADORES INTERSECTION TO THE CIUDAD PORFÍA ACCESS IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF VILLAVICENCIO, META STAGE zero two. http://www.ustavillavicencio.edu.co/home/index.php/unidades/extension-y-proyeccion/investigacion Pregrado

The notion of achieving environmental sustainability through project management has gradually attracted the attention of scholars in recent years. This study explores the influence mechanism of a project manager’s perception of environmental regulations on their environmentally sustainable project management practice. Employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, this study firstly establishes a conceptual model of interviews with project managers, proposes hypotheses based on the conceptual model, and ultimately carries out hypothesis testing using the questionnaire data. The results show that (i) project managers’ perceptions of environmental regulations can directly promote their environmentally sustainable project management practice; (ii) project managers’ affective commitment to change plays a partial mediating role in the above relationship; and (iii) in the aforementioned mediation relationship, both cost and time constraints have a negative moderating effect. This study provides new evidence for institutional theory at the micro level and expands the theoretical research perspective in the field of project management. We suggest that construction companies incorporate environmental performance into the performance appraisal of project managers and strengthen green construction training for employees.

Resource-based cities (RBCs) are not only important for ensuring national resource and energy security, but they also face serious ecological and environmental problems. To achieve China’s carbon peaking and neutrality goals in the coming years, RBCs’ achievement of a low-carbon transformation has become increasingly significant. The core of this study is an investigation as to whether governance, including environmental regulations, can facilitate the low-carbon transformation of RBCs. Based on RBC data from 2003 to 2019, we establish a dynamic panel model to research the influence and mechanism of environmental regulations on low-carbon transformation. We found that China’s environmental regulations facilitate a low-carbon transformation in RBCs. Mechanism analysis identified that the environmental regulations facilitate the low-carbon transformation in RBCs by strengthening foreign direct investment, enhancing green technology innovation and promoting industrial structure upgrading. Heterogeneity analysis found that the environmental regulations play a greater role in facilitating the low-carbon transformation of RBCs in regions with more developed economies and less dependence on resources. Our research provides theoretical and policy implications for environmental regulations for the low-carbon transformation of RBCs in China, applicable to other resource-based areas.

Green innovation has significant implications for firms’ financial, environmental, and social performance. However, its externalities may inhibit the proactive involvement of firms in such initiatives. In this study, we examined the roles of two types of managerial ties (i.e., business and political) in green innovation and further investigated the moderating effects of two types of contextual factors (i.e., environmental regulations and competitive intensity). By conducting an empirical study using survey data from 218 samples, we confirm that business ties positively affect green innovation while political ties have an inverted U-shaped effect. Moreover, the relationship between managerial ties and green innovation is contingent on specific context settings. Our results show that the environmental regulations enforced by the government strengthen both the effects of business and political ties, while the competitive intensity has no effect on the relationship between business ties and green innovation; however, it sharpens the curvilinear effect of political ties.

Coal-dependent industries are the economic pillar of many countries; however, their contribution to air pollution also restricts long-term economic development. While the negative effects of environmental regulations on coal-dependent industries has attracted much attention, the health effects of such regulations remains barely quantitatively studied. Our study is based on a quasi-natural experiment created by a command-and-control policy in China’s cement industry, whereby cement enterprises are forced to stop production for a specific period of time every year. This paper adopted DID methods and found that direct pollution control measures for coal-dependent industries could significantly improve residents’ health levels and that the resultant reduction in medical expenditures could save 456.8 RMB yuan per capita per year. Additionally, our mechanism analysis found that the COPP is beneficial to residents’ health in that it reduces air pollution and sewage treatment rates. This means that pollution from coal-dependent industries has a large and underestimated impact on residents’ health. Environmental regulation of the coal-dependent industry could greatly improve the health of residents.

The potential effect of implementing environmental regulations on economic growth has been a controversial issue for a long time. Environmental regulations may impact on economic growth by reconstructing the economic structure. With the intention of exploring the nature of this mechanism, it is important to understand the internal inter-relation of the three parties, requiring data from a large economy experiencing the transition in economic structure. This paper selects panel data for 30 provinces in China from 2008–2019, constructs a PVAR model, and empirically examines the dynamic relationship among environmental regulation, economic structure reconstruction, and economic growth. The results demonstrate that there is a two-way effect between environmental regulation and economic growth. In other words, environmental regulation has a “U” shape effect on economic growth, which first inhibits and then promotes economic growth, while economic growth has a strong and then weak promotion effect on environmental regulation. Economic growth has a short-term negative impact on economic structure reconstruction, whereas economic restructuring has a long-term beneficial impact on environmental regulation. Therefore, the government should reasonably set the intensity of regulation and optimize the path of economic restructuring to deal with the relationship between environmental regulation, economic structure reconstruction, and economic growth.

Based on the provincial panel data of China from 2004 to 2020, this paper uses the empirical model of mediating effect to theoretically analyze and empirically test the mechanism of environmental regulation affecting pollution emissions, and the mediating effect of manufacturing technology’s progress. The study of this paper found that the improvement of pollution treatment technology is not the only technical means to reduce the level of pollution emissions. The progress of manufacturing production technology has a crucial role in promoting the reduction of pollution emissions. The high-quality development of the manufacturing industry and the improvement of the production technology level means that pollution emissions can be effectively reduced from the source. At the same time, although environmental regulation can have a significant positive impact on reducing pollution emissions, the progress of manufacturing production technology is a crucial intermediary variable for environmental regulation to promote pollution reduction. The above research conclusions have passed the influence mechanism test of this paper. Through the heterogeneity test, this study also found that in the stage of higher manufacturing development scale and technology level, manufacturing technology progress’ intermediary role as an environmental regulation affecting pollution emissions, is more apparent, and the role of environmental regulation in promoting pollution reduction is more prominent. The degree of effect increases with the improvement of the production technology level of the manufacturing industry. After the robustness test, the research conclusion of this paper is still valid. According to the conclusions of the research, this paper puts forward policy suggestions that should be oriented to promote the upgrade of manufacturing technology, introduce environmental regulation policies, support manufacturing enterprises to increase the innovative application of energy-saving and emission-reduction technologies, and vigorously develop and expand high-tech manufacturing.

