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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 influence of the dual policies of sustainable economic development and the national dual-carbon target, the establishment of an environmental protection department for the treatment of heavily polluting industries is imminent, and the country has launched pollution control policies and regulations to restrict the emission rights of heavily polluting industries. Therefore, this paper focuses on whether the restriction of emission rights in key industries has reduced carbon emissions. To achieve this, this paper uses panel data of prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2019 and adopts a two-way fixed-effects DID model to systematically analyze the impact of the key pollution industry governance policies launched by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on CO2 emissions in 2017. And further analyze the role of variables such as green technology innovation patents and energy efficiency using this model, while parallel trend tests and placebo tests, and related policies are used to ensure the robustness of the regression results. This paper reveals that: (1) The heavy pollution industry governance policy implemented in 2017 can effectively reduce CO2 emissions in the cities of the treated group, and the effect is more significant in the year of policy implementation; (2) Green utility patents and energy-use efficiency are the effective mediating mechanisms to reduce CO2 emissions; (3) Over time, the effect of heavy pollution industry governance policy on CO2 emissions gradually decreases; (4) The reliability of the baseline regression results of this paper is proved by the use of parallel trend tests, placebo tests, and tests excluding the influence factors such as relevant policies in the same period. Therefore, the key polluting industries treatment policy launched by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2017 under the recent dual-carbon policy development goals formulated by China, can effectively reduce carbon emissions; however, in the future economic development process, the government should give more consideration to the continuity of the policy impact and its coherence on economic development when implementing the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an overview of comparison of bioeconomy indicators, in Romania and European Union, related to Green Deal Pact of the EU. The so called European Green Deal, is a set of proposals adopted by European Commission in order to reduce the climate change by 2050.Official statistical data related to green transition were retrieved from Eurostat database. Specific indicators taken into consideration were circular material use rate, raw material consumption, valued added at factor cost and environmental protection expenditure. Comparison of the dynamics of these indicators for Romania vs other European Union member states, for latest available data, was plotted. When analyzing the data it can be observed that steps are being taken in each state towards fulfilling the objectives of green transition. However, Romania's bioeconomy is still underdeveloped as compared to most of the EU's member states. In order to support the Green Deal targets we need a national strategy and action plan towards green and just transition of our economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of theoretical and practical significance to study the impact of mixed-ownership reform, the core measure of stateowned enterprise (SOE) reform, on the green innovation of SOEs. Using the data of SOEs listed in the China A-share stock market from 2010 to 2019, this study empirically tested the impact, mechanisms, and heterogeneous impact of mixed-ownership reform on the green innovation of SOEs through a Propensity Score Matching+Difference-in-Differences (PSM-DID) model based on the shareholding ratio of non-state-owned shareholders among the top ten shareholders of state-owned enterprises. On this basis, this paper further explored the spillover effect of mixed-ownership reform on the green innovation of SOEs. The results showed that: ① Mixed-ownership reform could effectively promote the green innovation of SOEs. After using the placebo test and instrumental variable method to alleviate the endogenous problem and replacing the matching basis for the robustness test, the conclusion was still valid. ② The mechanism test showed that the improvement of corporate governance level and the knowledge spillover effect were important channels for mixed ownership reform to promote the green innovation of SOEs. The profit-seeking nature of non-state-owned shareholders might have a dampening effect on the green innovation of SOEs in mixed-ownership reform. ③ The heterogeneity analysis of industry characteristics showed that in competitive industries and environmental protection industries, mixed-ownership reform had a more obvious impact on promoting the green innovation of SOEs. ④ Although the mixed-ownership reform promoted the green innovation of SOEs, it was not the higher the better in terms of the proportion of non-state-owned shareholders. When non-state-owned shareholders accounted for 15% to 30%, the promotion effect on the green innovation of SOEs was most obvious. ⑤ The mixed-ownership reform had a spillover effect on the green innovation of unreformed SOEs, effectively promoting the substantive green innovation of these SOEs in the same industry. Therefore, the study proposes that the important role of mixed-ownership reform in green development should be fully recognized and the mixed-ownership reform of SOEs should be further promoted. We should promote the formation of a mutually balanced equity structure and rationally allocate the proportion of non-state-owned capital. At the same time, we should avoid the ‘one-size-fits-all’ mixed-ownership reform and adhere to the classification and stratification of orderly progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of a green financial system can promote economic transformation and development, scientifically and effectively evaluate the green environmental protection level of finance in different cities, and provide a strong impetus for its future promotion. This paper introduces a BP neural network into the evaluation system of urban green finance progress and optimizes the model through GA. According to the constructed evaluation index system, this paper makes empirical analysis of the experimental city. The optimization results show that GA can improve the training error range of the BP neural network and increase the stability of evaluation model performance and the accuracy of evaluation results. Through empirical analysis, it is concluded that the development status of the urban economy, the mode and efficiency of capital distribution, and the degree of support for the environmental protection industry in terms of policy and capital will have a great impact on the development of its environmental protection finance. The support attitude of the local government and society in energy conservation, environmental protection, and green city construction provides a broad development space for green finance to a great extent. Cities should broaden the development channels of green finance and build a sound and scientific green financial service system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of China' s active construction of a multi-party environmental governance system, it