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The shift to electric mobility is driving disruptive transformations in the automotive sector worldwide. It poses significant but different opportunities and challenges to incumbents and latecomers at both the firm and country levels. China's green industrial policy has facilitated its rapid catching up and even leapfrogging in some domains of electromobility. This article asks whether the exploitation of this window of opportunity can be replicated in other latecomer countries. Accordingly, it provides a comparative analysis of the automotive green window of opportunity in Brazil, India, and South Africa, three emerging economies with long established but structurally different automotive industries. To do so, it examines domestic preconditions, policy and enterprise responses, and preliminary industrial development outcomes. Although all the three countries face constraints in replicating China's relative success, the article shows how green opportunities and threats are unequally divided between the three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Human exposure to the >42,000 chemicals in active commerce in the United States, many of which are known or suspected to be toxic, is a source of increasing concern. [...], BACKGROUND: The prevalence of toxic chemicals in US commerce has prompted some states to adopt laws to reduce exposure. One with broad reach is California's Proposition 65 (Prop 65), which established a list of chemicals that cause cancer, developmental harm, or reproductive toxicity. The law is intended to discourage businesses from using these chemicals and to minimize consumer exposure. However, a key question remains unanswered: Has Prop 65 reduced population-level exposure to the listed chemicals? OBJECTIVE: We used national biomonitoring data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to evaluate the impact of Prop 65 on population-level exposures. METHODS: We evaluated changes in blood and urine concentrations of 37 chemicals (including phthalates, phenols, VOCs, metals, PAHs, and PFAS), among US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) participants in relation to the time of chemicals' Prop 65 listing. Of these, 11 were listed prior to, 11 during, and 4 after the biomonitoring period. The remaining 11 were not listed but were closely related to a Prop 65-listed chemical. Where biomonitoring data were available from before and after the date of Prop 65 listing, we estimated the change in concentrations over time for Californians compared with non-Californians, using a difference-in-differences model. We used quantile regression to estimate changes in exposure over time, as well as differences between Californians and non-Californians at the 25th, 75th, and 95th percentiles. RESULTS: We found that concentrations of biomonitored chemicals generally declined nationwide over time irrespective of their inclusion on the Prop 65 list. Median bisphenol A (BPA) concentrations decreased 15% after BPA's listing on Prop 65, whereas concentrations of the nonlisted but closely related bisphenol S (BPS) increased 20% over this same period, suggesting chemical substitution. Californians generally had lower levels of biomonitored chemicals than the rest of the US population. DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest that increased scientific and regulatory attention, as well as public awareness of the harms of Prop 65-listed chemicals, prompted changes in product formulations that reduced exposure to those chemicals nationwide. Trends in bisphenols and several phthalates suggest that manufacturers replaced some listed chemicals with closely related but unlisted chemicals, increasing exposure to the substitutes. Our findings have implications for the design of policies to reduce toxic exposures, biomonitoring programs to inform policy interventions, and future research into the regulatory and market forces that affect chemical exposure. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP13956

Prior research on inventory control has been wide ranging, yet the environmental implications of an $ ({s,S}) $ (s , S) inventory policy remain uninvestigated. This paper seeks to bridge the gap by characterising a firm's voluntary environmental policy in the setup of an $ ({s,S}) $ (s , S) inventory control policy. We suggest a mixed model structure wherein, due to the presence of fixed production costs, the inventory is determined continuously by sales and impulsively with ordering decisions obeying an optimal stopping process, while the uncertain sales process is controlled by continuous-time environmental goodwill-related decisions. We show that a firm should successively use voluntary environmental efforts to stimulate its sales when there is inventory and to increase backlogging to improve its production efficiency. Given the recurrent pattern of this policy, we conclude that voluntary environmental efforts under an $ ({s,S}) $ (s , S) inventory control is not compatible with using these efforts as a means to generate ephemeral reputation insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese government introduced the green credit policy (GCP) in 2007 to address deteriorating ecological conditions. Using an enterprise-heterogeneity dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model that includes a financial accelerator mechanism, uncertainty shocks, and GCP, we reveal that GCP significantly reduces emissions. However, this effect is inhibited by rising external uncertainty, as evidenced by the findings from impulse response and welfare loss analyses. Additionally, this negative effect and inhibition are more pronounced for privately-owned enterprises (POEs) while muted for state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Moreover, this study presents that uncertainty weakens the role of GCP through two channels: tightening firms' financing constraints and