With the increasingly obvious restriction of the ecological environment on economic development, environmental regulations are widely used to achieve “green production,” that is, to improve green total factor productivity (GTFP). First, through the econometric model, it can be concluded that command-based environmental regulations could improve GTFP, while market-based environmental regulations have no significant impact on GTFP. Unlike traditional econometric models, machine learning has no specific data requirements and research assumptions. We use Lasso regression to verify the above results by obtaining the optimal tuning parameter. Furthermore, considering that the leap of China’s economy is inseparable from foreign direct investment (FDI), we use FDI as a threshold variable. The threshold model results showe that when the intensity of FDI in China ranges between 1.2492 and 1.588, both types of environmental regulations can significantly promote GTFP. These conclusions passed the robustness test. Given the differences in economy and resource endowment among different regions in China, a regional heterogeneity test is conducted. The results show that the current environmental regulations in eastern and central China have no significant impact on GTFP. However, when the intensity of FDI in central China is greater than 3.6868, environmental regulations have a significant promoting effect on GTFP. In western China, when FDI intensity ranges between 1.3950 and 1.5880, market-based environmental regulations can significantly promote GTFP. Further, the path test of the mediation effect model reveals that command-based environmental regulations reduce GTFP by reducing FDI. The above conclusions provide empirical data for the intensity of FDI in different regions of China to improve GTFP.

This research analyzed the impact of environmental regulations and their power in suppressing tourism carbon emissions. The results showed that: (1) four types of environmental regulations had significant inhibiting effects on tourism carbon emissions, but different types of regulations had varying effects; and (2) environmental regulations had a significant time lag effect on tourism carbon emissions. The decay rates of the environmental regulation effects were dissimilar for supervisory management, market incentives, command and control, and public participation; and (3) environmental regulations had dissimilar influences on tourism carbon emissions at the regional level. Government agencies should choose differentiated environmental regulation tools, attach great importance to the time-lag effect of environmental regulations on tourism carbon emissions, and establish systems and mechanisms of public participation in environmental matters.

Economies are making environmental regulations to achieve sustainable development and mitigate environmental pollution. However, these regulations cannot provide effective results unless implemented properly. The role of the government is fundamental in this regard. In this context, this research probes the impacts of democracy, environmental regulations, renewable energy, globalization, and economic growth on ecological footprints in N-11 countries from 1990 to 2018. For statistical analysis, this work applies the cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lags (CS-ARDL) methods. This method efficiently provides robust findings for panel time series data because they counter the cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity while providing the results. Moreover, augmented mean group (AMG) and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) are used to check the robustness of the findings. The results show that environmental regulation significantly mitigates ecological footprint, while economic growth escalates footprints in N-11 countries. In addition, democratic quality, renewable energy consumption, and globalization are contributing factors to environmental quality. Hence, this research presents important policy implications for the N-11 countries in that they need to enhance democratic accountability. This will assist them to launch an effective environmental policy. Effective environmental policy will assist in increasing renewable energy, which will ultimately enhance the environmental quality.

Air pollution is imposing substantial health and economic burdens on billions of people around the world. Although the impacts of air pollution on human health and economic growth have long been recognized, empirical evidence on whether and how air pollution affects firms’ employee protection remains unclear. Using a sample of publicly listed Chinese firms from 2010 to 2019, we show that air pollution can significantly increase firms’ employee protection. The results indicate that employee protection is an effective substitute for poor air quality in firm headquarters. Further analyses suggest that public pressure enhances the influence of air pollution on firms’ labor protection, while environmental regulation lessens the positive relationship between air pollution and employee treatment. Overall, we emphasize that air pollution is a significant non-economic determinant affecting firms’ human capital stock and employee treatment strategy. This study would be of particular interest to economists, managers, and regulators who are concerned about designing optimal environmental and welfare policies.

Significance Monitoring compliance with environmental regulations is a global challenge. It is particularly difficult for governments in low-income countries, where informal industry is responsible for a large amount of pollution, because the governments lack the ability to locate and monitor large numbers of dispersed polluters. This study demonstrates an accurate, scalable machine-learning approach for identifying brick kilns, a highly polluting informal industry in Bangladesh, in satellite imagery. Our data reveal widespread violations of the national regulations governing brick manufacturing, which has implications for the health and well-being of the country. Our approach offers a low-cost, replicable method for regulatory agencies to generate information on key pollution sources., Improving compliance with environmental regulations is critical for promoting clean environments and healthy populations. In South Asia, brick manufacturing is a major source of pollution but is dominated by small-scale, informal producers who are difficult to monitor and regulate—a common challenge in low-income settings. We demonstrate a low-cost, scalable approach for locating brick kilns in high-resolution satellite imagery from Bangladesh. Our approach identifies kilns with 94.2% accuracy and 88.7% precision and extracts the precise GPS coordinates of every brick kiln across Bangladesh. Using these estimates, we show that at least 12% of the population of Bangladesh (>18 million people) live within 1 km of a kiln and that 77% and 9% of kilns are (illegally) within 1 km of schools and health facilities, respectively. Finally, we show how kilns contribute up to 20.4 μg/m3 of PM2.5 (particulate matter of a diameter less than 2.5 μm) in Dhaka when the wind blows from an unfavorable direction. We document inaccuracies and potential bias with respect to local regulations in the government data. Our approach demonstrates how machine learning and Earth observation can be combined to better understand the extent and implications of regulatory compliance in informal industry.

