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Catechol is a substance that is commonly found in wastewaters from a variety of sectors including paper, paint, petroleum, dyes, antioxidants, pesticides, iron and steel, solvents, nylon, detergent, textile, plastic, rubber, cosmetics, and medicine. In this study, sequential electrochemical and chemical multi-polymerization of catechol was investigated for environmental pollution abatement. The effect of operating parameters like catechol concentration (2–10 g/L), ammonium persulphate (APS) concentration (2–10 g/L) and reaction temperature (20–60 °C) were evaluated using response surface methodology. Catechol concentration was determined using HPLC in a gradient mobile phase. The electrochemical behavior of the polymer was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The structural and morphological properties of polycatechol were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM–EDX) analysis. It was observed from the SEM images a polymeric structure developed from a crystalline and heterogeneous structure when the APS concentration increased. Similarly, it was seen in SEM images that the polymers transitioned from a bulk and heterogeneous structure to a homogeneous structure as the temperature increased, and back to a heterogeneous structure as the catechol concentration increased. It was also found that catechol removal increased and reaction selectivity decreased by increasing the reaction temperature. The optimum operating conditions were found as 4 g/L catechol concentration, 9.5 g/L APS concentration, 30 °C reaction temperature with 100 cycles at 50 mV/s of electrochemical polymerization and 72 h of chemical polymerization. The results of this study show the potential of challenging new routes not only facile polymerization of organic monomers but also to decrease the undesirable pollutant concentration in the wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific and technological revolutions have given rise to a new generation of general-purpose intelligent manufacturing technology represented by industrial robots, which have become the emerging growth engine in many countries worldwide, leading to significant improvements in productivity and innovation. However, it remains unclear whether the industrial robot adoption can help address the increasingly severe environmental issues. This study investigates the impact of imported industrial robots on the pollutant emission intensity of Chinese manufacturing enterprises using micro panel data from 1998 to 2013. Our findings suggest that the industrial robot adoption leads to a significant reduction in SO 2 emission intensity at the enterprise level. These results remain robust even after conducting various robustness checks, addressing endogeneity concerns and adjusting matching strategies. Furthermore, our investigation reveals three channels through which robot adoption reduces SO 2 emission intensity: technological progress spillover, clean energy transition, and improvement in end-of-pipe treatment. By providing micro-level evidence on the environmental impacts of industrial robots, this study contributes to our understanding of the positive environmental externality associated with the diffusion of imported intelligent technology across nations and offers valuable insights for the sustainable development of emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1990s there was a great deal of interest in the study of the role of endogenous market structure under oligopoly in the characterization of emission taxes. This interest was instrumental in providing policy guidance on the design of emission taxes based on market characteristics. However, the literature has been silent on offering policy recommendations on the design of emission taxes under endogenous market structure in the presence of new firm acquisitions. We build a model where new firms enter the market where some are acquired by an incumbent multi-plant firm, altering the initial market structure. In this framework, we characterize the second-best emission tax and examine the role of the resulting market structure, in particular the role of acquiring more/fewer of the new firms, in the optimal design of emission tax. We argue that, under certain conditions, the acquisition of new firms may lead to higher taxation consistent with the Pigouvian rule or even exceed marginal damages. Our contribution is at the intersection of emission tax design and M &A (new firm acquisition) literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) is one of the most analyzed environmental legislations in the scientific literature, influencing the water management in some non-European countries. The WFD has the strong ambition of achieving a good ecological status of water bodies across all river basins in Europe. However, the advances towards sustainable management are falling far behind the planned schedule. The emphasis of the Directive is focused on water quality rather than on water quantity. The advances during the last quarter of the century since its inception have been strong on urban and industrial point pollution, but not on agricultural non-point pollution that remains high and even increases in major basins. Water quantity aspects have been mostly left