discouraging investment. Building upon the theoretical analysis above, we validate our findings by employing detailed firm-level data and the difference-in-differences (DID) method. The empirical results confirm the robustness of our findings. This study offers theoretical and quantitative support for developing GCP in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the study of selective problematic aspects regarding the assessment of the condition of the lands and the needs and possible ways of restoring the lands that were damaged as a result of the military actions of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine. Particular attention is paid to the need and difficulty of clearing mined areas, which should be done with an integrated approach, but this process requires and will require a large amount of time and resources. The main focus is on the need to create a comprehensive strategy for land restoration, which will include damage assessment, development of new legal acts, as well as implementation of mechanisms for the protection and restoration of land resources as a component of the environment. Particular emphasis is placed on the need to introduce so-called «red zones» in the most dangerous and polluted territories, where economic or personal activities are dangerous for the health of the population, which needs to be taken into account, including the period of active hostilities in certain territories. The article also considers the experience of other countries that faced such problems, in particular, for example, the country of France after the First World War, and emphasizes the importance of international cooperation with the organization of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to ensure effective restoration of lands. In addition, it is proposed to introduce amendments to the tax legislation of Ukraine for a balanced temporary exemption of land owners or land users from taxes for the time of restoration works, which will contribute to more efficient use of resources. In addition, it was noted that the state government should take all organizational measures as much as possible in order to receive reparations for crimes against the environment from the aggressor country. The work emphasizes the importance of harmonizing the environmental policy of Ukraine with the norms of the European Union in the context of European integration, because Ukraine has a European integration course and environmental changes are also one of the conditions for joining the European Union, so the reconstruction of destroyed cities should already be in accordance with the norms of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the problem of plastic waste in the context of transition to a circular economy, which is one of the priorities of the European Union's policy. The author emphasises the introduction of restrictions on the use of plastic products, starting with Directive 2008/98/EC, which establishes a basic framework for waste management, including plastic, with a focus on recycling and the transition to a circular economy, in order to achieve targets by 2025, 2030 and 2035. The main focus is on Directive 2019/904 on the reduction of the use of single-use plastic products, which aims to reduce the negative impact of plastic on the environment. The Directive provides for a ban on certain types of single-use plastic goods, including plastic lids that must remain attached to containers during use. The article analyses the importance of harmonising the legislation of the EU member states in the process of implementing this Directive, as differences in national laws may lead to legal conflicts. The economic challenges for countries with less developed waste management systems, which may have difficulty meeting the requirements within the established timeframe, are also considered. The article emphasises the need to introduce new technologies and environmentally sustainable consumption patterns to ensure effective implementation of the Directive. Examples of initiatives aimed at reducing the use of single-use plastic, such as the deposit system for plastic bottles in Germany and the Swiss ReCircle programme, are also discussed. Ukraine is also implementing measures to reduce plastic waste, but legislative initiatives need to be further developed to achieve global environmental goals. The article emphasises the importance of raising legal awareness among citizens and businesses for a successful transition to a circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk perception influences the perceived salience of various policy issues. In this study, we examine the pathways through which environmental identity influences the perceived salience of two kinds of policy issues—climate change (climate mitigation and climate adaptation) and development (economic growth and infrastructure). Based on a dataset of 503 respondents from coastal communities along the east coast of the United States, our findings indicate that environmental identity is associated with a greater perceived salience of climate mitigation, and that this relationship is mediated by hydrometeorological disaster risk perception. While we found no significant total effect of environmental identity on the perceived salience of climate adaptation, perceived salience of infrastructure development, and perceived salience of economic growth, hydrometeorological disaster risk perception was found to fully mediate all three relationships. Also, the mediated relationships were found to be significantly moderated by gender identity, but not by age (except for the perceived salience of infrastructure development). The study highlights the pivotal role of hydrometeorological risk perception in modifying the perceived importance of different policy issues among environmentalists and has implications for policy and planning in coastal regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fridays for