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Although the Belt and Road Initiative presents growth opportunities for less developed regions, it also raises concerns about negative environmental impacts and sustainability. Despite proliferating academic interest in China's efforts to green the Belt and Road Initiative, the engagement of non-governmental organisations in policymaking has been understudied. This research marks the first empirical effort to examine the interactions between environmental non-governmental organisations and the Chinese government under the banner of a green Belt and Road Initiative. It finds that non-governmental organisations have employed four strategies to engage with the state-led initiative – civil diplomacy, development partnership, service provision, and outside reform – and that development partners and service providers have been more active than the others in shaping China's Belt and Road Initiative-related environmental policies. This article elucidates civil society actors' opportunities and constraints in greening the Belt and Road Initiative and non-governmental organisations–government dynamics in a non-democratic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Explore the impact of AANRA on corporate environmental information disclosure (EID). • AANRA can significantly improve corporate EID by 3.28 %. • Three channels are environmental incentive, ESG engagement and cost constraint. • The AANRA effect varies with firms, industries and regions. • Our findings favour green transformation for enterprises in developing countries. Corporate environmental information disclosure (EID) is an important green signal. While prior literature well documents that the leading officials' accountability audit of natural resources assets (AANRA) can effectively enhance the environmental regulatory pressure of local governments, little is known about whether this pressure can promote corporate EID. Utilizing panel data of 2,073 Chinese industrial listed enterprises from 2008–2021, we employ a staggered difference-in-difference-in-differences approach and identify the causal effect of AANRA on corporate EID. The results show that the EID quality of heavily polluting enterprises in AANRA cities increases by 3.28 % after the implementation of AANRA, and this effect persists. Meanwhile, AANRA does not trigger selective disclosure of enterprises, and its improvement of negative EID is more effective. Our mechanism analysis suggests that AANRA improves corporate EID through environmental incentive effect, environmental, social and governance (ESG) engagement effect and cost constraint effect. Moreover, the effect of AANRA varies with firms, industries, and regions, and it is more pronounced in non-state-owned firms, small firms, growing and mature firms, highly competitive firms, high-tech firms, and firms located in the eastern region, high audit intensity region and better institutional region. Our findings highlight the role of government environmental regulatory pressure in corporate EID, providing new insights into green transformation for enterprises in developing countries like China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's government has launched the innovative city pilot (ICP) policy since 2008 and taken green development as the principle goal of innovative city construction. However, whether or not the ICP policy shapes green development remains largely unknown. Leveraging variation in the timing of the ICP policy implementation across cities, we investigate the causal impact of innovative city construction on green development, as measured by green total-factor productivity (GTFP). Our staggered difference-in-differences (DID) estimator shows that cities which implement the ICP policy experience a 5.3% increase in GTFP. This effect appears one year after the introduction of ICP policy and shows an upward trend over time. Our mechanism analysis further confirms that the ICP policy effect is driven by green innovation effect, which is realized through the support of innovation policy and increased investment in innovation. Finally, substantial heterogeneity is explained by geographic location, environmental constraint, resource endowment, city size and different levels of innovation. Our paper underscores the pivotal role of innovative cities in promoting green development, which warrants nationwide expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term stability is crucial in cropland for maintaining stable agricultural production and ensuring national food security. However, relatively few studies have been conducted on the long-term stability of cropland at the national level. This study assessed the long-term stability of cropland in China from 1990 to 2018 using a fine-resolution land use dataset. The experimental results indicated that the average area of unstable cropland in China from 1990 to 2018 amounted to 2.08 ×   10 6 km2, 47.31% of the total. The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau exhibited the highest average proportion of unstable cropland at 65.9%, followed by the northern arid and semiarid region, Southern China, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau. The quantity of unstable cropland in China initially declined before increasing, reaching a final growth rate of 5.09%. Furthermore, this study explored the relevant driving factors of cropland's long-term stability from both natural factors and human activities based on artificial neural networks. The relative importance of distance to vegetation reached a value of 0.30, indicating that it had the most significant influence on the long-term stability of cropland, followed by relief amplitude and soil type. This phenomenon may be attributed to the inadequate execution of the Grain for Green Policy and the requisition–compensation balance of cropland policy, along with the depletion of young and middle-aged laborers due to urban migration from rural areas. Local governments should focus on addressing the unsustainable exploitation of sloped land in rural mountainous or hilly regions while preventing urban developers from appropriating fertile cropland to compensate for less fertile areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Straw used to be an important raw material for heating, cooking, and raising livestock in rural areas. However, with the development of the economy, straw burning poses a great threat to the environment. Straw return is of great significance for realizing carbon peaks and carbon neutrality because of its ecological value and economic value. Based on the survey data of 540 households in Sichuan Province, China, the Probit model and CMP model are used to empirically analyze the influence of environmental policy on farmers' active straw return and its mechanism. The results show that: (1) 65.9% of farmers actively return straw to the field, and 34.1% of farmers passively return straw to the field. (2) environmental policies significantly promote farmers' initiative to return straw to the field, in which the influence of economic rewards and punishments is greater than that of administrative guidance. (3) Government propaganda and government training in government administrative guidance can promote farmers' active straw return by raising their awareness, with intermediary effects of 76.05% and 60.14%, respectively. (4) Female heads of households, high education level of heads of households, and high family income can also positively promote farmers' active straw return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's green financial pilot policies (GFPPs) are an important start to build a green financial system in China. It is also an important part of achieving the "dual-carbon" goal. This paper calculates China's total factor energy efficiency (TFEE), analyzes the impact of GFPPs on TFEE, and explores the conduction mechanism. The results