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The energy sector plays a crucial role in facilitating the low‐carbon energy transition. However, in the absence of appropriate environmental regulation, managerial opportunistic behavior in energy firms can manipulate ethical investor perceptions and hinder the real transition process towards clean energy. Using Chinese listed energy firms as the research setting, this paper examines the impact of investor attention on energy firms' earnings management practices. In both clean and traditional energy firms, the results show a significant U‐shaped association between investor attention and earnings management, with the U‐shaped curve for clean energy firms being smoother. This U‐shaped relationship is more pronounced in energy firms with larger size and weaker external monitoring. Moreover, the mediating analysis shows that internal control quality transmits the impact of investor attention onto earnings management practices in the energy sector. Our key findings remain robust to a battery of robustness tests and endogeneity controls. Therefore, given the growing attention on the energy sector, this study extends the existing literature on energy firms' managerial opportunistic behavior by analyzing the nonlinear effect for investor attention and provides practical implications for curbing energy firms' managerial opportunistic activities and guiding managerial attention towards making real sustainable investments, thereby promoting clean energy transition and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Three-North Shelterbelt Project is the largest ecological engineering initiative in China to date, distinguished by its immense scale, extended construction period, and widespread benefits for the population. The gross ecosystem product (GEP) serves as a crucial indicator for assessing ecological benefits. This study focuses on the Three Northern Protection Forest Project Area, utilizing GEP calculations for the years 2000 to 2020. This study evaluates variations in the production values of different ecosystem services to reflect the ecological conservation benefits of the restoration project. Additionally, it analyzes the spatiotemporal evolution and trends of the GEP calculations, offering data references and decision support for the enduring efficacy of ecological restoration projects. The findings are as follows. (i) Between 2000 and 2020, the GEP of the Three-North region exhibited significant growth with continuous enhancement of various ecosystem service functions; the most substantial rate of change was observed in the water conservation function, followed by carbon sequestration and oxygen release, soil retention, windbreak and sand fixation, flood regulation, and environmental purification functions. (ii) The per-unit area value of different ecosystem types generally increased; the forest ecosystem displayed the largest growth rate at 61.18%, followed by shrubland ecosystems at 49.84%. (iii) The spatial distribution of ecosystem service in the Three-North region displayed a clustering trend alongside notable spatial heterogeneity. High-high clustering zones were identified in areas such as the Tianshan Mountains, Altai Mountains, Qilian Mountains, and Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains. Conversely, low-low clustering areas were scattered, forming patchy distributions in regions like the Tarim Basin, northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the Hexi Corridor. This study, by analyzing the gross ecosystem product of the Three-North Shelterbelt Project region, unveils the spatial distribution characteristics, trends, and variations in ecosystem service values over the past two decades. It provides data support and decision guidance for the long-term efficacy of future ecological conservation and restoration projects. This study incorporates the GEP accounting method into the assessment of the effectiveness of major conservation projects. Compared to the traditional methods of effectiveness assessment, this represents a significant exploration and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate quantification of pollution and carbon emission reduction policies, as well as analysis of green economic efficiency (GEE), are of great significance to accelerating green economic development in China and contributing to pollution prevention and carbon peaking. Using data from 2006 to 2022, this study incorporates pollution and carbon emission reduction policies into the evaluation system, and uses a model with slacks-based measures and a directional distance function (SBM-DDF) to calculate the GEE of 30 provinces. The Dagum Gini coefficient, kernel density estimation, and spatiotemporal convergence analysis are used to analyze the spatiotemporal differentiation and convergence characteristics of GEE. The findings show that the strengths of the pollution and carbon emission reduction policies are increasing but vary greatly among the provinces. China's overall GEE has a time trend with the characteristics of "decline-fluctuation-stable." The Dagum Gini coefficient reveals the relative differences between the major regions. Both the intra-regional and inter-regional differences tend to widen over time and the latter explains most of the sources of the overall differences. Kernel density estimation shows that the absolute differences between the provinces are generally widening, whereas the absolute differences between the provinces in the central and western regions are smaller than those in the eastern region. No obvious σ convergence characteristics exist in the country overall and the three major regions, but β convergence characteristics are present in each region. The factors affecting changes in the GEE of each region are not the same. The study suggests that the China should further improve the implementation of pollution and carbon emission reduction policies, pay attention to the regional differences and convergence issues of GEE, and promote the coordinated development of green economy in different regions. This study innovatively quantifies the policies related to pollution and carbon emission reduction, providing empirical evidence for understanding the performance of pollution and carbon emission reduction policies in various regions. Furthermore, this study incorporates policies as inputs into the GEE evaluation system, reveals the spatiotemporal differentiation of GEE, thereby providing reference for green economic transformation and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a global context where sustainable growth is imperative, understanding carbon emissions in significant regions is essential. Henan Province, being a vital region in China for population, agriculture, industry, and energy consumption, plays a crucial role in this understanding. This study, rooted in the need to identify strategies that not only meet China's broader carbon neutrality objectives but also offer insights regarding global sustainability models, utilizes the STIRPAT model combined with scenario analysis. The aim was to forecast carbon emission trajectories from 2020 to 2060 across the key industries—electricity, steel, cement, transportation, coal, and chemical—that are responsible for over 80% of the total emissions in Henan. The findings suggest a varied carbon peak timeline: the steel and cement industries might achieve their peak before 2025, and the transportation, coal, and chemical sectors might achieve theirs around 2030, whereas that of the power industry could be delayed until 2033. Significantly, by 2060—a landmark year for Chinese carbon neutrality ambitions—only the electricity sector in Henan shows potential for zero emissions under an extreme scenario. This study's results underscore the importance of region-specific strategies for achieving global carbon neutrality and offer a blueprint for other populous, industrialized regions worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the impact of the low-carbon city pilot program on income distribution. The program is designed to reduce urban carbon emissions in China while also serving as a quasi-natural experiment to examine the income distribution effect of environmental regulatory policies. Using the firm-year level data during 2007–2020, we adopt the staggered difference-in-difference method to explore the impact of the program on labor income share. This study finds that the LCCP program significantly affects firms' labor income share. The proportion of highly educated employees and the level of financialization within the firm act as mediators that influence labor income share. This paper suggests that government should use reasonable environmental regulatory policy to facilitate labor income share to alleviate inequality, promote the scope of the program to more cities, and help firms to improve human capital level as well as serve more financial policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting green low-carbon development is an important task in the construction of ecological civilization of China. The leadership has proclaimed green low-carbon development as the top national priority for development. Green low-carbon economy has become the high point of global industrial competition. Green taxation, as a tool for environmental regulation, plays an