aside in the Directive, despite the fact that water scarcity is a serious problem in Southern European countries, and will become more critical with climate change in most basins across Europe. Some policy measures of the WFD need to be reformed, in particular measures for abating agricultural pollution, and new measures for addressing water scarcity. The narrow focus of the WFD on water pricing to solve at the same time issues of financing, water allocation and efficiency, environment, opportunity costs and pollution abatement, should be broadened. The challenge is giving more emphasis to command & control and collective action instruments, and designing combinations of instruments adapted to sectoral and spatial locations in basins. This overhaul of the water policy instruments by the European Commission will be needed to advance in the sustainable management of river basins in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We ask whether firms behave differently depending on the political party in charge, above and beyond responding to any actual differences in policy. We use the pollution abatement behaviour of U.S. Steam Electric Power Plants under the Clean Water Act as our case study. Exploiting the variation provided by the outcome of tightly contested gubernatorial elections, we provide causal evidence that large firms respond to the political 'colour' of the governor in the state they operate, even when neither the stringency nor the enforcement of the rules depend on it. Within a theoretical model of the interaction between the regulator and the regulated firms, we show that multiple equilibria arise, and the outcomes of the election provide an effective coordination device. This unexpected behaviour has real-world consequences and leads to significant differences in pollution levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unplanned population growth in urban cities has largely caused unplanned habitations called slums. Due to various complexities, service providers are unable to provide basic amenities, i.e., water, roads, sanitation, and sewerage in these slums. Water, being the basic need for human survival, is either managed by these residents by extracting groundwater or the minimum required water is provided by the government through water tankers or tube wells. In the absence of sewerage facilities, sewage is discharged directly into stormwater drains, rivers, ponds, lakes, etc. It contaminates the freshwater of these water bodies. The Yamuna River (22 km stretch) from the Wazirabad Barrage to the Okhla Barrage, and about 600 lakes in Delhi, India, are highly polluted. To avoid such severe events of contamination of water resources, it is necessary to develop a system to intercept wastewater at the source, transfer it to the nearest sewage treatment plant, and treat it to the required discharge standard, called the interceptor sewer. This case study is an outcome of a successful mega project of an interceptor sewer along three major drains (Najafgarh, Supplementary, and Shahadra) for the abatement of pollution in river Yamuna, Delhi. HIGHLIGHTS The interceptor sewer project will reduce the organic and pathogenic pollution in river Yamuna.; An interceptor sewer will trap wastewater at the source and convey it to STPs.; Success of an interceptor sewer depends on the lateral coordination and cooperation of various stakeholders.; CPCB and DPCC must monitor river water quality regularly and instruct the concerned authorities.;

This paper investigates the impact of environmental courts on pollution abatement at the city level, utilizing the establishment of environmental courts in China as a quasi-experiment. A spatial difference-in-differences model is employed to control for the influence of environmental courts on neighbouring non-pilot cities. The results underscore the effectiveness of environmental courts in reducing industrial pollutant emissions, evident in both the pilot areas and adjacent non-pilot areas. The influence of environmental courts on pollution abatement is more pronounced in cities characterized by stronger environmental regulations, higher level of economic agglomeration, and higher level of openness. Mechanism analysis shows that environmental courts promote environmental supervision by governments, public participation in environmental protection, and expenditure on environmental governance by firms. In summary, this paper unveils the tangible effects of environmental courts on pollution abatement and elucidates the mechanisms underpinning this relationship. These findings provide timely implications for regulators concerned with environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the evolution of technical efficiency (TE) and its determinants in China's high-pollution coal mining industry. The effects of market competition, technology, and pollution abatement expenditure (PAE) on inefficiency are investigated. Using a firm-level panel dataset for the 2001–2013 period, estimation using a panel stochastic frontier model shows that the average TE was stable with a small fluctuation in the 2000s and then deteriorated in the 2010s. The majority of private entrants have lower TE than the main group of incumbents, state-owned enterprises, whereas foreign firms exhibit the highest TE