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The Environmental Law Review 2024 Quarterly comment by Trinity Chambers discusses recent weather events and government activities related to climate change and the environment. It highlights new Bills focusing on climate change and environmental issues, as well as legal cases and legislative developments. The document also includes updates on domestic and EU legislation, consultations, select committee reports, and news on environmental issues and policies. The report provides a comprehensive overview of recent environmental law developments and initiatives. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses various political events and investigations in the Australian Capital Territory from January to June 2024. It highlights Andrew Barr becoming the longest-serving Chief Minister, challenges faced by the government, the conclusion of the Davis affair, Integrity Commission investigations, the upcoming election campaign with independent candidates, and policy announcements by different parties. The passing of the Voluntary Assisted Dying bill and the presentation of a modest budget by Barr are also mentioned. [Extracted from the article]

Peri-urban areas provide multiple ecosystem services, but face critical challenges, including deforestation, unplanned urban sprawl, and environmental pollution and degradation. To address these issues, environmental public policy instruments have been implemented. This paper aims to investigate the social ecological trajectories of a peri-urban area of Mexico City and the role of environmental public policy instruments in addressing land use change. Focusing on four watersheds of the southern periphery of the city, we analyze land use change drivers through neural networks and Markov chains, and we develop two land use scenarios for the next 20 years: one characterized by business as usual and another with a more restrictive land use regime. Our findings show that infrastructure drivers are the most critical factor overall, when combined with the historical social ecological trajectory of the study area. The impact of environmental public policy instruments on future trajectories demonstrates their potential to decrease deforestation. The results provide insights for the integrated territorial planning of peri-urban areas with similar social ecological dynamics and developing context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban periphery watersheds play a crucial role in providing diverse ecosystem services, especially hydrological services (HES), for society at different temporal and spatial scales; moreover, local populations directly influence ecosystem functionality through their decisions and actions. The interactions between social and ecological factors create social–ecological systems (SESs), whose trajectories continuously change in response to internal factors such as land use cover change (LUCC) and external factors such as climate change (CC). This situation influences the vulnerability of SESs in terms of exposure, sensitivity and adaptation capacity. In this study, the social–ecological vulnerability (SEV) of the periphery of Mexico City was investigated based on the Collaborative Protocol for Ecosystem Services Assessment and Social–ecological Vulnerability Mapping (ECOSER) and a quantitative method approach. For this purpose, spatial analysis was performed using the ecological and social spatial data for LUCC tendencies calculated for 1999–2019 and projected for short-term CC scenarios and using LUCC calculated for 2039 in trend-based (TREND) and restrictive (REST) scenarios. The results reveal that increases in the SEV in 2039 will be related to important decreases in the HES; furthermore, the REST scenario suggests decreases in the SEV due to decreases in the HES, assuming that environmental public policy instruments will be preserved in this region. The present work aims to contribute to decision-making for HES preservation at local and regional scales and to help develop adaptation strategies under LUCC and CC scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new "Environmental Protection Law" (abbreviated as NEPL) holds milestone significance for the construction of China's ecological legal system. However, evidence regarding the impact of NEPL on sustainable environmental strategy (abbreviated as SES) still lacks empirical analysis. This study aims to examine the mechanisms and boundary conditions through which the NEPL influences SES. Utilizing a difference‐in‐differences approach, an empirical analysis is conducted on the data of listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A‐shares from 2008 to 2021. The findings are as follows: (1) NEPL has significantly promoted both the substantive environmental strategy (abbreviated as SUB) and symbolic environmental strategy (abbreviated as SYM) of heavily polluting enterprises. Compared with SYM, the impact of NEPL on SUB is more significant. (2) Analyst coverage plays a significantly positive moderating role in the relationship between NEPL and SUB, while managerial myopia plays a significantly positive moderating role in the relationship between NEPL and SYM. (3) Environmental legitimacy pressure exerts a mediating effect on the relationship between NEPL and SES. The research findings enrich existing theories related to strategic choice and environmental policy under government intervention and provide policy recommendations for enterprises to achieve sustainable development in the context of NEPL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely accepted that environmental and demographic changes will significantly influence the future of our society. In recent years, an increasing number of studies has analyzed the interlinkages among economic growth, environmental factors, and a specific demographic variable, namely life expectancy, applying an overlapping generations framework. The aim of this survey is threefold. First, we review the role of life expectancy and pollution for sustainable growth. Second, we discuss the role of intervening factors like health investment and technological progress as well as institutional settings including government expenditures, tax structures, and inequality. Finally, we summarize policy implications obtained in different models and compare them to each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing a two-period model with an environmental externality, this paper investigates the relation between emission taxation and the optimal level of public debt. The central insight is that the effect of emission taxation on optimal borrowing is ambiguous and may lead to lower or higher optimal debt. In the context of climate change, we even show that the counterintuitive result of a higher optimal debt level is likely in the short-run and possibly also in the long-run, a result that provides a novel rationale for public borrowing. Our basic arguments turn out to be robust against several generalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental and social