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The environmental vertical management reform (EVMR) below the provincial level in China is an important driving force for enterprise green innovation. This article employs a progressive double-difference method to test the green innovation performance of enterprises in pilot areas relative to non-pilot areas before and after the implementation of the reform, to analyse its impact on green innovation. The findings of the article indicate that: (1) EVMR can significantly promote enterprise green innovation. This conclusion still holds after controlling for endogeneity and conducting other robustness tests. (2) In terms of the mechanism, EVMR primarily promotes green innovation by improving the supervisory capacity of provincial-level environmental protection departments, the enforcement capacity of grassroots environmental protection departments, and the incentives and supervision for managers from shareholders in enterprises. (3) Heterogeneity results show that the EVMR has a more significant promoting effect on enterprise green innovation in regions with lower degree of marketization and less emphasis on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China experiences rapid economic growth, the conventional approach to development has given rise to severe ecological and environmental issues. The conflict between achieving high-quality economic development and addressing resource and ecological concerns propels China towards adopting a more environmentally conscious approach. Internationally, there is a widespread recognition that technological innovation plays a crucial role in fostering the harmonious coexistence of economic growth and environmental well-being, promoting resource efficiency and sustainable development. The objective of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of sustainable development in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei area between 2010 and 2020. Slacks-based Measure (SBM) model enhancements, radiality aspect defect corrections, and the incorporation of unexpected output indicators have all contributed to the enhancement of the conventional DEA model. Labour force, energy consumption, gross domestic product, and industrial pollutant emissions are evaluated in order to determine the level of efficiency. Furthermore, the study takes into account the influence of various factors on the development of green economies, including economic development level, scientific research, educational support, environmental regulation, carbon emission reduction, technological innovation, industrial structure, degree of openness, and government financial expenditure. In order to evaluate the high-quality development efficacy of the green economy in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, this study employs a research methodology that combines quantitative analysis and modelling techniques. The fundamental processes are composed of developing an indicator system, constructing the SBM model, gathering and analysing data, and identifying influencing factors through the correction of radiality aspect flaws and the inclusion of unexpected output indicators to reduce measurement bias. In addition, comprehensively assessing the high-quality development efficacy of the green economy in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, the methodology combines quantitative analysis, statistical modelling, and data interpretation. The findings enhance comprehension of the variables that impact the efficacy of the green economy and facilitate the development of impactful strategic initiatives. Moreover, expanding upon the DEA model, the SBM model aims to mitigate angular and radial measurement bias by incorporating unexpected output indicators and enhancing the correction for radiality aspect defects. This article focuses on the case study of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region in China, investigating the high-quality development of the green economy in this urban agglomeration. Utilizing the SBM model, we assess the efficiency of the region's green economy development. Additionally, we employ the Tobit regression model to delve into the impact of environmental regulation and carbon emission reduction on the efficiency of high-quality green economy development. Through empirical analysis, we uncover the driving forces behind the region's green economy development and propose optimization measures to enhance China's overall high-quality green economic development. These measures are centered around leveraging environmental regulation and carbon emission reduction as catalysts for sustainable economic growth and efficient resource utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with the triple planetary crises of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, states are increasingly taking regulatory action, especially in the natural resources and energy sectors, to address these pressing environmental problems. This regulatory action can impact financially on investments in the host state. In response, investors are resorting to investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS) clauses in investment treaties between states, claiming compensation for the financial impact of the regulatory action. This increase of ISDS claims is controversial. Amongst other criticisms, the bringing of ISDS claims, or even the threat of ISDS claims, has a chilling effect on states taking needed regulatory action to address pressing environmental problems. There have been calls for reform of the ISDS system, including its application to environmental regulation. This article maps the nature, history and evolution of ISDS claims in natural resources, energy and other environmental cases and the controversies these ISDS claims have attracted. The article canvasses the calls for reform of the ISDS system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore whether the over-reliance on political resources hampers corporate technological innovation and the role of environmental regulation in mitigating the adverse effect. A simplified theoretical framework is proposed to combine political ties, environmental regulations, and corporate innovation. Then, based on the data for listed private companies in China's heavy pollution industry, our empirical results show that political relations have negative impacts on both patent licensing and R&D investment, indicating the existence of a political resource curse in listed private companies in China's heavy pollution industry. The transmission mechanisms include mitigating market competition and inducing overinvestment, but increasing the rent-seeking motivation is not a channel through which political connections negatively affect corporate innovation. Further empirical analysis demonstrates that environmental regulations help eliminate the curse effect of political ties on technological innovation at the firm level in China, through increasing market competition and reducing overinvestment. The findings of this paper provide insights for optimizing environmental regulation policies, which are conducive to inducing technical innovation in politically connected enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulation is the principal policy for the deterioration of the ecological environment, but it can also interfere with the green development efficiency of resource-based cities. However, the relationship between regulation and development is still unclear and how to realize the sustainable development of resource-based cities under environmental regulation becomes an important topic. This paper investigates the green economy efficiency of resource-based cities using the super-SBM model based on the panel data of 98 resource-based cities in China from 2006 to 2016. Then, we empirically test the effect of environmental regulation using the SYS-GMM estimation method and threshold model. This study finds that the green economy efficiency in different categories of resource-based cities is significantly different. Environmental regulation has a significant positive effect on the green economy efficiency in resource-based cities and significantly promotes the green economy efficiency in growing cities. The policy also plays a certain role in improving the green economy efficiency in grow-up cities, but the effect is not significant. In addition, environmental regulation has a negative impact on the green economy efficiency of recessionary cities and regenerative cities. Finally, some policy suggestions are put forward to realize the sustainable development of resource-based cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of New Architecture is the property of New Architecture 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.)

