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Introduction: The global pandemic since 2019 has caused crushing blow to healthy economic developments, particularly the harmonious development of environment and economy. Given the violent contradiction between health and economy, this study focuses on the controversial relationship between inflation and important environmental indicators.Methods: Specifically, we collect monthly data on inflation and carbon returns from three representative pilots in China and make a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between carbon and inflation within the framework of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC).Results: Some significant empirical results are found. First, inflation shows a linear impact on carbon returns, despite the signals of inflation vary in pilots. Second, there exists an inverted U-shape connection in Shenzhen and Guangdong pilots. Third, inflation appears to be a non-negligible factor in pilot fluctuations, despite differences exist among pilots.Discussion: Considering the pressing targets of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in China, this investigation provides important implications to policy makers in implementing differentiated policies across regions, particularly in the turbulent situations caused by frequent climate policy changes and global pandemic developments.

The Bitcoin market has become a research hotspot after the outbreak of Covid-19. In this paper, we focus on the relationships between the Bitcoin spot and futures. Specifically, we adopt the vector autoregression-dynamic correlation coefficient-generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (VAR-DCC-GARCH) model and vector autoregression-Baba, Engle, Kraft, and Kroner-generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (VAR-BEKK-GARCH) models and calculate the hedging effectiveness (HE) value to investigate the dynamic correlation and volatility spillover and assess the risk reduction of the Bitcoin futures to spot. The empirical results show that the Bitcoin spot and futures markets are highly connected; second, there exists a bi-directional volatility spillover between the spot and futures market; third, the HE value is equal to 0.6446, which indicates that Bitcoin futures can indeed hedge the risks in the Bitcoin spot market. Furthermore, we update the data to the post-Covid-19 period to do the robustness checks. The results do not change our conclusion that Bitcoin futures can hedge the risks in the Bitcoin spot market, and besides, the post-Covid-19 results indicate that the hedging ability of Bitcoin futures increased. Finally, we test whether the gold futures can be used as a Bitcoin spot market hedge, and we further control other cryptocurrencies to illustrate the hedging ability of the Bitcoin futures to the Bitcoin spot. Overall, the empirical results in this paper will surely benefit the related investors in the Bitcoin market.