policy measures can both complement and contradict each other. Recent environmental sociology literature suggests that this dual relationship can give rise to eco‐social divides in European societies, as some people either endorse or reject both types of measures, while some support one set of policies but not the other. In the current paper, we use data from the British Social Attitudes survey to investigate eco‐social divides in Great Britain. The results confirm the presence of four sizeable attitudinal groups with distinct combinations of welfare and environmental preferences. The sizes of the groups have nevertheless changed considerably over time, with people who are simultaneously in favour of welfare and environmental measures becoming more numerous, and the opponents of both measures becoming fewer. Cultural conservatism/progressiveness, age and political party allegiance are key predictors of eco‐social attitudinal group membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Professional Business Review (JPBReview) is the property of Open Access Publications LLC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the strategic role of the younger generation in environmental preservation as a form of non-military national defense, with reference to the reflection of the 79th anniversary of Indonesia's Independence. This study uses literature reviews from various international sources indexed by Scopus and other reputable journals to explore the contribution of youth in environmental conservation and its relationship with national resilience. This article also discusses the methodology used in previous studies on youth and environmental conservation, as well as their impact on public policy. The method used is a literature review that focuses on the contribution of youth in environmental conservation programs and the use of green technology. The results of the study show that youth involvement is very important in strengthening national resilience, both through public policy, participation in conservation, and technological innovation. In addition, support from the private sector, NGOs, and the government is urgently needed to empower youth so that they can play an active role in strengthening national sovereignty and environmental sustainability. The research also highlights the great potential of the use of digital technology and social media to increase youth engagement in environmental movements and support the role of national defense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The objective of this study is to examine the various factors that exert an influence on the green economy. This study also investigates the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the Malaysian economy, specifically focusing on its position as a mediator. This research also examines the correlation between FDI and its influence on the contemporary green economy. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employed quantitative methodologies and a self-administered survey to evaluate data and derive a definitive conclusion. The result was constructed using SPSS and SEM-PLS as the analytical software. Findings: The study reveals that technological advancement, investment country and government policy significantly and positively affect the green economy, catalyse SDG goals and restructure the economy in better shape. Originality/value: The current empirical research bridges the research gap in the context of technology advancement in government policy from emerging economies by exploring important factors, proposing their impact on the performance of the green economy, and empirically testing those hypothesized relationships. This study deciphers that FDI influences the green economy, where the investment country plays a significant role. Also, for a graphical presentation of this abstract, see the online appendix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decreasing political trust poses severe challenges, particularly in policy domains where solutions to societal problems are urgently needed. The reason is that low trust decreases citizens' support for policy interventions. Since trust is difficult to increase in the short to medium term, this study explores how negative trust effects on policy support could be mitigated through policymaking procedures. We connect literature on policy design processes and trust to argue that involving broader actor coalitions when designing a policy is likely to mitigate the negative trust effect on public policy support. We test this argument with an empirical focus on environmental policy, based on data from a survey experiment in Switzerland (N = 6116). Our study design combines a choice experiment with treatment conditions for procedural inclusiveness and various levels of policy stringency with a novel approach to measuring trust. The main finding is that greater inclusiveness in terms of engaging a broader actor coalition in the policy design process reduces otherwise negative effects of low trust on policy support. The main policy implication is that political trust challenges are not a predicament for failure in addressing urgent societal problems but can be offset by including broad actor coalitions in policy design processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How functional relationships between policies influence policy design and policy change has received relatively limited attention within public policy scholarship despite the importance of policy coordination. This article contributes to addressing this gap by introducing the Anchoring Policies Perspective (APP), a framework for analysing interactions between policies in functional policy hierarchies. The APP examines how formal links between anchoring policies (AP) and functionally subordinate policies (SP) generate anchoring effects, whereby the provisions codified in APs generate alignment pressures that channel the design of SPs towards the norms and goals of the AP. In the article, we examine the analytical contribution of the APP by analysing the distinguishing characteristics of APs, the mechanisms through which APs influence SP introduction and design, and political strategies for managing situations where resistance occurs to the alignment of SPs with their APs. Examples from environmental and energy policy are used to illustrate key features of the AP-SP relationship, following which the APP’s contribution to public policy scholarship is discussed. We conclude by arguing that the APP has the potential to bring important new insights to the analysis of policy change while building connections with established theories of policy change to develop the APP framework further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper embarks on a comprehensive exploration of the intricate and multifaceted dynamics underlying global policies aimed at mitigating climate change, particularly within the evolving landscape of emerging biofuel markets. While the imperative to combat climate change is undeniable, it is equally essential to recognize and