show that the relationship between GFPPs and TFEE in the pilot areas is statistically significant. The GFPP mainly improves the TFEE through the green innovation effect and the optimization of the energy structure. The GFPP has a significant effect on TFEE enhancement in eastern coastal cities, non-old traditional industrial cities, and non-resource-based cities with high initial energy. China should continue to deepen the pilot work of green finance, formulate differentiated green finance policies, and ensure green technology innovation. This study provides empirical evidence for further optimization of green finance and energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through extensive data research and analysis, this paper comprehensively summarizes the status and key insights of global carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) development. It aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of the relevant policies, technologies, and security measures adopted by major countries in their CCS development processes. Furthermore, it explores the existing status and limitations of China's offshore development efforts, while providing valuable recommendations for enhancing China's offshore CCS initiatives, as well as serving as a reference for other nations worldwide. Offshore CCS plays a crucial role for China to achieve the development target of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, due to its energy structure and industrial distribution. While China possesses significant offshore CCS potential, achieving commercialization still requires substantial efforts. To facilitate the process and draw insights from successful experiences in other countries, this paper illustrates the characteristics and generalizes the experience of offshore CCS industry practices in America, Europe and Japan, respectively. Furthermore, it is recommended that a new round of investigation into offshore CCS potential be conducted, while promoting integrated collaboration between geological surveying and marine scientific research. Additionally, further research on industrial policies and green financial strategies should be undertaken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A distribution dynamics approach is employed to examine the converge of TFEE across Chinese PAA level cities. • The findings show a clear convergence in TFEE. • Convergence comes more from efficiency drops in high TFEE cities than from efficiency gains in low TFEE cities. • The environmental protection polices in key cities improved energy efficiency. • Large-sized cities show better performance in energy efficiency than small- and medium-sized cities. Improving energy efficiency is considered the most direct route to reducing carbon emissions on a massive scale. To examine the long-run trend of China's energy efficiency, this paper employs a distribution dynamics approach to analyze the convergence of total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) across 286 Chinese cities between 2002 and 2014. The result suggests the existence of convergence, which comes more from the efficiency declines in the high TFEE cities rather than the efficiency gains in the low TFEE cities. Despite the fact that a few cities have performed well in energy efficiency, the majority of cities have converged to a low-efficiency point. Further analyses show that the inefficiency was attributed to inefficient energy use in small- and medium-sized cities. Our analysis provides strong scientific support for China's ongoing energy conservation and environmental protection policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is intended to expose the connectedness of green financing and other green policies like renewable energy and technological progress towards identifying the best practice to achieve climate goal cum sustainable environmental development for China within the period 1985–2021. Amid the increased utilization of fossil fuels in China's economic activities and its position as the highest carbon emitting country in the world, China is considered a financial stable economy with access to renewable energy source such as hydroelectric power. For effective research into the objective of this study, the study builds on mechanism of the green finance—renewable—technology and emission nexus with the help of linear dynamics of ARDL bound and VECM granger causality methods. Empirical results from both approaches have given insight to the selected objectives of this study. According to ARDL dynamics: (i) the coefficients of linear (1.802) and non-linear(− 1.860) (i.e. square term) of financial development are positively and negatively connected to the carbon emissions. This confirms the presence of inverted U-shape relationship between the financial development and carbon emissions. (ii) the relationship between hydroelectric power representing renewable energy and CO2 is negative—(− 0.19) and significant at 1% level. This results depicts the reduction power of hydroelectric power on CO2, (iii) also, a negative (− 0.000982) linkage between number of patent application representing technological innovation and environmental development through carbon emissions responses is established. Also, findings from VECM granger causality approach back the findings from ARDL through a nexus between the variables of interest (finance, hydroelectric power, and technology and carbon emissions). Findings point to the ability of green financing to reduce carbon emissions if green financing policies are utilized effectively in regulating carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the green finance policies (GFPs) in China as a shock to capital allocation, we find that the implementation of GFPs improves audit quality for green firms. Specifically, green firms are likely to receive favorable audit opinions, pay lower audit fees, and generate higher-quality financial reports after the implementation of GFPs. When examining the mechanisms through which GFPs affect audit risk for green firms, we find that green firms are likely to experience lower financial risks and have access to more bank loans at a lower cost after the implementation of GFPs. Further analysis shows that the main results are more pronounced when GFPs are better enforced, where auditors face more government intervention, and where firms are financially constrained. Overall, we document that GFPs decrease financial risk for green firms and have a positive spillover to auditors by mitigating audit risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains the importance of environmental care for the growth and development of the global world and how One Belt One Road Initiative (OBOR) can help to connect Asia, Europe, and Africa for economic cooperation and long-term sustainability. Paper, based on bibliometric analysis and utilizing Web of Science Core Collection database for calculation, summarizes total OBOR publications in terms of quantity, citations, regions, disciplines, institutes and explains about the most productive countries. Results reveal that total OBOR papers indexed in Web of Science was found 2508 where there were 1335 articles and 854 proceedings papers marking 87.3% of total OBOR research. We find the most productive direction of environmental science and global climate change and work related to environmental policies. Results show that China has contributed 73.3% (1755 publications) to global OBOR publication and have received 69.3% of all citations to "One Belt One Road" publications. Highest average citation level was from Canada, Portugal, and Spain while China's average citations were quite low though very close to average world level. Internationally collaborated publications had more citations than the publications prepared by authors of one country. The paper concludes that environmental concerns should be kept in mind while focusing on the growth