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Since 2014, China has implemented a unified environmental regulation policy for the livestock industry. With unified environmental regulations across provinces, does the phenomenon of 'pollution havens' still exist? To address this question, this paper examines spatial variations among provinces and their spillover effects on the pig industry using data on environmental regulations and pig production panels. The results indicate that: (1) Environmental regulation policies are gradually converging across regions. (2) Under unified environmental regulation, the existence of 'pollution havens' in the pig industry is no longer evident. As national regulations become stronger, increasing local regulatory intensity will not affect the number of pig farms in neighboring areas nor lead to significant emigration of such farms. (3) In cases where there are inter-regional variations in environmental regulations, large-scale farmers may relocate to neighboring areas with less stringent regulations; however, under unified environmental regulation, neither small nor large-scale farmers will migrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological accountability is an important means for the Chinese government to promote the development of green policies. In this study, a central environmental protection inspection was used as an exogenous shock event, China's A-sharelisted companies were selected as the research sample, and the impact of the central environmental protection inspection on the financialization behavior of heavily polluting enterprises was empirically tested. The research shows that the central environmental protection inspection significantly inhibited the financialization of heavily polluting enterprises. A mechanism analysis showed that the central environmental protection inspection mainly inhibited the financialization of enterprises by promoting green innovation, which shows that the implementation of a central environmental protection inspection can promote green innovation and transformation by forcing heavily polluting enterprises to return to their main business, produce a "crowding-out effect" on financial assets, and place a focus on sustainable and high-quality development. A heterogeneity test showed that the inhibitory effect of the central environmental protection inspection on enterprise financialization was more significant in the sample group of state-owned enterprises and areas with a higher level of development of green finance. This study provides a reference for evaluating the implementation effect and effectiveness of central environmental protection inspections and has significance for regulatory authorities in improving the revision of ecological accountability policies, promoting the green transformation of heavy pollution industries, and regulating the financial asset investment behavior of listed companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article articulates the historical entanglement of Ireland's big tech ecosystem with earlier forms of economic development and state-sanctioned polluting practices, particularly focusing on strategies for attracting multinational companies since the 1960s. The outsourcing of polluting multinational industries to Ireland's rural regions has a long history, one tied into fault-lines of the country's postcolonial condition and developmental economy in the 1970s and 1980s. During this era of economic liberalisation, Ireland's environmental politics were frequently organised against the outsourcing of toxic chemical, pharmaceutical, and technological industries to rural Ireland. Ireland's position as a western European nation-state undoubtedly means that wealth accumulated via these industries merits complicity in the global supply chains sustaining "green" extractivism in the Global South. But rural Ireland also bears an uneven share of responsibility for these industries, whose destructive externalities are often imposed on these places through large-scale infrastructures. Historical struggles for environmental justice in these rural sites foreground access to land, livelihoods, health, and cultures of place. Contributing to recent debates on the colonial endurances of contemporary "green" development, we argue that these rural movements should be a starting point for a "just" transition attuned to anti-imperialist goals in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is devoted to the theoretical and practical analysis of the organizational and legal problems involved in the evolution and implementation of the environmental policy as integral part of the sustainable development strategy of Ukraine. This research is based on the international documents defining the goals of sustainable development and that are guidelines for harmonizing legal instruments in rationalizing natural resource use conforming the European Green laws. Based on the analysis of the current environmental legislation of Ukraine and its application, as well as inculcating the views of scientists, a conclusion is drawn about the need for prioritizing sectoral environmental reforms in the fields of biodiversity protection, curbing industrial pollution, waste management, emission monitoring and reporting, environmental control, and statutory responsibility. The grey areas of improving Ukraine's environmental policy ensuring effective, transparent and modern post-war reconstruction are identified as: strengthening control over compliance with standards and environmental regulations concerning natural resource management; improving the mechanism of payments for harming the environment; giving tax benefits and other financial incentives to environmentally innovative practices; encouraging the environmental audit and certification; pricing flexibly the ecological products; stimulating scientific temperament in solving environmental problems; and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the strategic background of implementing the new development concept, there is an important question to be answered about whether the' responsibility to people' water pollution control policy can promote corporate green innovation while improving the environment. Based on the panel data of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2019, this paper empirically tested the impact of the implementation of the river chief system on corporate green innovation using the multi-period DID method. This research concluded that the river chief system could significantly improve corporate green innovation. After a series of necessary tests, such as the parallel trend test and placebo test, the conclusion remained robust. The mechanism analysis showed that the policy effect of the river chief system was mainly realized through two channels, namely, internal incentive and external pressure, and that the effect of external pressure was stronger than that of internal incentive. Further research showed that the governance power of local river chiefs had a lax effect at the boundaries of prefecture-level cities, and the promotion incentives of officials also affected the policy effect to a certain extent. More importantly, under the policy background of the river chief system, local officials were more active in water pollution control and could also monitor enterprises far away from the rivers. In addition, the results of the heterogeneity analysis showed that: ① Compared with small enterprises, large enterprises received more attention from policymakers, and the river