among firms. We find that capital imports, research and development, and government subsidies are important factors in reducing technical inefficiency, highlighting the importance of technological activity on production efficiency. Further analysis of the relationship between PAE and TE reveals that PAE positively contributes to the efficiency of coal mining firms. Robustness checks ensure the aforementioned findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charcoal is one of the most essential energy sources in the world and is used mainly for domestic and industrial purposes. Brazilian charcoal production occurs in rudimentary masonry kilns without concern for process safety or energy waste. This work aimed to develop a mini carbonization system of three kilns coupled to a vertical smoke burner for optimized and environmentally correct charcoal and wood vinegar (WV) production on small farms. The project was divided into three parts for dimensioning: the three-kiln set, the WV condensing device, and the smoke burner. The condenser was designed following the procedures from the standards of TEMA (Tubular Exchangers Manufacturers Association); ASME (Society of Mechanical Engineers of the United States) Section VIII, Division 1; and the NR-13 (Regulatory Standard) of ABNT (Brazilian Association of Technical Standards). In contrast to the current scenario, in which primitive carbonization technologies are still employed, bringing about low charcoal yields and significant pollution release, the use of a mini-kiln that allows charcoal production and wood vinegar recovery combined with pollutant smoke burning is an interesting eco-friendly solution. Thus, the mini-kiln model presented here brings a low cost and environmental safety to the charcoal production chain, reaching sustainability parameters and offering higher income opportunities to small producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To cope with the emissions permit trading program, industrial firms have to change production decisions, which may affect their pollution discharge, labor demand, and workers’ wage earnings. Using a time-varying difference-in-differences framework together with robustness checks, this research explores the impacts of the SO2 emissions trading scheme (SETS) on SO2 emissions, employment, and wages of industrial firms in China. It was noted that the program resulted in a remarkable decline not only in SO2 emissions but also in labor demands and wages. The mechanism analyses further show that emissions reduction is mainly driven by fossil energy input decrease rather than by desulfurization technology. The negative effects of employment and wages are driven by the negative output effect and insufficient technology rather than by the environmental substitute effect. Our findings contribute to the improvement of the market-oriented environmental permit trading program and development of regulated firms in developing countries.

[Display omitted] The development of highly efficient piezocatalysts has attracted widespread attention for energy conversion and pollution abatement. This paper reports for the first time exceptional piezocatalytic properties of a Zn- and N -codoped porous carbon piezocatalyst (Zn-N x -C) derived from the zeolitic imidazolium framework-8 (ZIF-8) for both hydrogen production and degradation of organic dyes. The Zn-N x -C catalyst has a high specific surface area of 810.6 m2/g and retains the dodecahedron structure of ZIF-8. Under ultrasonic vibration, the hydrogen production rate of Zn-N x -C has achieved 6.29 mmol/g/h, surpassing most recently reported piezocatalysts. Additionally, the Zn-N x -C catalyst demonstrates a 94% degradation efficiency for organic rhodamine B (RhB) dye during 180 min of ultrasonic vibration. This work sheds new light on the potential of ZIF-based materials in the field of piezocatalysis and provides a promising avenue for future developments in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollution abatement and flood control activities require effective water resource planning, engineering assessment, sophisticated technology, and appropriate hydraulic structure designs. This paper x-rays flood mitigation and pollution abatement strategies that can be adopted in the Kaduna metropolis in Nigeria. Analytical hierarchy process of design, questionnaires, engineering assessment approach, and standard method for estimation of the runoff discharge was adopted for this research. Estimating water balance components and QSWAT Hydrological Model can be used with the QGIS interface for a greener environment. Suitable hydraulic systems were designed for long-term flood control in the River Kaduna catchment area through an analytic hierarchy Process. Statistical analysis, manning equations, and rational methods were utilized for adequate assessment and planning. The hydraulic discharge capacity of culverts, open channels, and other hydraulic structures was carefully checked. Flooding greatly impacts infrastructural development, and inadequate drainage systems contribute to it. Mitigation strategies, adequate water resource planning, and management will greatly benefit from addressing flood-related issues in the study area. This research provides information on the flood vulnerability of infrastructures