Future movement has shaped public debates on climate policy all over Europe and beyond in recent years. It demands politicians to take action and fulfil the promises of the Paris Agreement. This article turns to the European Union and asks how the European Parliament met this movement. In doing so, we reflect potential tensions between its reputation as an environmental policy champion and the most direct link to the European demos on the one side and its composition of various political groups on the other side. Indeed, our analysis shows most political groups in the Parliament, even conservatives and liberals, support the movement. This is somewhat surprising given their general stances on environmental and climate policy. To explain the broad support given to Fridays for Future, we turn to the inner-parliamentary dynamics and the overall status of the Parliament in the supranational political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Decompose the two-sided effects of environmental regulations on green innovation. • The green innovation effects of environmental regulations are bilateral. • Environmental regulations highlight the negative impact on green innovation. • China's energy-intensive provinces require focused attention. Green technology innovation is an important means to achieve sustainable development. The study is an exploration of the bilateral perspective on the relationship between different types of environmental regulations and green innovation. Based on the data set of 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2018, the two-sided effects of command-and-control environmental regulation and market-based environmental regulation on green innovation are analysed and the net effects are calculated by using the two-tier stochastic frontier models. First, empirical research shows that the effects of command-and-control environmental regulation and market-based environmental regulation on green innovation are both highlighted by negative characteristics. Command-and-control environmental regulation has a smaller effect on green innovation, with an average positive effect of 0.00005, which is smaller than the average negative effect of 0.0008. Meanwhile, the positive effect of market-based environmental regulation on green innovation is 0.00291, smaller than the negative effect of 0.00461. Second, the negative impact of command-and-control environmental regulation on green innovation underwent a "back-to-N" change process in 2006–2018, while the negative effect of market-based environmental regulation on green innovation did not decline until after 2011. Third, the provinces where command-and-control environmental regulation policies have a greater negative effect are concentrated in the energy-intensive regions of central and western China, while the provinces where market-based environmental regulation policies can promote green innovation are from the energy-intensive or developed eastern regions of China. Based on the research conclusions, to better promote green innovation, there is a need to implement environmental regulatory policies that address regional differences and to establish a national system of green innovation markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a warming Arctic, circumpolar long‐term monitoring programs are key to advancing ecological knowledge and informing environmental policies. Calls for better involvement of Arctic peoples in all stages of the monitoring process are widespread, although such transformation of Arctic science is still in its infancy. Seabirds stand out as ecological sentinels of environmental changes, and priority has been given to implement the Circumpolar Seabird Monitoring Plan (CSMP). We assessed the representativeness of a pan‐Arctic seabird monitoring network focused on the black‐legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) by comparing the distribution of environmental variables for all known versus monitored colonies. We found that with respect to its spatiotemporal coverage, this monitoring network does not fully embrace current and future environmental gradients. To improve the current scheme, we designed a method to identify colonies whose inclusion in the monitoring network will improve its ecological representativeness, limit logistical constraints, and improve involvement of Arctic peoples. We thereby highlight that inclusion of study sites in the Bering Sea, Siberia, western Russia, northern Norway, and southeastern Greenland could improve the current monitoring network and that their proximity to local populations might allow increased involvement of local communities. Our framework can be applied to improve existing monitoring networks in other ecoregions and sociological contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plains Bison once had the largest population and range of any terrestrial herbivore in North America. Bison now occupy less than 2% of their historic range, mostly behind fences of state-run and private organizations. In 2014, Indigenous groups across North America signed The Buffalo Treaty, calling for bison rewilding. This paper examines barriers to rewilding on Canada's prairies in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Through interviews we asked government and NGO representatives what prevents bison reintroduction and rewilding. Our results suggest that the main barriers are social acceptance and material resources. These findings support previous research in the United States and Europe and provides a foundation for future research that could include other actors, such as landowners, Indigenous organizations, and industry representatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the removal from and dispossession of lands, Indigenous groups often need access to public land for traditional activities including ceremonies and gathering of culturally important plants. In California, USA, there is an ongoing effort