En México existen normativas a escala nacional que plantean estrategias en pro de la sustentabilidad ambiental, sin embargo, difícilmente permean a la escala local. Por su parte, algunos promotores privados desarrollan incipientes iniciativas de prácticas ambientales en los desarrollos habitacionales, utilizando ecotecnologías, pero carecen de un marco normativo-administrativo claro que las impulse y regule. Actualmente, México vive un cambio político importante que muestra una visión diferente, con un enfoque social y ambiental, que permite vislumbrar cambios importantes para impulsar las prácticas hacia la sustentabilidad ambiental. El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar, a través del caso del municipio de San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, los principales obstáculos políticos, administrativos y técnicos a los que se enfrentan los promotores inmobiliarios para implementar ecotecnologías en zonas habitacionales, así como los avances en dicha materia. La metodología es cualitativa, basada en la investigación - acción, y las técnicas fueron la revisión documental, recorridos de campo y entrevistas semidirigidas a actores clave. Entre los principales resultados destacan la deficiente normativa que no permite al gobierno local orientarse para implementar ecotecnologías y la intención del nuevo gobierno de avanzar en esta materia, a pesar de vicios añejos de «regulación» de la acción ambiental., In Mexico there are regulations at the national level that propose strategies for environmental sustainability, however, they hardly permeate the local scale. For their part, some private promoters develop incipient initiatives of environmental practices in housing developments, using eco-technologies, but they lack a clear normative-administrative framework that promotes and regulates them. Currently, Mexico is undergoing an important political change that shows a different vision with a social and environmental approach, which allows us to glimpse important changes to promote practices towards environmental sustainability. The objective of this article is to show, through the case of the municipality of San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, the main political, administrative and technical obstacles faced by real estate developers to implement eco-technologies in residential areas, as well as the advances in said matter. The methodology is qualitative based on action research, and the techniques were documentary review, field trips and semi-directed interviews with key actors. Among the main results are the deficient regulations that do not allow the local government to guide itself to implement eco-technologies, and the intention of the new government to advance in this matter despite old vices of "regulation" of environmental action., No México existem regulamentações em nível nacional que propõem estratégias de sustentabilidade ambiental, porém, dificilmente permeiam a escala local. Por sua vez, alguns promotores privados desenvolvem iniciativas incipientes de práticas ambientais em empreendimentos habitacionais, utilizando ecotecnologias, mas carecem de um quadro normativo-administrativo claro que as promova e regule. Atualmente, o México está passando por uma importante mudança política que mostra uma visão diferente com foco social e ambiental, o que nos permite vislumbrar mudanças importantes para promover práticas voltadas para a sustentabilidade ambiental. O objetivo deste artigo é mostrar, através do caso do município de San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, os principais obstáculos políticos, administrativos e técnicos enfrentados pelos promotores imobiliários para implementar ecotecnologias em áreas residenciais, bem como os avanços no referido assunto. A metodologia é qualitativa baseada na pesquisa-ação, e as técnicas foram revisão documental, saídas de campo e entrevistas semidirigidas com atores-chave. Entre os principais resultados estão as regulamentações deficientes que não permitem que o governo local se oriente para a implantação de ecotecnologias, e a intenção do novo governo de avançar nessa questão apesar de antigos vícios de “regulamentação” da ação ambiental.

This study investigates how environmental regulations and social norms affect farmers’ chemical fertilizer reduction behaviors (CFRBs) and investigates the mediating role played by social norms and the moderating role played by social networks. As the analysis tool, a structural equation model is employed to analyze the data collected from a questionnaire survey with 402 valid samples of Chinese citrus growers. This study reveals that (1) environmental regulations and social norms have a significant effect on farmers’ CFRBs; (2) injunctive social norms are a partial mediator of the relationship between incentive-based environmental regulations and farmers’ CFRBs; (3) social networks play a positive moderating role in the relationship between injunctive social norms and farmers’ CFRBs; and (4) large-scale farmers’ CFRBs are more susceptible to the impact of environmental regulations and social norms than small-scale farmers. The result of this study provides a significant scientific foundation for the Chinese agricultural sector to develop policies to combat soil pollution in agriculture.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in substantial constraints for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) worldwide. The techniques in which SMEs handle recent crises and the degree to which environmental performance is advantageous when the marketplace experiences an adverse shock is fairly untouched in the literature. To assess this probability, we examine, using data from 6,597 SMEs in 13 developing countries, the effect of firm environmental efficiency on firm financing during the COVID-19 outbreak. We consider three aspects of external financing – bank, non-bank and trade credit – and suggest that it pays for firms to show devotion to environmental obligations in a global pandemic. Our research implies that the trust between a firm and its stakeholders, if it is based on environmental performance, pays off when the trust freefall during periods of shock and adversity.

With the development of ecological paradigm coupled with the relentless implementation of myriad environmental policies in China, the rapid development of carbon emission trading and carbon trading market has had a vital impact on the financial performance of enterprises at the microlevel. This study has sampled the A-share listed companies in China, from 2009 to 2018, and adopted the difference-in-difference (DID) method to investigate the effect of the carbon emission trading on corporate financial performance from the microlevel. Evidence showed that the implementation of carbon emission trading effectively improved the total asset-liability ratio of enterprises, though it reduced the value of the current capital market. Moreover, in the regions under strict legal environment, the enhancement effect of the total asset-liability ratio was more obvious, whereas in the regions under loose legal environment, the reduction effect of the value of the capital market was more obvious. Further analysis showed that the implementation of carbon emission trading could not promote Chinese enterprises to increase R&D investment. Hence the implementation of carbon emission trading has improved the level of non-business income of enterprises incorporated into the trading system, but its impact on the investment income of enterprises was not significant.

International audience; When it comes to air pollution complaints, odours are often the most significant contributor. Sources of odour emissions range from natural to anthropogenic. Mitigation of odour can be challenging, multifaceted, site-specific, and is often confounded by its complexity—defined by existing (or non-existing) environmental laws, public ordinances, and socio-economic considerations. The objective of this paper is to review and summarise odour legislation in selected European countries (France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium), North America (the USA and Canada), and South America (Chile and Colombia), as well as Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) and Asia (Japan, China). Many countries have incorporated odour controls into their legislation. However, odour-related assessment criteria tend to be highly variable between countries, individual states, provinces, and even counties and towns. Legislation ranges from (1) no specific mention in environmental legislation that regulates pollutants which are known to have an odour impact to (2) extensive details about odour source testing, odour dispersion modelling, ambient odour monitoring, (3) setback distances, (4) process operations, and (5) odour control technologies and procedures. Agricultural operations are one specific source of odour emissions in rural and suburban areas and a model example of such complexities. Management of agricultural odour emissions is important because of the dense consolidation of animal feeding operations and the advance of housing development into rural areas. Overall, there is a need for continued survey, review, development, and adjustment of odour legislation that considers sustainable development, environmental stewardship, and socio-economic realities, all of which are amenable to a just, site-specific, and sector-specific application.