address the potential unintended consequences that may arise. In an age characterized by disinformation and conspiracy theories, public resistance to policies deemed malicious or inhumane is particularly prevalent, especially in cases where outcomes entail land grabbing, deforestation, and human rights violations, notably within developing countries marked by heightened vulnerabilities. Leveraging established theoretical frameworks proposed by prominent scholars such as Bastiat, Popper, Taleb, Hayek, and Soros, this study aims to explore the practical ramifications of green policies, which often exceed their intended scope and result in unforeseen negative consequences. Concurrently, we endeavor to challenge potential conspiracy narratives surrounding the purported malevolent intentions of elites and allegations of neo-colonialism in the formulation of green policies, emphasizing the enduring relevance of the principles of self-awareness and radical fallibility within the realm of critical rationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of environmental policy stringency (EPS) on audit pricing. By exploiting the exogenous variation in environmental policies across 26 countries, we find that firms in countries with more stringent environmental policies incur lower audit fees. The inverse association is more pronounced in common law countries, in countries with a higher level of public enforcement of regulations and in countries with more investor protection. The lower audit fees are also more prominent for firms that are followed by more analysts and firms that have a greater institutional ownership. Furthermore, we find that firms in countries with strong regulations are better and more innovative at managing environmental risk, which implies that better environmental performance of the firms following stronger regulations could lower business risks and thus decrease audit fees. Overall, our findings suggest that compliant firms benefit from EPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the European Union over the years has significantly advanced our understanding of the domestic impact of EU policies. However, notable blind spots persist regarding the broader impact of EU legislation on national policy portfolios and its interaction with domestic policy-making. To address this gap, we introduce a novel analytical concept that adopts a macro-perspective to scrutinise the impact of EU policy-making on national policy portfolios and their trajectories over time. We analyse EU-induced change dynamics through three dimensions of national policy portfolios: policy efforts, policy innovation, and policy design quality. Applying our framework to clean air policy across 13 EU countries over 38 years, we find ambiguous effects on national policy-making. Our findings reveal that while the EU’s role in clean air policy has expanded, it simultaneously has constrained innovative potentials within national portfolios and challenged design quality, substituting rather than complementing national policy efforts. We contribute to the state of the art by providing a novel conceptual framework on the macro dynamics of multi-level policy-making, offering theoretical arguments on the expected effects of EU influence, and presenting empirical evidence of these dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resurgence of industrial policy is reshaping the global political economy and creating emergent formations that could help create green states. Such green states can seed a world after growth. Growth is often taken for granted as a natural purpose of states and an appropriate basis of public policy. However, it has a recent political-economic and cosmological history. This suggests that an age after growth is not only possible but likely. In the current conjuncture of crises and challenges, industrial strategies that bring together environmental, social justice, and pro-growth coalitions offer the best chance to meet climate goals and improve the prospects for inclusive prosperity globally. In addition, there is evidence that industrial policy is providing a platform to build active states, rebalance state–business relations, forge new systems of calculation, and gather cosmological resources for new action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our age of increasing ecological sensitivity, environmental crimes have become one of the most important agenda items in the world. As the relationship between the environment and human life and quality of life has become clearer, environmental policies have come to the forefront among public policies. The fact that crimes committed against the environment directly affect human life keeps this issue on the agenda. In addition, the fact that environmental crimes do not have a globally accepted definition and are involved in money laundering activities makes the fight against this type of crime important and necessary. This study will focus on how environmental crimes are used in money laundering activities. Since environmental and money laundering crimes, which have a transnational characteristic, are committed together, it is necessary to establish a global partnership instead of country-based solutions. In this field, an AML regime is expected to be developed and implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980's, the growing involvement of private consultancy firms in the public sector worldwide has instigated concerns about the outsourcing of public policy advising to market-driven actors. Although these firms participate in spreading policy ideas, their roles have not received sustained attention, despite being observed by a few scholars. Against this background, the aim of this paper is threefold. First, from established policy concepts relating to policy diffusion, we identify the potential roles that consultancy firms may take on in spreading policy ideas. Second, we use a systematic literature review to collect and distil what is currently known about what different roles consultancy firms fulfil, and what kinds of tensions arise in their interactions with both clients and other actors. Third, we draft an agenda for future research on consultancy firms' impact in governance processes. To focus our study, our review hones in on environmental governance, more specifically water governance, a significant area of activity for such firms where they play an important in-between role in providing policy ideas. We found indications that consultancy firms possess six types of capabilities (trusted facilitators, reactors to environmental policies, shapers of environmental policies, market drivers, interest navigators, and managers of public participation), and face various dilemmas around biases, decontextualized global practices, market interests, and manipulative practices. We conclude that more attention should be given to empirically refining capabilities involved in shaping policies and markets and to further highlighting how consultancy firms impact the diffusion of governance ideas in and beyond the water and