and mitigation strategies that can be adopted in the study area. Viable policies and management strategies can be utilized to avert losses traceable to floods in developing and developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A model of a hybrid marine engine exhaust gas scrubber is constructed using sea-trial data and a chemical process simulator. The model can describe the performance of the scrubber under both open-loop and closed-loop operation. Predictions for solubility and reaction equilibria are validated using published data. The model results are consistent with the sea-trial data. Sensitivity analyses are conducted to determine the effect of various operating parameters on the scrubbing performance for both open-loop and closed-loop operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed at evaluating the scale and costs of an environmentally and economically optimal set of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for agricultural pollution abatement in Lithuania in order to reach water protection goals in both inland and marine waters by distributing BMPs optimally in space, while taking climate change impacts into consideration. The assessment of BMPs impact involved the use of the SWAT model by applying two climate change representative concentration pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) and two time horizons (mid-century and end-century), as well as five BMPs (arable land conversion to grasslands, reduced fertilization, no-till farming, catch-crops, and stubble fields throughout winter). The optimization of the set of BMPs employed a genetic algorithm. The results suggest that the need for BMPs application will increase from 52% of agricultural areas in the historical period up to 65% by the end of century in the RCP8.5 scenario. This means less arable land could actually be used for crop production in the future if water protection targets are met. The high costs for reaching water targets would rise even more, i.e. by 173% for RCP4.5, and by 220% for the RCP8.5 scenario, reaching approximately 200 million euros/year. In such a context, the BMP optimization approach is essential for significant reduction of the costs. Winter cover crops and reduced fertilization show the best effectiveness and cost balance, and will therefore be essential in pursuing water protection targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of watershed environmental management is closely related to the cooperation modes of upstream and downstream regions pollution control, but the existing literature rarely considers it. Additionally, based on the cumulative and cross-border impacts of pollution discharge in different regions, it is appropriate to use dynamic game theory to study pollution control problems. Therefore, this paper develops a dynamic multi game model to analyze the pollution control game behavior between the upstream and downstream regions along the basin in three scenarios: non-cooperation, pollution abatement cooperation, and ecological compensation. By using the optimal control method, we get the dynamic equilibrium strategies of the government and enterprises and pollution stock trajectories under different cooperation modes. The results show that pollution abatement cooperation can improve the environment, but may not improve social welfare; the eco-compensation mechanism is not always conducive to the improvement of the environment and welfare of the basin, and the effective conditions of implementing ecological compensation is put forward. In addition, we also analyzed the impact of consumer preferences, pollution treatment efficiency, and other parameters on governments and enterprises decision-making and the social welfare. These conclusions provide a theoretical basis for cooperative governance scheme for transboundary pollution in river basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dal Lake is not only the centre of tourist attraction, but also an important livelihood source for the local population. The economic activities over the years in and around the lake have intensified, resulting in pollution, eutrophication and encroachment of the lake. The present study examined the multiple economic activities carried out on Dal Lake, estimated the net welfare generated, and subsequently developed a solution focusing on establishing an optimal trade‐off between the economic activities and pollution abatement expenditures incurred by the government. Employing optimization techniques, needed modifications in the configuration of the enterprises and the pollution abatement costs that could maximize the net welfare from Dal Lake were identified. The economic welfare of the three enterprises was maximized at the optimal level of INR 5684.85 million, with a pollution‐abating investment of INR 13.21 million. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen considerable debate about the practicability of a global quantity/price commitment to control carbon emissions and tackle environmental issues. In this paper, we study the impact of the cap-and-trade policy (quantity commitment) and the carbon tax policy (price commitment) on a firm's technology investment and production decisions. The main feature captured in our model is that there exist correlated uncertainties between the sales market (demand uncertainty) and the permit trading market (permit price volatility) under the cap-and-trade policy. The correlation relationship stands on the following intuition. The demands for final products affect firms' production output, which generates the needs of emission permits and influences the permit price. We show that under the cap-and-trade policy, with the uncertainty of the future emission price, the firm could flexibly adjust its production quantity to enhance its profit, resulting in low incentives to invest in clean technology. However, as the (positive) correlation between the sales market and the permit trading market increases, the production flexibility is constrained so that the firm has to increase its technology investment to hedge against the future risk of a high emission price. Making a comparison between the cap-and-trade and carbon tax policies, we find that when the correlation coefficient is moderate, the carbon tax policy generates a multiwin situation (i.e., more technology investment, higher expected profit and consumer surplus, and fewer carbon emissions). Case studies are provided to illustrate the implications and model variants are examined to check the robustness of the main results. Overall, our analysis sheds light on recent debate over carbon pricing and identifies the important role of correlated uncertainties in carbon policy design. This paper was accepted by Charles Corbett, operations management. Funding: This work was supported by the stable support plan program of Shenzhen Natural Science Fund [Program Contract 20200925160533002] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 72101105]. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4365. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Novel synthetic route yields ZnAl 2 O 4 with specific surface areas up to 344 m2/g. • These ZnAl 2 O 4 spinels have highly uniform mesopore size and large pore volumes. • Best materials were very effective in Congo Red photodegradation (99% in 30 mins) • Detailed mass spectroscopy study confirms true fragmentation of dye molecule. • Band gap decreases markedly into visible range with decreasing crystallite size. The large-scale release by the textile and other industries of organic dyes into water courses degrades the aquatic environment and results in serious health problems for wildlife, humans, and domestic animals. The removal of such dyes from wastewater is therefore a pressing and important challenge. The efficient photocatalytic destruction of these dyes using sunlight is an elegant and attractive potential solution. In this work, mesoporous ZnAl 2 O 4 nanomaterials were prepared with high specific surface area, high pore volume and uniform pore size distribution using a modified sol–gel synthetic protocol. BET analysis showed that the highest surface area achieved for ZnAl 2 O 4 reached 344 m2/g. The texture, structure and chemical composition of these materials were further studied using XRD, FTIR, TEM, EDS, CHN and XPS analysis and zeta potential measurements. Band gap energies were obtained from UV/vis spectra and showed a strong decrease as particle size decreased, shifting absorption into the visible range for the finest materials and indicating the potential to improve the efficiency of photocatalysis under solar irradiation. Photocatalytic activity was evaluated by studying the photodegradation of Congo Red dye and, for the best materials, showed that 99 % of the dye was degraded in only 30 mins. These results compared very favourably with those of previously reported studies. The degradation products of the Congo Red were further investigated using mass spectrometry and this detailed study confirmed that true photoinduced fragmentation of the dye molecule occurred rather than simple 'photobleaching'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charcoal is one of the most essential energy sources in the world and is used mainly for domestic and industrial purposes. Brazilian charcoal production occurs in rudimentary masonry kilns without concern for process safety or energy waste. This work aimed to develop a mini carbonization system of three kilns coupled to a vertical smoke burner for optimized and environmentally correct charcoal and wood vinegar (WV) production on small farms. The project was divided into three parts for dimensioning: the three-kiln set, the WV condensing device, and the smoke burner. The condenser was designed following the procedures from the standards of TEMA (Tubular Exchangers Manufacturers Association); ASME (Society of Mechanical Engineers of the United States) Section VIII, Division 1; and the NR-13 (Regulatory Standard) of ABNT (Brazilian Association of Technical Standards). In contrast to the current scenario, in which primitive carbonization technologies are still employed, bringing about low charcoal yields and significant pollution release, the use of a mini-kiln that allows charcoal production and wood vinegar recovery combined with pollutant smoke burning is an interesting eco-friendly solution. Thus, the mini-kiln model presented here brings a low cost and environmental safety to the charcoal production chain, reaching sustainability parameters and offering higher income opportunities to small producers.