From a blackbox perspective, Resource Dependence (RD) theory examines the organizational implications derived from the organizations’ input side (i.e., resource acquisition). In this dissertation, I examine RD’s ignored output side, that is, the organizational implications derived from organizations’ waste generation management. With the world’s population on the rise, organizations will require more resources to fulfill societal needs entailing more waste generation and environmental pollution. Yet, pollution is not caused by waste but by excess materials exhibiting multiple potential uses I call redundant resources. Redundant resources are nonetheless discarded as pollutant waste due to our society’s inability to adequately reallocate them. In this context, civil society organizations’ rising environmental concerns and government organizations’ increasingly stringent environmental regulations represent conflicting demands that can affect an organization’s competitiveness and legitimacy. These external organizations can thereby exert control over those entities assessed as polluters. Hence, the latter not only become captive but dependent on the former. Such dependence stems from their continuous need to comply with external conflicting demands. As a result, an organization’s operability, that is, the extent to which it can keep its systems functional, can be compromised. I call this condition the Resource Redundancy Dependence (RRD). Besides this conceptual approach, this thesis includes two studies examining Australian councils’ sustainable procurement (SP) and waste management (WM) practices. In study 1, data obtained from 196 surveys reveal that a lack of e-procurement systems, insufficient training programs, and inadequate organizational structures hinder SP practice. In study 2, data collected from 48 semi-structured interviews with WM professionals in Sydney show how diverse societal, government, and market factors have led to a waste crisis. Both studies provide evidence that helps understanding how an organization’s waste generation management can compromise its operability. As such, this dissertation advances RD’s research agenda and offers practitioners a better comprehension of the organizational implications derived from the organizations’ output side.

Invasive blueberry species endanger the sensitive environment of wetlands and protection laws call for management measures. Therefore, methods are needed to identify blueberry bushes, locate them, and characterise their distribution and properties with a minimum of disturbance. UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and image analysis have become important tools for classification and detection approaches. In this study, techniques, such as GIS (Geographical Information Systems) and deep learning, were combined in order to detect invasive blueberry species in wetland environments. Images that were collected by UAV were used to produce orthomosaics, which were analysed to produce maps of blueberry location, distribution, and spread in each study site, as well as bush height and area information. Deep learning networks were used with transfer learning and unfrozen weights in order to automatically detect blueberry bushes reaching True Positive Values (TPV) of 93.83% and an Overall Accuracy (OA) of 98.83%. A refinement of the result masks reached a Dice of 0.624. This study provides an efficient and effective methodology to study wetlands while using different techniques. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This.

In this article, we present data from the monthly Pandemic Food and Stigma Survey (PFSS), a nationwide representative sample of adults in the United States designed to identify how the pandemic is affecting concerns about food and the environment. Two surveys were conducted in May and June 2020. Our analysis suggests that the public’s concern about contracting COVID-19 has been high; however, infection with COVID-19 was not the only concern. A majority of respondents remained strongly concerned about environmental issues, such as climate change, while responses to sudden relaxations of environmental and food safety policies varied. We analyze the PFSS data to identify factors associated with concerns about pandemic and environmental regulatory changes. In general, we find that people whose food security has been threatened by COVID-19 remain concerned about relaxation of environmental regulations, and those most inclined to take steps to reduce spread of the virus, such as wearing masks and social distancing, are more concerned about relaxed regulations than those less willing to take mitigating actions. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10640-020-00438-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The concept of a threshold of adversity in toxicology is neither provable nor disprovable. As such, it is not a scientific question but a theoretical one. Yet, the belief in thresholds has led to traditional ways of interpreting data derived from regulatory guideline studies of the toxicity of chemicals. This includes, for example, the use of standard “uncertainty factors” when a “No Adverse Effect Level” (or similar “benchmark dose”) is either observed, or not observed. In the context of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), this approach is demonstrably inappropriate. First, the efficacy of a hormone on different endpoints can vary by several orders of magnitude. This feature of hormone action also applies to EDCs that can interfere with that hormone. For this reason, we argue that the choice of endpoint for use in regulation is critical, but note that guideline studies were not designed with this in mind. Second, the biological events controlled by hormones in development not only change as development proceeds but are different from events controlled by hormones in the adult. Again, guideline endpoints were also not designed with this in mind, especially since the events controlled by hormones can be both temporally and spatially specific. The Endocrine Society has laid out this logic over several years and in several publications. Rather than being extreme views, they represent what is known about hormones and the chemicals that can interfere with them.

The Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region is China’s most important urban economic group. The specific structure of the region’s manufacturing industry causes enterprises to face the problem of low investment efficiency. How to balance high efficiency investment with the development of the ecological environment, achieving a win–win situation, is an urgent problem. In order to explore the impact of environmental regulation on the investment efficiency of listed manufacturing enterprises in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, this study utilized environmental regulation and enterprise-level data from 2011 to 2017, established a panel regression model, and then tested the impact mechanism of environmental regulation on corporate investment efficiency. On this basis, the panel threshold model was established to test the existence of the threshold effect of environmental regulation. The empirical results show that environmental regulation will have a negative impact on the investment efficiency of the listed manufacturing companies in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, causing the threshold of the impact of environmental regulation on investment efficiency to move from promotion to suppression. Finally, in accordance with the different scopes of the environmental regulation intensity of each manufacturing industry, the paper proposes reasonable suggestions for government departments in order to formulate environmental policies to improve the efficiency of enterprise investment.

In 2017, China made an ambitious statement of high-quality development (HQD) with which to realize the goals of sustainability proposed by the United Nations. Our paper sheds new light on how the corporate high-quality development is affected by the responsibility system for environmental protection targets using a sample of energy-intensive firms from 2003 to 2018. We calculate the indexes for corporate high-quality development using entropy weighting for the five dimensions: efficiency, innovation, openness, greenness, and social responsibility. Then, we develop a difference-in-differences model to reveal that the responsibility system for environmental protection targets significantly dampens high-quality development of corporations, as the estimated coefficient is −0.0420 with a t-statistic of −2.9384. In contrast with private firms, the high-quality development of state-owned firms shows no significant correlation with environmental policy constraints. The efficiency of capital allocation by corporations mediates the effects of responsibility for environmental protection targets on high-quality development. Our study suggests several policy implications: first, understand the connotation of a high-quality development system, and formulate diversified regulatory policies. Second, the responsibility system for environmental protection targets in China should be implemented steadily within the firm’s abilities. Next, the high-quality development of private firms should generate great attention. Finally, corporate internal governance should be designed to improve high-quality development.