is worth discussing how environmental regulation policies affect the market contractual relationship. In fact, government environmental regulation can trigger interactions between enterprises. When an enterprise gets environmental penalties such as fines and halts production, this enterprise will affect the customers, and the customers may adjust their buying strategies or replace this supplier in order to avoid risks. Given that environmental regulation will increase the risk of polluting enterprises and further affect the operation of downstream customers, this paper empirically tested the impact of environmental regulation on market contractual relationship based on the data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2019. We found that: ① The strengthening of environmental regulation on suppliers would cause the customers to reduce the purchase quantity; thus, environmental regulation could trigger a negative market response. ② Between 2015 and 2019, with the overall and long-term tightening of environmental regulation, enterprises usually increased investment and innovation in environmental protection, resulting in a weakening of the negative market response. ③ When customers had a green reputation or the suppliers belonged to a polluting industry, the customers' negative response was significantly stronger, but when the suppliers were state-owned enterprises, customers were no longer sensitive to their environmental risks. ④ Further analysis showed that environmental regulation affected customers' adjustment of purchase share through 'risk' mechanism and 'environmental governance' mechanism. This article reveals that the government environmental regulation will impact the market contractual relationship, which complements and enriches the relevant literature on environmental governance from the micro perspective, and makes a solid attempt to promote corporate environmental governance from the perspective of the supply chain. The policy implication of this article is that we should strengthen the fairness of the implementation of environmental regulation policies and encourage the development of green supply chains. The conclusion of the study has certain implications for further improving the government environmental regulation, motivating corporate environmental governance, and realizing the multi-party co-governance environmental governance system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The system as a whole is composed of various interrelated sub-systems. The effect of a system will be affected by the coordination of other systems associated with it. Only when the complementarity and coordination between systems increase can the implementation effect of the system be fully brought into play. As an informal system, social trust can affect the implementation effect of formal environmental regulations, but there are few studies on the moderating effect of social trust on the impact of environmental regulations on carbon emissions. Based on this, the panel data of 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2010 to 2019 were selected as research samples. The moderating effect model and mediated moderating effect model were used to study the moderating effect and mechanism of social trust on the impact of environmental regulations on carbon emissions. In addition, the heterogeneity of this moderating effect was tested by region. The results showed that: ① The impact of environmental regulations on carbon emissions showed an inverted Ushaped nonlinear relationship, and the promotion effect of environmental regulations on carbon emissions was dominant in the present stage. FDI, the upgrading of industrial structures, and R&D innovation were important mediating channels for environmental regulations to affect carbon emissions. ② As a moderating variable, social trust positively moderated the impact of environmental regulations on carbon emissions and accelerated the arrival of the inflection point of the inverted U-shaped curve. ③ In terms of the mediating effect, the moderating effect of social trust on the impact of environmental regulations on carbon emissions was realized through the mediating effect of FDI, the upgrading of industrial structures, and R&D innovation, and the impact of social trust on the inflection points of the three intermediary channels was heterogeneous. ④ The moderating effect of social trust had regional heterogeneity. In small cities, the impact of social trust on environmental regulations on carbon emissions was greater than that in large and medium-sized cities. The moderating effect of social trust was greater in the cities without environmental protection than in the cities with environmental protection. The above conclusions were still valid after a series of robustness tests. It is hoped that this paper can enrich the relevant research on environmental regulations and social trust and be helpful for local governments to formulate relevant policies according to local conditions, improve the carbon emission reduction effect of environmental regulation, and accelerate the green development and transformation of Chinese cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The innovative application of green credit policy as a means of financial regulation in the field of environmental governance is an important attempt to balance the relationship between environmental protection and economic development. It reshapes the credit financing environment of high-pollution enterprises, forces them to transform and upgrade, and arouses their enthusiasm for green development. At the same time, it can profoundly affect their ‘real-to-virtual’ transformation, that is, the financialization of real enterprises. Based on the wide application of the green credit policy and rapid development of the financial market, this paper selected the empirical data of A-share listed companies in China from 2008 to 2019, and used the DID method to test the differences in financialization between high-pollution enterprises and non-high-pollution enterprises before and after the implementation of the Green Credit Guidelines. Benchmark regression showed that, compared with non-high pollution enterprises, green credit policy significantly inhibited the finan‑ cialization of high-pollution enterprises. After a series of robustness tests such as the parallel trend test, the placebo test, and PSM-DID, the results were still valid. The mechanism test showed that, this benefited from the technological innovation promotion and agency cost reduction resulting from the green credit policy. Heterogeneity test further showed that the inhibition effect on the financialization of high-pollution enterprises varied with the nature of the property rights of these enterprises and the intensity of the enforcement of regional environmental laws. Compared with state-owned enterprises and enterprises in areas with weak environmental law enforcement, the inhibition effect on the financialization of enterprises was more obvious in non-state-owned enterprises and areas with strong environmental law enforcement. The result confirms the effectiveness of the application of green credit policy at the micro level, which could help policymakers evaluate the policy effect, formulate and implement the incentive and restraint mechanisms of green credit policy, as well as remind the high-pollution enterprises of the importance of strengthening technological innovation, seeking green transformation, and rationally