important role in the construction of ecological civilization. Therefore, this paper investigates the impact of green taxation on green low-carbon development in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region of China, using data of 41 cities from 2011 to 2021 in the YRD region. We construct a green low-carbon development index with the combined weight CRITIC-entropy method, and employ a mediating effect model and a spatial Durbin model based on double fixed effects in this study, which intends to provide a theoretical basis for the establishment of a sound tax policy system that is conducive to the green low-carbon development. The results show that (1) there is an evident spatial dependence of green low-carbon development in the YRD region; (2) green taxation has a significant positive effect on green low-carbon development through rationalization of industrial structure and advance of industrial structure; and (3) the positive impact of green taxation on green low-carbon development in the region is characterized by spatial spillover and heterogeneity. Specifically, green taxation significantly promotes green low-carbon development in the core area, but such green taxation dividend has yet to be realized in the expansion area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of the green belt and road is an inevitable choice to conform to and lead the green and low-carbon cycle development and an inherent requirement for sustainable development. Therefore, we establish an evaluation system of green development oriented to carbon neutrality, and calculate the green development level (GDL) of the provinces along the belt and road in China from 2003 to 2018 by using a three-dimensional evaluation model. In addition, this paper employs the Obstacle Degree Model to identify the main obstacle factors that affect GDL, and provides targeted and differentiated countermeasures and suggestions for improving the regional GDL. Our results suggested that the overall GDL has improved, but not obvious, with a low level. The GDL and coordination degree between different regions exist certain differences, and its spatial pattern is characterized by "high in southeast and northeast, low in southwest and northwest". From a regional perspective, innovation capacity is the key factor that affects the green development of the region in southeast, northeast, northwest and southwest China. Driving economic green transformation and promoting industrial energy conservation and emission reduction through technological innovation are the internal driving forces to achieve regional green sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization has brought economic dividends to China, but it has been accompanied by inefficient land use. Meanwhile, the mechanism of forestry carbon sinks (FCSs) on land use efficiency (LUE) has not been sufficiently discussed in the context of the pursuit of "carbon neutrality" around the world. Based on the idea of the benefit–cost theory, this study investigated the impact of FCSs on LUE in 30 provincial-level regions (2006–2019) in China using the difference-in-difference model. The results showed that, first, via the mechanisms of public opinion (PO) and rewards and penalties (RP), FCSs could significantly improve the LUE in the regions, and that the former had a greater effect than the latter; second, the tests of the assumption of parallel trends showed that FCSs had a slower effect on the LUE under the PO mechanism than under the RP mechanism; third, the analysis of the LUE showed that the improvement in LUE mainly occurred in the eastern, central, and southwestern regions of China. The conclusions were as follows: (1) FCS is able to promote LUE via both the PO and RP mechanisms; (2) there is a lag in the promotion of LUE by FCS, and the lag is larger with the PO mechanism; and (3) there is spatial clustering in the promotion of LUE by FCS. In line with these conclusions, we propose policy recommendations to better exploit the policy effects of FCSs in three aspects, namely promoting the development of forestry carbon sink projects, improving the relevant mechanisms of FCSs, and improving the mechanisms of PO and RP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yellow River Basin is an important energy base and economic belt in China, but its water resources are scarce, its ecology is fragile, and the task of achieving the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality is arduous. Carbon compensation potential can also be used to study the path to achieving carbon neutrality, which can clarify the potential of one region's carbon sink surplus to be compensated to the other areas. Still, there needs to be more research on the carbon compensation potential of the Yellow River Basin. Therefore, this study calculated the carbon compensation potential using the β convergence test and parameter comparison method. With the help of spatial measurement tools such as GIS, GeoDa, Stata, and social network analysis methods, the spatiotemporal pattern and network structure of the carbon compensation potential in the Yellow River Basin were studied from the perspective of urban agglomeration. The results demonstrate the following: (1) The overall carbon compensation rate of the YRB showed a downward trend from 2005 to 2019, falling by 0.94, and the specific pattern was "high in the northwest and low in the southeast". The spatial distribution is roughly spread along the east–west axis, and the distribution axis and the center of gravity keep shifting to the northwest. It also showed a weak divergence and a bifurcation trend. (2) The carbon compensation rate in the YRB passed the spatial correlation and β convergence tests, demonstrating the existence of spatial correlation and a "catch-up effect" among cities. (3) The overall distribution pattern of the carbon compensation potential in the YRB is a "low in the west and high in the east" pattern, and its value increased by 8.86% during the sampled period. (4) The network correlation of carbon compensation potential in the YRB has been significantly enhanced, with the downstream region being more connected than the upstream region. (5) The Shandong Peninsula Urban Agglomeration has the largest network center, followed by the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration, and the Ningxia along the Yellow River Urban Agglomeration has the fewest linked conduction paths. According to the research results, accurate and efficient planning and development suggestions are proposed for urban agglomeration in the Yellow River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Coal Geology & Exploration is the property of Xian Research Institute of China Coal Research Institute 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.)

A comprehensive evaluation of the ecological cost of urban expansion is crucial for preventing ecosystem degradation and improving ecosystem governance. However, the indirect impacts of urban expansion through cropland displacement are grossly underestimated, particularly the spillover effects on distant regions. This study proposed a telecoupling framework for the total indirect ecological losses (TIEL) of urban expansion. It was divided into the near losses (NIEL) and distant losses (DIEL), depending on whether cropland displacement occurs inside or outside the region. An inter‐provincial network of DIEL can also be constructed by ecological impact embodied in food trade with other regions. We found that approximately 80% of urban expansion occurred on croplands, which caused indirect loss of 86,586 km2 of ecological land through cropland displacement in China during 2000–2019. The total indirect ecological losses were 8.4 times greater than direct losses at the average of all provinces. Food trade induced more serious indirect ecological losses owing to the higher yield difference between encroached cropland import regions and new cropland in export regions. The proportion of DIEL in TIEL was more than 50% in developed regions such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Jiangsu. The distant impacts of urban expansion in the eastern coastal provinces were mainly transferred to north‐eastern China and the rest of the world. This study identified the teleconnection between local urban development and distant environments and infromed inter‐regional ecological compensation policies to mitigate regional inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of the carbon emission trading system (ETS) on firms' market competitiveness has been a controversial issue with no consistent theoretical conclusions. The aim of this paper is to explore the impact of the carbon emission trading system on firms' markups using the latest robust staggered difference-in-difference estimation method. The results show that China's carbon emission trading system greatly contributes to the enhancement of firms' market power, as evidenced by a series of robustness tests. In addition, the analysis of the impact mechanism shows that the carbon emission trading system enhances the market power of firms through the low-carbon innovation effect and the market integration effect, while the impact of the environmental cost effect is not obvious. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of China's carbon trading system policy on firms' market power is more pronounced, especially for those firms that are actively involved in low-carbon transformation and upgrading, have a stronger cost-shifting capacity, and are more efficient in production. This study provides empirical evidence on how environmental regulations affect firms' market power and offers theoretical guidance for the construction of China's carbon market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring an effective scientific method to measure the economic benefits of ecological products is of great significance for green development. Based on the InVEST model, this paper, taking the Pearl River Delta (PRD) as an example, evaluated the FEPs value in the PRD from 2000 to 2015; using a super-efficient DEA model, the conversion efficiency of ecological products was estimated, and its temporal and spatial variation characteristics were analyzed using the Malmquist index. The results showed that the value of FEPs in the PRD shot up during 2000–2015, and that the regulation services value is the main part of FEPs, followed by the value of cultural service. The overall conversion efficiency of FEPs is improving. However, cities differ greatly. Technical efficiency is the key driving factor for improving forest product conversion efficiency. The main reasons for the current efficiency loss are redundant inputs and insufficient outputs. This paper also suggests that conversion efficiency is a convincing method to evaluate the degree of transformation of ecological environment resources into economic benefits and the degree of ecological and economic coordinated development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Quarterly is the property of Cambridge University Press 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 study examines the impact of the independent directors' social network on earnings management before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic increased uncertainty and pressure in the business environment, which led to intensified earnings management of listed companies worldwide. The research constructs centrality indexes of the independent director social network through the social network analysis method and conducts an empirical study on 1,167 A-share listed companies in China from 2009 to 2020. The relationship between independent directors' network centrality and accrual-based earnings management of companies is examined. Empirical results reveal that independent directors' network centrality is associated with higher accrued earnings management and undesirable corporate practices such as earnings management can be disseminated through directors' social networks. This research innovatively incorporates the research findings into the COVID-19 context, further indicating that independent directors' social network is associated with higher accrued earnings management during the COVID-19 period than before. This research will provide insights for regulators, specifically regulators in China, regarding the independent directors' composition and effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of the livestock and poultry production in China has led to a rise in manure generation, which contributes to the emissions of GHGs (greenhouse gases including CH4, N2O and CO2) and other harmful gases (NH3, H2S). Reducing and managing carbon emissions has become a critical global environmental imperative due to the adverse impacts of GHGs. Unlike previous reviews that focused on resource recovery, this work provides an unique insight of transformation from resource-oriented manure treatment to integration of resource recovery with pollution reduction, carbon accounting and trading, focusing on the sustainable development of manure management system. Considering the importance of accounting methodologies for carbon emission and trading system toward carbon neutrality society, suggestions and strategies including attaching high importance to the development of more accuracy accounting methodologies and more practical GHG emission reduction methodologies are given in this paper. This work directs the establishment of carbon reduction methodologies and the formulation of governmental policies for livestock and poultry manure management system in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization and an increasing carbon footprint have underscored the need for sustainable practices in the construction industry. With the aim of prioritizing global sustainable development, the measurement of carbon emission efficiency in the construction industry (CEECI) has emerged as a critical indicator. Nevertheless, a comprehensive exploration of carbon emission efficiency within the Chinese construction sector remains limited, despite the pressing demand to mitigate carbon emissions. To address this research gap, this study aims to provide valuable policy recommendations for effectively reducing carbon emissions. We conducted a thorough assessment of both the total carbon emissions and the carbon emission intensity in 30 provinces and cities across China from 2010 to 2020. Utilizing the slacks-based measure (SBM) model with non-desired outputs, we evaluated the static CEECI, including the spatial correlation analysis and the evaluation of the carbon reduction potential in the construction industry (CRPCI). Additionally, the dynamic CEECI was quantified using the Malmquist–Luenberger (ML) index model, followed by an index decomposition analysis. The findings reveal several noteworthy insights: (1) There exists a positive correlation between carbon emissions in the construction industry and the economic scale. Generally, less developed areas (e.g., central and western regions of China) exhibit higher levels of carbon emission intensity (CEICI), while more developed areas (e.g., eastern regions of China) demonstrate lower levels of CEICI. (2) The CEECI across various provinces and cities demonstrates a clear spatial positive autocorrelation, while the CRPCI exhibits a negative correlation with the CEECI, with larger CRPCI values observed predominantly in western China. (3) Technological progress (MLTC) emerges as a crucial factor influencing the CEECI in our dynamic analysis. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers to develop focused strategies to effectively mitigate carbon emissions nationwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's coal consumption has made up more than 70% of China's energy assumption since 1978, and it accounts for approximately 21% of global carbon emissions in 2017. How China reach clean air targets, fulfill its commitment to reduce CO 2 emission in the Paris Agreement, and achieve higher targets, such as peak CO 2 emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero emission by 2060? A range of sustainability experiments have been conducted to support China's sustainability transition. As the biggest one among them, the Yangtze River Economic Belt runs across the middle of the country from east to west, with an area of 2,050,000 km2 or 21.39% of China's territory, and covers 11 provinces and cities. Although many studies have been conducted relevant to the Belt, few studies have described the research landscape, trends, and relevant topics of interest and gaps. To address these gaps, we review, synthesize, and analyze the latest publications on the Belt and find environmental governance has been the key topic in current publications. Significantly, atmospheric and climate governance may be used as a lens to understand China's environmental governance, human-environmental interactions and trade-offs between environmental protection and socio-economic development in the Belt. Based on this lens, we find that: I. current research on the Belt has started and increased rapidly in the past five years, but our knowledge on it as a cross-boundary, cross-level and cross-sector sustainability experiment is somewhat limited; II. distribution of risk and responsibility across different regions in atmospheric and climate governance has not been well-addressed; III. new carbon emission accounting methods, especially methods based on a consumption-based approach, could be adopted to offer more comprehensive and just understandings about sectoral differences and environmental benefits; IV. influence of topography and meteorology on ambient air quality in the Belt cannot be ignored and should be included by the following research; and V. trade-offs and competing interests among different actors should be recognized and balanced to facilitate sustainable industrial upgrading, innovation and transforming without compromising individual well-being and regional development. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has become the largest electricity consumer in the world. Existing studies focus on the direct electricity use of industrial sectors and investigate the factors that influence direct electricity consumption. However, the critical sectors that play important roles as final consumers or primary suppliers and indirectly drive up the electricity use of upstream or downstream sectors are not identified. This study comprehensively quantifies the electricity footprint of the industrial sectors using consumption-based and income-based accounting methods The key drivers of changes in the consumption-based and income-based electricity footprints are also investigated using structural decomposition analysis (SDA). The results show that the accounting of the electricity footprint using consumption-based and income-based methods is quite different from that of the production-based method (i.e., direct electricity use). Moreover, the change in the energy structure (i.e., the percentage share of electricity in total energy consumption, also known as electrification level) of industrial sectors is a major driver of the increment in electricity use in addition to the final demand level and primary input level change. Improvement in the energy efficiency of sectors is the dominant factor that reduces electricity use. However, changes in the production input/output structure, final demand structure, and primary input structure are not found to have significant effects on reducing electricity use. This indicates that the role of structure change should be explored further. China can implement policies that further stimulate structural transformation, such as encouraging the consumption of less energy-intensive products and promoting primary inputs and production allocation to less energy-intensive sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the energy consumption data of power industry in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from 1995 to 2014, our paper first estimated CO2 emissions using the IPCC carbon accounting methods. Then, starting from the perspective of the power industry chain - including power generation, transmission, and final consumption - we established the hierarchical LMDI decomposition model; decomposed driving factors of CO2 emissions into effects of fuel mix; the coal consumption rate; power generation structure; the ratio of power generation to consumption, transmission, and distribution losses; production sectors' electricity intensity; industrial structure; household electricity intensity; economic scale; and population size. Results show that: 1. During 1995-2014, CO2 emissions of power industry in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region developed in fluctuation and showed a rising trend in general, with annual average growth rate of 5.93%. 2. The factors that drive the growth of CO2 emissions from the power industry in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region are, in order, economic scale, population size, transmission and distribution losses, and industrial structure, with a contribution rate of 150.70%, 20.80%, 8.86%, and 8.83%. The factors that drive CO2 emissions reduction are production sectors' electricity intensity, the coal consumption rate, the ratio of electricity generation and consumption, household electricity intensity, power generation structure, and fuel mix, with a contribution rate of -45.97%, -22.38%, -19.41%, -0.62%, -0.49%, and -0.32%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intellectual property demonstration city (IPDC) not only promotes innovation, but also brings many unexpected gains, the most prominent of which is carbon reduction. Unfortunately, few scholars have included IPDC and carbon emissions in a unified research framework, ignoring the role of intellectual property protection in environmental governance. Therefore, this paper investigates the impact of IPDC on carbon emissions through a multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model, a spatial DID model, and a mediating effect model with IPDC policy as a quasi-natural experiment. The research results are as follows: (1) IPDC policy has a significant inhibitory effect on carbon emissions. Compared to non-pilot cities, IPDC policy can reduce carbon emissions by about 20.6%. (2) There are temporal and regional heterogeneity of the IPDC policy on carbon emissions. More specifically, the carbon reduction effect of IPDC is more effective in large cities and cities with richer human capital, stricter environmental regulation, and higher financial development. Meanwhile, the policy effects in 2012 and 2015 are larger than those in 2018, while the policy effects in 2014, 2016, and 2019 are not significant. (3) IPDC policy reduces carbon emissions mainly by stimulating innovation and green innovation, and promoting R&D element agglomeration. (4) IPDC policy has obvious spatial spillover effects and leads to the surrounding cities becoming pollution havens. The above conclusions have implications for designing a better urbanization model to promote innovative development and reduce carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's pulp and paper industry (CPPI) has been always the main carbon emission source in recent years. However, the analysis on influencing factors of carbon emissions from this industry is insufficient. To address the issue, the CO2 emissions from CPPI are estimated in the period of 2005–2019, the driving factors of CO2 emissions are investigated by the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method, the decoupling state of economic growth and CO2 emissions is determined by Tapio decoupling model, and finally, future CO2 emissions are predicted under four scenarios by the STIRPAT model to explore the potential of carbon peaking. The results show that CPPI exhibits a rapid increase and a fluctuating downward trend in CO2 emissions during the period of 2005–2013 and 2014–2019, respectively. The main promoting and inhibiting factors to the increase of CO2 emission are per capita industrial output value and energy intensity, respectively. There are five decoupling states of CO2 emissions and economic growth during the study period, and the CO2 emissions exhibit a weak decoupling state with the industrial output value growth in most years of the study period. It is very difficult to realize the carbon peaking goal by 2030 under the baseline and fast development scenarios. Therefore, efficient low carbon and strong low-carbon development policies are necessary and urgent for the realization of carbon peaking goal and the sustainable development of CPPI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shadow price of carbon emissions can measure the marginal output effect under the carbon emission regulation and is also one of the key indicators to construct a low-carbon development path for production units. Currently, international research on shadow price is focused on the industrial and energy sectors. However, in the context of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets in China, the use of shadow price to study the cost of reducing emissions from agricultural production, especially forestry fruit industries, is significant. In this paper, we use a parametric approach to construct the quadratic ambient directional distance function. Using the input–output data of peach, we then calculate the environmental technical efficiency and shadow price of carbon emissions from peach production in Guangxi, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Sichuan provinces, and further estimate the values of green output in each province. The results show that (i) the environmental technology efficiency of peach production in Jiangsu province, located in the coastal plain area of eastern China, is the highest among the four provinces, while that in Guangxi province, located in the hilly area of southeast China, is the lowest. (ii) Guangxi province has the smallest carbon shadow price of peach production among the four provinces, while Sichuan province, located in the mountainous area of southwest China, has the largest. (iii) The green output value of the peach production in Jiangsu province is the highest among the four provinces, and that in Guangxi province is the lowest. In order to effectively reduce carbon emissions in peach production without affecting economic benefits, the paper puts forward the following suggestions: for peach-producing areas in the southeast hills of China, it is necessary to increase the application of green environmental technology while reducing the input of production factors in peach production. For peach-producing areas in the northern plains of China, the input of production factors should be reduced. It is not easy for peach-producing areas in the southwest mountains of China to reduce the input of production factors while increasing the application of green technologies. Finally, for peach-producing areas in China's eastern coastal plain, the implementation of environmental regulations for peach production should be gradual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of the relationships among ecosystem services (ESs) can help ensure that benefits from ecosystems are consistent over time. This study explored the spatial and temporal patterns of water supply (WS), grain supply (GS), carbon storage (CS), water conservation (WC), soil conservation (SC), and habitat quality (HQ) in the Wujiang River Basin (WJRB) from 2000 to 2020 and the trade-off/synergy relationships of ESs. The ESs in the WJRB are downstream > midstream > upstream in space, with the greatest increase and decrease in the upstream and midstream temporal dimensions, respectively. The WS, WC, and SC underwent a trend shift in 2005 due to climatic influences, whereas GS and HQ underwent a trend shift in 2010 due to human social development. GS formed a trade-off with other ESs in the spatial pattern, whereas WS formed a trade-off with CS and WC in the