and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of China's Digital Economic Policy (DEP) on industries' green innovation. It contributes to the existing literature on technology policy evaluation by challenging the assumption that this impact is similar across different industries. To achieve this, a conceptual framework is proposed, highlighting the asymmetric influence of the DEP on green innovation. By analysing panel data from 35 Chinese industrial subsectors, including 15 heavily polluting industries (HPIs) and 20 non-HPIs, between 2010 and 2020, this study reveals that the implementation of the DEP results in significantly higher levels of green innovation of HPIs as opposed to non-HPIs. The DEP's positive impact on green innovation of HPIs is primarily facilitated through industrial structure upgrading. Moreover, this study finds that the DEP has a greater effect on green innovation of HPIs with a lower state-owned ratio, higher total factor productivity or higher capital dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China's rapid industrial development, the adoption and impact of green supply chain practices (GSCP) have become pivotal. This research employs a non-radial, non-angle SBM-DEA model to examine the intricate relationship between environmental sustainability and economic advancement. The observation suggests that companies adopting the global sustainable consumption and production (GSCP) framework demonstrate a more substantial alignment with China's sustainable goals. However, this alignment is accompanied by a fundamental conflict between the need for economic growth and the need for environmental caution. This study highlights China's sincere efforts to adhere to global ecological norms, as the environmental outcomes (ENVO) demonstrated. The findings on organizational culture (O.C.) present a complex depiction of China's direction, highlighting the intersection between its longstanding traditions with the pressing demands of modern environmentally sustainable corporate practices. The presence of regulatory variations across provinces highlights the regional differences within the nation, thus causing organizations to adopt adaptable environmental policies. The complex network of supply chains in China and the careful management of financial resources underscore the diverse range of difficulties and opportunities that firms face. This research ultimately provides a comprehensive understanding of the crucial balancing process that characterizes China's path toward environmental sustainability. It highlights the importance of effectively managing these factors, since it is essential for enterprises to achieve enduring and sustainable success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovations are the most critical factor in promoting environmental sustainability worldwide. Trade can speed up the adoption of green innovations by facilitating the transfer of information, skills, and technology. However, trade policy uncertainty can create significant challenges for businesses investing in eco-innovations, leading to increased risk, reduced investment, and slower progress toward sustainable technologies. Recently, a growing number of researchers have shown their interest in finding the factors that can impact green innovations, but none have investigated the influence of trade policy uncertainty on green innovations in the USA and China. In addition, none of the past studies has relied on the nonlinear assumption. This analysis fills these gaps by examining the nonlinear impacts of trade policy uncertainty on eco-innovations in China and the USA over 2000Q1–2021Q4 by employing a nonlinear ARDL model. The finding reveals that a positive shock in trade policy uncertainty results in a decrease in green innovation in the USA and China, while a negative shock in trade policy uncertainty leads to an increase in green innovation in the USA over the long run. The nonlinear models also indicate that a positive shock in trade policy uncertainty harms green innovation in both the USA and China in the short run. The robustness of these results is confirmed by the NQARDL model, which confirms that an upsurge in trade policy uncertainty lowers green innovation in most quantiles in the USA and China in the short and long run. Conversely, negative shocks in trade policy uncertainty stimulate green innovation at most quantiles in both China and the USA, in the short and long run. Thus, policymakers need to consider the potential impact of trade policies on eco-innovations and work to create stable and predictable trade environments that support the growth of renewable technologies and other sustainable solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green consumption has become an important part of an environmentally friendly society. Policy guidance can effectively promote green consumption. Green consumption policies are extensive because of the diversity of green consumption objects. However, the various objects are not completely isolated, and policy must have a certain level of consistency. Therefore, from the perspective of green consumption objects, this paper first uses the text mining method to mine 308 green consumption policies in China, analyzing the objects covered in China's green consumption policies. Then, the evaluation system of green consumption policy consistency was built, seven key policies were selected, and the PMC-index method was used to measure policy consistency. The results show that (i) the main objectives of China's green consumption policy are the promotion of green products and the efficient use of energy. Green services and green recycling have been subject to fewer policy efforts. (ii) In terms of the links involved in green consumption, China pays more attention to the supply and the consumption chain and less attention to the recycling chain. (iii) The quantitative evaluation results of the seven typical policies show that the policy consistency is good but not perfect. The policy shortcomings are mainly reflected in the incentive methods. Therefore, it is recommended to further improve the green consumption objectives and enrich the means and methods of green consumption guidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adopts a novel institutional perspective—environmental centralisation—to examine its impact on firm productivity in developing countries. In 2008, China's State Environmental Protection Administration was upgraded to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP). This administrative reform strengthened the central government's ability to protect the environment, enabling it to address more environmental affairs and concentrate on environmental rights. Based on the quasi‐natural experiment of the establishment of the MEP, this study takes a new perspective on the impact of environmental centralisation on productivity. The difference‐in‐difference‐in‐difference approach is used for the first time to estimate the impact of environmental centralisation on productivity. We find that environmental centralisation caused by the establishment of the MEP significantly increased the productivity of heavily polluting companies, and a series of robustness tests confirm that the results are credible. We identify three possible mechanisms, namely, facilitating innovation, curbing rent‐seeking behaviour and inhibiting over‐investments. The policy implication of this study is that the effectiveness of environmental policy depends not only on the policy itself but also on the allocation of environmental rights among different levels of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the study was to quantitatively analyze the heterogeneous effects of different green credit implementation methods on energy, environmental, and economic systems by developing a computable general equilibrium model. The specific green credit implementation methods are divided into