This paper examines the impact of informal economy and ecological footprint on environmental regulation for a sample of 25 Sub-Saharan Africa economies (SSA) countries from 1991 to 2017. The results obtained from the techniques of static panel (Pooled ordinary least squares (POLS), random effects (RE), fixed effects (FE), and panel corrected standard error (PCSE)) as well as from dynamic panel (generalized method of moments in differences (D-GMM), and generalized method of moments in system (S-GMM)) were all consistent. They showed that the environmental regulation has a significant positive impact for both informal economy and ecological footprint in the selected economies. Regarding the relation between ecological footprint and per capita gross domestic product (GDP), an inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve is verified. The study concludes that weak environmental regulation in the region reinforces informal economy and environmental pollution. Hence, findings from this study can help policymakers in the region to have a better understanding of the role of environmental regulation in reducing informal economy and environmental degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays an important role in promoting industrial structure and curbing carbon emission. The study is based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2021 and verifies the impact of FDI under environmental regulation on industrial structure upgrading and carbon emission. The empirical results show that FDI under environmental regulation can inhibit carbon emission and promote industrial structure upgrading. The carbon emission reduction effect and industrial structure upgrading effect of FDI show regional heterogeneity, with the strongest effect in the eastern region, followed by the central region, and no significant effect in the western region. The moderating effect examination of environmental regulation illustrates that formal and informal environmental regulation can effectively regulate the relationship between FDI and carbon emission, but due to differences in various factors such as economic development level and population quality, the moderating effect also exhibits regional heterogeneity. In the mechanism test, industrial structure upgrading plays a perfect mediating role in the path of FDI inhibiting carbon emission, and environmental regulation can further enhance the mediating effect of industrial structure upgrading. There is a threshold of industrial structure upgrading between FDI and carbon emission, and FDI can only suppress carbon emission after crossing the threshold of industrial structure upgrading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the effects of air quality on housing prices from the short-run and long-run perspectives. We utilize monthly housing price data and the particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) index for prefecture-level cities in China. Relying on instrumental variable (IV) estimation and dynamic common correlated effects-pooled mean group (DCCE-PMG) techniques, our results reveal a short-run negative causal and a long-run inverted-U relationship between air pollution and housing prices. This finding suggests that the effect of anti-pollution efforts on housing prices is nonmonotone; initially having a favorable effect and then after reaching a certain turning point, the pollution reduction effort is associated with depression in housing prices. We further find that the heterogeneity in the points of different cities can be explained by socio-demographic factors. Specifically, our results reveal that while pollution-reduction campaign initially had effects related to willingness-to-pay (WTP) theory, further control measures had an adverse effect on housing prices. Thus, our study presents important implications for the effectiveness of environmental regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explore the interaction and spatial spillover effects between industrial agglomeration, environmental regulation, and high‐quality development of agriculture and rural areas, formulate appropriate industrial and environmental policies for different regions, guide the orderly agglomeration of agricultural sectors, and adjust the intensity of environmental regulation, which will help achieve high‐quality development. This manuscript firstly deconstructs the internal logic among industrial agglomeration, environmental regulation, and high‐quality development. Secondly, the Super‐SBM model is used to calculate the high‐quality development efficiency in rural China from 2000 to 2020. Finally, the Spatial Dubin Model (SDM) is used to analyze the spatial spillover effects and regional differences of industrial agglomeration, environmental regulation, and their integration impact on high‐quality development in rural China. The results show that: ① From 2000 to 2020, the high‐quality development efficiency shows a downward trend in fluctuation, and high‐quality development needs to be improved. ② There are significant regional differences in the effects of industrial agglomeration and environmental regulation on the high‐quality development efficiency. Industrial specialization agglomeration can effectively improve the high‐quality development efficiency, while industrial diversification agglomeration has uncertain effects. ③ The integration of environmental regulation and diversification agglomeration inhibits the high‐quality development efficiency, while the integration with specialization agglomeration has a stronger effect on improving high‐quality development efficiency. It is necessary to further enhance the effect of diversification agglomeration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving energy utilization efficiency is a crucial means to achieve energy conservation, emission reduction, and green development. At present, to establish a high-quality development framework and satisfy the growing need for a better life among all its people, China must steadfastly pursue the path of green development. Although China's substantial economic scale and achievements in ecological civilization construction provide favorable conditions for green transformation, there remains a significant gap compared to developed countries in the application of green and clean technologies. Confronted with technological bottlenecks, leveraging emerging technologies such as industrial robots from the new round of scientific and technological revolutions to improve the green total factor energy efficiency (GTFEE) is of critical importance to China's green development. This study explores the potential impact of industrial robots on enhancing China's GTFEE. It begins by reviewing the current research landscape in this field, highlighting its shortcomings, and theorizing potential impact pathways of industrial robots. Subsequently, the paper analyzes data from 2010 to 2019 on the usage of industrial robots and GTFEE across 276 cities at the prefectural level or above in China. Through empirical regression models that incorporate control variables and interaction terms, the study investigates the specific impacts of industrial robots on energy efficiency and their mechanisms of action. The results indicate that industrial robots significantly enhance the GTFEE of Chinese cities, especially in the Northeastern region. Industrial robots notably improve the GTFEE in resource-based cities, old industrial bases, and low-carbon pilot cities. Additionally, robots indirectly boost GTFEE by increasing labor productivity. Enhanced levels of green innovation and environmental regulations also positively moderate the effectiveness of industrial robots in improving energy efficiency. The findings of this research can assist local government agencies in coordinating and implementing policies that are conducive to green development, making better use of industrial robots to serve the people, and are of significant importance for promoting the transformation of China's economy and society towards high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on institutional theory, environmental regulation (ER) is considered the primary factor in stimulating green innovation (GI) in enterprises. The existing literature has extensively explored the ER-GI relationship, but conclusions are still inconsistent, which is related to neglecting the dual heterogeneity in this relationship. Hence, we divide ER into command ER (CER) and incentive ER (MER), and GI into compliant GI (CGI) and strategic GI (SGI) to address this research gap. Employing a questionnaire survey of Chinese manufacturing enterprises, we re-examined the ER-GI relationship and tried to identify the moderating effect of environmental ethics (EE). The results show that CER and MER positively affect CGI and SGI. Furthermore, under the CER, there is increased accessibility to adopting CGI. Under the MER, the likelihood of choosing SGI is higher. Moreover, we find that heterogeneous ERs are more conducive to SGI under the moderating effect of EE. This study has significantly contributed to the literature on the ER-GI relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Civilized City Program is an important governance championship for cities in China. Taking the National Civilized City Program as a quasi-natural experiment, based on the data of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2009 to 2021, the multi-period double-difference method is used to investigate the impact, mechanism of action and heterogeneity of the National Civilized City Program on corporate ESG performance. It is found that the National Civilized City Program can significantly enhance corporate ESG performance, and this conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests. The National Civilized City Program improves corporate ESG performance through two channels: strengthening environmental regulation and promoting the fulfillment of corporate responsibility towards employees. There is significant heterogeneity in terms of geography, firm ownership and pollution attributes in the impact of the National Civilized City Program on firms' ESG performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have generally concluded that public participation lacks substantive constraints and has weak environmental regulation effects. Using China's environmental public interest litigation (EPIL), implemented in 2015, as a quasi-natural experiment to verify the environmental effects of public participation under judicial norms, the difference-in-differences (DID) estimates in this paper show that industrial wastewater and industrial sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions in the treated cities declined by an average of 2.76 million tons and 2.51 kilotons per year, respectively, which ultimately improved the city's environmental quality. The results of the mechanism also show that the EPIL was able to mobilize all three parties: the public, government and enterprises. In the context of the environment as an externality product, where the interests of all the parties are difficult to coordinate, the EPIL has the advantage of overcoming conflicts of interest. Our study provides a quantitative justification for the environmental impact assessment of public litigation and contributes empirical references to overcome the weak binding defect of public participatory environmental regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study finds that the livestock environmental regulation (LER) imposed by China has promoted the spatial agglomeration of hog production in the administrative border areas, thereby posing a threat to ecological sustainability. We apply the difference-in-differences-in-differences (DDD) method to a unique dataset in counties along the main stem and 38 important tributaries of the Yangtze River basin in China from 2008 to 2019. Specifically, the slaughter volume and density of hogs in the most downstream border counties of a city are 7.87% and 9.56% higher, respectively, than those of otherwise identical counties within the same municipal jurisdiction. Conversely, in the most upstream border counties, these figures decreased by 12.02% and 15.35%, respectively. Moreover, we find that the fixed capital investment in the most downstream border counties is 22.54% less than that in otherwise identical counties. These findings imply that LER has driven the agglomeration of hog production in downstream administrative border areas, inadvertently shifting the pollution burden to these regions and posing potential challenges to the effectiveness of environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green is the foundation of agricultural development. By leveraging modern information technology, digital village construction injects new momentum into the green growth of agriculture. Using balanced panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2022, this paper employs the entropy approach and SBM-GML index to measure the indicators of digital village construction and agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP). The impacts and mechanisms of digital village construction on AGTFP are examined through fixed effect, mediating effect, and threshold models. The findings are as follows: (1) AGTFP in China shows an overall increasing trend from 2011 to 2022, with significant growth in the western region compared to the eastern and central regions. (2) Digital village construction significantly accelerates the improvement of AGTFP, a conclusion supported by robustness tests. (3) Mechanism analysis indicates that digital village construction advances AGTFP by fostering agricultural technology innovation, enhancing agricultural human capital, and improving agricultural productive services. (4) Digital village construction has a more significant impact on major grain-producing areas, economically underdeveloped areas, and northern region compared to other regions. (5) Environmental regulation acts as a threshold effect on the impact of digital village construction on AGTFP. Digital village construction substantially impacts AGTFP when environmental regulation is below the threshold, with the positive effect continuing beyond this point but at a reduced intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mariculture has not fundamentally reduced its dependence on resources and the environment; ecological and economic efficiency has become an important target of concern for the sustainable and healthy development of China's mariculture industry. Environmental regulation (ER) is a core tool to realize the synergistic development of economic development and environmental resource protection in mariculture. In this paper, the provincial panel data of China's coastal areas from 2007 to 2020 was selected, and the level of ecological and economic efficiency of mariculture in different provinces of China was measured by using the super slacks‐based measurement–data envelopment analysis model considering the undesirable output of mariculture, and the impact of different ERs on ecological and economic efficiency was explored. It was found that the impacts of different ER methods on the eco‐economic efficiency (EEF) of mariculture may be non‐linearized, and there is also regional heterogeneity in the optimal choice and combination of ER methods to improve the EEF of mariculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between environmental regulation and labor demand has been mixed. Few research studies have considered the impact of cross-regional environmental regulations on the labor market, even though this is notable. We adopted a geographic regression discontinuity (RD) approach to investigate the labor market impact of the cross-regional environmental regulation "2 + 26" Cities Special Emission Limit Program for Air Pollutants. We found that the policy significantly boosts the labor demand of polluting firms rather than a simple inter-industry transfer, mainly through increasing investment in fixed assets and cost offset mechanisms. Further analysis of the structure of labor demand shows that the increasing workforce is primarily low-quality labor accompanied by wage loss. The government should recognize the risks of welfare loss from low-quality work due to environmental regulation and direct polluting firms to innovate rather than reduce costs by increasing demand for low-quality labor. This facilitates a better understanding of the labor market response to environmental policy from the perspective of cross-regional environmental regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Engineering Management / Gongcheng Guanli Xuebao is the property of Journal of Engineering Management 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.)

Ecological corridors are essential in facilitating the movement and dispersal of flora and fauna between separate and often isolated habitat patches. In recent years, Israel has confronted significant challenges due to the rapid pace of construction, driven in part by exceptional population growth that sets it apart on the global demographic stage. This accelerated development creates an unprecedented long-term impact on ecosystems. A key obstacle to maintaining ecological corridors is the Israeli government's decision to construct thousands of housing units using expedited plans that circumvent standard planning processes. Such projects significantly impact these corridors, given that approximately 16% of their designated areas overlap with ecological corridors. This raises two pressing questions: Can the existing ecological corridors endure these changes and remain functional, or does the role of ecological corridors need to be redefined due to increasing urban development? What are the necessary institutional frameworks required to effectively manage these corridors in an environment that is becoming progressively denser? The research focuses on two case studies in the densely populated Central District in Israel, encompassing both local and regional ecological corridors. The regulatory assessment will point out key stakeholders, identify potential threats to the corridors, and explore existing regulatory mechanisms for planning and managing these corridors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing marine economic resilience is a necessary response to both domestic and international shocks, and it is also key to achieving the sustainable development of the marine economy. In recent years, rising uncertainties both domestically and internationally have posed significant challenges to the resilience of China's marine economy. In response, China has continuously strengthened its environmental regulations, influencing the resilience of its marine economy through various environmental regulations. This paper measures marine economy resilience index using panel data from 11 coastal provinces and municipalities in China from 2010 to 2019. It empirically examines the direct impact, spatial spillover