temporal dimension. Adjusting the GS spatial pattern reduces the trade-off between ESs in the spatial pattern, allowing for focusing on monitoring soil and water erosion-prone areas to prevent extensive soil erosion during heavy precipitation years; this reduces the trade-off between ESs in the time dimension in the WJRB. This provides a theoretical basis for achieving high-quality WJRB development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has implemented an environmental protection tax for large-scale agricultural farming to address environmental pollution caused by livestock and poultry breeding. Studying the environmental management of large-scale pig farming is crucial for controlling agricultural pollution. However, the economic impact and effectiveness of the current tax design, including responsibility sharing, tax rates, and taxpayers, are unclear. This study aims to address these gaps. Firstly, two types of taxation principles, production-based and consumption-based, are established, and their effects on pollution emissions distribution between pig production and marketing areas are comparatively analyzed. Secondly, the economic impact of consumption-based environmental taxes is estimated from inter-provincial and rural–urban perspectives under the current tax mechanism. Thirdly, a new alternative tax rate aligned with inter-provincial pig consumption levels is proposed based on the consumption principle. By comparing alternative tax systems, the potential impact of the current environmental tax on the regional economic burden is analyzed. The results highlighted that a production-based tax system resulted in 83% of regions experiencing varying degrees of implicit emission transfers, and a consumption-based tax system helped coordinate the environmental economic burden between pig production and marketing regions. Additionally, a linear relationship between tax rates and pork consumption expenditure not only alleviated the overall economic burden, leading to tax savings in 30% of regions, but also increased the national environmental revenue from the pig farming industry, resulting in a remarkable 147% rise in overall environmental tax revenue. These findings provide theoretical support for adjusting responsibility and economic burden through environmental tax modifications, facilitating the establishment of a compensation mechanism for the benefits between pig production and marketing areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A land resource asset (LRA) table is highly valued by the Chinese government for resource management. However, most of China's researches on LRA table focused on theoretical construction. The difficulty in obtaining data hinders the practice and promotion of existing methods, and it limits the selection of data for many practical studies. Thus, this study proposes a land value quantification (LVQ) model that is suitable for a large spatio–temporal scale background to solve the above problems. Based on this model, the LRA table in the middle reaches of the Yellow River was successfully compiled. The results indicated that: (1) the assets of regional land resources were in an unbalanced development state; (2) the LRAs in the middle Yellow River had changed frequently; (3) there were significant spatial differences in the distributions of various types of LRAs in the middle reaches of the Yellow River; and (4) topography and soil erosion were the main factors restricting optimal regional land resource spatial allocation. Based on the research findings, this study provides scientific policy recommendations for the optimal allocation and sustainable development of land resources in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Moreover, the LVQ model proposed in this research provides a model reference for LRA accounting with large spatial and temporal scales in China and similar regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of carbon peaking and neutrality, it would be interesting to study the policy conditions for achieving carbon targets. From a technical perspective, this study constructed a theoretical model of the relationship between energy tax policy, R&D subsidy policy, and energy intensity within the framework of biassed technical change. Subsequently, through the logical relationship between energy and carbon intensities, three combination policy schemes for achieving the carbon intensity target were obtained. The findings are as follows: First, a higher rate of energy tax and R&D subsidy is destined to lead to a lower energy intensity, and energy tax policy can better boost energy intensity than R&D subsidy policy. Second, in terms of pulling the carbon intensity, the effect of the energy tax policy is better than that of the R&D subsidy policy, but in terms of its impact on the future policy effect, the R&D subsidy policy is better than the energy tax policy. Third, China should adopt a combination of policies to reduce carbon intensity, with a certain increase in the energy tax policy and a certain increase in the R&D subsidy rate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon risk has aroused widespread concern in society. With the implementation of carbon policy and the development of carbon market, the research on the impact of carbon risk on corporate financial behavior has become an important academic frontier issue. We examine the impact of carbon risk on firms' real earnings management before and after the Paris climate change agreement, signed by China in 2016. A difference-in-differences model is deployed by using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies. We find that high-carbon-intensive firms engage in significant upward real earnings management compared to low-carbon-intensive firms to offset the negative impact of carbon risk by conveying the message of good corporate development to investors after signing the Paris Agreement. The above research findings still hold after the robustness tests. Further heterogeneity analyses show that the impact of carbon risk on firms' real earnings management is greater in the sample of non-state-owned firms. The above impact is more significant in firms with weaker corporate governance, implying that strong corporate governance constrains managers from engaging in real earnings management. Therefore, policymakers and regulators should pay attention to the 'strategic response' to earnings management of carbon-intensive firms, taking into account the nature of property rights, corporate governance to reasonably improve the policy design and regulatory direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical industry is a typical high-carbon emitting industry, and achieving the goal of net zero emissions by 2050 is challenging. Therefore, metal chemical enterprises have to explore a special path of low-carbon development. This article conducted a case study on a Chinese metal chemical production enterprise with a processing scale of 28,000 t/year. Starting from the analysis of energy consumption carbon emissions, this article used available statistical data at the enterprise level to build a carbon emission estimation model for the enterprise combining different emission categories. Moreover, we also calculated the carbon emissions and carbon emission intensity of the enterprise from 2014 to 2022. Further quantitative analyses on the impact of production scale, energy efficiency, energy structure, and emission coefficient on carbon increment were also conducted using a logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) model. The results showed that the reduction in carbon emissions of the enterprise during the research period was due to the improvement of energy efficiency, while the production scale and energy structure served as important driving factors. Based on the results, this article proposes some policy suggestions on the future direction and focus of the enterprise's carbon reduction work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions has a direct impact on the sustainable development of human society and has gained widespread concern globally. Biological carbon sequestration measures, mainly forests, are conducive to improving the ecological carbon sink capacity and play an important role in mitigating global climate change. Therefore, assessing the efficiency of forest carbon storage (FCS) is key. In view of the lack of evaluation methods for forest carbon storage efficiency (FCSE) on a large spatial scale and long time series, a method based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was proposed in this paper. The FCS was calculated using the forest storage expansion method, and the FCSE was calculated using the DEA-Malmquist index to solve the dynamic balance between regional forestry economic input and carbon storage output efficiency. The FCSE in Chinese provinces was analyzed. The results showed that from 1999 to 2018, China's FCS increased annually, from 7558.34 million tons to 9476.73 million tons, and the spatial distribution pattern of total FCS was always different among regions. The average TFP value of FCSE was 1.089, which proves that the FCSE in China has been on the rise in the past 20 years, but the efficiency growth differed between provinces and was affected by different factors such as technical efficiency and technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an emerging carbon emission reduction mechanism, the carbon inclusive system (CIS) develops an important effect in promoting public green behavior and has been piloted in some provinces and cities in China. Under this background, this paper deeply analyzes the public's attitude towards CIS and its influencing factors based on the grounded theory and 1120 questionnaires, and comprehensively discusses the action path of CIS on public green behavior by using multiple regression model, bootstrap method, and placebo test. The results show that CIS can promote the public to implement green behavior, and system operation, internal psychology, and government behavior are important factors that affect the incentive effect of CIS. Among them, incentive effect and green willingness play multiple intermediary and chain intermediary roles in the path of CIS on green behaviors. Further heterogeneity analysis shows that the influence path of CIS on green behavior is different among diverse gender groups, incentive choice preference groups, and family types. This study has reference value for improving the design of CIS and constructing diversified incentive mechanism of CIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The improvement of agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) is crucial to achieve sustainable agricultural development. By matching China's provincial digital financial inclusion index and agricultural production data from 2011 to 2020, and on the basis of using the DEA–Malmquist productivity index to measure AGTFP, the fixed effect model and Mesomeric effect model are used to empirically test the impact and mechanism of digital financial development on China's AGTFP. Our research found that from 2011 to 2020, China experienced consistent improvement in AGTFP, which was largely attributed to advancements in technology. Interestingly, the AGTFP in non-major grain-producing areas surpassed that in major grain producing areas. Additionally, digital finance has proven to be an effective tool in boosting China's AGTFP, the coverage subdimension, the depth of use subdimension and the digitization subdimension all significantly promote the AGTFP. Digital finance can significantly promote the efficiency and progress of agricultural green technology, which shows that digital finance promotes AGTFP in a "dual wheel" driven manner. However, the impact of digital finance on agricultural green technology efficiency and progress is more pronounced in major grain-producing areas than in non-major areas. The impact mechanism demonstrates that digital finance has the potential to stimulate AGTFP in two key ways. First, it can improve the mismatch of agricultural production resources; second, it can promote agricultural technology innovation. Therefore, it is necessary to further promote the rapid development of digital finance, optimize the rational allocation of financial resources, and formulate tailored digital finance development strategies to promote green development of agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To comprehensively assess the economic impacts from China's tourism industry caused by COVID-19 in 2020, this article develops a new multiplier calculation and decomposition method based on the social accounting matrix (SAM). This method is suitable for situations in which multiple industries are simultaneously exposed to external shocks, especially comprehensive industries like tourism. By categorizing all industries as being in either the tourism sector or the nontourism sector, we calculate the output, value-added and employment impacts of COVID-19, then decompose them into four levels: direct, indirect, spillover and reverberation effects. There are some subindustries of both the tourism and nontourism sectors that were severely affected. Compared with the calculation results from the traditional SAM method, the method developed in this paper identifies quite different industrial structures, although there is almost no difference in the total impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether gender diversity in the roles of executives, boards of supervisors and management impacts real earnings management during the bullish and bearish periods from 2000 to 2017. The sample is separated by bullish (11,616 firm‐year observations) and bearish (14,436 firm‐year observations) periods. The results suggest that female participation on supervisory boards and executives tend to kerb real earnings management during bearish and bullish periods. Another important finding is that female CEOs are more cautious in real earnings manipulation due to their risk‐averse nature during the bearish period, while female CFOs are more likely to constrain real earnings management in the bullish period. This study failed to find the relation of gender diversity on boards of management to real earnings management; however, the study has found that female executives (excluding CEOs and CFOs) who are also directors are more likely to limit earnings manipulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a significant carbon emitter, China has set a target in 2020 of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality." This target presents stricter criteria for the company's carbon information disclosure quality (CIDQ). Meantime, financial performance (FP) is a primary consideration for companies and their stakeholders. Therefore, this paper selected public companies in the electric power industry (EPI), which are the first to be integrated into the carbon emissions trading market, to research the impact of CIDQ on FP. Theoretically, this paper enhances the conclusions regarding the impact of CIDQ on FP, which might serve as a reference for future research, and practically, this paper can reduce management resistance to carbon information disclosure in pursuing profit, facilitate the co-improvement of CIDQ and FP, contribute in achieving China's target of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality." First, this paper constructed a CIDQ evaluation index system by analyzing the characteristics of diverse sub-sectors within the EPI, which can make the CIDQ evaluation system more rational, and then evaluated it using a comprehensive evaluation method based on uncertain normal cloud (UNC) combination weight, which can reflect the ambiguity and uncertainty of the information obtained during the process of evaluating the company's CIDQ, and broaden the thought process for evaluating the CIDQ. Furthermore, the paper used factor analysis (FA) to evaluate FP, effectively resolving the issue of massive data while preserving the essential information of financial indicators. Finally, the paper concluded by analyzing the impact of the CIDQ on FP using a multiple linear regression model. The results indicated that the CIDQ by electric public companies has a positive impact on solvency and profitability, a negative impact on operating capacity, and a non-significant impact on development capacity. In response to these conclusions, this paper proposed corresponding suggestions at the government, society, and company levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 2000 through 2020, demand for cobalt to manufacture batteries grew 26-fold. Eighty-two percent of this growth occurred in China and China's cobalt refinery production increased 78-fold. Diminished industrial cobalt mine production in the early-to-mid 2000s led many Chinese companies to purchase ores from artisanal cobalt miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), many of whom have been found to be children. Despite extensive research on artisanal cobalt mining, fundamental questions about its production remain unanswered. This gap is addressed here by estimating artisanal cobalt production, processing, and trade. The results show that, while total DRC cobalt mine production grew from 11,000 metric tons (t) in 2000 to 98,000 t in 2020, artisanal production only grew from 1,000 to 2,000 t in 2000 to 9,000 to 11,000 t in 2020 (with a peak of 17,000 to 21,000 t in 2018). Artisanal production's share of world and DRC cobalt mine production peaked around 2008 at 18 to 23% and 40 to 53%, respectively, before trending down to 6 to 8% and 9 to 11% in 2020, respectively. Artisanal production was chiefly exported to China or processed within the DRC by Chinese firms. An average of 72 to 79% of artisanal production was processed at facilities within the DRC from 2016 through 2020. As such, these facilities may be potential monitoring points for artisanal production and its downstream consumers. This finding may help to support responsible sourcing initiatives and better address abuses related to artisanal cobalt mining by focusing local efforts at the artisanal processing facilities through which most artisanal cobalt production flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the carbon neutrality goal, coal enterprises must seek breakthroughs from abandoned mines, develop new resources in the new era, turn problems into countermeasures, and participate in the carbon emissions market, for contributing to the accomplishment of the national strategic goal of carbon neutrality. To this end, we investigated the relevant national policies and regulations to clarify the boundaries disclosed by the carbon