environmental sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Poyang Lake is the property of Journal of Poyang Lake Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Can government environmental policy harmonize environmental protection with economic output? We explore this issue from the perspective of forestry eco-efficiency, using China's National Ecological Civilization Pilot Zone Policy (NECP), an environmental policy promulgated by the government of China, as the subject of this study. The study introduces forestry eco-efficiency as an indicator to assess the balance between economic development in the forestry sector and environmental conservation. The indicator, grounded in sustainable development theory, employs a super-efficiency SBM model that includes undesirable outputs to evaluate efficiency. Additionally, we empirically analyze the impact of NECP on forestry eco-efficiency by using the difference-in-difference (DID) model with provincial panel data from 2011 to 2020. Ultimately, we analyze the effects of spatial spillover by employing the spatial Durbin model (SDM). Our study yields the following conclusions. (1) In this paper, through hotspot clustering analysis, forestry eco-efficiency in each province is categorized into three categories: effective, semi-effective and ineffective. Our findings suggest that China's average forestry eco-efficiency falls into the ineffective category, highlighting the need to optimize resource allocation within the sector. (2) NECP significantly enhances forestry eco-efficiency, with robust findings across various stability tests. Thus, implementing government environmental policies can have a multiplier effect on forestry, i.e., it can synergize its economic development with environmental protection. (3) In provinces with a strong ecological foundation, the NECP significantly enhances forestry eco-efficiency. However, in other provinces, the improvement is only moderate. Furthermore, while the NECP has a substantial positive impact in the eastern region, it has yet to show a discernible effect in other regions. (4) The positive impacts of NECP implementation on forestry eco-efficiency have spatial spillover effects due to demonstration effects and comparative advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though Indonesia has adopted a Gender Mainstreaming policy through Presidential Instruction No. 9 of 2000, gender inequality remains a significant issue in Indonesia's development process. Inequality in Indonesia is largely due to a lack of commitment from the Government and Regional Governments to implementing Gender Mainstreaming (PUG), especially in Siak Regency. Women's participation is necessary at every stage of development, so gender mainstreaming needs to be supported and implemented. If the policy is implemented in a village it will be more pronounced because it is implemented directly by the community. However, this policy is not yet women-friendly because women's involvement in the policy formulation process is still low. Women are still used as policy objects, not subjects so women's interests have not been accommodated much in village development policies. Gender Mainstreaming (PUG) also aims to provide protection to women so that women's rights are guaranteed and fulfilled to grow, develop and participate optimally in accordance with human dignity, as well as receiving protection from economic and sexual exploitation. This research was designed using a justice theory approach and a public policy theory approach. In these two quite different approaches, various data and in-depth information regarding gender mainstreaming in development policy in the village were obtained. In the previous research, which was related to "Gender Mainstreaming in the Green Siak Policy: Design of a Women-Friendly Ecology-Based Regency Budget Transfer (TAKE) Policy in Siak Regency, Riau Province - Indonesia", it was also not seen how this policy was only intended for the public interest, not especially the participation of women. Women in the development process are expected to participate where BPS data shows that in 2022 there will be 12.72% of female heads of households, a decrease compared to the previous year, namely 14.38%. Women have the same potential human resources as men, although in general, in Indonesia, the participation of men is more dominant than that of women. The birth of the Green Siak policy gave rise to the TAKE policy (ecology-based budget transfer) with the aim of realizing environmentally sound development only and not creating women-friendly villages. Gender mainstreaming in various government programs at the local level is still only a discourse (narrative policy). Gender issues have not yet become a central issue in local policy discussions, so gender issues are drowned out in the midst of other issues such as environmental issues, employment issues, poverty issues and infrastructure issues. Policies that should accommodate women's interests amidst demands for achieving the SDGs have, in fact, not become mainstream in regional policies. The findings of this research indicate that village development policies are not yet fully inclusive of women or women-friendly. The policies issued still dominate the general interest and are not specific to women, such as women's empowerment programs, women's protection, and strengthening the capacity of women heads of households. Efforts to empower women are preventive of the occurrence of domestic violence. This effort is not solely through a juridical approach but can be accompanied by sociological, economic, psychological, criminological and cultural approaches that prevails in Siak Malay society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty USA states or jurisdictions and 125 nations have modeled national environmental policies after the National Environmental Policy Act. That act mandates that federal agencies initiate environmental impact statements (EISs) when substantive environmental or human health consequences are likely because of an agency action related to proposed development projects. The science used to inform the EIS process, however, does not require independent scientific peer review (ISPR) in the USA or most other nations. But ISPR is needed for governments to accurately inform the EIS decision-making and public reporting processes. Instead, science is routinely manipulated during EIS reviews to generate expedient project outcomes with substantially negative ecological, political, and long-term economic consequences. We provide four examples of EISs that lack ISPR, as well as four examples where reviews by independent scientists were helpful to improve agency decisions. We also recommend that independent scientists (no affiliation with the project proponents or agencies overseeing projects) be used to help assess potential environmental and socio-economic impacts, as well as offer appropriate risk assessments, study designs, and monitoring timeframes. We conclude that nations should convene formal reviews using independent scientists as