This study estimates the effect of environmental tax legislation on air pollution, using the implementation of China’s Environmental Protection Tax Law (EPTL) as a quasi-natural experiment. For cities which have been authorized to raise tax rates by the EPTL, the air quality index (AQI) is 2.36 lower after the reform. The effect is reinforced in cities with stricter tax enforcement, lower fiscal stress, as well as higher initial pollution levels. Heterogeneity analyses show that the reform is more effective in cities with lower levels of marketization and legalization, as well as in developed cities. In addition, the impact of the reform is more significant in cities with higher levels of public participation in environmental governance, higher tax competition levels, and higher share of secondary industry. A series of robustness tests corroborates the results. This paper provides evidence that environmental tax legislation is efficacious in pollution abatement for developing economies.

The separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers in the g‐C3N4 system could be improved by the construction of all‐organic heterojunctions. However, g‐C3N4 has a large π–π conjugated plane that induces a low number of amino groups (−NH2), which are the sites of the heterojunction reaction with organic molecules. In this case, few heterojunction knots can be constructed, and the enhancement effect of the heterojunction cannot be fully displayed. In this study, an all‐organic heterojunction with PMDA is constructed with melem instead of g‐C3N4. Although the photocatalytic activity of melem is far below that of g‐C3N4, the photocatalytic activity of PI (the all‐organic heterojunction constructed with melem) is considerably higher than that of CP (the all‐organic heterojunction constructed with g‐C3N4). This result is attributed to melem that has more –NH2 groups to form more heterojunction knots, which can enable the effective transfer and separation of electron‐hole pairs. These new findings may shed light on the design of all‐organic heterojunction photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequently occurring extreme weather events can pose a challenge to people and production systems. Coping with extreme high temperatures requires promoting the synergy between pollution reduction and carbon reduction. Accordingly, this study examines the causal relationship between extreme high temperatures and corporate pollution emissions by using the panel data of a Chinese sample from 2000 to 2014. This study uses fixed-effects models for the analysis. Baseline results show that a unit increase in the standardized temperature will result in a 4.6% reduction in corporate pollutant emissions. The heterogeneous analysis shows that extreme high temperatures will have an obvious effect on enterprises with low financing constraints and high policy and public constraints as well as on enterprises in cities with a high level of economic development, in innovative cities, and in the eastern region. We also explore the mechanism through which extreme high temperatures reduce pollutant emissions from the two dimensions of external environmental pressure and internal environmental governance. Extreme high temperatures will prompt enterprises to improve their energy efficiency, engage in innovative production processes, adopt source-and-end governance measures, and curb their pollutant emissions while strengthening government environmental supervision. This study provides new ideas for enterprise pollution reduction and serves as an inspiration to the government in formulating environmental policies. [Display omitted] • Examining the relationship between extreme heat and corporate pollution emissions. • Analyzing the heterogeneous impact of extreme heat on corporate pollution emissions. • Discussed the heterogeneous impact of extreme heat on corporate pollution behavior. • Extreme heat will increase corporate internal supervision and external pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ornamental potted indoor plants provide environment friendly, self-regulating and cost-effective solutions to ameliorating indoor air pollution. The present study aimed to measure Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) of 15 commonly used indoor ornamental plant species. APTI was measured from the foliar portion of plants using their 04 biochemical parameters like chlorophyll (total), pH, relative water content, and ascorbic acid. It was found that among all plant species, Dracaena deremensis (APTI 13.03) and Ficus benjamina (APTI 12.19) appeared as tolerant; eight species (Spathiphyllum wallisii, Epipremnum aureum, Philodendron bipinnatifidum, Dieffenbachia seguine, Sansevieria trifasciata, Hedera helix, Chrysanthemum indicum, Ficus elastica) were moderately tolerant with APTI values ranging from 11.40 to 10.70. The Chlorophytum comosum (APTI 10.32) was intermediately tolerant and four were sensitive (Rhapis excels APTI 8.58, Chamadorea seifrizii APTI 8.47, Dypsis lutescens APTI 7.47, Gerbera jamesonii APTI 6.76) towards air pollution. A positive and high correlation was obtained between APTI and RWC (R² = 0.742), and APTI and Ascorbic