information of enterprises, understood the development direction of carbon storage in abandoned mines, and clarified the transformation and development of carbon storage in abandoned mines. We made a few suggestions: (1) China should learn from its past experience and other countries to develop the energy industry with Chinese characteristics and reform the economic system. (2) Coal enterprises must actively respond to the national carbon information disclosure policy, clarify their own responsibilities and carbon emission boundaries. (3) It is necessary to proactively obtain advanced knowledge and plan carbon storage pathways for abandoned mines. (4) Development problems of coal enterprises should be deduced using cases. The 'dual carbon' goals should be achieved steadily step-by-step. (5) Three measures, i.e. improving the existing resource structure, coordinating the information of abandoned mines, and promoting the cultivation of scientific and technological talents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to more developed countries, the use of land resources is less efficient in China. China's vast forest land area gives it a rich and underutilized carbon sink. This is an important way for China to achieve the goals of "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality", which is of great significance to China's sustainable development. In the past 20 years, China has designed a series of policies to serve the development of forestry carbon sinks, namely the forestry carbon sink mechanism (FCSM). However, the questions of which policy is the most important, and what is the socio-economic value it generates, have not been fully investigated. Accordingly, this paper studied 30 provincial-level regions in China from 2005 to 2020 using the difference-in-differences (DID) model. The conclusions show that: (1) the FCSM does increase the socio-economic value of land resources, thus improving the sustainability of land resources; (2) the FCSM helps to increase forest coverage, forest stock volume and the forest coverage rate, which increases the social value of land resources from the greening path; (3) the FCSM helps to increase the gross forestry product, which increases the economic value of land resources through the path of increasing production value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current insufficient quantification and evaluation of major functions fundamentally affected regional sustainable management and policy implementation. This study focused on the problem that no effective quantitative accounting relationship has been established between development activities and resource utilization. In order to establish the relationship between major function accounting and natural resource accounting, we analyzed the relevant studies on the evaluation of major functions, natural resource accounting, environmental accounting, ecosystem services, and assets accounting. The efficiency comparison of different functions was completed using the equivalent factor method for ecosystem service value measurement and the input–output method for water footprint measurement. We found that the accounting of major functions and resources can guide regional sustainable management by using function positioning and resource comparative advantages. In addition, administrative units were linked to functional units, providing the possibility of cross-regional comparison of total functional resources, efficiency, and structure of major functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how numerous contingencies work together to influence the organizational structure of privately held businesses in China. This study is using a cross‐section primary data set from 83 private firms listed in China. The data are gathered by face‐to‐face interviews with entrepreneurs, and six hypotheses tests are performed regarding the contingencies of organizational form. Furthermore, the empirical findings indicate that environment, strategy, size, and technology play a significant role in explaining organizational form. Finally, financial factors are important aspects of the business environment, notably in dealing with cash flow problems and in forming profit expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the reduction of excessive N losses and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a central environmental challenge in the 21 century. China has huge associated emissions during both production and land application phases. In addition, 70% of N fertilizer in China is produced and land applied as urea, which has high associated emissions. This study utilized life cycle analysis to compare the carbon emission capacity of different N fertilizers and quantified GHG emissions from different N fertilizer chains within China. This enabled a new innovative reform model to be proposed, which aims to decrease the carbon footprint and increase the net ecosystem carbon budget of China. The results showed that the carbon footprint of the N fertilizer industry was about 229 Tg·yr-1 CO2-eq in 2020. Through changes away from urea through the production and land application of a mix of newly emerging fertilizers, liquid fertilizers and standard fertilizer reductions to 174-182 Tg·yr-1 CO2-eq. Through the upgrading of mineral N fertilizer production technology, the carbon footprint of N fertilizer chain can be reduced by 34.8 Tg·yr-1 CO2-eq. Such reductions would reduce China's total GHG emissions to 140-147 Tg·yr-1 CO2-eq. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a procedure to measure firms' longitudinal accounting comparability and investigates whether it affects bond risk premiums. The results provide robust evidence that bonds of firms with more longitudinally comparable accounting information have lower credit spreads. This effect is stronger when the firms' financial performance is poor and for bonds with speculative credit ratings. Results also reveal that firms with less longitudinally comparable accounting information are more informationally asymmetric and do have a higher expected default probability. Finally, the effects of the longitudinal and the cross‐sectional comparability in reducing bond credit spreads are incremental to each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation has been identified as a viable strategy to mitigate the tension between industrial change and pollutant emissions. Relevant research should focus more on the impact of eco-friendly innovations on carbon emissions. Consequently, using a panel data set that covers 30 Chinese provinces from 2005 to 2020, we examine whether there is a carbon-abatement effect of green innovation in the construction sector. According to the findings of a two-way fixed-effects model, green innovation substantially positively influences reduction in dioxide emissions in the Chinese construction industry. The results of a panel threshold model show a significant non-linear relationship between green innovation and carbon emissions when the environmental regulation intensity is used as the threshold variable. Furthermore, we discovered that green innovation cuts carbon emissions considerably through environmental regulation. Finally, the impact of abatement varies significantly between regions, innovation elements, and types of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese government seeks to promote economic growth and sustainable development while achieving carbon neutrality by establishing phased smart city pilots. Therefore, it is important to study whether smart city pilots can promote carbon emission efficiency (CEE). This paper constructs a multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model based on panel data from 241 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2019, aiming to investigate the mechanism of the impact of smart city pilot policies (SCPP) on CEE and whether there is a rebound effect. The study found that smart city construction (SCC) significantly improves carbon efficiency, with pilot cities increasing their CEE by 1.4% compared to non-pilot cities. The conclusions remain robust under a variety of scenarios including the introduction of placebo tests, counterfactual tests, sample data screening, and omitted variable tests. The results of the mechanism test show that although the rebound effect can inhibit the improvement of CEE, the environment can be improved and the CEE can be enhanced through green technology innovation, industrial structure upgrading, energy structure optimization, environmental regulation effect, information technology support, and resource allocation effect. The heterogeneity results indicate that the SCPP is more effective in promoting CEE in cities in the eastern region, southern cities, environmentally friendly cities, large cities, and medium-sized cities. This study contributes to the existing literature in clarifying the environmental benefits of SCPP and provides valuable policy insights for cities to address climate change and sustainable development., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