a form of peer review in the EIS process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With China's commitment to achieving a carbon peak and carbon neutralisation by 2030 and 2060, respectively, the government's requirements for enterprises to adopt green technology are becoming increasingly urgent. We established a tripartite evolutionary game model of an enterprise, government and bank. We analysed conditions for the existence of stable points and factors affecting the choice of stakeholder's strategy. The influence of the change in each parameter on the evolutionary stable strategy was further studied. We found that the government's reward, subsidy and taxes for enterprise's green technology innovation can increase the willingness of enterprises to implement green technology innovation, and the role of taxes is greater than that of subsidies. The preferential interest rate for green innovation is conducive to stimulating enterprises to engage in green innovation, but the increase in the cost of green credit will reduce the willingness of banks to provide green credit. With the increase in the subsidy, incentives and the cost of environmental regulation, the policy burden of the government will gradually increase, thus reducing the willingness of the government to implement environmental regulation policy. The research presented in this paper furthers work on the theoretical modelling of green credit and environmental regulation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies relevant to many key sociological processes are often subnational, enacted at the regional, state/provincial, and/or local levels. This applies notably in the politics of the environmental state, where public and private subnational environmental policies (SNEPs) have major consequences for managing climate change, addressing environmental injustices, regulating land uses, greening energy markets, limiting pollution, and much more. While sociologists focus more on national policies, diverse sociological contributions emphasize the importance of SNEPs and their origins, diffusion, implementation, and sources of backlash. We begin by providing a typology of SNEPs. Next, we highlight not only environmental sociology (with its particular attention to climate change and energy) but also the sociologies of social movements, politics, the economy, science, risk, and organizations, which have each offered unique perspectives. Finally, we outline an agenda for how sociologists can further elaborate a distinctive perspective that highlights inequality, valuation, diffusion, scale shifts, and venue-shopping up to national and global policy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates public reactions to major environmental policies through an analysis of historical tweets from 2010 to 2022, focusing on 11 key policies. Utilizing word cloud and sentiment analysis, the research identifies predominant themes and emotions in discussions surrounding each policy announcement. Results indicate that political figures tend to be the central focus, while environmental aspects receive limited attention. Negative emotions, such as sadness and anger, are prevalent in these conversations. To examine shifts in sentiment, a series of t-tests were conducted, comparing emotions before, at, and after each policy enactment day. The findings suggest that conversations increasingly focus on specific environmental policies on the day of their announcement and that initial reactions are generally positive. However, sentiment can change rapidly, irrespective of public opinion on the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview of various environmental issues and legislative developments related to climate change and sustainability. It discusses concerns over extreme weather events, the lack of leadership in resiliency planning, and the need for long-term strategies to address increasing temperatures. The article also mentions a landmark case where Switzerland was found to have breached human rights by failing to protect citizens from climate change effects. It provides updates on bills being considered in Parliament, EU regulations on greenhouse gases, and domestic case law examples. Additionally, the article includes a list of ongoing and closed consultations on topics such as clean heat market mechanisms, carbon border adjustment mechanisms, and climate-related financial disclosures. It also highlights select committee reports on issues like deforestation, electric vehicles, and government resilience to extreme weather. The article concludes with news articles on the impact of climate change globally, including record-breaking temperatures in 2023 and the potential breach of the 1.5C temperature rise threshold. These findings emphasize the urgency of addressing climate change. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of People & Nature is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In recent decades, certain environment-related issues have come into the public eye. This article aims to analyse socio-environmental conflicts from both a democratic and a communication policy perspective. Given that these socio-environmental conflicts are the response to public policies, this article seeks to study the role played by the media in shaping them. The study focuses on the Basque Country, where many socio-environmental conflicts arise due to the implementation of public environmental policies. The methodology includes quantitative analysis using the data obtained from conducting a press analysis, and a qualitative approach using information obtained from in-depth interviews and the analysis of documentation. The results suggest a communicational and democratic deficit in the socio-environmental conflicts analysed, since the media do not help to build public opinion in a dialogical and dialectical way. To address this, we need a more diverse field of communication beneficial for environmental issues, so that we can work on information, considering the perspectives of all actors and the main topics of discussion. Environmental issues should go beyond traditional representative policies, inviting a broader range of actors in debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1970 requires federal agencies to assess the environmental impact of proposed federal actions. NEPA thus affects delivery of a wide range of infrastructure projects. NEPA requires the completion of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for environmentally impactful federal actions. For infrastructure projects this can entail significant delays. A typical EIS now takes about four and one-half years and is over 600 pages long. Some EIS's take over a decade to complete. We provide the first detailed analysis of project approval times under NEPA by examining 1269 EIS permitting processes. We analyze empirically the well-defined interval from Notice of Intent to file to Record of Decision (ROD). We use a Cox proportional hazard model to estimate the impact of several factors on EIS duration. Factors include permits