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The development of undergraduate students' soft skills is crucial because their chances to satisfactorily deal with the demands of various environments and interlocutors increases with the development of their soft skills. Based on the achievement goal theory, this study aimed to examine the role of the school environment in fostering students' soft skills. Structural equation modeling was conducted to examine the relationships between five environmental factors--learning task, teacher support, extracurricular activities, interaction with teachers and peers, and soft skills. These findings positively predicted soft skills in college environments with development and competence growth, for both in-class and out-of-class contexts. In addition, the findings revealed that the most effective methods to facilitate students' soft skills development included supporting extracurricular activities, engaging students in high-order learning tasks, facilitating peer learning, and providing structured guidance.

After reform and opening-up, rapid industrialization and urbanization led to environmental degradation in China, including excessive energy consumption, soil contamination, and water pollution. Toward sustainable development, the Chinese government has promoted the introduction of clean energy sources such as geothermal and hydroelectric power generation, which have reduced the environmental burden. However, the impact of this energy shift on environmental improvement and economic growth is unclear. This study empirically analyzes the impact of green energy deployment and economic growth on CO2 emissions in China. The analysis of time series data from 1980 to 2020 shows that in the long run, a 1% increase in renewable energy significantly reduces CO2 emissions by 0.87%, and a 1% increase in GDP significantly increases CO2 emissions by 0.26%. In contrast, in the short run, the negative effect of renewable energy on CO2 emissions and the positive effect of GDP on it are not significant. This result was confirmed after the robustness checks. Based on the results obtained, several policy recommendations are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]