effects, and mediating mechanisms of environmental regulations on marine economy resilience. The results show that: (1) Environmental regulations significantly enhance the resilience of the marine economy. Among the various environmental regulation tools, command-and-control regulations have a stronger effect in promoting marine economic resilience compared to market-incentive regulations. (2) Environmental regulations exhibit spatial spillover effects in enhancing marine economic resilience, and the spatial influence of different regulatory tools is heterogeneous. (3) The optimization of marine industrial structure serves as a crucial avenue for environmental regulations to enhance the resilience of the marine economy. This study offers theoretical support and a scientific basis for the adjustment and optimization of environmental regulations and the enhancement of marine economic resilience, while also contributing to the sustainable development of the marine economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving carbon neutrality has become a global common goal. For China, to reach peak carbon emissions and long-term carbon neutrality, the transformation and development of resource-based cities are essential. This study uses data from 114 prefecture-level resource-based cities from 2008 to 2019 as a sample and empirically tests the impact of industrial land mismatch on carbon emissions using the fixed effects model. In addition, we analyze the heterogeneous influence of environmental regulation as a moderating effect on resource-based cities at different development stages. The study reveals that (1) there is a significant positive correlation between the imbalance in industrial land supply in resource-based cities and carbon emissions. The more severe the imbalance, the higher the carbon emissions. The improper supply mode of industrial land is also positively correlated with carbon emissions, although the impact is not significant. (2) Environmental regulation can significantly curb the carbon emission issues caused by the mismatch and imbalance in the scale of industrial land supply and the improper supply mode of industrial land. (3) Compared to strong resource-based cities, weak resource-security cities have a smaller impact on carbon emissions due to an imbalance in the supply of industrial land. This is mainly because resources in weak resource-security cities are becoming exhausted, making "ecology first, green and low carbon" the main tune for economic and social development. Both types of cities show a positive correlation between the improper supply of industrial land and carbon emissions, although neither is significant. (4) The intensity of the regulatory effect of environmental regulations on resource-based cities is influenced by resource abundance. The suppression of carbon emissions by environmental regulations is more apparent in strong resource-security cities than in weak resource-security cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity offsets are a popular policy tool for mitigating the impact of development on biodiversity, but the ecological success of offsets arise from complex interactions among socio‐economic, ecological and policy processes, making outcomes challenging to assess.Many offset policies use habitat surrogates to determine offset requirements, rather than using direct measures of impacted biota, and this can lead to poor outcomes for species. One potential solution to this is for offsets to be delivered by a public agency (agency‐led) rather than by developers (developer‐led). This is because agencies may be able to strategically choose offset sites that maximise outcomes for species (e.g. abundance), while there may be little reason for developers to act strategically in this way when offset requirements are based purely on habitat surrogates. Yet, the success of a strategic agency‐led approach is likely to depend on patterns of development and offset site availability.To examine this, we developed a novel integrated spatially explicit model of land‐use change, habitat, species abundance and offset regulation. We apply the model to the Queensland Government's Environmental Offsets Policy for koalas Phascolarctos cinereus in South East Queensland, Australia, and test how patterns of development and offset site availability influence the performance of agency‐led versus developer‐led offsets.When potential offset sites were plentiful, agency‐led offsets tended to outperform developer‐led offset delivery for maximising koala abundance while achieving similar or better outcomes for habitat area. Yet, when potential offset sites were rare, the relative performance of agency‐led offset was often poor, and offset requirements for habitat area were less likely to be met. Different spatial patterns of development had little effect on the relative performance of agency‐led versus developer‐led offsets.Our analysis shows that agency‐led offsets with strategic choices of offset sites can improve species' outcomes for habitat‐based offsets but can also risk failing to meet habitat area requirements when the availability of offset sites is low. Importantly, our integrated spatial model provides a holistic approach to assessing policy options for biodiversity offsets in dynamic human‐modified landscapes. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to an increasingly dire pollution scenario, the Chinese government initiated the largest and most extensive environmental inspection campaign in history starting in 2016. Numerous polluting enterprises were closed due to environmental concerns in the rural areas. Drawing on two‐period panel data from the China Rural Development Survey, this study revealed the inherent mechanism of the polluting enterprises closure on local rural livelihoods using the difference‐in‐differences method and structural equation model, with reference to the sustainable livelihood framework. Results showed that shuttering polluting enterprises enhanced rural households' livelihood capital, notably in human, natural, and physical aspects, and promoted labor migration. Additional heterogeneous analysis revealed that the enhancements were notably more pronounced in Southern China and among affluent demographics. Based on the findings, we suggested the local government should support the development of sustainable agriculture and green industries and pay more attention to vulnerable populations when making policy decisions. The use of mandatory directives, such as shutting down polluting enterprises, is a common strategy in developing countries. This study presents an analytical framework for understanding the impact of environmental governance on the livelihoods of rural households in developing countries, contributing to a better balance between rural environmental management and livelihood improvement in these regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Green development, which is crucial because of the escalating ecological and environmental issues, is largely driven by industrial transformation and environmental legislation. Purpose: The paper aims to examine the combined effects of environmental regulations and industrial change on the green economy, based on their separate effects. Methods: We use a fixed-effects regression on panel data covering 30 provinces in China in 2010-2020. Results: We reach the following conclusions: environmental regulations and rationalization of the industrial structure both support growth in the green economy, but advancement in the industrial structure hinders it. The combined effect of environmental regulations and advancement and rationalization in the industrial structure has a significantly positive impact on growth in the green economy; it is most pronounced in regions with higher resource endowments and economic development. Discussion: By providing specific empirical facts, this study clarifies the effects of industrial transformation and environmental regulations on growth in the green economy, contributing to enriching the literature and helping to pave the way to sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the protection boundary of intellectual property rights and the implementation boundary of environmental regulation affect technological innovation from the perspective of boundary effects. We find that intellectual property rights, environmental regulation and technological innovation have an inverted U-shaped relationship, and there is a single optimal boundary value for each variable, forming a strong protection boundary and a weak protection boundary. We also find that choosing the appropriate boundary of intellectual property rights and environmental regulation can enhance technological innovation; intellectual property rights within the optimal boundary can extend its positive incentive effect on technological innovation. Environmental regulation uses intellectual property rights as the internal driving force, and with the help of intellectual property rights, continues to promote technological innovation. And the shielding effect of boundaries is greater than the intermediary effect. Our analysis of regional heterogeneity in intellectual property protection reveals that the integration of dual policy types is