featuring major construction, those including private investment, those for projects located in states with restrictive environmental laws, those using the federal permitting "dashboard," and those publishing a Supplemental EIS prior to the ROD. We find that privately financed projects receive faster permitting, while projects involving major construction, those undertaken in restrictive states, and those utilizing the federal permitting dashboard, face slower permitting times. We also explore links between EIS page counts and permitting time. Greater EIS page counts are associated with longer permitting times. We conclude by examining EIS completion during economic stimulus programs such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), as well as the frequency of EIS completion by the federal government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study builds a theoretical framework on how subnational governments use promotion schemes to motivate local bureaucrats to address conflicting tasks of economic development and environmental protection. We argue that subnational (province) governments can strategically allocate polluting industries to border areas to make neighbors bear the social cost of pollution and use promotion incentives to make their subordinates (city leaders) comply. Hence, when the central government imposes a stricter environmental regulation policy on provincial governments, border-city leaders obtain a higher probability of promotion. Based on a panel dataset of leaders' career information and administrations across cities in China, we find an increase in promotion probability for border-city leaders compared with their non-border counterparts after 2011 when the environmental protection task became more important. A potential channel is that border-city leaders accept the migration of polluting industries as a signal of compliance. In addition, this effect is more prominent for newly appointed leaders who have stronger political motivations and rely more on their superiors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry is supported by smart and green manufacturing, which have great potential to empower the nation's green development. This study examines the impact of the Made in China 2025 industrial policy on urban green economic growth. This study applies the super-slacks-based measure model to measure cities' green economic growth, using the double machine learning model, which overcomes the limitations of the linear setting of traditional causal inference models and maintains estimation accuracy under high-dimensional control variables, to conduct an empirical analysis based on panel data of 281 Chinese cities from 2006 to 2021. The results reveal that the Made in China 2025 strategy significantly drives urban green economic growth, and this finding holds after a series of robustness tests. A mechanism analysis indicates that the Made in China 2025 strategy promotes green economic growth through green technology progress, optimizing energy consumption structure, upgrading industrial structure, and strengthening environmental supervision. In addition, the policy has a stronger driving effect for cities with high manufacturing concentration, industrial intelligence, and digital finance development. This study provides valuable theoretical insights and policy implications for government planning to promote high-quality development through industrial policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to analyze the implementation of green banking and the policies implemented in it. The macro approach is carried out through literature studies by collecting secondary data such as scientific articles, planning documents, government policies, and the mass media as well as data related to this research. Data analysis was carried out qualitatively by implementing green banking in several aspects, namely, in the internal bank, in customer service, and during financing. And in its implementation, it has fulfilled the principles of the green banking concept which includes 4 elements of life, namely nature, well-being, economy, and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian climate policy is increasingly complex, with numerous mandatory and voluntary policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These policies are national and sub-national and involve a variety of policy instruments. Policy interventions range from economy-wide (e.g., emissions pricing) to sector-specific (e.g., clean electricity regulation) to targeting specific actions (e.g., fuel-switching subsidies). Studying the effects of policy changes and interactions is crucial in this active policy space. This article provides an overview of Canadian climate policy and reviews trends in climate and environmental policy research. Despite the richness of the policy landscape, there is limited academic work evaluating the effectiveness (emissions reductions) and cost-effectiveness (cost per tonne of abatement) of Canadian climate policy, the equity and distributional consequences of policy choices, and how policies interact. Additional academic work along these themes can help inform better policy design and help Canada meet its emission-reduction goals. Note from the editors: The first volume of Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de politiques was published in 1975, making this the 50th volume. To commemorate, we have organized a series of lectures which are published in this special issue. Professor Winter gave this lecture at the meetings of the Canadian Economics Association in Winnipeg in June 2023. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of the digital economy, digital technology can help enterprises achieve digital, intelligent, and green transformation. However, the cost of enterprise transformation is high, and government subsidies can help reduce enterprise risks. In this study, based on the Stackelberg game model, a three-stage game model was established for government, manufacturer, and retail. Through theoretical proof and numerical simulation, the effects of cost subsidies, research and development subsidies, and sales subsidies policies were analyzed. The research shows that these three subsidy methods can promote the greening of products, increase market sales, and increase the profits of manufacturers and retailers, and the effect of R&D subsidies is more obvious. Excessive R&D subsidies will cause the social welfare function to decline. As consumers' green preferences increase, the profits and social welfare of manufacturers and retailers also increase. Consumers' green preferences can effectively improve the green level of products, increase product sales, and promote the development of green products. Under the optimal subsidy strategy, cost and sales subsidies are superior to R&D subsidies. By studying the effects of different subsidy policies, this study provides reasonable policies and suggestions for the government and the manufacturing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of green economy is new