acid (R² = 0.615). The present study thus helped in knowing the pollution tolerance abilities of widely used indoor potted ornamental plants. It was also revealed that the evaluation of the plant tolerance index could be useful for the screening of appropriate indoor plant species for pollution abatement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation on the performance of environmental regulation is among the hottest topics in environmental economics and management. Although industrial enterprise is the major regulatory objects of pollution control, the firm-level pollution abatement effect of environmental regulation has been rarely examined by existing literature. This paper attempts to fill this research gap by investigating the moderating effects of firm heterogeneity on the pollution abatement effect of environmental regulation in China. We establish a theoretical framework which demonstrates that firm heterogeneity determines firms' compliance capability and willingness through firms' absorptive capacity, bargaining power, and environmental awareness and then influences firms' environmental performance under regulatory pressure. Combining firm-level data of pollutant emission with province-level data of environmental regulation, we empirically examine the moderating role of firm heterogeneity on the performance of environmental regulation. We adopt a moderating effect model and estimate it with Logit regression method. It is found that environmental regulation performs better in enterprises with high capital intensity, high total factor productivity (TFP), as well as in state-owned enterprises, export enterprises, and listed companies. In particular, command-and-control regulation performs better in domestic firms than in foreign-owned firms, while the performance of market-based regulation is just the opposite. It is also found that the moderating effect of firm heterogeneity on the performance of environmental regulation varies with regions and industrial sectors, especially for the moderating role of capital intensity and TFP. These findings help to understand the enterprise environmental behavior and provide insights on targeted and differentiated environmental governance from a micro-point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are detrimental to the environment and human health and must be eliminated before discharging. Oxidation by heterogeneous catalysts is one of the most promising approaches for the VOCs abatement. Precious metal catalysts are highly active for the catalytic oxidation of VOCs, but they are rare and their high price limits large‐scale application. Supported metal single‐atom catalysts (SACs) have a high atom efficiency and provide the possibility to circumvent such limitations. This Review summarizes recent advances in the use of metal SACs for the complete oxidation of VOCs, such as benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, and methanol, as well as aliphatic and Cl‐ and S‐containing hydrocarbons. The structures of the metal SACs used and the reaction mechanisms of the VOC oxidation are discussed. The most widely used SACs are noble metals supported on oxides, especially on reducible oxides, such as Mn2O3 and TiO2. The reactivity of most SACs is related to the activity of surface lattice oxygen of the oxides. Furthermore, several metal SACs show better reactivity and improved S and Cl resistance than the corresponding nanocatalysts, indicating that SACs have potential for application in the oxidation of VOCs. The deactivation and regeneration mechanisms of the metal SACs are also summarized. It is concluded that the application of metal SACs in catalytic oxidation of VOCs is still in its infancy. This Review aims to elucidate structure–performance relationships and to guide the design of highly efficient metal SACs for the catalytic oxidation of VOCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A uniform carbon tax and Citizen Carbon Fund are proposed as a zero-sum system of transfers that can increase equilibrium participation and result in a positive carbon check for each citizen covered by the agreement. The carbon tax results in efficient abatement, generates tax revenue and finances transfers that increase equilibrium participation in a climate agreement. A single carbon price is easier to negotiate than many different abatement requirements, but mirrors the results of a cap-and-trade agreement. An example using the four largest carbon emitters illustrates the set of stable agreements, the transfers required for stability and the resulting carbon checks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social pressures, in addition to the law, incite more and more firms to pursue multiple and separate objectives. This trend raises the following question: will the change in the number of objectives pursued by firms affect their strategic interactions? To address this issue we focus on a dynamic duopoly where each firm has two objectives: one of the firms' objectives is financial and the other is environmental. Production is a polluting activity and the actual level of pollution depends on current and past emissions. We analyze both open-loop Nash and cooperative equilibria (these equilibria are also trivially feedback as the equilibrium strategies are constant). We show that contrary to the case where firms' unique objective is the financial one, there are Nash equilibria where production is lower than in the cooperative equilibrium. This stems from the fact that in a Nash equilibrium firms do not coordinate the choice of the relative weight given to the environmental objective. We obtain the same conclusion when firms can mitigate pollution. In this case, we also show that there are Nash equilibria where the sum of the firms' mitigation efforts is higher than its value in the cooperative equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