chief system had a stronger regulatory impact on large enterprises, whose green innovation level had a more significant improvement. ② Compared with private enterprises, state-owned enterprises responded more positively to the river chief system policy, and the green innovation output stimulated by the policy was higher. ③ Compared with other industries, enterprises in the water pollution industry were less affected by the river chief system policy. This paper found that these enterprises mainly dealt with environmental governance pressure by reducing production rather than focusing on green innovation. This study provides a policy basis for implementing the environmental regulation policy of' responsibility to people' and for realizing the dual goals of environmental protection and economic development. It also provides theoretical support and practical inspiration for the refined implementation of environmental regulation policies from multiple perspectives, such as internal incentives, external media supervision, and enterprise heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Using the data of micro industrial enterprises and the quasi-natural experiment of the PNTR authorisation from the U.S. after China's accession to the WTO to investigate the impact of TPU decline on enterprise environmental performance. • Enterprises' SO2 emissions of enterprises in an industry with a large reduction in TPU after China obtained the PNTR authorisation from the U.S. will be reduced more than those of enterprises in an industry with less TPU reduction. • The decline in TPU helps reduce SO2 generation and strengthens enterprises' pollutants removal ability, thereby improving enterprises' front and terminal environmental performance. • The decline in TPU is conducive to improving enterprises' environmental performance under strong environmental regulation by local governments. Using the data of micro industrial enterprises and the quasi-natural experiment of the permanent normal trade relationship (PNTR) authorisation from the United States after China's accession to the World Trade Organization, this study investigates the impact of trade policy uncertainty (TPU) on enterprise environmental performance employing the difference-in-differences model. We found that the sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions of enterprises in an industry with a large reduction in TPU after China obtained the PNTR authorisation will be reduced more than those of enterprises in an industry with less TPU reduction. The decline in TPU helps reduce SO2 generation and strengthen enterprises' pollutants removal, thereby improving enterprises' front and terminal environment performance. Under strong environmental regulation by local governments, the decline in TPU is conducive to improving enterprises' environmental performance. The impact of TPU decline mainly exists in the enterprises of high pollution industries, non-state-owned and the eastern area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The present study is a novel attempt to measure the impact of population growth, natural resource depletion, non-renewable energy consumption, growth of national income, remittances inflow and industrial output on carbon dioxide emissions in India during the period of 1980–2018. Design/methodology/approach: Autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) is used to achieve the objective. The application of FMOLS (fully modified ordinary least squares), DOLS (dynamic ordinary least squares) and CCR (canonical cointegrating regression) techniques illustrate statistical robustness. Findings: The long-run ARDL results confirm that increase in population, national income and energy consumption have a positive and significant impact on pollution levels in India. In contradiction to this, long run results further reveal that the increase in natural resource depletion, industrial output and remittances inflow have insignificant and negative impact on pollution levels in India. Further, the empirical findings did not find any evidence for the applicability of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in India during the study period. Research limitations/implications: The study is confined to only a few important determinants of CO2 emissions in India. However, there is a large chunk of studies that have incorporated other determinants of CO2 emissions. Specifying a few determinants of CO2 emissions in India is itself a lacuna in the present study. Moreover, taking the time period from 1980 to 2018 is also one of the limitations of the study. Practical implications: Plenty of research has been devoted to the causal relationship between the environment and its various determinants. However, not much attention has been paid to investigating the association between population growth, natural resource depletion, energy consumption, GDP per capita, remittances inflow, industry and carbon dioxide emissions in India. Since, CO2 emissions are one of the widely accepted and applied emissions in EKC applications, which the present study intends to test. Moreover, the study employs advanced econometric techniques including ARDL framework, FMOLS, DOLS and CRR methodologies to achieve robust results. Such an investigation will potentially allow policymakers to frame efficient environmental and fiscal policies to achieve the desired results. Originality/value: The continuous increase of CO2 emissions in India has compelled policy makers to prioritize this issue as soon as possible and formulate national environmental policy for reducing the share of carbon dioxides emissions in climate change. The study could constitute the focus of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China' s goal of achieving peak carbon emissions by 2030 is the fundamental foundation for its scheduled achievement of carbon neutrality by 2060. Taking 280 prefectural-level cities in China from 2006 to 2019 as the research object and the achievement of the carbon peak goal by 2030 as the rigid constraint, this study proposed the logic of 'symbiosis-co-governance-sharing' and focused on the characteristics of symbiosis on carbon emissions and air pollution. On the basis of the quantitative decomposition of the annual goal of reaching peak carbon emissions and the identification of the profit and loss deviation on both carbon emissions and air pollution, this study examined the co-governance synergistic effects of carbon and air pollution and the sharing paths. The results showed that: (1) The goal of reaching peak carbon emissions played a significant synergistic role in reducing pollution and carbon emissions, which could promote the development of cities from deviation to balance and optimization and promote the urban function of making ' bad to good, good to better, and better to best, (2) The synergistic effects of the carbon peak goal on reducing pollution and carbon emissions showed a significant heterogeneous selection effect. In China' s western cities, resource-based cities, environmental protection key cities, and first-mover cities, these effects played a more important role and had a stronger influence. (3) The sharing paths of the synergistic effects lay in the dual perspectives of 'internal' and 'external' source management-process control-end-of-pipe blocking and the dynamic matching of external environmental policy uncertainty. In the continuous promotion of the ' dual carbon' goals, close attention should be paid to carbon reduction and the optimization of the design of multiple sharing