more effective in the eastern and central regions. Furthermore, the boundary of intellectual property protection in the eastern region surpasses that in the central region. It has important policy implications for promoting innovation system reform and coordinating high-quality economic development and high-level ecological environment protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at investigating the intensity of environmental regulation on firm's share of domestic value-added in gross exports in China. An unbalanced firm-level panel data from 2000 to 2014 is adopted to estimate 10 two-way fixed effects models suggested by Hausman test for the entire sample of 648,801 and subsamples of three trade patterns, three types of ownership and three regions. The primary finding of this study is that for the entire sample and subsamples of general trade, mixed trade, non-state-owned and foreign-owned enterprises and enterprises in the eastern region, the intensity of environmental regulation has a "U-shaped" influence on firm's share of domestic value-added in gross exports in China, meaning that this influence is negative first and then turns to positive after the intensity of environmental regulation reaches a certain level. This conclusion is reasonable and consistent with our expectation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great practical significance to utilize the agricultural carbon emission reduction effect of the policy of re-designation of counties as cities or city districts (RCCD) to achieve agricultural high-quality development. This paper uses panel data of 39 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region in China from 2010 to 2022, and adopts a staggered difference-in-difference model and a panel threshold model to identify the causal impact of the policy of RCCD on agricultural carbon emissions (ACE). We show that: (1) Overall, the policy of RCCD exerts a tangible dampening effect on ACE, with cities in the experimental group exhibiting a significant reduction of 0.069 in agricultural carbon emissions compared to the control group post-implementation of the policy. (2) A dual-threshold effect of environmental regulation emerges in the context of the policy of RCCD, wherein the impact on ACE varies depending on the level of environmental regulation. (3) The policy of RCCD exerts a notable inhibitory influence on urban ACE in cities with high urbanization levels, underdeveloped regions and central regions. (4) Agricultural green technology progress plays the mediating role in the relationship between the policy of RCCD and ACE. (5) The suppressive effect of the policy of RCCD on ACE is characterized by a delayed and enduring influence. Our study has both theoretical and practical implications for accelerating agricultural high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the challenges posed by the living environment and promote sustainable development, the Chinese government implemented a new environmental protection law in 2015. Based on the provincial panel data of 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China from 2010 to 2019, the spatial Durbin model is used to investigate the impact of environmental regulation on the employment effect of high-tech industries, and the spatial effect decomposition is used to further clarify the specific impact of environmental regulation on the employment of high-tech industries. The research finds that: Firstly, at the present stage, environmental regulation in China remains at a relatively low level. The employment generation effect of environmental regulation on high-tech industries is insufficient to offset the employment loss effect. Strengthening environmental regulation in the short term is unfavorable for employment in high-tech industries. Secondly, adjacent regions adopt a strategy of competitive differential environmental regulation between governments. The local government relaxes environmental regulation to increase employment, while the neighboring government strengthens environmental regulation to promote industrial upgrading. This approach benefits local employment in high-tech industries in the short term but hinders the sustainable development of high-tech industries. Thirdly, environmental regulation exhibits significant negative spatial spillover effects. Strengthening local environmental regulation will suppress the growth of high-tech industry employment in neighboring areas, and the spatial spillover effect of environmental regulation is primarily influenced by geographic location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries, complex environmental problems such as biodiversity decline are regulated at the national level by a disparate range of laws and nonstatutory policy instruments variously described by terms including plans, strategies, guidelines, statements of intent, and/or incentives. Such instruments are often grouped together by conservation policymakers and scientists under the umbrella term “policy.” However, from a legal perspective, there are critical differences between these so‐called policy instruments. In this paper, we focus on what we consider to be the critical difference: whether a policy instrument is binding, and therefore whether an administrative decision (e.g., about a development proposal) can be legally challenged due to noncompliance with that policy instrument. Drawing from international examples, the aim of this paper is to give conservation policymakers and scientists the guidance needed to critically differentiate between laws and nonstatutory policy, assess current or proposed policies, and determine whether a nonstatutory instrument gives rise to binding obligations, thus allowing for decisions to be challenged before a court. In doing so, we encourage conservation scientists, policymakers, activists, and practitioners to reflect critically on what is possible and not possible when nonstatutory “policy” instruments are designed and implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Environmental pollution and energy poverty have always been serious challenges for the global energy system. Results: Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2020, this paper uses FE and sys-GMM models to explore the impact of environmental regulations and climate change on energy poverty. The results show that climate change increases energy poverty, with rising energy for cooling in hot summers, and unchanged income in the short term. Moreover, environmental regulation plays a moderating role between climate change and energy poverty. Specifically, economical environmental regulation has a negative moderating effect, while legal and supervised environmental regulations have positive moderating effects. Finally, the national basic energy poverty line used is lower than that in the eastern region, higher than that in the western region, and close to that in the central region, which reflects the heterogeneity of energy poverty in different regions of China. Conclusions: The findings in this paper clarify the nexus between climate change, environmental regulation, and energy poverty, addressing in this way a gap in existing research, which has great significance for environmental and energy policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the quality and success of compensatory mitigation under Clean Water Act Section 404, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency jointly promulgated regulations in 2008. These regulations promote the use of function assessments to determine appropriate compensatory mitigation to replace functions and services lost due to permitted impacts to aquatic resources and require a watershed approach to mitigation. The Oregon Removal‐Fill law, administered by the Department of State Lands, has similar requirements. Despite higher level policy, there is a paucity of scientific focus at the practical level needed to improve the tools and practices required for regulatory program implementation to achieve better mitigation outcomes, contributing to an implementation gap. By describing key challenges and specific solutions, we share lessons from a 15‐year interagency effort to develop and implement an integrated, function, and watershed‐based stream compensatory mitigation program in Oregon. We highlight the importance of an intentional process of engagement and change management and identify outstanding science and policy needs to improve stream compensatory mitigation programs and field‐scale outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firm pollution is a top concern for both the public and the government. Previous studies on firm pollution mainly focus on formal environmental regulations, but rarely explore informal mechanisms such as political connections, a significant informal means for government intervention. The research explores how political connections affect firm pollution, and tests the moderating effects of market competition, state ownership and environmental regulation on this relationship from the perspective of institutional logics. Using empirical data of the most polluting publicly listed enterprises in China, the research demonstrated that politically connected firms participate in pollution remarkably less probably