interest-penalty policy for energy-intensive industries and interest preferential policy for green industries. Various approaches to implementing green credit can lead to distinct impacts on energy consumption, environmental outcomes, and economic performance. Green credit policy experiments are carried out utilizing short-, medium-, and long-term scenarios to investigate how the consequences of green credit policies evolve. The findings demonstrate that (1) implementing a penalty interest policy for energy-intensive industries can have substantial short-term environmental effects, cutting total demand for fossil energy and lowering carbon dioxide emissions significantly. As the cycle progresses, this effect will progressively fade and have a negative economic impact. (2) The interest preferential policy for the green industry has a significant promoting effect on green technology, and its energy and environmental effects will be reflected in the long term, and the effect will continue to increase, which has a positive promoting effect on the economy. (3) There are significant differences in the policy effects brought about by the different implementation methods of green credit policies. Both policies can positively affect social energy and the environment, but the effect cycles are different. When two types of interest policies are implemented in the economy, the negative economic effect of the penalty interest policy is greater than the positive effect of the preferential interest policy, which harms the macroeconomy. These conclusions will provide theoretical and practical references for the government and banks to choose a better green credit implementation path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a global environmentality framework to critique efforts to "green" the Belt and Road Initiative (or Green BRI) by examining the Chinese state's environmental governance of extraterritorial spaces. The article transcends a focus within governmentality studies on domestic processes to reveal the relations between governance techniques and environmental subjects, including state and nonstate actors, beyond sovereign borders. Drawing on interviews, observations, and analysis of policies and reports, we identify three ways in which global environmentalities operate and are negotiated through the Green BRI. First, the Chinese state is embracing international sustainable development criteria to gain global legitimacy while seeking to export its domestic environmental governance model, making the Green BRI a dialectic policy. Second, the state is targeting and disciplining BRI participants, including Chinese financial institutions, construction companies, the renewable industry, and foreign state actors in BRI countries. Third, Chinese and BRI partner country participants' variegated subjectivities arise out of the negotiation of their own interests, Chinese state interests, and BRI host country concerns. Our analysis contributes to understanding of how China, as a rising power, engages in global environmental governance and produces extraterritorial environmental subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In September 2020, Xi Jinping announced China's commitment to reaching maximum carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. This work aims to analyze the objectives and scope of these announcements, focusing not only on China's intention to present itself as a global leader in environmental matters, but also as a spokesperson for emerging and developing countries. At the same time, this announcement will be framed as the continuity of a state policy on environmental matters carried out since the 1990s, in line with the rise of China's international prominence. To do this, official documents and sources will be used, and it will be contrasted with the literature on the subject. Finally, it is proposed that the announced objective can be achieved, but under certain specific conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation of green industrial policy strategies around the world is taking place within a broader global context of a turn toward deglobalization and the pursuit of national self-sufficiency. The political economy of domestic renewable energy support and the basic principles of global trade regimes are in direct conflict, with direct implications for nations' abilities to transition to low-carbon economies. Many are calling for decoupling clean energy supply chains from China, yet such responses could slow the global clean energy transition, increasing the cost of deployment in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a conceptual and analytical framework of states' legitimacy-seeking to comprehensively investigate the motivation behind China's climate and environment policy. While previous research has largely overlooked political factors that underlie China's climate policy, this paper argues that these factors are crucial in understanding China's policy changes, which are evident at both domestic and international levels. By examining sources such as government documents, leaders' speeches and authoritative literature, this study contends that China's climate change initiatives are part of a broader effort to enhance domestic and international legitimacy. The issue of climate change has become highly politicised in China under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, and it serves as a crucial test of the ruling party and the state's capacity to govern effectively. As such, legitimacy-seeking is the key driver that links China's domestic measures and international commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With environmental problems have become a global concern, large number of environmental policies have been enacted worldwide. Though improving personal willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental protection is key objective of environmental policies, existing literature overlook the micro relevance of environmental policies and lacks the exploration of the relationship between environmental policies and WTP and related mechanisms. To fill the research gap, this study took China's energy-related environmental policies as a typical example, drew wisdom from policy feedback theory to develop a theoretical framework, and used CGSS 2018 data to analyse interpretative effect and resource effect of related policies on WTP. The empirical results show that policies have a positive impact on WTP of approximately ¥1.19, but this impact comes with complex mechanisms. On the one hand, policies increase energy knowledge, thus improving WTP (interpretative effect); on the other hand, policies alleviate energy poverty, which further reduces WTP (resource effect). The positive interpretative effect is larger than negative resource effect. The robustness of findings is confirmed by adjusting the samples, measurements and models. This study is among the first to examine the influence mechanism of environmental policies on personal WTP through the lenses of interpretative and resource effects and reveals an unexpected consequence of policies. Accordingly, this study provides policy recommendations for environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As there are many studies on the predictors of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting, the influences of foreign direct investments (FDIs) knowledge spillovers (KSs) on CSR reporting in developing countries remain unclear. This paper introduces the passive‐learning KSs concept to explain whether, why, and how domestic firms learn CSR knowledge from their foreign counterparts. First, we investigate the relationship between foreign ownership and the quality of CSR reporting (CSRQ). Second, we test the moderating effect of three types of direct institutional pressures: the green development policy, the mandatory CSR reporting requirement, and CSR regulations issued by