Innovation is the first driving force for development, and green innovation efficiency (GIE) plays a very important role in regional sustainable development. Data from 31 provinces and cities in China from 2011 to 2020 were used to select the proportion of energy saving and environmental protection costs in GDP as the green financial value, and the proportion of industrial pollution control input in GDP as the environmental regulation index. Green innovation efficiency is measured from two aspects of input and output by DEA method, and carried out for 31 provinces and cities in three regions. Using the DEA-Malmquist index to measure regional green innovation efficiency, the results show that the green innovation efficiency in three regions basically presents an upward trend, but the upward trend of green innovation efficiency is different between the three regions. A Tobit regression model is constructed to explore the impact of green finance and environmental regulations on the green innovation efficiency in these three regions. Research indicates that environmental regulations, the proportion of output value of tertiary industry in GDP, industrial structure, and foreign direct investment have significant impacts on the green innovation efficiency in all regions. Green finance, industrial structure, and power consumption have a significant impact on the green innovation efficiency in eastern China. Industrial structure has a significant impact on green innovation efficiency in central China, while power consumption and industrial structure have a significant impact on green innovation efficiency in western China. Therefore, each region needs to improve the standard of environmental regulation innovation, and introduce and use foreign investment in a scientific and reasonable way so as to promote the improvement of industrial infrastructure.

There is an increasing attention both on how inspections and enforcement efforts with respect to regulatory breaches can be made as effective as possible. Regulatory breaches refer to violations of norms that have been prescribed in public regulation, such as, for example, environmental regulation, food safety regulation or regulation aiming at occupational health and safety. The enforcement of this regulation is qualified as regulatory enforcement. It has been claimed that inspections should not be random, but based on risk and target-specific violators and violations. Such a “smart” enforcement policy would be able to increase the effectiveness of enforcement policy. Policy makers are enthusiastic about this new strategy, but less is known about the theoretical foundations, nor about the empirical evidence. This article presents the theoretical foundations for smart enforcement as well as some empirics. Moreover, the conditions under which smart enforcement could work areidentified, but also a few potential limits are presented.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is suggested to play a key role in moderating the benefits of physical activity (PA) on cognition. Previous research found that PA may have an impact on peripheral BDNF expression. The aim of our study was to analyze the association between objectively measured PA with circulating BDNF in a group of active adolescents. Two hundred thirty-four adolescents (132 boys) aged 13.9 ± 0.3 years old from the DADOS study were included in this cross-sectional analysis. PA was assessed by GENEActiv triaxial accelerometer. Participants wore the accelerometer on their non-dominant wrist for 6 consecutive 24-h days, including weekends. PA was expressed as the average (min/day) of light, moderate, and vigorous PA. Fasting plasma BDNF concentrations at rest were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Partial correlations and linear regression analyses were performed with a significance level established at p 0.05). Based on previous research and our own data, the association between daily PA and baseline levels of BDNF remains inconclusive. Further research is needed to shed light on the relationship between regular PA and BDNF in adolescents.

In terms of the development of the manufacturing industry, the Chinese government has carried out environmental regulations and set up production standards for related industries. This is an environmentally-friendly and economic action, which is also in line with the requirements of building a green economy for China. Meanwhile, whether from the micro regulatory measures or the macro government policies, carbon emission is an inevitable problem in the study of environmental problems. This paper will explore the impact of environmental regulation on the green economy based on carbon emissions and study the optimal environment regulation intensity that relates to a direct carbon footprint under the maximum green economic benefits. A SBM-MALMQUIST model is established to measure the green total factor productivity according to 27 Chinese manufacturing industries through the MAXDEA software. It is found that the intensity of environmental regulation has a significant impact on green total factor productivity, and direct carbon footprint also exhibits a partial intermediary effect, participating in the mechanism that affects green total factor productivity. Combined with the industrial characteristics and the above research results, this paper puts forward the adjustment strategy of reasonable environmental regulation for the manufacturing industry, which conforms to the national policy guidance, and will be beneficial in promoting the economic development of the green manufacturing industry.

The hog industry is the core industry in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry in China, which development is related to the improvement of people’s quality of life. The production of the hog industry has been restricted by environmental regulations, which needs to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Based on the data of 29 provinces from 2008 to 2019, this paper aims to use the stochastic frontier analysis method to calculate the cost efficiency of fattening pigs, sows, and piglets in three stages of pig production and focuses on the impact of environmental regulation policies on cost efficiency. The study found that the cost efficiency of fattening pigs, sows, and piglets in China were 0.77, 0.79, and 0.53, respectively, and the efficiency losses were 23%, 21%, and 47%, respectively. The impact of environmental regulation policies on the cost efficiency of fattening pigs showed an ’ N ’ trend, and the impact on the cost efficiency of sows and piglets showed an inverted ’ N ’ trend. For fattening pigs, increasing the intensity of environmental regulation, and exceeding the second inflection point of the ’ N ’ curve can achieve the dual goals of environmental governance and cost reduction and efficiency increase. For sows, reducing the intensity of environmental regulation appropriately can avoid cost-efficiency loss. For piglets, environmental regulation policies have not effectively incentives the cost efficiency of piglets. In addition, raising the level of technology investment in fattening pigs and sows can achieve cost efficiency gains, and can farmers use emerging financial product tools such as ’ insurance + futures ’ to avoid market risks and efficiency losses.

The degradation of the environment is associated with economic activity, particularly with the linear way in which the economy does not make efficient use of resources. However, the circular economy is opposed to this linear paradigm, since it makes the most of the resources in trying to achieve zero waste. In this context, this study investigates the relationship between industry 4.0 technologies, COVID-19 outbreak, environmental regulation policies and circular economy practices. A questionnaire is designed to collect information from 214 big and private manufacturing firms in Ecuador, and subsequently, through CB-SEM, the information is processed, and the study paths are validated. The results suggest that industry 4.0 technologies and environmental regulation policies are driving circular economy practices during the pandemic. The study finds no evidence favoring COVID-19 being a determining factor in the adoption of the circular economy. The results provide a policy framework for the adoption of a circular economy.