compared to non-connected firms. Moreover, market competition and state ownership significantly strengthen the focal relationship, while the moderating effect of environmental regulation is insignificant. The study provides novel insights into political connections research, institutional logics perspective and corporate unethical behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of environmental regulations on the health of middle-aged and elderly people based on the environmental administrative penalties and CHARLS (China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study) survey data from 2011 to 2018 in China. The study first found that environmental regulation can significantly improve the health level of middle-aged and elderly people. Second, the effects of environmental regulation on population health with different characteristics are heterogeneous. The mechanism analysis found that environmental regulation improving the health status of middle-aged and elderly people by promoting the level of urban green innovation and upgrading the industrial structure. Finally, this paper is further analyzed and concluded, environmental regulation can significantly reduce the degree of depression in middle-aged and elderly people. The research of this paper is helpful to evaluate the implementation effect of environmental regulation and protect public health has a reasonable reference value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental laws represent significant external factors influencing corporate green behavior. Previous research has predominantly concentrated on assessing the role of environmental courts in mitigating the effects of environmental pollution. Leveraging the establishment of environmental courts in China as a quasi-natural experiment, this study investigates whether environmental law enforcement can promote corporate innovation. Our findings indicate that the establishment of environmental courts can significantly enhance the green innovation of heavily polluting firms, primarily through mechanisms related to environmental pollution cost pressure and R&D investment. The promoting effect of environmental courts on corporate green innovation is particularly pronounced in state-owned enterprises, large-scale enterprises, and firms receiving government green subsidies. Conversely, this effect is attenuated in the western regions of China and in areas with lower public environmental concerns. This study offers a novel perspective on understanding green innovation and provides policy implications for managing environmental courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies how the transformation to sustainable development affects short-term economic growth. In late 2013, the Chinese central government proposed a sustainable development transformation (SDT) program for resource-based regions, mainly targeted at improving environmental quality, promoting alternative industries, and improving social well-being. With the use of a difference-in-differences (DID) framework, our estimation shows that this program significantly reduces GDP per capita in resource-based counties by 5.1%. Mechanism analysis indicates that local governments implementing stricter environmental regulation, the failure of alternative industry strategies and the decline of officials' economic growth incentive with the appraisal shift are the main channels through which the SDT program negatively impacts short-term economic growth. Further analysis indicates that this program improves environmental quality, but the employment and income of residents are negatively affected. Our findings provide valuable policy implications for developing countries to better balance economic growth and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a vast body of eco-innovation literature investigating the assumption that environmental regulations encourage the implementation of eco-innovative practices, previous research on eco-innovation and environmental regulations has yielded inconsistent findings. By considering the heterogeneity of environmental regulation and eco-innovations, this study sheds light on how different environmental regulation instruments can facilitate and enhance eco-innovation practices, along with the role of environmental orientation in mediating the relationships. The study surveyed 188 managers and owners and utilised the partial least squares-structural equation model as the analytical method. Results showed that environmental regulatory mechanisms have no direct impact on eco-innovation. However, the study has found that environmentally oriented SMEs respond to strict environmental policies and regulations by undertaking eco-innovation practices. Furthermore, market-based instruments provide firms with strong environmental orientation and economic incentives to foster eco-process innovations. The study offers practical insights for policymakers and SME managers, in addition to advancing the knowledge base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries are confronting climate change using climate-related regulations that require firms and investors to disclose their green strategies and activities. Using the Meta-Analysis Structural Equation Modeling (MASEM) technique, this study evaluates the relationship between climate-related regulations and financial markets. The meta-regression analysis is conducted based on the outcomes of 52 empirical studies screened from 143 relevant articles. The results show the predictive power of the climate-related disclosure (CRD) laws and environmental regulations (ERs) on financial performance across all studies. ERs create mixed impacts on the equity market and support the debt market. Firm value is affected by ERs either negatively or positively. Methodologies and risk-related factors (market, industry, and firm risks) are important in explaining the relationships between ER/CRD and financial performance. The more developed the market, the less the impact of ERs and CRD on the equity market. Considering industry risk is recommended because different industries are exposed to changes in policies differently. The ER/CRD–firm value relationship is affected by all market, industry, and firm risks. The downside effect of mandatory CRD on the equity market suggests that policy makers, firms, and investors should be cautious in passing a new CRD regulation for transformation towards a sustainable economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While active participation in GVCs can stimulate economic growth, it has also been noted to exacerbate environmental pollution. To address environmental concerns, most countries have strengthened environmental regulations, which in turn may affect the positioning of countries within GVCs. This study empirically analyzes the impact of environmental regulations imposed by the Chinese government on the positioning of the manufacturing sector within GVCs of Chinese manufacturing industries from 2006 to 2018. The findings of the research are as follows: Firstly, the strengthening of environmental regulations has an inverted U-shaped impact on the overall GVC position of Chinese manufacturing sector, demonstrating the combined effects of cost effect and innovation compensation effect. Specifically, when environmental regulations are lower than a certain level, strengthening regulations shifts the GVC position upstream. However, when regulations are more stringent than the level, further strengthening them leads to a downstream shift in GVC position. Secondly, it seems that China's current level of environmental regulation is below the apex of the inverted U-shaped curve, and therefore, it is anticipated that further strengthening of environmental regulations in China will result in a further upstream shift in the GVC position. Thirdly, these analytical results are particularly applicable to technology-intensive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional pressures are major driving forces for firms' green innovation. However, there is significant heterogeneity in firms' responses to these forces due to the complex information environment within the institutional field. Social ties are known to provide information and resources. This study explores how board social ties, including business and political ties, shape firms' responsiveness to formal and informal institutional forces related to green innovation. Using a dataset from Chinese listed companies in the manufacturing sector, we propose that firms' business ties strengthen the effects of various institutional pressures on green innovation. On the other hand, political ties strengthen the impact of environmental regulation on green innovation but weaken the influence of imitative pressure on green innovation. This suggests that political ties can be a double‐edged sword in firms' responses to institutional pressures. This research contributes to institutional theory and social capital theory, offering implications for green innovation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One important and frequently raised issue about foreign direct investment (FDI) is its potentially environmental consequences. In recent years, as severe haze pollution has broken out worldwide, whether