paths to enhance the synergistic effects of carbon and pollution reduction. In specific, we should: (1) strengthen source management, control total fossil energy consumption at the source, adjust industrial structure, and focus on energy saving and consumption reduction; (2) strictly control process management, investigate the pollution transfer phenomenon caused by differences in environmental regulation levels and the consequences of profit and loss deviation, and promote the construction of green transportation system through multi-wheel drive; (3) highlight end-of-pipe blocking, implement the whole process of governance, monitoring, and emission reduction, enhance green innovation and fully utilize carbon reduction and sink increase; (4) use dynamic adjustment to achieve internal and external matching and timely implement environmental policies according to local conditions so as to achieve adjustment and precise regulations on time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do people choose to reside in cities? How does urban pollution affect their location decisions? This paper provides an overview of the literature that studies how different agglomeration and dispersion forces affect the internal structure and the size of cities. In particular, we discuss models that investigate the role of urban pollution on the structure of cities. We show that pollution associated with the industrial, residential and transport sectors has an impact on different land uses and might lead to either monocentric or polycentric urban forms. We also examine the effect of land use, environmental and transport policies on urban form and urban pollution levels. We conclude by discussing the policy challenges that can be identified in order to efficiently manage urbanisation and create sustainable cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passively waiting for the natural appearance of a turning point in the Environmental Kuznets Curve is no longer the appropriate attitude for coping with the increasing environmental pressures. The present study selected the provincial legislation regarding environmental protection as the current measurements of environmental policies. Then, tests were conducted in order to determine whether or not the current environmental policies were empirically conducive for reducing industrial pollution emission intensities using the provincial panel data for the period ranging from 2005 to 2014. The results indicated that the introduction and implementation of environmental policies could significantly reduce industrial pollution emission levels. However, such obvious inhibitions caused by the environmental policies regarding pollution emission reductions were found to be highly dependent on the marketization processes and environmental behaviors of the government. Furthermore, it was revealed in this research investigation that the effectiveness of the environmental policies for pollution reduction was related to regional environmental quality. The findings of this study bear important policy implications in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The date on which that transitional provision expires is amended from 31 March 2021 to 31 December 2021.SITBDRecognised Auction Platforms (Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021 Draft)These Regulations amend financial services legislation relating to the auctioning of emissions allowances, to ensure that the rules which applied to the auctioning of emissions allowances created as part of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme will continue to work in the UK in relation to the auctioning of allowances created under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme established under the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020.SSI29 January 2021Single Use Carrier Bags Charge (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/53)These Regulations amend the Single Use Carrier Bags Charge (Scotland) Regulations 2014 Regulation 7(2) by replacing the date on which the provision ceases to have effect with 31 May 2021. The local authority's screening officer concluded that no environmental impact assessment (EIA) was necessary, as the development was not EIA development within the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 Regulation 3, not being likely to have significant environmental effects. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: Nowadays, the appropriate selection of environmental instruments is considered a political priority in most countries. Given that one of the most important environmental tools in recent years to counteract industrial pollution has been levying green tax on polluting industries, the present study aims to identify interactive factors affecting the enforcement of green taxes between executive agencies [Department of Environment and Administration of Economic and Finance] and industries to reduce pollution. Materials and Methods: In this qualitative study, 13 participants from the DOE, MEFA and Deputy of Industries’ Affairs of Yazd were selected by purposive and snowball sampling. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and then analyzed in the MAXQDA10 software by content analysis method. Results: From our data analysis, two main categories executive organizations and industries were drawn, which included 8 sub-categories tax justice, tax culture development, tax determination and tax collection, weak tax systems, tax laws, tax penalties, tax incentives and adoption of an environmental framework by the industry. Conclusion: Reforming the environmental laws, approaches and policies, emphasizing education to develop the culture of tax payment, avoiding unilateralism in enforcing environmental policies and enhancing incentive policies seem essential.

As a market-based instrument of transportation demand management, congestion charge can not only effectively reduce traffic congestion, but also improve air quality. However, due to its low public acceptability, this policy only has a few urban practices. As one of the fast-growing metropolises in emerging economies that are facing both traffic congestion and industrial pollution problems, Beijing is now considering the feasibility of implementing congestion charging. Some researchers address that though people with strong environmental concerns are more prone to support congestion charges, the associations between environmental concerns and support for congestion charges are context-dependent. A survey was conducted in Beijing in 2016 to understand how the pollution context in cities of emerging economies affects these associations. We find that the acceptability in Beijing is 33%, and expected policy effects and environmental concerns are the most important impact factors. Due to the influence of the regional industrial pollution context, most residents in Beijing do not consider congestion charge to be an effective way to tackle air pollution. Under these circumstances, even if the public environmental concerns, in general, are high and congestion charges are "marketed" as environmental policies, there is no guarantee that policy support will rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increasingly serious problem of environmental pollution, environmental governance in various countries is constantly improving. To open the black box of environmental governance, this study assesses whether and how environmental target constraints affect pollution emissions from the perspective of firms' behavior. Based on the exogenous