Innovation and green are the directions to promote the circular economy and environmental sustainability at the corporate level. This paper examines the impact of environmental regulation (pollution charge) on green technology innovation and the mediating role of corporate environmental responsibility. Our results indicate that: (1) Environmental regulations stimulate manufacturing enterprises’ environmental responsibility and green technology innovation. It is worth noting that corporate environmental responsibility strengthens the relationship between environmental regulation and green technology innovation. (2) Further investigation reveals that R&D expenditure and environmental investment have greatly strengthened the positive effect of environmental regulation on green technology innovation. (3) With more detailed disclosure about enterprises’ environment-related information, the more outstanding stimulation effects of environmental regulation. Discussions on the features of enterprise location have revealed that, if the goal of environmental protection is set too high or if the fiscal decentralization is too strong, implementation of environmental regulation would not achieve desirable results. Accordingly, we need to optimize the collection of environmental taxes, strengthen the enterprises’ environmental responsibility, and increase investment in R&D and environment protection. Meanwhile, the execution of environmental regulation should also take into account the institutional environment and governance features of the enterprise locations.

Global climate change has encouraged international and regional adoption of pollution taxes and carbon emission reduction policies. Europe has taken the leadership in environmental regulations by introducing the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) in 2005 and by promoting a set of policies destined to lower carbon emissions from energy, industrial, and transport sectors. These environmental policies have significantly affected the production choices of these European sectors. Considering this framework, the objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects of the application of environmental policies in a multitiered closed-loop supply chain network where raw material suppliers, manufacturers, consumers, and recovery centers operate. In particular, we assume that manufacturers are subject to the EU-ETS and a carbon tax is imposed on truck transport. In this way, the developed model captures carbon emission regulations, recycling, transportation and technological factors within a unified framework. In particular, it allows for evaluating the impacts of the considered environmental regulations on carbon emissions, product flows, and prices. The proposed model is optimized and solved by using the theory of variational inequalities. Our analysis shows that the combined application of the EU-ETS at the manufacturers’ tier and the carbon tax on truck transport implies additional costs for producers that reduce their good provisions. On the other side, this has a positive outcome for the environment since $$\hbox {CO}_2$$ emissions reduce. Moreover, an increase of the efficiency level of the recycling process increments the availability of reusable raw material in the reverse supply chain. Finally, the distance between a couple of CLSC tiers plays a very important role. The lower is the distance covered by vehicles, the higher is the production of goods and the lower is the amount of $$\hbox {CO}_2$$ emitted.

This paper examines the relationships between environmental regulations, firms’ innovation and private sustainability benefits using nine case studies of UK and Chinese firms. It aims to unravel the mechanisms by which a firm’s environmental behaviour in improving its private benefits of sustainability is influenced by its relationship with the government, which primarily enacts regulations to maximise public sustainability benefits in the interests of society as a whole. The paper takes its cue from the Porter hypothesis to make some broad preliminary assumptions to inform the research design. A conceptual framework was developed through inductive case studies using template analysis. The results show that depending on firms’ resources and capabilities, those that adopt a more dynamic approach to respond to environmental regulations innovatively and take a proactive approach to manage their environmental performance are generally better able to reap the private benefits of sustainability. Part of the research for this paper was supported by funding from Nottingham Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre and the University of Bedfordshire Business and Management Research Institute.

The domination of gas turbines in the energy arena is facing many challenges from environmental regulations and the plethora of renewable energy sources. The gas turbine has to operate under demand-driven modes and its components consume their useful life faster than the engines of the base-load operation era. As a result the diagnostics and prognostics tools should be further developed to cope with the above operation modes and improve the condition based maintenance (CBM). In this study, we present a derivative-driven diagnostic pattern analysis method for estimating the performance of gas turbines under dynamic conditions. A real time model-based tuner is implemented through a dynamic engine model built in Matlab/Simulink for diagnostics. The nonlinear diagnostic pattern is then partitioned into data-windows. These are the outcome of a data analysis based on the second order derivative which corresponds to the acceleration of degradation. Linear regression is implemented to locally fit the detected deviations and predict the engine behavior. The accuracy of the proposed method is assessed through comparison between the predicted and actual degradation by the remaining useful life (RUL) metric. The results demonstrate and illustrate an improved accuracy of our proposed methodology for prognostics of gas turbines under dynamic modes. 2017 Elsevier Ltd Qatar Foundation; Qatar National Research Fund Scopus

In 2012 Brazil’s National Congress altered the country’s Forest Code, decreasing various environmental protections in the set of regulations governing forests. This suggests consequences in increased deforestation and emissions of greenhouse gases and in decreased protection of fragile ecosystems. To ascertain the effects, a simulation was run to the year 2025 for the municipality (county) of Boca do Acre, Amazonas state, Brazil. A baseline scenario considered historical behavior (which did not respect the Forest Code), while two scenarios considered full compliance with the old Forest Code (Law 4771/1965) and the current Code (Law 12,651/2012) regarding the protection of “areas of permanent preservation” (APPs) along the edges of watercourses. The models were parameterized from satellite imagery and simulated using Dinamica-EGO software. Deforestation actors and processes in the municipality were observed in loco in 2012. Carbon emissions and loss of forest by 2025 were computed in the three simulation scenarios. There was a 10% difference in the loss of carbon stock and of forest between the scenarios with the two versions of the Forest Code. The baseline scenario showed the highest loss of carbon stocks and the highest increase in annual emissions. The greatest damage was caused by not protecting wetlands and riparian zones. © 2017, The Author(s).