the State‐owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. Third, we examine the moderating effect of board interlocks to explore the indirect impacts of institutional pressures. We run regressions on a sample of Chinese A‐share listed companies and the hypotheses are generally supported. This paper contributes to the literature on CSR reporting and FDIs KSs by adopting the passive‐learning KSs theory to explain CSR KSs in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous upsurge in worldwide economic development and human activities has intensified CO2 emissions that highlighted the significant role of eco-innovation and green investment in curbing CO2 emissions. The study aims to explore the impact of eco-innovation and green investment on CO2 emissions by using the China dataset for time period 1990–2019. The study adopts the ARDL approach. The study used two proxies to determine the impact of eco-innovation, namely environment-related technologies and patents. The empirical estimates of the ARDL approach confirm the negative impact of eco-innovation and green investment on CO2 emissions confirming that these determinants result in limiting CO2 emissions in China. Based on these findings, the study suggests strengthening environmentally friendly policies and the advancement of green investment to mitigate CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of a statistical life (VSL) is a crucial tool for monetizing health impacts. To explore the VSL in China, this study examines people' s willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce death risk from air pollution in six representative cities in China based on face-to-face contingent valuation interviews (n = 3 936) from March 7, 2019 to September 30, 2019. The results reveal that the WTP varied from CNY 455 to 763 in 2019 (USD 66-111), corresponding to a VSL range of CNY 3.79-6.36 million (USD 549 395-921 940). The VSL in China in 2019 is estimated to be CNY 4.76 million (USD 689 659). The statistics indicate that monthly expenditure levels, environmental concerns, risk attitudes, and assumed market acceptance, which have seldom been discussed in previous studies, significantly impact WTP and VSL. These findings will serve as a reference for analyzing mortality risk reduction benefits in future research and for policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urgent and global concern of environmental problems transcends local and regional boundaries, posing significant challenges for policymakers in developing countries. Amid conflicting economic and environmental goals, evaluating the efficacy of regulatory policies becomes increasingly critical. This study investigates the effectiveness of public policy in incentivizing developing nations to prioritize environmental regulation, with a specific focus on China's most recent environmental policy, the Ecological Environmental Protection Plan. Using multilevel modeling and difference-indifferences estimation with data from six of China's most populous cities between 2014 and 2019, we see evidence of air quality improvements following the implementation of the policy. Furthermore, we observe greater enhancements in air quality in the cities most affected by the institutional details of the policy. This shows that well-crafted public policy can improve air quality, providing crucial insights for policymakers and scholars alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between environmental regulation and innovation has long been a key issue of scholarly interest. The Porter hypothesis posits that environmental regulations can effectively promote innovation. However, with the rapid development of the Internet, the relationship between environmental regulation and innovation has changed. Through a theoretical analysis, this paper finds that the development of the Internet can not only directly promote innovation but also inhibit innovation through environmental regulations. This paper uses Chinese city-level data from 2014 to 2016 to empirically test the relationship among the Internet, environmental regulation, and innovation. The study finds that (1) the increase in the Internet level and in the intensity of environmental regulations promotes innovation, and the results remain stable after the replacement of the Internet level metrics, (2) the increase in the Internet level inhibits the positive effect of environmental regulations on innovation, but its inhibitory effect is lower than the promotion effect of the Internet on innovation, and (3) the Internet and environmental regulations have a significant promotion effect on the application and acquisition of three types of patents, including invention patents, utility model patents and design patents, with the application and acquisition of utility model patents having the greatest promotion effect, and (4) the analysis of heterogeneity shows that environmental regulation has a greater effect on innovation in eastern and provincial capital cities, and the Internet has a greater effect on innovation in western and nonprovincial capital cities. Finally, this article puts forward policy recommendations based on three aspects: strengthening Internet construction, implementing environmental regulations and policies based on local conditions, and increasing support for R&D and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's fast industrialization and economic expansion has led to environmental degradation, prompting the government to implement a slew of environmental regulations and laws. This article examines how China's stringent environmental policies and legislation have impacted the development of environmental technology. The study's panel of Chinese companies confirmed that more stringent regulations really spurred innovation in green technology. This research lends credence to the premise that stricter environmental regulations are helpful in inspiring the development of cleaner technology that may help mitigate environmental issues. Research also shows that tighter environmental legislation increases environmental policy's effect on technological development. According to these results, environmental law may improve the efficiency of environmental policy by providing a hospitable framework for the application of technological innovation. The findings of this research have significant implications for Chinese policymakers committed to fostering sustainable development. The need of rigorous environmental rules to support comprehensive environmental policies that promote the development of greener technology is emphasized. The results shed even more light on how crucial it is to enforce environmental laws in order to ensure that environmental policies are effectively implemented. In essence, this study contributes to the expanding body of knowledge on the link between environmental policy and technical advancement by illuminating the potential for China's environmental policy and law to work together to encourage sustainable development. China's investment in green tech research and development may mitigate the environmental damage caused by its rapid economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's environmental crackdowns under Xi Jinping have led to a sweeping shutdown of private enterprises. To circumvent this, enterprises have developed different survival strategies including direct lobbying to government officials and indirect lobbying through business associations. Based on comparative case studies of environmental lobbying in Chinese cities, our research finds that larger enterprises, enjoying more economic leverage, tend to lobby directly using their own political connections to sway environmental enforcement. By contrast, smaller enterprises are excluded from these clientelist networks and have to lobby through business associations, the effectiveness of which hinges on the support of large enterprises. Therefore, we