to reconnect tribes with their ancestral lands by initiating tribal co-management on state-owned lands. However, its implementation is not well documented or studied. We explored the limited examples of co-management relationships occurring in California using semi-structured interviews. We found that recent policy evolution has created enabling conditions for successful co-management. However, efforts are complicated by limitations in both state employee and tribal capacities. Our 20 non-tribal participant interviews indicated that navigating the diversity of tribal interests and priorities is a hurdle to developing co-management agreements. Non-transactional gatherings are catalysts for relationship building between agencies and tribes which can facilitate social learning and the development of social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a dual-channel supply chain within an uncertain environment where a manufacturer produces a green product and a retailer makes sales efforts to attract a higher customer base. Moreover, we incorporate a reverse supply chain model in which the manufacturer retrieves end-of-used products from customers through a collection initiative. Simultaneously, the retailer gathers end-of-used products from customers by implementing an exchange policy facilitated through a coupon applied to the product's selling price. Then, we explore centralized, manufacturer Stackelberg, option contracts and cost-sharing contracts strategies to maximize supply chain profits under various circumstances. Subsequently, a numerical example is undertaken to showcase the utility of the models and explore sensitivity that examines how different parameters impact the supply chain's profit. Findings suggest that the supply chain members will be profitable if they engage in the option contract model under a suitable value of the option price and exercise price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability researchers are writing much about levers for transformations towards sustainability but too little about the most powerful means available for obstructing and activating them: mass-reaching media systems. How media systems are structured and governed form a profoundly important meta-level layer of decision-making that ought to be central in the study of environmental politics and in environmental policymaking. A politics- and media-focused account of the rise of Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency of Brazil illustrates the essential role of media systems and the need for new principles, structures, and policies for their governance if the interlinked goals of democracy, equity, and environmental protection are to be achieved. The pervasive inattention to this in environmental research reinforces hegemonic forces and needs to be widely discussed, understood, and overcome to achieve much needed just transformations towards sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

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

Fisheries in coastal and lakeside regions are increasingly facing sustainability challenges. This predicament has compelled these regions to shift toward economic diversification, with tourism emerging as a feasible alternative economic activity. This study focuses on a rural community adjacent to Erhai Lake in Dali City, Yunnan Province, China, examining its shift from a fishing-based economy to tourism over several decades. Employing an adaptive sustainable livelihood framework, this study assessed the livelihood transformation across various stages over an extended period, from both institutional and action-oriented perspectives, analyzing factors influencing sustainable livelihood transformation in lakeside communities and their subsequent effects. This research revealed several key insights. Firstly, tourism, as an alternative industry to fishing, not only faces increasingly stringent environmental protection policies but also confronts multiple challenges from the community level. Secondly, the improvement of the physical assets of locals within the tourism development, which can increase property-based income, has the potential to facilitate a sustainable transformation of their livelihoods. Thirdly, analysis identifies the pivotal role of human capital in the current transition process, with the influence of talent and innovative livelihood industry management models gaining prominence to ensure sustainability of this transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proponents of green growth argue that technological advancements and price signals can decouple economic growth from environmental impact through resource substitution and enhanced efficiency. In this research, we investigate the extent to which economic growth in Norway is decoupling from three key indicators of environmental pressure: energy use, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and material consumption. Our findings show efficiency improvements across all of these indicators, but no absolute decoupling for any of them, and less so, a sufficient absolute decoupling to meet global sustainability targets. Despite the prevalent discourse surrounding a purported 'green shift', the overall environmental pressure within Norway is still on an upward trajectory. Mounting evidence regarding the absence of sufficient absolute decoupling suggests that the time may be ripe for high‐income nations like Norway to transcend policy focus on green growth and engage in transitions towards a post‐growth economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) sector employs sport to stimulate social and personal development beyond sports. However, limited attention has been given to environmental sustainability and SDP's role within the Anthropocene. This study examines how SDP stakeholders interpret macro policies and navigate climate action challenges. The concept of glocalization helps reveal the complexities of