H2O2-based advanced oxidation technologies, commonly Fenton process or Catalytic Wet Peroxide Oxidation (CWPO), have been widely studied and applied over the past decades for wastewater treatment due to their ability to generate highly oxidizing species, HO• and HOO• radicals, along with a low selectivity which allow the degradation of a wide range of pollutants . Nonetheless, these technologies present some limitations. In the case of Fenton, the requirement of acidic media (pH: 3), the loss of catalyst at the end of reaction because it is dissolved, and the catalyst inactivation caused by certain reaction intermediates (i.e. oxalic acid) that forms complexes compromising its efficiency. For CWPO, the main drawbacks in this heterogeneous process are mainly associated to the relative low activity and stability of the catalysts employed. All these shortcomings can be solved through process intensification, which generally involves in Fenton and CWPO increasing the temperature or the application of an external radiation, being the most interesting ones UV–vis radiation (photo-assisted technologies), and microwave radiation, which inherently presents the advantages of working at high temperature. This paper gathers the most recent advances explored in thermal-intensified H2O2–based advanced oxidation technologies, summarizing the main results obtained for each intensification strategy and outlining where future efforts should be focused.

Government information transparency is taken as a prominent instrument of environmental regulation in Chinese cities, especially in the current digital age. However, polluters' strategic emission and production behaviors across cities, confronted with changing information disclosure level, might make the policy's effect unexpected in practice. While many existing studies have explored the impact of institutions on pollution, government information disclosure only attracted little attention from empirical studies. Using the method framework of the spatial Durbin model, this study empirically investigates the impact of government information transparency on sulfur dioxide emissions with samples of 264 Chinese cities from 2005 to 2012. We find that a city's government information transparency negatively relates to its local emission level of sulfur dioxide. Moreover, a city's sulfur dioxide emissions positively relate to its neighboring cities' government information transparency levels. The further calculations of marginal effects show that the average of such a direct and local impact of government information transparency outweighs the average indirect effect a city receives from its neighboring cities, making government information transparency benefits to pollution abatement in total. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has emerged as the world's largest pollutant emitter due to rapid industrialization and a remarkable economic upsurge in recent decades. Rising carbon emissions have exerted more social and regulatory pressure on Chinese corporations to undertake environmental protection investments. However, the implications of such investments on the financial fundamentals of a firm remain unclear. Especially, little is known about how environmental protection investments affect the performance of financially constrained firms. This study explores the mediating role of financial constraints in the nexus between corporate environmental protection investment and the accounting and market performance of Chinese listed firms during 2009–2016. The empirical outcomes of the generalized method of moments (GMM)-based regressions reveal that environmental investments of non-constrained firms have a positive impact on the accounting and market performance of such firms as measured by ROA and Tobin's q, respectively. Interestingly, environmental protection investments have a significant negative association with both (i.e., the accounting and market) performance proxies of firms that are facing financial constraints. These findings imply that in pursuit of environment preservation and pollution abatement, regulators shall provide more financial flexibility and enabling environment to financially constrained firms to optimize their role in pollution abatement. Besides, financially non-constrained firms shall be assigned greater environmental responsibility to undertake a proportionately higher environmental investment than financially constrained firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]