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Basin ecosystems are vulnerable to natural resource depletion, ecological damage, and environmental pollution due to their fragile natural environment. Assessing the value of basin ecosystem services (ES) can facilitate informed decision making by policy makers and stakeholders in the context of competing resource use. The Konqi River Basin in China, an arid inland river basin, has suffered from degraded ecosystems due to overexploitation of soil and water resources. In response, the local government launched an ecological water conveyance (EWC) project in 2016 to enhance ecological restoration efforts. This paper analyzes and evaluates the value of ES in the Konqi River Basin based on land use and land cover (LULC) change characteristics before and after EWC in 2013 and 2020, respectively. Remote sensing data and related socioeconomic statistics data are used to assess a typical river basin from three unique locations in the Konqi River Basin, divided into upper and lower reaches. The results show that cropland and unused land are the most important land use types in the upper and lower reaches. The characteristics of ecosystem service value (ESV) changes in the study area are consistent with land use structure changes. The total ESV shows a decreasing trend in the upper reaches from 2013 to 2020, while the lower reaches show an increasing trend. The total ESV increases in the typical river reaches of the Konqi River Basin. Spatially, low-ESV areas are mainly located in ecologically fragile areas that are difficult to develop and use. The sensitivity indexes of the study area are all less than 1, making the results of this study credible. The Moran index shows a significant spatial correlation in the study area, indicating that the distribution characteristics of high-ESV areas are agglomerative. Hot spot areas in the upper reaches show an overall increasing trend, while in the lower reaches, former sub-hot spot areas transform into hot spot areas. Due to data limitations, this study is limited to demonstrating that the value of ES in the area changes due to a combination of EWC policies and other factors. Nevertheless, the analysis shows that EWC policies actively change the ESV of a typical river basin in Konqi. This study can provide a reference for evaluating ESV in inland river basins in the northwest arid region and a scientific basis for the rational development and utilization of water and soil resources in the study area, located in an arid and ecologically fragile area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions are rapidly increasing with continuing global economic development, necessitating an urgent energy revolution. Often, when calculating carbon footprint, analysts have failed to account for changes in capital stock and the impact of indirect emissions caused by the consumption of imported products. Furthermore, the homogenization of industrial and resident sectors has reduced our understanding of the specific driving forces behind carbon emissions. To avoid such locational and temporal biases, this study employs a dynamic input–output model to re-estimate the carbon footprint of only residents. We deconstruct residential emissions into different consumption categories and conduct a comparative analysis between developed and developing countries from across the world. To this end, data from 44 global economies were obtained from the World Input–Output Database for the period from 2000 to 2014. For developing countries, food consumption had the highest share of embodied carbon emissions, maintaining a share of over 20%, whereas in developed countries, housing consumption had the highest share, remaining at over 30%. In most countries, the consumption level and emission intensity effects were the most important drivers of carbon emission increases and carbon emission decreases, respectively. However, the contributions of the two varied considerably in different countries, with the maximum impact of the emission intensity effect on the carbon footprint of a single category reaching 854.31% in the US and 99.34% in China. These findings will help countries tailor their emission reduction policies to local conditions and emphasize that emission reductions should start by reducing the emission intensity and consumption structure of the corresponding sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decoupling CO2 emissions from economic growth is an important cornerstone of a country's decarbonization policy. Existing research in this avenue has mainly focused on decoupling the production-based (PB) CO2 emissions from economic growth at the national level, while decoupling the consumption-based (CB) and income-based (IB) CO2 emissions from economic growth, especially at the sectoral level, has received less attention. Using China's Zhejiang province as a case study, we conduct one of the first studies focused on decoupling the PB, CB, and IB CO2 emissions from economic growth at the sectoral level. Our results reveal that (1) during 2002–2017, the sectoral decoupling level varies greatly among the three different perspectives; (2) most of the examined sectors were in unstable decoupling states while some sectors even reverted to coupling states; and (3) the drivers of CO2 emissions at the sectoral level reveal important factors, such as emissions intensity, production structure, and final demand structure, that contribute toward decarbonization. Our study demonstrates to policymakers how utilizing a multi-perspective evaluation of the decoupling of emissions from sectoral economic growth can improve the accuracy of decarbonization policies and identify critical sectors toward CO2 reduction objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solving the contradiction between agricultural economic growth and agricultural environmental problems is a difficult problem in regional environmental governance. Based on the panel data of 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China from 2000 to 2019, spatial Dubin model (SDM) is used to analyze the influence of agricultural economic growth and other factors on planting non-point source pollution. Innovate from the perspective of research objects and research methods, and the research results show (1) In the past 20 years, the amount of fertilizer applied and crop straw yield increased continuously. Through the fertilizer and farmland solid waste discharge of ammonia nitrogen (NH3–N), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and chemical oxygen demand (COD), calculation of the equal-standard discharges of planting non-point source pollution shows that China's planting non-point source pollution is serious. Among the investigated areas in 2019, the equal-standard discharges of planting non-point source pollution in Heilongjiang Province were the highest and have reached 24.35 × 1010 m3. (2) The global Moran index of 20 years in the study area shows obvious spatial aggregation and diffusion characteristics, and has a significant positive global spatial autocorrelation, indicating that planting non-point source pollution discharges of the study area have potential interdependence in space. (3) SDM time-fixed effect model showed that the equal-standard discharges of planting non-point source pollution had a significant negative spatial spillover effect, and the spatial lag coefficient was − 0.11. Among the influencing factors, agricultural economic growth, technological progress, financial support to agriculture level, consumption capacity, industrial structure, and risk perception have significant spatial spillover effects on planting non-point source pollution. The results of effect decomposition show that the positive spatial spillover effect of agricultural economic growth on adjacent areas is greater than the negative effect on the local area. Based on the analysis of significant influencing factors, the paper provides direction guidance for the formulation of planting non-point source pollution control policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coastal wetlands with high biodiversity and productivity provide essential ecosystem services that have a significant positive socio-economic impact. However, coastal reclamation, pollution, and climate change are threatening coastal wetlands. Thus, it is critical to identify priority areas for restoration and improve habitat resilience to adapt to environmental changes. Here, we propose a general analysis framework integrating nature-based solutions (NbS) into habitat restoration to increase coastal resilience to multiple stressors in Sansha Bay, southeast China. Results: The total loss of value in ecosystem services due to reclamation in Sansha Bay was US$162.18 million from 2000 to 2015. The coastal habitats were at medium risk of degradation, with some high-risk areas concentrated in the northwest and along the west coasts, which were prioritized for restoration. Conclusions: Our proposed framework, which integrates hard and soft engineering such as mudflat renovation, mangrove afforestation, and an ecological seawall, can aid in the improvement of coastal resilience. The project cost was US$12.71 million and was estimated to generate US$36.75 million in environmental services. We recommend evaluating and monitoring shoreline changes, environmental factors, and marine biological resources using long-term sampling surveys and remote sensing methods. Our findings can serve as a guide for government decision-making in coastal restoration planning and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]