addressing climate change at a local level. Semi-structured interviews (N = 4) were conducted with SDP practitioners from NGOs in Brazil and the UK. Findings reveal two key themes: the barriers and opportunities presented by the SDGs and the role of personal experiences in making environmental engagement relevant. The findings shed new light on the diverse motivations that drive SDP NGOs in addressing environmental concerns, as well as the challenges they encounter in contributing to environmental sustainability. This study emphasizes the need for SDP-specific environmental policies, practices, and glocalized responses to the Anthropocene on various levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encouraging employees' green behaviour is one of the effective environmental strategies in the hotel industry. Previous studies have primarily investigated the organisation-level factors influencing employees' green behaviour. In contrast, this study shifts the focus to the employee-level factors and introduces generativity in the current research topic. Generativity reflects individuals' concerns for the well-being of future generations. This study aims to explore the relationships among employees' generativity, green behaviour, green policy attitude, and environmental commitment. 304 valid samples were collected from hotel employees in Macau. The structural equational model analysis revealed that generativity has a significantly positive influence on green policy. Employees' green attitude and environmental commitment play a mediating role between generativity and green behaviour. This study expands on the literature by exploring how employees' generativity promotes organizational environmental management. The findings suggest how hotel managers can promote green behaviour and design green policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental degradation, a critical issue in academic literature, arises from multiple factors including increased carbon emissions, urbanization, industrialization, mass production, and extensive use of non-renewable energy sources. These factors notably impact sustainable economic growth and environmental quality. Globally, efforts are directed towards optimizing carbon emissions to minimize their adverse effects. This necessitates effective environmental policies. This study examines the effectiveness of Turkey's environmental policy using cointegration and causality tests that account for structural breaks. The analysis utilizes data from 1990 to 2020, the most comprehensive dataset for Turkey to date. Findings indicate that Turkey's environmental policy is effective in reducing carbon emissions, highlighting a need for policy reassessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

This study aims to synthesize knowledge on the interconnections between the rule of law and environmental sustainability by reviewing existing literature across various contexts. The topic is timely and highly relevant, particularly in the context of climate change, global environmental challenges, and ongoing discourse about the role of the rule of law in promoting sustainable development. We utilized the PRISMA framework for literature search and selection, organizing it into two main themes: one investigating the direct effects of the rule of law on environmental policies and regulations, while another examining its mediated role related to financial development, foreign direct investment, trade openness, equitable resource distribution, human development, and innovation's influence on environmental quality. This review underscores the significance of clear frameworks, fair accountability mechanisms, and stakeholder engagement in preventing institutional collapse and ensuring effective environmental sustainability. A major gap identified in the existing literature is the limited exploration of specific components of both concepts, such as fundamental rights, the justice system, biodiversity, and waste management. These areas present avenues for future research. This review offers insights for policymakers to advance global environmental objectives through a better understanding of the role played by the rule of law in promoting environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban lakes confront significant threats due to changes in land use and land cover (LULC) resulting from urbanization and subsequent climate change. This review discusses the intricate effects of the urban heat island phenomenon on lakes, specifically attributed to LULC changes. Utilizing the Scopus and Web of Science databases, this study gathers the most pertinent earlier research in the LULC and water bodies. This study systematically categorizes variables into five distinct groups and scrutinizes the drivers, parameters, tools, and management strategies influencing the LULC dynamics on lakes. A research gap is identified in understanding the conjoined impacts of LULC and urban heat island effects within urban lake environments. The review further investigates diverse ways in which LULC impacts lakes, intersecting with multiple United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs), notably SDGs 6, 11, 13, and 15. Consequently, this review serves as a valuable contribution to the understanding of LULC to provide substantial benefits to the urban climate research toward meeting SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National Parks (NPs) and other protected areas in sub‐Saharan Africa are crucial in attracting international tourists interested in wildlife tourism, contributing to national economies. Despite their cultural, economic, and conservation significance, these areas face diverse development threats, leading to pressures for protected area downgrading, downsizing, or degazettement (known as PADDD).We comprehensively analyse the geographical, historical, and structural aspects of 322 NPs in sub‐Saharan Africa and assess their political