FDI inflows increase PM2.5 spillages in a country has sparked a new round of heated discussion. This study attempts to empirically investigate how FDI affects haze pollution in various countries, by employing a cross-country panel dataset during the period 2010–2017, and further to examine the interactive effect of environmental regulation and FDI in the FDI–pollution nexus. Based on a two-way fixed-effects model with robust standard errors, the estimation results show that FDI inflows significantly lead to an increase in PM2.5 exposure, therefore, confirming the validity of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis. Moreover, environmental regulation generally appears to be ineffective in directly reducing haze pollution but acts as an essential underlying mechanism in the relationship between FDI and haze pollution. Under the moderation of environmental regulation, the positive marginal effect of FDI on PM2.5 continues to decrease until it becomes negative. The findings suggest that countries, especially developing countries and emerging economies should consider a mix of policies to manage its inward FDI to achieve sustainable development in the post-financial crisis era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the miracle of China achieving a balance between environmental governance and high economic growth has attracted the attention of many scholars, especially at the production level in various industries. To search for production activities with sustainable development potential and explore their characteristics. This study uses the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020 to establish a unified analysis framework based on the division criteria of three industries. It takes the three industries' total factor productivity (TFP) as the entry point to study the impact of environmental regulation (ER) on economic growth and its potential mechanisms at the production level. The results show that ER will force the secondary industry to improve TFP but also negatively affect the TFP of the primary and tertiary industries. In addition, ER indirectly affects TFP in the three industries by affecting public environmental concerns and foreign direct investment. This results from the comprehensive effect of production cost effects, compensation effects of innovation, and compensation effects of optimizing resource allocation caused by ER. Moreover, the positive impact of ER on the TFP of the secondary industry is nonlinear. The higher the level of digital economy development, the more significant the positive impact. More importantly, there are regional differences in the impact of ER on the TFP of the primary and secondary industries. This article considers both static and dynamic panels and the results of the two models show consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to test the pollution haven hypothesis within the European Union (EU), especially among newcomer countries, through the participation in global value chains (GVCs). The study used a combination of multiregional input–output method and multilevel mixed econometric analysis to investigate the relationship between global value chain trade flows, foreign direct investment flows, energy consumption, and carbon emissions across countries, sectors, and time. The study tested both the "pollution haven" and "pollution halo" hypotheses and found a non-linear relationship between foreign capital flows and carbon emissions, which became less relevant after the economic integration process. The results suggest the existence of a pollution haven in Europe. Although Eastern economies still exhibit problematic issues in relation to pollution control, they have made significant progress in reducing their emissions intensity. The conclusions include some policy recommendations based on the main findings of the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses panel data from 284 Chinese cities from 2004 to 2020 and employs a dynamic spatial panel Durbin model to re-examine the relationship between industrial agglomeration, environmental regulation, and haze pollution. It further adopts a dynamic spatial moderation effect model to explore the spatial regulatory mechanism of environmental regulation. The results show that both local and neighboring industrial agglomeration have a significant "inverted U-shaped" relationship with local haze pollution, and the scale cumulative optimization effect can only be effectively played after the industrial agglomeration level of the locality and neighboring areas exceeds the inflection point. Local environmental regulation significantly inhibits haze pollution, while neighboring environmental regulation plays a promoting role. The moderating effect of environmental regulation on the relationship between industrial agglomeration and haze pollution shows spatial heterogeneity in the local and neighboring areas. Local environmental regulation has a "U-shaped" non-linear moderating effect while neighboring environmental regulation has a positive linear moderating effect. Therefore, the government should pay attention to the joint effort and coordinated advancement of industrial agglomeration and environmental regulation to further reduce urban haze pollution and enhance urban air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resource-based cities had an irreplaceable role in the process of the economic miracle in China. Advancing such cities' carbon emissions reduction is a crucial aspect of the country's steady realisation of the dual carbon peak and neutrality strategy. The reasonable implementation of environmental regulation and the efficiency of factor marketisation allocation are the key links for resource-based cities to improve carbon emissions performance, break the resource curse and reduce carbon emissions. Based on this, this study centres on the driving relationship between environmental regulation, the efficiency of factor marketisation allocation and carbon emissions performance as the core research problem. This study takes the panel data of 116 resource-based cities in China from 2006 to 2020 as the research sample; the non-radial meta-frontier total factor carbon emissions performance index is selected as the measurement index of carbon emission performance of resource-based cities based on the applicability analysis of the model. This study explores the characteristics of regional heterogeneity and type heterogeneity of carbon emissions performance driven by environmental regulation under the moderating effect of the efficiency of factor marketisation allocation and further explores the threshold effect, aiming to clarify the driving relationship between the three. The findings reveal that the driving effect of environmental regulation intensity on carbon emissions performance exhibits a fluctuating upward trend, the effect transformed by compliance cost and innovation compensation. The efficiency of factor marketisation allocation has a double threshold superposition effect on carbon emissions performance fluctuation that is driven by environmental regulation, indicating that market and government effectiveness can operate together to improve the carbon emissions performance. Based on these results, this study proposes countermeasures and suggestions for improving carbon emissions performance using environmental regulation and the efficiency of factor marketisation allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shrinking and growing cities are categories of cities characterized by population loss or add, and the issue of carbon emissions in these cities is often neglected. Environmental regulation, as an important influence on carbon emissions, plays an important role in promoting the low-carbon transition in Chinese cities. This study focused on the carbon emissions of 272 cities in China from 2012–2021, constructed a comprehensive indicator to classify four city types, and calculated carbon emissions. Spatial-temporal characteristics and evolution of carbon emissions and impacts of environmental regulation were investigated. Carbon emissions of rapidly growing cities showed a downward trend, whereas those of slightly growing, rapidly shrinking, and slightly shrinking cities showed upward trends. The more rapidly a city grew or shrunk, the higher its average carbon emissions. Growing cities' center of gravity of their carbon emissions migrated northwest. Carbon emissions of rapidly and slightly shrinking cities were high in the northeast, and their carbon emission centers migrated northeast and southwest, respectively, with obvious spatial autocorrelation of city types. Strengthening environmental regulations significantly positively affected carbon emission reduction. The impact of environmental regulation on carbon emissions reduction was temporally and spatially heterogeneous and more significant in non-resource cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the coupling and coordinated development of formal and informal environmental regulation, as well as their impact on the upgrading of the industrial structure of urban agglomerations, represents a new breakthrough. The comprehensive index of formal environmental regulation, informal environmental regulation, and industrial structure