argue that although the Chinese government's increasingly stringent environmental policies have shrunk the lobbying (and living) space for private enterprises, the existence of environmental clientelism protects economically powerful and politically connected private enterprises but sacrifices the others in the implementation of environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As environmental concerns continue to grow worldwide, the role of environmental policy in promoting sustainable development has become increasingly important. This study examines the impact of environmental policy on the innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China, a country where environmental regulation has been rapidly expanding in recent years. The analysis employs a regression model that controls for various firm-level and environmental factors that may affect innovation. A loan guarantee may boost an SME's chances of acquiring borrowed funds, the number of loans obtained, expenses, capital equipment expenditures, and TFP by 2%, 17.4%, 7.6%, 6.16%, and 5.26%, respectively. Furthermore, the influence of information networks on performance is examined. Environmental policy and open innovation activity, opposite transfer, investor interactions, and SMEs' success are all examined, with a focus on Chinese SMEs. The findings suggest that policymakers should consider designing more targeted and flexible environmental policies that provide incentives for SMEs to innovate and adopt sustainable practices, while minimizing potential negative impacts on their competitiveness and financial performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, China has embarked on a remarkable journey toward greater environmental sustainability, investing in a vast protected area system, ecocompensation programs, and a more protectionist regulatory framework. The result is a model program in the making, with progress and future prospects for China's environmental health that few could have foreseen a few short decades ago. Paralleling and sometimes preceding this environmental revolution, much of China's environmental attention focused on its "national treasure"—the giant panda. We explore developments, progress, and shortcomings in the emerging protections and environmental ethos alongside the rich history of giant panda conservation, culminating in the recent downlisting of the panda from Endangered to Vulnerable. We make the case that recent advancements in environmental progress, such as the development of a more harmonious relationship between humans and nature (termed ecocivilization) have been, in part, underpinned and inspired by efforts to conserve the panda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existence of the green policy implementation gap in China has aroused widespread concern, and is frequently explained with officials' characteristics, problematic institutions, and citizens' participation. However, few studies have noticed the intermittence of the gap. By coding six media signals and 394 documents issued by the central government (2000–2015) from 27 items in dimensions of credibility/reliability, intensity, and clarity according to the signalling theory, causes of the intermittence were explored. I found that central signals are the driving force. Document signals work better than media signals, particularly in Hu Jintao's era. Documents' credible commitments, threats, legal effects, issuing departments, wording intensity, clear definition of departments and society's responsibilities, and regulation targets can significantly stimulate local governments' environmental regulation behaviours, especially in eastern China. In Xi Jinping's era, credible commitments and environmental campaigns' impacts are higher. The paper demonstrates how, where and when China's model of environmental authoritarianism is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental decentralization is an institutional factor that influences the effect of ecological environment governance. Based on panel data of provinces in China from 2008 to 2015, this paper evaluates the indicators of environmental decentralization, and uses a fixed-effect model and a threshold model to test the influence of environmental decentralization and environmental regulation on environmental pollution. The results indicate that China's environmental decentralization can significantly curb environmental pollution in general. There is a U-shaped relationship between environmental decentralization and environmental pollution. Reasonable environmental decentralization can restrain environmental pollution, while excessive environmental decentralization aggravates environmental pollution. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and environmental pollution. If the intensity of environmental regulation is too low, it cannot inhibit environmental pollution, while if the intensity of environmental regulation is increased to a certain level, it can help to inhibit environmental pollution. The joint impact of environmental decentralization and environmental regulation cannot reduce environmental pollution. That is, with the enlargement of environmental decentralization, environmental regulation fails to reduce environmental pollution. The effect of environmental decentralization has significant regional heterogeneity in economic development level and emission intensity. The above conclusions have important reference value for optimizing the environmental decentralization system and formulating scientific environmental decentralization policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve the goal of sustainable development, China has implemented the energy conservation and emission-reduction policy. So far, there is still little evidence of the impact of the policiy on corporate behaviour. Therefore, this study collects data on Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2017 and applies the staggered difference-in-differences method to analyse the impact of the energy conservation and emission-reduction policy on the environmental, social and governance performance of companies in China. The result shows that the energy conservation and emission-reduction policy reduces environmental, social and governance performance, and this negative effect increases over time. Meanwhile, a further mechanism analysis confirms that the negative impact on environmental, social and governance performance operates through the incentive effect on environmental performance, the crowding-out effect on social performance and the spillover effect on governance performance. Furthermore, the negative effect is heterogeneous across companies and cities. Overall, our results provide empirical evidence for optimising energy conservation and emission-reduction policies in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy sector matters the sustainable development directly and is sensitive to climate change. A few empirical studies concentrate on how climate change influences firm performance. Climate change brings higher production costs and lower efficiency on the supply side and leads to beneficial sale performance and improves profit. However, it is ambiguous to the relationship of supply–demand and revenue‐cost levels, and their change is not consistent. Using panel data of 99 China‐listed firms active in the energy sector over the period 2000–2020, this study aims to identify the causal relation between climate change and the profitability of energy firms while controlling for firm‐specific and energy market‐related factors. The quantile regression results show that temperature deviation (TDEV) positively impacts the profitability of energy firms, and this impact varies at different quantiles of the profitability distribution. These findings remain unchanged by four robustness checks. Moreover, mechanism results indicate that revenue and cost have different