vulnerability by exploring the interplay of development pressures and public interest (as measured through Wikipedia page views).Fewer than 30% of these NPs possess or report information regarding management plans, even among the five most frequently viewed areas on Wikipedia. This is particularly concerning, since among those who underwent a PADDD event (51 NPs), almost 90% of them also had no information about the existence of management plans.Although we did not identify a statistically significant association between tourism and public interest online, tourism emerges as a potential mitigating factor against PADDD, along with high levels of peace.NPs that garner significant public interest online do not share the same socio‐geographic profile as parks that are most resilient to PADDD events. While digital metrics of public interest have potential as indicators of political resilience in NP, our research has shown that these metrics need refinement to fully understand which biophysical and cultural aspects of parks attract more public attention. Overall, effective conservation strategies in sub‐Saharan Africa require a more holistic understanding of historical, socio‐economic, and cultural factors. 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 a world rich in climate knowledge but short on climate action, it is important to understand the political reasons behind the apparent failure of states to address this planetary crisis. One underexplored dimension of this phenomenon is the impact of broader geopolitics and rivalry, in specific the ability and willingness of potential and actual security and economic rivals to leave their contention at the gates of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This article focuses on India's multifaceted approach to its 'China challenge' with and outside the climate regime. While conventional scholarship focuses on the security and economic dimensions of this rivalry, this study offers a distinct perspective that examines whether this rivalry might lead to a breakdown of cooperation and an increased potential for conflict and weaponisation of seemingly disconnected issue areas. Drawing on a comprehensive triangulation of policy documents, government statements and scholarly literature, this article evaluates the domestic and international factors shaping India's climate-related China policies, including the countries' unique economic ambitions, development imperatives, energy needs and global climate commitments. Furthermore, the article examines Sino-Indian interactions in international arenas such as the UNFCCC and Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS), and how these interactions influence global climate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of the Spanish Environmental Investment (EI) tax credit on adoption of green technologies by employing data from 2567 industrial firms for 6 years. It makes use of the sudden re-introduction of the tax incentive in March 2011, that aimed at favouring energy efficient over solely pollution abating technologies. I exploit this unexpected change and perform a difference-in-differences analysis to study its effect on green investments and as an extention on green employment outcomes. The policy change, aimed at switching financing to energy efficient technologies, is assessed as semi-effective. Admittedly, it decreased investment in end-of-pipe technologies, but the investment in superior cleaner production technologies increased only for the small firms (below 50 employees), which are especially vulnerable to the capital market failure. Unfortunately, the policy change had also a few unexpected indirect effects, firms in response to the tax incentive regime modification reduced the number of their green employees and their associated salaries. In stark contrast to the decision of the Spanish government on this EI tax credit, the results of this analysis seem to be quite encouraging for the continued use of this green fiscal policy and show that the modifications in the precision of the existing fiscal policies can be successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standard climate economics considers damages of climate change to utility, total factor productivity, and capital. Highlighting that air pollution and climate change affect human health and labor productivity significantly, we complement this literature by including human health in a theoretical climate economic framework. Our macroeconomic approach incorporates a separate health sector and provides closed-form analytical solutions for the main model variables. Economic growth is endogenously driven by innovations, which depend on labor availability and productivity. These aspects of the labor force are directly linked to human health, which is harmed by burning fossil fuels. We calculate growth in the decentralized equilibrium and derive optimal climate policy. Calibrating the model by taking standard parameter values we show the economic growth rate to be higher for the planner solution compared to the market outcome. For an optimal climate policy, we find that 44% of total resource stock should be extracted when considering damages to capital, but only 1% of the stock should be extracted in an "all inclusive" approach where health damages are included. The health perspective requires optimal environmental policies that are much more stringent than those normally advocated in climate economics, since harm to human health has negative effects on economic growth, which makes the overall impact of climate change very large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After being elected into power in 2014, Narendra Modi's government made some policy-related decisions in his first five-year term that impacted the country's environment. Some of the policy decisions taken by the Modi government during 2014–2019 were criticised, while a few had improved or promised to improve climate