Objetivos: Revisar la normatividad de residuos peligrosos en Colombia, su aplicabilidad y reglamentación, en un departamento pequeño que tiene una reducida generación, con el fin de identificar los vacíos existentes y la aplicabilidad de la política ambiental nacional, así como un análisis DOFA en la aplicabilidad de la normatividad de residuos peligrosos en el departamento del Quindío, comprobando la gestión integral y sus implicaciones.Metodología: La revisión incluyó la revisión de la comprensión de la normatividad, así como la bibliografía usada en la formulación de la política, los casos exitosos en otros países y la realización de encuestas en el trabajo de campo a los generadores de residuos, con lo cual se obtuvo la información necesaria para evaluar la aplicación de la Política Nacional en el departamento del Quindío.Resultados: Se visibilizaron las realidades de los generadores de residuos peligrosos en los cinco municipios del Quindío frente a la normativa ambiental y la Política Nacional, se encontró que la normativa nacional excluye a este sector, toda vez que hace exigencias que son difíciles de cumplir, por tanto no se aplica la norma.Discusión: Actualmente, no se promueve a nivel regional y nacional, la gestión de residuos peligrosos ni las opciones que faciliten el cumplimiento de las normas específicas, sin poner en riesgo la sustentabilidad ambiental, la sostenibilidad económica y social de los generadores de residuos peligrosos en los cinco municipios del Quindío.Conclusiones: Como producto de la investigación, se propone un modelo de gestión de residuos peligrosos, con dos variables dependiendo del volumen y características de los residuos generados, que incluye el ajuste normativo, la asociatividad de los generadores, una modificación del marco tarifario (con base en la regulación de los parámetros críticos de recolección y transporte), y el acompañamiento de los sectores comprometidos con la sostenibilidad ambiental, principalmente con la capacitación, formación ambiental y fortalecimiento técnico referido al manejo de los residuos o desechos peligrosos (líquidos, gaseosos, sólidos), orgánicos (que pueden tener procesos de compostaje) e inorgánicos (que pueden ser utilizados como reciclado o reutilizados como logística reversa o inversa) y los inservibles. Existe un gran desafío para un país, en especial cuando éste se enmarca en compromisos de convenios internacionales, al no tener en cuenta la heterogeneidad de las regiones, en cuanto a las capacidades de gestión y eliminación adecuada de residuos. Objectives: To review the regulations for hazardous waste in Colombia, its applicability and regulation, in a small Department that has a reduced generation in order to identify gaps, and the applicability of the national environmental policy, as well as a DAFO analysis in the applicability of the regulations of hazardous waste in the department of Quindío, checking integrated management and its implications.Methodology: The revision included a review of the understanding of the regulations, as well as the literature used in the formulation of the policy, the successful cases in other countries and surveys to waste generators in the field work, with the purpose of obtaining the information needed to evaluate the implementation of the National Policy in the Department of Quindío.Results: The realities of hazardous waste generators became visible in the five municipalities of Quindío against the environmental regulations and the National Policy. It was found that the national legislation excludes this sector since it makes demands that are difficult to fulfill, therefore the rule is not applied.Discussion: Currently, management of hazardous waste or options to facilitate the achievement of specific standards without compromising environmental, economic and social sustainability of the generators of hazardous waste in the five municipalities of Quindío is not promoted at the regional and national level.Conclusions: As a result of the research, a model of hazardous waste management is proposed with two variables depending on the volume and characteristics of waste generated including regulatory setting, the association of the generators, a modification of the rate structure (based on the regulation of critical collection and transport parameters), and the accompaniment of the sectors committed to environmental sustainability, mainly through training, environmental education and technical strengthening relative to the handling of residues or hazardous waste (liquid, gaseous, solids), organic (which may have composting processes) and inorganic (which can be used as recycled or reused as reverse or inverse logistics) and unusable. There is a great challenge for a country, especially when it is part of commitments to international conventions, when it does not take into account the heterogeneity of the regions in terms of management skills and proper waste disposal.

Combining freshwater consumption and wastewater emissions into a unified analysis framework and utilizing the epsilon-based measure (EBM) model with the characteristics of radial model and non-radial model, this paper evaluates green water use efficiency (GWUE) of 11 provincial-regions in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) and investigates its spatiotemporal differences during the period 2005–2014, on basis of which the contribution rate of each input-specific green water use inefficiency in the overall green water use efficiency and the potential of freshwater-saving and wastewater emissions reduction are also calculated. The Theil index is used to explore the sources of the provincial gap of green water use inefficiency, and a random-effect panel Tobit model is applied to test the impact of the influencing factors of green water use inefficiency in the YREB. It is found that green water use inefficiency of the YREB is relatively low and regional differences is significant during the sample period, indicating a large potential of water-saving and water pollution reduction, and narrowing BGAP and WGAP of the Upstream is the key for improving green water use inefficiency in the YREB. The panel Tobit regression results show that economic development, technological innovation, water use structure, water resources endowment, environmental regulation and regional differences all play positive/negative effects on green water use inefficiency in the YREB, while these factors’ influencing direction, degree and significance are significantly different. The conclusions of our study can provide considerably valuable information for the YREB to reserve water resources and reduce wastewater emissions.

There is few significant attempt to integrate environmental regulation, government financial support, and corporate technological innovation in a methodological framework. Employing the data of the industrial enterprises with an annual turnover of over 20 million yuan from 30 Chinese provinces or municipalities between 2008 and 2016, this paper applies the fixed effect regression model to reveal the relationships between environmental regulation, government financial support, and corporate technological innovation simultaneously. Results show that: (1) there exists a U-shaped relation between environmental regulation intensity and technological innovation of enterprises which declines first and then climbs up, and China is still at the stage of inhibition before the "inflection point". (2) government financial support does not significantly work on technological innovation directly, but environmental regulation drives this effect to be achieved; when the value of lnER is higher than 3.69, government financial support can significantly facilitate corporate technological innovation. (3) the comparison between regional samples reveals that heterogeneity exists in the influence of environmental regulation intensity and government financial support on corporate technological innovation. The threshold value of enabling effects of environmental regulation in eastern region is higher than that of the central and western region. These results remain consistent after we experiment several robustness checks. Theory and policy implications of our work are discussed.

Sustainable supply chain and carbon management have seen a growing interest in the last decade due to the increasing concerns about global warming and climate change. Policymakers, researchers, and executives have taken various roles in efforts to better measure and control greenhouse gas emissions. This book chapter aims to discuss the current state of the art, and key motivations for businesses to decrease emissions, and different policies and regulations that have been designed to incentivize carbon reduction and enhance the environmental awareness of all stakeholders. The chapter also examines the methodologies for measuring and managing carbon emissions of an organization and its supply chain. Further, it discusses carbon management issues related to reverse logistics, life cycle assessment and double counting of emissions.

In response to global warming, greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement has been one of the top priorities of governments, and a large variety of environmental regulation policies have been implemented in past decades. Using panel data from 27 OECD countries over the period of 2005–2012, this study measures and compares the stringency level of command-and-control and market-based environmental regulations. The differentiated impacts and indirect effects of environmental regulations on GHG emissions are tested empirically. The results show that: (1) Both command-and-control and market-based environmental regulations have effects on GHG abatement in OECD countries, and there is a non-linear relationship between environmental regulations and GHG discharge, in which stringent command-and-control environmental regulations and mild market-based regulation policies are preferred, (2) Command-and-control environmental regulations reduce GHG emissions by improving the technological level, rather than the energy consumption structure. In contrast, market-based environmental regulations can promote GHG abatement through the intermediary effects of both technological progress and the energy consumption structure. The findings provide implications for OECD countries to further reduce GHG emissions.