impact of including environmental performance in officials' evaluations, the continuous difference-in-differences (DID) method was used. Benchmark analysis showed that the environmental target constraint policy effectively reduced the SO 2 emissions of firms, especially polluting firms, and inhibited the emission of other air pollutants, exerting a collaborative governance effect on multiple pollutants. Expansion analysis showed that the environmental target constraint policy was beneficial for optimizing the energy structure and strengthening the pollution control of firms. However, the environmental target constraint policy did not effectively promote the green technology innovation of Chinese industrial firms. In addition, as a result of environmental target constraints, the distribution of the SO 2 emission intensity of firms in each region tended to be uniform through an asymmetric impact on the entry and exit behavior of firms with different pollution levels. This study presents an objective foundation for developing an effective pollution control policy framework for other countries, especially developing countries. [Display omitted] • The black box of environmental governance is opened based on firms' behavior. • Environmental policy optimizes energy input and strengthens end treatment. • Environmental policy has an asymmetric impact on different firms. • The continuous difference-in-differences method is used in the policy analysis. • An effective pollution control policy framework is developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution causes severe environmental problems and has become a major health risk for livelihood in Delhi. With increase in population, there is an increase in emissions from various utilities as well. The main source of air pollution is crop residue burning followed by vehicular and industrial emission. Crop residue burning during winter produces a thick cloud of smoke and causes major threats to human health by deterioration in air quality. This crucial matter was also discussed in the Indian parliament. The National Green Tribunal and various Courts of India have directed to the Delhi government and various concerned agencies to resolve the air pollution problem. The present study discusses human health safety caused by air pollution, analysis and mitigation of air pollution using suitable environmental policies and application of biomass energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring spatial and temporal chemical status of water bodies is crucial to assist environmental policy, identify the chemical fingerprints, and further reduce the source orientated pollutants. Elbe River is one of the major rivers affected by anthropogenic activities in vicinity countries. This study assessed the spatiotemporal changes in response to source shift of Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the suspended particulate matter (SPM) at upstream, midstream, and downstream of the Elbe River reach in Saxony state, Germany. The average contents of trace metals in SPM was found in the order of Zn (676 mg/kg) » Pb (79 mg/kg) > Cu (74 mg/kg) > Ni (48 mg/kg) » Cd (3.2 mg/kg). According to the Mann-Kendall trend test, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn showed significant declines over 1998–2016. The results of source apportionment indicate industrial, urban, natural, and historical mining sources influencing the metal contents in the Elbe River of Saxony. The contributions of industrial and urban pollution decreased by 58.2% from 1998 to 2007 to 2008–2016. The contribution of the natural source was steady over the last two decades. Image 1 • Long-term in spatiotemporal changes of metals in the Elbe River had been evaluated. • Most metals showed significant declines over 1998–2016. • Primary source shift of metals was identified by PMF receptor model. • Industrial and urban pollution showed decreasing contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region is a top urban agglomeration of China but has the problem of severe environmental pollution. Most of the current researches on the sustainable development of this region only concentrate on the environmental pollution itself and ignore its relationship to the socioeconomic development. In this research, an entropy-based coupling model, a polynomial equation with partial least squares algorithm, and socioeconomic and environmental data in 2006–2015 were used to measure and fit the above relationship. Empirical analysis led to the following conclusions. (1) Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei presented similar socioeconomic development modes but different environmental pollution modes. (2) The social economy of the BTH region has been developing at the expense of environmental pollution, but the environmental cost has been decreasing year by year. (3) At present, the BTH region has huge potential to improve its environment. (4) Increasing the investment in the treatment of industrial pollution in Tianjin and mitigating the soot (dust) emissions in Tianjin and Hebei are the major environmental policy directions. (5) Controlling the development of smelting and pressing of ferrous metals and other building material sectors in Hebei is the major economic policy direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Pollution Haven hypothesis and Porter hypothesis provide two different behavioral strategies for pollution industries under stringent environmental regulations, which make a clear line between the two hypotheses in the previous literature. This paper studies the pollution industry transfer in China from the perspective of industry mobility, and proves that the transfer of pollution industries under environmental regulations is the comprehensive effect of "Pollution Haven" and "Innovation Compensation" by using Chinese provincial-level data from 2000 to 2015. The empirical results find that strongly mobile pollution industries have tended to transfer directly to the areas with loose regulations, but "Innovation Compensation" effect is not significant, leading to the pollution industries transferring out; the weakly mobile pollution industries have not shown the "Pollution Heaven" effect, environmental regulations will stimulate innovation and increase industry output through the mechanism of "Innovation Compensation", which increases the regional proportion of pollution industries output. In short, we believe this study can provide a new perspective for explaining the current pollution industry transfer in China and help for more precise and reasonable environmental policies. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Based on the industry mobility, this paper studies the pollution industry transfer in China. • We break the line between PHH and PH by providing an analytical framework and an empirical test. • Pollution industries with different mobility have different strategies respond to regulations. • Pollution industry transfer is a result of the comprehensive effect of PHH and PH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to assess the impact of competition on industrial toxic pollution by using, for the first time, a panel threshold model which allows evaluations of the main drivers of toxic releases under two different market regimes. The empirical analysis is based on a micro‐level panel dataset over the five‐year period 1987–2012. We show that this relationship is statistically significant and robust above and below the threshold, even after accounting for alternative specifications of market concentration. Specifically, we unmask an inverted V‐shaped relationship between market concentration and industrial pollution. We argue that the increasing non‐parametric regression line up to a certain concentration (threshold) level indicates a negative effect on facilities' emissions levels, whereas a decreasing line indicates a positive effect. This relationship provides new insights into environmental policy design towards abatement of industrial releases and sustainability. Finally, our empirical model remains robust under different specifications properly accounted for possible endogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to analyze the relationship between the profitability and the disclosure of environmental contingent provisions and liabilities of the companies with high potential for pollution listed in B3. The research sample consists of 38 companies of shares traded in B3, which makes up the high-impact group, according to Law No. 10,165 / 2000, which deals with the National Environmental Policy. In order to achieve the objective of this research, we used the content analysis to examine the disclosure of environmental contingent provisions and liabilities by companies, in the period from 2011 to 2016, as well as the application of multiple regression of fixed effect. The result presented statistical significance between the independent variable Profitability (RENT) and disclosure, but with a negative coefficient, that is, the most profitable companies are not necessarily the ones that most disclose information on environmental contingent provisions and liabilities. Thus, there was a rejection of the research hypothesis (H1: The profitability of companies with high polluting potential is positively related to the disclosure of provisions and contingent environmental liabilities). Such a result runs counter to the argument that most profitable firms tend to disclose more information than less profitable ones, just to differentiate themselves from them. Regarding the other variables, Market Value and Business Sustainability Index (ISE), these were significant and negative, while Indebtedness was positive; Size was not significant, and finally, Corporate Governance was omitted from the econometric model because it was a fixed dummy along the panel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining time variations, cross-province variations in policy intensity, and variations in pollution intensity across industries, we estimate the impact of environmental regulation on firm exports. We find that in more pollution-intensive industries, stricter environmental regulation reduces both the probability that a firm will export and the volume of exports. Heterogeneous tests show that the impact is smaller for SOE firms and for firms located in the central and western part of China. We also find that the reduced probability that a firm will export is driven by a decline in non-exporters entering the export market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the ambiguous empirical results of previous research, this paper tests whether support for a climate policy-induced pollution haven effect and the pollution haven hypothesis can be found. Unlike the majority of previous studies, the analysis is based on international panel data and includes several methodological novelties: By arguing that trade flows of dirty goods to less dirty sectors may also be influenced by changes in policy stringency, trade information on primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors are included. In order to clearly differentiate between dirty sectors and sectors with high pollution abatement costs, separate measures for pollution intensity and policy stringency are implemented. For the former, two intensities, namely the sectors’ carbon dioxide emission intensity and the emission relevant energy intensity, are used to identify dirty sectors. For the latter, an internationally comparable, sector-specific measure of climate policy stringency is derived by applying a shadow price approach. Potential endogeneity between climate policy stringency, trade openness and the trade balance is controlled for by employing a dynamic panel generalized method of moments estimator. The results provide evidence for a pollution haven effect that is also present for non-dirty sectors, i.e., a sector’s net imports rise in general if the sector faces an increase in climate policy stringency. Moreover, a stronger pollution haven effect regarding carbon dioxide intensive and emission relevant energy-intensive sectors is revealed. However, no support for the stronger pollution haven hypothesis can be found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial environmental pollution often entails conflicts of interest; therefore, it is more likely than many other factors to result in a mass incident and challenge sustainable development and cleaner production. Employing an adaptive agent-based model, this study explored mass incidents from the perspective of residents' behavior, influencing factors, and conflict mitigation policies. Results from the simulation model revealed three types of residents' behavior: no behavior, lawful behavior, and extreme behavior, moreover, residents' behavior changed slightly as their legal awareness increased. Similarly, the timing of government actions and the speed with which firms responded to environmental grievances related to their practices did not clearly affect residents' behavior. In contrast, other factors—such as satisfaction with the compensation awarded, levels of pollution health risk, and the speed at which rumors were propagated—affected their behavior dramatically. Findings could be incorporated into governmental decision-making to help alleviate environmental pollution conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on ethnographic research conducted in the Ecuadorian Amazon, this paper seeks to reframe the industrial contamination problem. From critiques of neoliberalism to Marxist-oriented environment theories, industrial contamination is understood as asecondary effectof a larger problem of the capitalist system. There are at least four, often overlapping, ways of understanding the pervasiveness of the problem,via: (1) cost-benefit analyses, which determine it to be cheaper to remediate environmental damages than prevent them; (2) weak regulation, which shapes those cost-benefit analyses; (3) the externalisation of certain costs onto third (usually marginalised) parties; and (4) contradictions inherent to capital accumulation which promote the destruction of the very environmental conditions that capital depends on. Curiously, even where contamination is conceptualised as an inherent and necessary feature of capitalism, it appears as collateral damage, as the ‘unintentional by-product’ of something-other, rather than a ‘conscious imposition of “power over”’ a particular group of people (De Angelis, M. 2004. ‘Separating the Doing and the Deed: Capital and the Continuous Character of Enclosures’.Historical Materialism12:2, 57–87). This is curious because small farmers and indigenous people affected by a devastating oil-related disaster in Ecuador describe contamination otherwise – as a kind of targeted, chemical warfare against those living ‘in the way of’ extractive operations. Dealing with the narrative gap between those lived experiences of contamination and the expert discourses about it, this paper introduces the concept of an ‘incentive to contaminate’. By critically expanding the prevailing