approach, dedicated to the principles of environmental sustainability, especially minimizing the negative impact on the environment. This approach stimulates the functioning of SMEs and economic growth and development, ensuring nature to continue providing resources and services in the environment on which the well-being of national economies depends. The areas of operation of the green economy are economics and ecology, and the three pillars of sustainability are economy, ecology and society, therefore the general agreement is that the concept of green economy is closely related to sustainable development. Given that in the Republic of North Macedonia, the green economy is a relatively new concept and there is no single document - strategy or program for development of the green economy, the purpose of the paper is by analyzing all documents and programs relating to sustainable development, specifically, the policies that indirectly encourage and/or stimulate the development of the concept of green economy in the operation and functioning of SMEs, to see the institutional support for promotion and development of the concept of green economy in the Republic of North Macedonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of Hofstede's dimensions of national culture on environmental sustainability across 57 countries. Hofstede's national culture construct reflects and gauges the extent of the inclination of a particular national person toward either economic development or environmental preservation. Climate change and pollution have continuously devastated the environment in recent decades. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals aim to achieve a more sustainable future and prevent further environmental destruction. This study aims to explore whether national culture significantly influences national environmental sustainability. We use national environmental performance as the proxy for national environmental sustainability and adopt the ordinary least squares regression model to explore the possible relationship with two datasets of international indices; one is proposed by Hofstede, and the other is proposed by Germanwatch. Our results show that the power distance index has a strong negative impact on the climate change performance index (CCPI), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, renewable energy, and energy use. Further, the masculinity index is negatively related to CCPI and GHG emissions. The individual index is also negatively related to renewable energy. Furthermore, indulgence is positively associated with climate policy. These findings support the notion that nations should consider their cultural characteristics to improve environmental sustainability. Thus, conducting a national environmental policy that aligns with national culture is suggested to achieve environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In the current background of global economic slowdown, the traditional reliance on one regulatory instrument or the unilateral consideration of the effectiveness of one regulatory policy in policy formulation is no longer sufficient to cope with the increasingly complex contradictions between environmental protection and economic development. In the construction of a modernized environmental governance system, it has become an inevitable choice to achieve synergy between various environmental regulations. In China, the citizens' environmental supervision campaign that gradually emerged in 2006 and the local carbon trading pilots that started in 2013, as typical representatives of informal and formal environmental regulation respectively, provide vivid and realistic materials for our study. Methods: Using econometric models and microdata from listed Chinese firms from 2009 to 2020, we analyze the profound logic and internal mechanism by which this synergistic governance effect of environmental regulation affects the economic society and the development pattern of firms. Results and discussion: The study found that: (1) the synergistic effect of the carbon trading policy and citizens' environmental supervision can significantly promote the transition of enterprises to a sustainable development model, especially paying attention to the role of citizens' environmental supervision in this process. (2) The regional development level, cost transfer capability, and political connection can make the synergy of the two environmental regulations vary across firms. (3) The synergistic effect of environmental regulation promotes the behavior of enterprises in line with the requirements of sustainable development by influencing enterprises' R&D and innovation investment, resource allocation efficiency, and sustainable development awareness. (4) A favorable regional rule of law environment and moderate media attention can effectively increase the intensity of citizens' environmental supervision, and at the same time strengthen the effectiveness of synergistic governance of environmental regulation in the transformation and development of enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the impact of transforming resource-based cities (RBCs) through scientific evaluation is a crucial approach to gauge the efficacy of implementation of national locational policies. Drawing upon panel data encompassing 113 RBCs over the period 2006 to 2020, this study employs the difference-in-differences (DID) model to systematically evaluate the impact of location-oriented policies, represented by the "National Resource-Based Economic Transformation Comprehensive Supporting Reform Pilot Zone" (CRPZ), on the trajectory of green transition development (GTD) within RBCs. The results indicate, firstly, that the CRPZ has facilitated the GTD of RBCs, and a series of robustness tests confirm this conclusion, revealing a stimulating effect that evolves from initial suppression to subsequent promotion. Secondly, CRPZ can drive the GTD of RBCs by optimizing industrial structure and enhancing innovation capability, which shows that different marginal utilities are observed in its impact on the GTD of RBCs. Finally, the effectiveness of the CRPZ in promoting the GTD of RBCs is influenced by the degree of resource dependence, with a more pronounced impact on cities with higher levels of resource dependence. The conclusions of this study provide valuable insights for the ongoing evaluation of location-oriented policies and the promotion of GTD in RBCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental policy integration is needed to ensure environmental policy goals are being realized, given their cross‐sectoral nature. Most of the published research has focused on integration and coherence of (inter)national policies, plans, and programs. The implementation practices for these policies, however, are at least as important. This paper therefore looks at policy implementation for the case of artisanal gold mining in Liberia. This is studied through a lens of frontline staff (street‐level bureaucrats) who operate in networks of local government agencies, civil society