Environmental regulations (ER) can support or dissuade the reduction of carbon emissions. However, there are limited studies on the impact of ER on carbon emissions for the transportation infrastructure. Using provincial panel data from China for the period 2001–2017, this study measures how ER can affect the carbon emissions efficiency (CEE) of transportation infrastructure. The study uses Hansen’s panel threshold model to analyze current thresholds of ER on CEE. The results show that (1) China’s transportation infrastructure during 2001–2017 experienced a 10.15% decrease of CEE; (2) there are significant heterogeneities across the regions of China regarding CEE; (3) ER produces some CEE threshold effects in China’s current transportation infrastructure. This study proposes alternative evaluation methods and theoretical frameworks for dynamically measuring the CEE of transportation infrastructure, and provides governments with improved criteria to design effective environmental policies.

Water pollution in China has expanded from regions to river basins. It is of great significance to study the behaviors of regulated subjects from the perspective of river basins for protecting the water environment and improving the effectiveness of environmental regulations. This paper constructed a basin spatial regression design to discuss the governance effect and economic effect of water pollution from industry in relation to the central environmental protection goal of China, as well as the response and strategy of local government. Considering the validity of the data, the annual average chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration of each monitoring station was adopted as the ambient water quality index, and there was direct evidence that the ambient water quality index influenced water-polluting industries. We found that, if the downstream COD concentration in the last year rose by 1 mg/L, the water-polluting industries reduced their pollution and output value by 1.9% and 0.2%, respectively. After using the upstream COD concentration as the tool variable, the result was still robust. However, the results of local government’s two strategies, which we can call regulatory constraint force and fiscal incentive force, were opposites. Specifically, the governance effect of polluting industries under regulatory constraints was more significant, while fiscal incentives encourage water-polluting industries to create more value. In addition, we estimated the impact of ambient water quality on water-polluting industries in the Yangtze River Basin and the Yellow River Basin, and revealed that the governance effect exceeded the average value of seven river basins. After further distinguishing the relative upstream cities and relative downstream cities, the results show that the response of relative upstream cities to water quality was significantly higher, and the gap between regions expanded further after 2013.

Based on combined data from the China Patent Database, China Industrial Enterprise Database, and China Customs Import and Export Database for the period 2004–2010, this study investigates the impact of heterogeneous environmental regulations on the export technological sophistication of manufacturing enterprises. Given deepening international market segmentation of production and the increasing proportion of intermediate trade, and compared with the traditional method based on exports, the export technological sophistication calculated here, based on value-added, is closer to the true level. Since there has been no in-depth comparative study on the relationship between heterogeneous environmental regulation and export technological sophistication, this study fills the gap. The results show that all three regulation types bear a U-shaped impact on export technological sophistication. Command-control regulation exhibits a restraining effect on mixed trade, eastern, and foreign-funded enterprises. Market-incentive regulation promotes processing and mixed trade enterprises as well as domestic and foreign-funded enterprises. Voluntary-participation regulation promotes all enterprises with different trade patterns and ownership. The mechanism analysis shows that command-control and market-participation environmental regulations affect export technological sophistication through the green invention and green utility innovation channels, while, additionally, market-incentive environmental regulation affects export technological sophistication through the green design innovation channel. Considering the environmental governance issues, the policy implications for enhancing the entire industrial chain and enterprises’ export competitiveness are clear. Due to the unclear functions and powers of competent departments and a rigid threshold, command-control regulation is not conducive to cleaner production technology and the promotion of enterprises’ export competitiveness; it should thus be discouraged. Although both market-incentive and voluntary-participation regulations have promoted cleaner production technology and enterprises’ competitiveness significantly, the environmental tax system requires continuous improvement. The government should continue to raise public involvement in environmental protection to enrich the channels and forms of environmental management.

During the past decades, environmental related taxes, energy, and carbon taxes has been recommended by environmental scientists as a policy tool to mitigate pollutant emissions in developed and developing economies. Among developed nations, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Norway were the first regions to adopt a tax on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and research into the impacts of carbon tax on carbon emissions bring significant implications. The prime objective and goal of this work is to explore the role of carbon tax reforms for environmental quality in European economies. This is probably the first study to conduct a comparative study in European context for carbon-tax implementation and non-implementation policies. To this end, the present study reports new conclusions and implications regarding the effectiveness of environmental regulations and policies for climate change and sustainability. In the present study, the authors exhaustively explore the impacts of the carbon-tax on the mitigation of CO2 emissions. Using the propensity score matching method, the results of the estimation of the different matching methods allow us to observe a positive and significant impact of the adoption of the carbon-tax on stimulating the reduction of carbon emissions.

Environmental regulations bring social benefits and contribute to lessening environmental damage. At the same time, due to the rapidly changing and complex environmental legislation, businesses incur costs, including administrative burdens. The article presents quantitative evidence on the factors that affect the compliance costs of environmental regulations. For this purpose, we used a binary model of logistic regression with the following predictors: enterprise characteristics, the relevance of environmental regulations for business operations, and the impact of environmental stimulus measures on compliance costs. The results of the study suggest that medium-sized enterprises are less likely to experience the environmental administrative burden than small enterprises. However, no difference has been found between large and small enterprises. Further, we show that environmental consents are an important determinant of the environmental administrative burden and that financial environmental measures can have a positive impact thereon.

Methods of previous researches on green technology innovation will have difficulty in finite population. One solution is the use of stochastic evolutionary game dynamic-Moran process. In this paper we study stochastic dynamic games about green technology innovation with a two-stage free riding problem. Results illustrate the incentive and selection strength play positive roles in promoting participant to be more useful to society, but with threshold effect: too slighted strength makes no effect due to the randomness of the evolution process in finite population. Two-stage free riding problem can be solved with the use of inequality incentives, however, higher inequality can make policy achieves faster but more unstable, so there would be an optimal range. In this paper we provided the key variables of green technology innovation incentive and principles for the environmental regulation policy making. Also reminded that it’s difficult to formulate policies reasonably and make them achieve the expected results.