theories, the concept turns greater attention to the productive work that contamination does for the oil industry, thus challenging socio-legal categories of intent that impede environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study applies the classical difference-in-difference (DID) and spatial difference-in-difference (SDID) approach to measure the policy effect of the mandatory environmental protection interview (EPI) on green innovation with focus on 11,567 industrial manufacturing enterprises in Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China. Overall, the mandatory EPI has significantly promoted green innovation in industrial manufacturing enterprises in YRD by 0.399 units, which is greater than its promotion in green innovation for national industrial enterprises. Industrial manufacturing enterprises tend to increase utility patents more than invention patents under the impact on EPI. A heterogeneity analysis shows that EPI plays a larger role in promoting green innovation for highly polluting enterprises and privately owned enterprises than low polluting enterprises and state-owned enterprises. The innovative application of SDID approach precisely identifies that mandatory EPI has negative and positive effect on green innovation for the interviewed and non-interviewed neighbouring YRD cities. The EPI has a deterrent effect on the non-interviewed cities and stimulates their self-reliance innovation behaviours to realizing green innovation promotion. Except for the highly polluting enterprises with lower government environmental subsidy (GES) tending to purse more GI under EPI, the overall adjustment effect of GES on EPI to have a policy effect is insignificant. • Classical and spatial difference-in-difference approaches are used to measure the effect of EPI on green innovation. • EPI has greater promotion role on green innovation of manufacturing enterprises in YRD than national industrial enterprises. • Industrial manufacturing enterprises tend to increase utility patents more than invention patents under the impact on EPI. • EPI has better stimulation effect on green innovation for highly polluting enterprises than low polluting enterprises. • EPI restricts green innovation in interviewed cities while promotes green innovation for non-interviewed neighbouring cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public participation in environmental decision making is promoted in the Global South as a core tenet of “good governance” associated with sustainability. This emphasis on participatory governance has produced significant attention to the importance of “environmental awareness” as a precondition of participation in environmental governance. This article analyzes the connected discourses surrounding environmental awareness and participation in Indian water-quality policy, focusing on North India’s Ganges River. Drawing on evidence from policy documents and interviews with government officials and other key informants, it argues that the emphasis on environmental awareness as a precondition of participation has allowed the state to effectively forestall participation, to approach awareness raising as a consensus-building activity, and to effectively rollback the regulation of polluting industries. Moreover, conditional participation has increased opportunities for state agencies to control the conditions and terms of “awareness,” contributing to the effacement of alternative environmental knowledges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India industrial pollution is regulated at two levels: the centre and the state. This two tier regulatory structure results in a difference in the efficacy of environmental regulation among the Indian states. Literature exploring the policy debate around the inter-state efficacy of the environmental regulation in India, however, is sparse. This paper utilises principal component analysis to construct an environmental regulatory efficacy index to show an inter-state disparity in the efficacy of environmental regulation in India. It develops an environmental regulatory policy model to categorise the existing Indian regulatory strategies to control industrial pollution. Findings of the environmental regulatory efficacy index are matched with the environmental regulatory policy model to show that a proactive regulatory strategy improves the efficacy of environmental regulation. Policy discussion recommends the need to integrate the environmental policy with the economic policy and suggests diligent utilisation of funds to improve the efficacy of environmental regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change governance is under increasing pressure to deliver meaningful action. It is now widely agreed that a low-carbon growth path requires major transformations of energy systems. The ways in which the 10 largest oil and gas companies in the world present their rationales for addressing climate change and their activities related to climate action, including the oil and gas companies’ involvement in international climate diplomacy, are examined. How these major companies in different world regions seek to influence states and other actors are illustrated through their actions on climate change. The analysis highlights the relations between state and non-state actors and our understanding of the allocation of responsibility in climate change politics. Novel empirical findings contribute to new insights into the climate change activities currently underway in the oil and gas sector, with implications for both the theory and practice of climate change governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market-based environmental policy can strongly affect both technological advancement and the diffusion of less pollution-intensive or less cost-intensive abatement technologies and facilities. This study applied an agent-based model to examine the effects of an emissions trading system on the NOx technology adoption of power plants in China. The results indicate that an emissions trading system influences obsolete technologies with lower removal levels, but it does not promote the adoption of the most advanced technology. Most power plants will adopt the best available technology under an emissions trading program. In addition, national emissions trading encourages power plants to adopt technologies with relatively higher removal rates compared with separate regional emissions trading systems, but a national program decreases the adoption of most advanced technology. Further, initial allowance allocations based on concentration standards rather than on generation performance standards may promote power plants to adopt the newest technologies more quickly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies notable trends in environmental policy surrounding oil and gas development in Canada’s leading producing provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan) in the period from 2009 to 2014: environmental policy streamlining in particular via the consolidation of environmental policymaking in development-oriented agencies, the continuation and raising of barriers to public involvement in decisions on oil and gas activity, and the avoidance of cumulative impact assessment. These trends signal policy convergence facilitating oil and gas development during a period of accelerating extraction and weakening federal environmental policy. More broadly, this confirms a pattern of conventional politics in energy-dependent subnational governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the