organizations, and communities. Results of interviews and field observations in Grand Gedeh county show how the policy context and local realities create specific dilemmas, resulting from the combination of limited resources of local frontline staff, low‐income security for local communities and traditional local practices around protected forest areas. In response local frontline bureaucrats use their discretionary power and network to mobilize support, pool resources, combine mandates, and find creative solutions to both regulate and support community residents. Although these implementation strategies are neither necessarily sufficient to realize the official policy goals, nor are guaranteed to have the desired effects, they do show how local frontline staff act as de facto policymakers. Recognizing frontline staff as environmental policy integrators therefore is a crucial element toward more successful policies for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In political research, scholars have increasingly paid attention to the political challenges of integrating new public policies into existing policy subsystems, which bears important implications for the study of eco-social policy and politics. By drawing on policy integration research, we identify and discuss insights and lessons deriving from policy integration scholarship, which appear to be relevant for understanding policy linkages between the social and environmental domains especially regarding the European Green Deal (EGD). More specifically, we focus on the following two aspects: (1) the elements of policy design and implementation practices that are deemed to be helpful for ensuring equilibrium between social and environmental goals and (2) political factors that are likely to affect policy integration dynamics along the social and environmental aspects (eco-social nexus). This article contributes to the literature by tracing novel research trajectories for the eco-social debate to explore in the policy integration perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is dedicated to the challenges of the fiscal policy of Bulgaria in the context of the European Union's (EU) priorities for a green, climate-neutral economy's transition. The article analyzes the fiscal aspects of the EU Green Deal and related initiatives NextGenerationEU, Fit for 55 packages, RePower Plan and Just Transition Mechanism for the EU program period 2021-2027. It examines the objectives of the EU Green Deal's implementation in the context of the EU Strategy for Financing the Transition to a Sustainable Economy. It studies the mechanisms, tools and alternative approaches in the application of EU funding and modern financial instruments to stimulate the green transformation of the EU economy. The research assesses the opportunities for the green transition in Bulgaria through the application of national and European financial instruments. The study assesses the effects of the fiscal instruments for mitigating and adaptation to climate change on the fiscal deficit of Bulgaria. The study shows that the fiscal policy with EU funding and national co-financing for green policies under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Partnership Agreement for 2021-2027 could augment the green transition and have a net positive impact on the fiscal balance. The study also outlines the possible risks and negative impacts on budgetary aggregates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental sustainability has been a key policy goal of the European Union (EU), particularly under recent EU Cohesion Policy strategic frameworks. This paper contributes to the analysis of the relevance of EU Cohesion Policy-related environmental sustainability investments, by assessing the impacts of the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Use of Resources (POSEUR 2014–2020), in the Portuguese North NUTS II. In detail, the impact scores of the following five analytical dimensions related to this programme were obtained: (i) low-emissions economy, (ii) adaptation to climate change, (iii) risk prevention and management, (iv) environmental protection and (v) resource efficiency. The analysis was supported by a territorial impact assessment methodology (TARGET_TIA) which was complemented by an online analytic geographic information system (GIS) policy evaluation platform (Impact-WEB_GIS). The results showed that the POSEUR's regional implementation efficiency fell short of the stakeholders' expectations. This can be explained by factors such as the obstacles posed by the prior underdeveloped infrastructural conditions, coupled with the panorama created by the Covid-19 outbreak. Nonetheless, the risk prevention and management dimension had a solid positive impact score that reflected the efficacy of POSEUR in tackling environmental threats, mostly in rural ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies individual-level attitudes towards long-term investment policies using novel survey data for the case of Germany. Building on a budding literature on the relationship between environmental and social policy attitudes, our first contribution to research is to show that citizens, when prompted to think about their support for long-term investment policies, support welfare state related policies such as investments in education and pensions to a greater degree than non-welfare state issues such as public infrastructure investment or renewable energy. Citizens are most supportive of using present-day redistributive policies – in our case: increasing income taxes on the rich – in order to finance long-term investment. We also find evidence that political trust is positively associated with support for long-term investment policies, but in particular investments in education and renewables. Furthermore, our analysis reveals the importance of individual political ideology. These findings have implications for public demand for tackling the long-term issues faced by society today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary explores the critical issue of air pollution policies and public engagement in Pakistan, a nation consistently ranked among the world's most polluted. Prolonged exposure to diverse pollution sources leads to severe health consequences, making public education and engagement pivotal for successful environmental policy implementation. By using the National Clean Air Policy (NCAP) as a case, we identified key barriers to public engagement in Pakistan and emphasizes the need for collaborative efforts through an integrated approach among civil society organizations (CSOs), news media, research institutions, and the public. In addition, we introduced the term communities of care to encourage more inclusive, participatory policy making approaches aimed at addressing air pollution crisis in the country. Finally, we argue that the elitist model of policy making, which historically dominated, should give way to a more participatory and inclusive approach to enhance policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]