interaction effects on the causal relation. The findings of this study can provide forward‐thinking expectations and assess climatic adaptation and risks, particularly inspired stakeholder engagements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on survey data from CSS2017, this article examines the impact of Internet use on environmental pollution perception. The study found that after controlling for a range of demographic, psychological and provincial-level objective variables, three dimensions of Internet use variables have different effects on environmental pollution perception: The respondents' use vs. non-use of the Internet, information-oriented Internet use and commerce-oriented Internet use are significantly positively correlated with their perception of environmental pollution, while socially oriented Internet use, the belief that the Internet is more comprehensive than traditional media and the belief that the Internet can more truthfully reflect public opinion are significantly negatively correlated with their environmental pollution perception. The results of 2SLS and IV Probit estimation confirm that the Internet usage could effectively increase individuals' perception of environmental pollution. Further analysis found that personal annual income plays a moderating role between use/non-use of the Internet and environmental pollution perception and between information-oriented Internet use and environmental pollution perception. The above research findings have important policy implications. Governments should strengthen environmental governance, use the platform of the Internet to strengthen government-public communication, and take into account demographic, psychological and regional objective factors when adopting environmental governance policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We utilized the China Genuine Progress Indicator Survey, a unique national survey data from China, to explore the effects of individuals' perceived pollution on their migration interests. Results show a significantly positive effect of perceived environmental pollution on an individual's migration interests. A higher level of perceived pollution increases the possibility of migration by 6.5%. Meanwhile, adaptive behaviours such as using facemasks, air cleaners, or water cleaners could not be alternatives to migration. In particular, well-educated, young, high-income groups, as well as those engaged in professional and technical work, are more affected by perceptions about environmental pollution. They are likely to show higher levels of perceived pollution, which could possibly lead to the brain drain effect. Moreover, people's environmental attitudes have moderating effects on the migration interests triggered by pollution. Our focus on potential population outflow can bear new implications for the formulation of forward-looking environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is designed to illustrate the process of customers' switching behavior from a traditional hotel to a green hotel by applying a pull-push-mooring theory and an exploratory mixed methods design. The push factors, including environmental policy, social media effects, and social norms, drive customers away from traditional hotels, while the pull factors, including personal norms, perceived health benefits, and emotional well-being, attract customers to green hotels. The mooring factors, including inertia and switching cost, show a vital moderating effect. This study provides a conceptual mechanism that clarifies factors that drive customers' green behavior in the hotel industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is making a challenging effort to achieve its ambitious goal of becoming carbon–neutral by 2060. Therefore, the Chinese government should develop effective policy tools to improve its carbon neutrality plan. Due to this importance, an empirical study is required to examine the comprehensive effect of the carbon neutrality policy on CO2 emissions in China. Also, the role of economic development on the environment, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the carbon neutrality-CO2 emissions nexus, has yet to be examined. Considering this gap, the present study investigates the impacts of carbon neutrality policy and the economy on CO2 emissions at China's provincial and regional levels from 2006 to 2017. We use a comprehensive approach to measure the carbon neutrality policy through the source control and sink increase perspectives. This study performs the panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) and the feasible generalised least squares (FGLS) regression techniques to control the heteroscedasticity and cross-sectional correlation issues. The results show that an improvement in energy efficiency and renewable energy power generation decreases the per capita CO2 emissions at the provincial level from the source control perspective. From the sink increase perspective, only green space development affects CO2 emissions reduction; the development of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) does not. Also, this study shows that the EKC hypothesis holds true in China nationally and in the central region. Due to differing regional development patterns, the impact of carbon neutrality policy on CO2 emissions varies across regions. This study suggests specific policy implications such as increasing R&D investment per unit of GDP to support CCUS technologies at provincial and regional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and environmental policy stringency (EPS) in affecting environmental quality is gaining great attention in the literature. However, none of the existing studies has thought to investigate their combined effects on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Additionally, the individual investigations into the nexuses EPU-emissions and EPS-emissions primarily took a symmetric assumption between these variables into consideration. The current paper is an early attempt to close these gaps by examining the combined effects of economic policy uncertainty and environmental policy stringency on CO2 emissions within asymmetric (nonlinear) frameworks in China and the United States (US). The empirical findings indicate that an improvement in EPU degrades the environmental quality in both countries. However, a negative shift in EPU decreases emissions in China while increasing them in the US. In terms of EPS, the estimates in the two nations led to similar results. A positive change in EPS is conducive to fewer emissions, whereas a negative change worsens environmental damage. These findings still hold with the sensitivity analysis using ecological footprint as an alternative gauge of environmental destruction. This study, therefore, suggests that both nations adopt stricter environmental policies. Additionally, Chinese policymakers should work to lessen uncertainty shocks, while the US government should promote more transparent economic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low efficiency of environmental policy implementation is an important issue in China's environmental governance. The Environmental Protection Interview (EPI) policy is an administrative means for the central environmental protection department to urge local governments to earnestly fulfill their environmental protection responsibilities. This paper takes China's EPI policy as a quasi-natural experiment. We use panel data of 261 prefecture-level cities in China from 2009 to 2018 as research sample and use spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model to investigate the effect and mechanism of EPI policy on air pollution. The results show that EPI policy can effectively improve air quality, EPI policy has obvious spatial spillover effects. Namely, the EPI policy can not only reduce the local air pollution, but also reduce the air pollution in neighbouring cities. The