heavy pollution enterprises in China are industrial enterprises. These enterprises not only facilitate rapid economic development but are also the main sources of environmental pollution. Therefore, strengthening the environmental regulation on heavy pollution enterprises is the key to enhance sustainable environmental development in China. By using the enterprise data from 2000-2015, we analyzed the characteristics and status of environmental pollution caused by heavy pollution industries in China to put forward specific environmental regulation measures. Results showed that the number of heavy pollution enterprises in China increased continuously from 2000 but decreased slightly after 2005. The environmental pollution caused by heavy-pollution enterprises in China has three characteristics: externality, substantivity, and persistence. The status of enterprise environmental pollution in heavy pollution industries in China is mainly indicated by increasing environmental protection inputs and steady rise of environmental performance; gradual increase in control rate of industrial waste discharge and large regional difference in environmental performances; lack of internal environmental management mechanism of industrial enterprises and poor implementation of environmental management theory; and low level of enterprise environmental management and serious violation of environmental laws. Finally, specific control measures were put forward from the perspective of environmental regulation. Research results can provide reference and suggestions for the improvement of environmental management standards for heavy pollution enterprises, promote reform in heavy pollution enterprises, offer technological and policy supports, and establish an environmental protection information platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the global social–economic impact of shale gas extraction, comparing the differing social and economic impacts shale gas extraction may have on communities in developed and developing countries. It argues that the benefits of fracking are more likely to be enjoyed by communities in highly and very highly developed countries rather than by those in countries with low or medium levels of development . Additionally, it shows that the potential risks and drawbacks of shale gas and its extraction are more likely to be experienced by communities in these latter countries than by those in highly or very highly developed countries. However, it also demonstrates that even communities in developed countries are vulnerable to environmental and health risks associated with shale gas extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Theoretical studies of pollution haven hypothesis predict that differentiated environmental regulation policies will result in inter-country relocation of polluting industries. This paper investigates pollution haven hypothesis at domestic level in China. Using panel data of 30 provincial level regions for the period 2004 to 2013, this paper empirically examines to what extent multiple environmental policies affect intra-country relocation of polluting industries in China. It is found that the implementation of both economic policy instrument like pollution discharge fee and public participation like letter complaints on environmental problems encourages industrial relocation, whereas the implementation of environmental legal policy instrument like laws, regulations and rules prevents polluting industries from relocating to other regions. It is also found that the relocation effect of environmental policies varies with industrial characteristics. Compared with water pollution-intensive industry, air pollution-intensive industry dominated by stated-owned capitals are insensitive to legal policy instruments. These findings suggest that the validity of pollution haven hypothesis is jointly associated with the type of environmental policy as well as industrial characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• China Industrial Economic and Pollutant Emission data (CIEPE) with 1.28 million individual enterprise data. • The reduction of pollutants loading at different stages has synergic effects. • The response between national development strategies implementation and pollutants loading reduction has a hysteresis effect. • Three risks in China's industrial pollution control should be paid more attention. China has made great efforts in industrial pollution control, but for the different industrial sectors under various development stages, it is not so clear whether there is synergistic effects among them, and how it changes with the environmental policies. This study filled this knowledge gap by comiling the China Industrial Economic and Pollutant Emission data (WatSim-CIEPE) using 1.28 million individual enterprise data. The results demonstrated a power function decreasing trend for the emission per unit output value. The load reduction at different stages had synergic effects, and coastal cities reached the inflection point earlier. There is a completely opposite pattern between pollutant emission and GIOV in spatial evolution, mainly because the chemical and metal sectors with high pollutant emissions and low GIOV migrated to western China. The year gap between the implementation of the national development strategy and the break-point of gravity center variation of GIOV indicates a hysteresis effect for the influence of development policies. There may be three risks in China's industrial pollution control: (a) NH pollution gets serious in the western regions; (b) the food sector may become a new dominant pollution source; (c) the imbalance between industrial development and pollution control may further aggravate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how state involvement in the ownership of non-listed entrepreneurial firms affects pollution fees levied by national and provincial governments in China (environmental levies). While the national government sets minimum environmental standards, provincial governments can enact requirements that exceed these minimums, and they are largely responsible for enforcing even the national standards, so environmental levies can measure concessions that provinces make to encourage development and employment. Furthermore, state ownership is a good proxy for a firm's political connections, which can influence the relationship between the firm and the environmental authorities. We find that firms with state ownership pay lower environmental levies, which indicates that concessions are made for political or economic purposes. However, these concessions are conditional on the level of development of the province offering them, with better developed provinces providing fewer concessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecuador will experience a significant expansion of the oil industry in its Amazonian region, one of the most biodiverse areas of the world. In view of the changes that are about to come, we explore the conflicts between oil extraction interests and biodiversity protection and apply systematic conservation planning to identify priority areas that should be protected in different oil exploitation scenarios. First, we quantified the current extent of oil blocks and protected zones and their overlap with two biodiversity indicators: 25 ecosystems and 745 species (whose distributions were estimated via species distribution models). With the new scheme of oil exploitation, oil blocks cover 68% (68,196 km2) of the