upgrading is calculated using the entropy method based on sample data from 127 cities in China's ten major urban agglomerations between 2003 and 2019. The characteristics of the coupling and coordinated development between formal and informal environmental regulation in these urban agglomerations are examined using a coupling coordination degree model. Furthermore, the effects of the coupling and coordinated development of formal and informal environmental regulation on the industrial structure upgrading in urban agglomerations are analyzed through fixed-effect and threshold regression models. The findings demonstrate that although the development of urban agglomerations remains unbalanced, the overall coupling coordination degree between formal and informal environmental regulation is increasing. Generally, the ten major urban agglomerations have transitioned from a state of reluctance coordination to primary coordination. The Pearl River Delta urban agglomerations have progressed from reluctance coordination to middle coordination, while the Yangtze River Delta, Shandong Peninsula, Central Plains, and Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomerations have advanced from reluctance coordination to primary coordination. The remaining five urban agglomerations have shifted from near disorder to reluctance coordination. The coupling and coordinated development of formal and informal environmental regulation significantly promote the upgrading of the industrial structure in both overall and grouped samples of urban agglomerations, and the higher the degree of coupling coordination, the greater the promoting effect. Moreover, when informal environmental regulation is considered as a threshold variable, the coupling coordination degree exhibits a broken-line relationship with the industrial structure upgrading in urban agglomerations. Currently, the intensity of informal environmental regulations is relatively reasonable in China's ten major urban agglomerations, and the coordinated development of formal and informal environmental regulations has an impact on the industrial structure of urban agglomerations. Finally, this paper proposes corresponding suggestions encompassing the construction of an environmental regulation policy system, differentiated industrial policy, and the coordinated promotion of various policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green total factor productivity (GTFP) is critical to both the economic and ecological objectives of pig breeding. This research utilizes the SBM-ML model to calculate the GTFP of pig breeding in 381 counties within the Yangtze River Basin from 2014 to 2021. Then the GTFP is further decomposed into technical efficiency (MLEC) and technical progress (MLTC) to conduct in-depth exploration. The regression results reveal that: (1) Environmental regulation (ER) has significant double-threshold effects on GTFP, MLEC, and MLTC. (2) MLTC is the main force of GTFP growth, and stronger ER does not always lead to better GTFP growth. (3) GTFP is boosted by mechanization enhancement and industrial agglomeration limitation. (4) Counties in non-provincial capital cities and those closer to the river exhibit greater ER threshold effects. (5) Both pig price and transportation efficiency play a moderating role. (6) Further analysis demonstrates that ER simultaneously reduces pig production capacity and carbon emissions, as well as improves the water quality. And the reduction of ER, although beneficial for capacity, has a significant negative impact on GTFP. Finally, this study concludes with policy recommendations to boost the new quality productivity in the pig industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the broader context of China's industrial structural transformation, the spillover effects of environmental regulations on urban industrial structure upgrading have gained increasing attention. This study uses panel data from 260 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2020, applying the entropy weight method and the ratio method to quantitatively analyze the levels of environmental regulation and industrial structure upgrading. The findings are as follows: (1) Temporal Analysis: Both formal and informal environmental regulations exhibit an upward trend, reflecting growing societal concern for environmental protection and strengthened government policies. Although informal environmental regulations have grown rapidly, their scores remain lower than those of formal regulations, suggesting a gap between public environmental awareness and government action. Industrial structure upgrading shows an overall upward trend, with more significant progress after 2012, likely due to the introduction of more stringent environmental protection policies. (2) Spatial Analysis: Formal environmental regulations initially declined before increasing, likely influenced by regional economic development variations and differences in policy enforcement. The overall level of informal environmental regulations has risen, particularly in medium- and low-level cities, reflecting regional disparities in environmental awareness. The spatial evolution of industrial structure upgrading aligns with these temporal trends, showcasing regional policy coordination and the complementarity of industrial structures across regions. (3) Spatial Spillover Effects of Environmental Regulations: Environmental regulations exert significant positive spatial effects on industrial structure upgrading, indicating that regulations in one region positively influence both local and neighboring areas. The presence of spatial spillover effects highlights the crucial role of environmental regulations in promoting industrial structure upgrading. Both the direct and indirect effects of formal and informal environmental regulations are significant, although the positive spatial spillover diminishes with distance, likely due to higher information transmission and collaboration costs. Marginal Contributions to Existing Literature: First, this study addresses a research gap regarding the impact of urban environmental regulations on industrial structure upgrading, offering new theoretical and practical insights for sustainable urban development and industrial optimization. Second, it broadens the research perspective by examining the roles of both formal and informal environmental regulations. Lastly, it challenges traditional linear assumptions by exploring the nonlinear relationship between environmental regulations and industrial structure upgrading using bivariate spatial correlation. Based on these findings, it is recommended that cities enhance the intensity and effectiveness of environmental regulations, support medium- and low-level cities in their development transitions, and promote industrial structure upgrading through increased inter-city cooperation and mutual assistance.

Abstract Biodiversity offsets are a popular policy tool for mitigating the impact of development on biodiversity, but the ecological success of offsets arise from complex interactions among socio‐economic, ecological and policy processes, making outcomes challenging to assess. Many offset policies use habitat surrogates to determine offset requirements, rather than using direct measures of impacted biota, and this can lead to poor outcomes for species. One potential solution to this is for offsets to be delivered by a public agency (agency‐led) rather than by developers (developer‐led). This is because agencies may be able to strategically choose offset sites that maximise outcomes for species (e.g. abundance), while there may be little reason for developers to act strategically in this way when offset requirements are based purely on habitat surrogates. Yet, the success of a strategic agency‐led approach is likely to depend on patterns of development and offset site availability. To examine this, we developed a novel integrated spatially explicit model of land‐use change, habitat, species abundance and offset regulation. We apply the model to the Queensland Government's Environmental Offsets Policy for koalas Phascolarctos cinereus in South East Queensland, Australia, and test how patterns of development and offset site availability influence the performance of agency‐led versus developer‐led offsets. When potential offset sites were plentiful, agency‐led offsets tended to outperform developer‐led offset delivery for maximising koala abundance while achieving similar or better outcomes for habitat area. Yet, when potential offset sites were rare, the relative performance of agency‐led offset was often poor, and offset requirements for habitat area were less likely to be met. Different spatial patterns of development had little effect on the relative performance of agency‐led versus developer‐led offsets. Our analysis shows that agency‐led offsets with strategic choices of offset sites can improve species' outcomes for habitat‐based offsets but can also risk failing to meet habitat area requirements when the availability of offset sites is low. Importantly, our integrated spatial model provides a holistic approach to assessing policy options for biodiversity offsets in dynamic human‐modified landscapes. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.