investing in financial assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental protection and sustainable development are now profoundly ingrained in the public consciousness in the modern era of the global green revolution. First, this paper uses an evolutionary game model to theoretically analyse the impact of environmental regulation and green finance on enterprises by dissecting the game behaviour between local governments, banks and enterprises. Then, we incorporate entrepreneurial spirit into the model to determine whether entrepreneurial spirit accelerates the achievement of green sustainability objectives. Environmental regulation and green finance are found to contribute substantially to the innovation of green technologies by local enterprises, while entrepreneurial spirit accelerates this process. Finally, we empirically test the findings based on a prefecture-level panel dataset from 2007 to 2020. We find that green finance has a positive impact in Central and Western cities of China, while Eastern cities are in greater need for government environmental regulation controls. For entrepreneurial spirit, the incentive effect of entrepreneurial spirit on the level of green technology innovation is more significant in Central and Western regions of China. This paper enriches the field of research on entrepreneurial spirit and regional green sustainable development by providing empirical evidence for the evaluation of environmental regulatory and green financing policy impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Carbon peaking and carbon neutralization" is an important measure to promote China's ecological and environmental protection and high-quality economic development, and the innovation and application of green technology are critical factors in achieving the "double carbon" goal. Based on the number of citations of green patents of listed enterprises in 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper uses GGDP to replace traditional GDP and calculate carbon emission intensity. Based on the relevant panel data at the provincial level, this paper constructs a spatial Durbin model to analyze the impact mechanism of whether the promotion and application of green technologies promote regional carbon emission reduction. The specific research results are as follows: (1) Through regression of the core explanatory variables with a one-stage lag, it is verified that the promotion and application of green technology has a significant positive promoting effect on regional carbon emission reduction, and there are significant spatial spillover effects and "learning by doing" effects. (2) In the part of heterogeneity test, the impact of green technology promotion and application on carbon emission reduction presents apparent regional heterogeneity and factor endowment heterogeneity. (3) The mediating effect test verifies the mediating effect of energy structure and industrial structure on the influence of green technology promotion and application on regional carbon emission reduction. (4) In the part moderating effect test, it is verified that marketization level and new infrastructure construction have a positive moderating effect in their influencing process, financial development, and government support will weaken the influence of green technology promotion and application on carbon emission reduction effect, and human capital level has a nonlinear regulating effect. The research conclusions of this paper provide necessary enlightenment for the coordination and unification of China's economic transition to innovation-driven and green and low-carbon development. • The impact of GTPA on reduction in China was analyzed from a macro perspective. • The GS and FDL plays a negative moderating role in the influence process. • The HCL plays a nonlinear moderating role in the influence process. • The GTPA can significantly reduce regional CEI except in Western China. • Regions with high EDL and high GTI have better carbon reduction effects of GTPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to protect the environment protection, the climate change and the increasingly dynamic global context have made the green transition a topical issue. At European and Member States level, action has been taken and funding will be provided in various sectors such as green technologies, biodiversity, energy efficiency, building renovation and the circular economy. It is necessary to promote sustainable growth, to decouple economic growth from resource use and focus on the circular economy. The paper presents the financial instrument and the plan of measures addressed to investments in the field of green economy, investments that private companies can implement. There are real opportunities for the businesses to attract funds. Companies need to take environmental issues into account in their actions, prioritizing resource efficiency and competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the environmental impact of three forms of waste PET bottle management, i.e. through recycling, energy recovery and as a result of its disposal. The analysis was carried out using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technique enabling comprehensive assessment covering both direct and indirect environmental impacts. The research carried out included changes resulting from technological progress and the development of environmental protection technologies, which may have a significant impact on the obtained results. An attempt has been made to take into account these changes and assess the environmental benefits of various forms of PET bottle management. The study confirmed the results of research carried out by Chinese and British scientists indicating that the most environmentally friendly form of waste PET bottle management is recycling (1.38 mPt). Energy recovery (2.73 mPt) shows a higher environmental burden, while disposal is the most unfavourable form of waste PET bottles management (7.31 mPt). As a result, despite differences in environmental technologies used a decade ago and today, as well as legal differences in force in the compared regions of the world, the main conclusions of the study remain valid. For this reason, it is important adopt environmentally friendly waste PET bottles management and to include them in the global material balance for the implementation of circular economy solutions that correspond directly with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To protect environmental sustainability, organizations are moving their focus towards greening the business process. Similarly to any other business function, financial management has also turned to environmentally friendly activities. Green finance is a new financial pattern that integrates environmental protection and economic profits. This paper analyses the publications on green finance, and their intellectual structure and networking. The bibliometric data on green finance research have been extracted from the Scopus database. This study finds the most productive countries, universities, authors, journals, and most prolific publications in green finance, through examining the published works. Also, the study visualizes the intellectual network by mapping bibliographic coupling (BC) and co-citation. The study's essential contribution is the analysis of green finance developments and trajectories that can help scholars and practitioners to appreciate the trend and future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]