Ecuadorian Amazon; half of it occupied by new blocks open for bids in the southern Amazon. This region is especially vulnerable to biodiversity losses, because peaks of species diversity, 19 ecosystems, and a third of its protected zones coincide spatially with oil blocks. Under these circumstances, we used Marxan software to identify priority areas for conservation outside oil blocks, but their coverage was insufficient to completely represent biodiversity. Instead, priority areas that include southern oil blocks provide a higher representation of biodiversity indicators. Therefore, preserving the southern Amazon becomes essential to improve the protection of Amazonian biodiversity in Ecuador, and avoiding oil exploitation in these areas (33% of the extent of southern oil blocks) should be considered a conservation alternative. Also, it is highly recommended to improve current oil exploitation technology to reduce environmental impacts in the region, especially within five oil blocks that we identified as most valuable for the conservation of biodiversity. The application of these and other recommendations depends heavily on the Ecuadorian government, which needs to find a better balance between the use of the Amazon resources and biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses tax breaks for oil and gas industries in Britain's 2016 Budget, the government's commitment to zero emissions to improve air quality, measures taken to improve energy efficiency, and the implementation of commitments made at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change.

The public is concerned that activities accompanying hydraulic fracturing in the development of shale gas resources are unnecessarily adversely affecting them and the environment and is petitioning elected representatives to take actions to reduce risks. The health risks associated with fracturing chemicals and air pollutants are relatively unknown and constitute the impetus for public concern. An evaluation of state legal and regulatory provisions regarding best management practices discloses that states are not adopting timely regulations to protect people and the environment from activities accompanying hydraulic fracturing. Simultaneously, regulatory policy concerning negative externalities suggests that governments underinvest in the protection of human health and environmental quality. Governments have choices in protecting people from dangers that accompany shale gas development. Due to the risks of injuries and unpaid damages from shale gas development, governmental policies need to evolve to accord people greater health protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents alternative measures of environmental inequality in the 50 U.S. states for exposure to industrial air pollution. We examine three methodological issues. First, to what extent are environmental inequality measures sensitive to spatial scale and population weighting? Second, how do sensitivities to different segments of the overall distribution affect rankings by these measures? Third, how do vertical and horizontal (inter-group) inequality measures relate to each other? We find substantive differences in rankings by different measures and conclude that no single indicator is sufficient for addressing the entire range of equity concerns that are relevant to environmental policy; instead multiple measures are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant regional differences in Chinese environmental regulation stringency will affect regional location of China's manufacturing. With reference to the classical trade model of interaction between industries and provinces and data from China's manufacturing, we explore the impact of environmental regulations on the location of China's manufacturing. The empirical results show that the environmental regulation has influence on the location of China's manufacturing, and manufacturing tends to move to loosely regulated provinces from strictly regulated ones considering environmental regulation constraints. Provinces with easy environmental regulation efforts are more likely to attract polluting enterprises and become pollution haven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European policy promotes increased use of excess heat as a means to increase the efficiency of resource use. By studying possible effects on greenhouse gases, this article aims to analyze and discuss system aspects of the use of industrial excess heat in district heating. Effects on greenhouse gas emissions are studied by applying different energy market conditions with different system boundaries in time and space. First, life cycle assessment is used to assess the introduction of excess heat in district heating in a contemporary system with different geographical system boundaries. Thereafter, future energy market scenarios for Europe are investigated to explore possible future outcomes. This study concludes that both the heat production system and the energy market conditions affect the system emission effects of using excess heat in district heating. Industrial excess heat in district heating can be beneficial even if it leads to reduced local electricity production when unused biomass can be used to replace fossil fuels. It is recommended that a strengthened EU policy should encourage the use of biomass where it has the most favorable effects from a systems perspective to ensure emission reductions when industrial excess heat is used in district heating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the plan of the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants and the role of economic elites in public policymaking. Topics include the history of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the policy discussion group the Ash Council, and U.S. states' prioritizing of economic development over environmental protection. Competition for capital, clean air regulations and pollution regulation are also discussed.

The relation between economic growth and two key water quality indicators is assessed for South Korea’s four principal rivers. The growth of the national economy accompanied a shift in environmental and industrial policy that fostered improved water quality. The relations between biochemical oxygen demand and GDP in the Geum and Nakdong Rivers and between chemical oxygen demand and GDP in the Yeongsan and Nakdong Rivers support the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. In general, the turning point for improved water quality occurred at later economic development stages for industrial pollution than for biological pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, we analyze the socio-environmental conflicts in the high plateau region of the eastern range of the Colombian Andes from a regional political ecology perspective. We focus on six specific cases of conflicts over industrial pollution, mining and water management to show how they are connected within a regional ecosystem and economy. We emphasize that these struggles have cultivated new collective identities, and engendered social learning processes concerning the natural environment, tools and tactics of resistance and democratic practice. As the current peace negotiations to end Colombia's 50-years long armed conflict open up new possibilities of political and social transformation, these socio-environmental struggles will surely be an important factor in shaping the future of rural territories and the people inhabiting them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]