EPI policy reduces the air pollution in the neighbouring cities within a spatial attenuation boundary of 400 km.The results of mechanism test show that the EPI policy can improve air quality by promoting industrial structure upgrading and technical advancement. Moreover, the pollution reduction effect of EPI is more significant in resource-based cities. The research results of this paper provide important reference for China and other developing countries to improve air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the impact of environmental-related taxes on green growth and CO2 emissions in China covering the time 1996–2019. To get the short- and long-run estimates, we have applied the bounds testing approach. Estimates of the study provide some important results. In the short run, environmental taxes and environmental policy stringency estimates are negatively significant in the CO2 emissions models and positively significant in the green growth models. Likewise, the long-run estimates attached to environmental taxes are significantly negative in the basic and robust CO2 emissions models while insignificant in the green growth models. However, the long-run estimates of environmental policy stringency are significantly negative in the basic and robust CO2 emissions models and significantly positive in the basic and robust green growth models. In general, our findings imply that an increase in environment-related taxes and strictness in environmental policies help reduce CO2 emissions and promote green growth in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On May 12, 2008, southern Aba prefecture in north-central Sichuan was devastated by the M8.0 Wenchuan earthquake. A massive multi-year central government environmental mitigation effort resulted in economic revitalization based largely on the development of nature- and ethnic- tourism and the expansion of production from agriculture and husbandry. Concurrently, however, management of pasture areas was largely removed from local control and ceded to provincial and national environmental managers who instituted many draconian measures intended to protect pasture areas from further degradation while significantly restricting access by local pastoralists. Results of fieldwork, and subsequent analyses of archived data, indicate the strict enactment and enforcement of new environmental regulations with limited local input radically altered the local economy including the structure of husbandry activities, expanded tourism and crop production and shifted residence patterns. These policy interventions that excluded local stakeholders also increased income inequality and drastically reduced the practice of transhumant pastoralism which in turn created new ecological challenges. • Study of Aba Sichuan identifies expected and unexpected outcomes of environmental and economic policies post-2008 earthquake. • Local control of environmental and economic policy in west China is lost if funding is from central government sources. • Investment in tourism infrastructure in Tibetan areas of China aids local economy but speeds erosion of traditional culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2022, the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the "Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework" (GBF), which aimed to strengthen international protections on terrestrial and marine areas through biodiversity investments, corporate responsibility, and the elimination of environmentally damaging subsidies. China was fundamental in forming and passing this pivotal biodiversity framework. China's leadership in COP15 should result in escalated Chinese biodiversity protections, specifically through mandated biodiversity impact disclosures (BIDs) for companies associated with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). To achieve this, BID clauses should be inserted into BRI development agreements between Chinese foreign development institutions and BRI partner states or companies. Mandated BIDs would expand biodiversity and human health protections within China and globally. BRI-associated companies would be motivated to improve BID ratings for financial benefits, increased social capital, employee engagement, and customer loyalty. Biodiversity protection will also "future-proof" companies against any future environmental policy changes. By providing improved materiality to investors, governments, and other interested parties, BRI BIDs would enhance corporate oversight and awareness of biodiversity issues, advance the standardization and pervasiveness of BIDs, and elevate biodiversity and human health issues into more traditional commercial reporting systems. Thus, China's corporate responsibility measures under COP15 will influence global biodiversity, human health, and the future of BIDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the Chinese government has implemented numerous regulations to address environmental deterioration. Several studies have examined the effect of environmental regulation policies on China's economic performance. However, whether environmental regulations can alleviate China's resource misallocation problem—a critical issue in transitional economies—remains unclear. This study fills this gap in the literature by employing the difference‐in‐differences method to examine how environmental regulations affect resource misallocation. We found that stringent environmental regulations have reduced the extent of resource misallocation in China, with resource reallocation being the driving force behind this improvement. The emission reduction mandate reduces investment inflows and hinders firms' entry into regions with low total factor productivity, while directing the flow of resources to highly productive areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substantial quantities of air pollution and related health impacts are ultimately attributable to household consumption. However, how consumption pattern affects air pollution impacts remains unclear. Here we show, of the 1.08 (0.74-1.42) million premature deaths due to anthropogenic PM2.5 exposure in China in 2012, 20% are related to household direct emissions through fuel use and 24% are related to household indirect emissions embodied in consumption of goods and services. Income is strongly associated with air pollution-related deaths for urban residents in which health impacts are dominated by indirect emissions. Despite a larger and wealthier urban population, the number of deaths related to rural consumption is higher than that related to urban consumption, largely due to direct emissions from solid fuel combustion in rural China. Our results provide quantitative insight to consumption-based accounting of air pollution and related deaths and may inform more effective and equitable clean air policies in China.

Environmental regulations are considered a prerequisite for environmental performance. However, very limited studies have explored the asymmetric relationship between clean energy consumption, environmental regulation, and CO2 emissions. This study scrutinizes the asymmetry phenomenon in environmental regulation-clean energy consumption and environmental quality nexus in China by using the time series nonlinear ARDL approach by covering the period 1993–2019. The result reveals that the impact of environmental regulation on clean energy consumption and CO2 emissions is asymmetric. A positive change in environmental regulation has a positive effect on clean energy consumption but a negative impact on CO2 emissions in the long run. While a negative change in environmental regulation has insignificant effects on clean energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the long run. The study suggests that China should need to revisit environmental regulation policies that could help in improving environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]