infrastructure in India. There were protests against some of the decisions taken by the Modi government; a few of those protests were dealt strongly by the Indian state. This article examines the environmental situation, policy, and politics between 2014 and 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. industrial plants emit around four billion pounds of toxic chemicals annually, posing health and economic risks. This study investigates the role of newspapers in influencing plants' toxic emissions. We use local newspaper closures as an exogenous shock to news coverage and observe a 10% increase in emissions in affected counties, compared to plants owned by the same firm in other counties. Our findings indicate that this increase is not attributable to variations in environmental policies among firms, disparate economic conditions across counties, or heightened production levels at these facilities. Instead the rise in toxic emissions is driven by an elevated amount of toxins emitted per unit of output. We also uncover that the observed effect is more pronounced in areas with a lower newspaper-to-population ratio before the closure and in communities more concerned about environmental issues. Moreover, we find that the spread of online media doesn't mitigate the consequences of newspaper closures on toxic emissions. This research provides causal evidence that local newspapers monitor and reduce firms' harmful environmental practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the rapid increase in industrialization, environmental degradation has recently grown into a serious problem. The existing literature has mostly focused on the reduction of CO2 emissions and ignored PM2.5 emissions, which have a direct impact on the environment through air quality. Therefore, this study attempts to look into the effectiveness of environmental policies in determining environmental sustainability by lowering PM2.5 emissions in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. These are categorized as fiscal (green taxes), economic incentives, and research and development (R&D) investment policies. The second-generation panel co-integration method and Cross-Sectionally Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) are employed for the period 1990–2019 to estimate the results. The Westerlund cointegration results confirmed a stable, long-run relationship between all the variables. The study shows that not all environmental regulations are equally successful in lowering PM2.5 emissions. According to the findings, R&D and fiscal policy help reduce PM2.5 emissions, whereas economic incentive strategies and population increase them. This shows that establishing green taxes on these emissions and developing green R&D policies will facilitate environmental sustainability. The overall findings let us classify some good performances in the OECD countries regarding the design of environmental policies, even though we should also keep in mind that there isn't a solution that works for everyone. Policy makers should modify their plans in accordance with the nature and unique features of their country or region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a new innovation into the institutions and environmental degradation nexus debate, by placing emphasis on institutional quality (good or poor) in the modelling framework, a clear departure from the existing literature that makes no such distinctions when using institutions to investigate the nexus. Using a panel of 163 countries, and applying a system generalised method of moment technique, we obtained robust evidence that the quality of institutions really matters in protecting the environment. In particular, we found that countries with strong institutions could significantly reduce environmental pollution by limiting fossil fuel consumption, while those with poor institutions would worsen the situation. Countries with strong institutions were also found to be able to curtail environmental problems in densely populated cities than those with weak institutions. The policy implications arising from the study are clear – strengthening the quality of domestic institutions that relate to environmental policy formulation and regulation, is critical to delivering a cleaner environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unwavering adverse effects of global warming continue to threaten the sustainability of the ecosystem and peaceful human coexistence. Efforts to resolve this ecological matter promulgate the interest in green policies, which the extant studies are yet to explore fully. Consequently, this study provides the first empirical evidence on the roles of green policies vectoring, green energy, green finance, and green innovation amidst eco-digitalization and urbanization on environmental sustainability captured by CO2 emissions, ecological footprint, and PM2.5 air pollutions in BRICS countries from 1995 to 2019. The study relies on the STIRPAT framework alongside second-generation estimators in providing the empirical evidence. Findings indicate that green energy, green finance, green innovation, and eco-digitalization promote environmental sustainability by reducing CO2 emissions, ecological footprint, and PM2.5 air pollutions. Conversely, urbanization and affluence deter environmental sustainability due to their inducing effects the highlighted pollutants. The distributional analysis based on quantile regression and country-level estimation based on fully modified ordinary least squares technique accentuates the empirical regularity of the main findings. Besides, the Granger causality reveals the presence of bidirectional and unidirectional causality relationships in the estimated model. Based on the findings, feasible policies that enhance sustainability of the BRICS environment are formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

This paper explores how party fragmentation and electoral competition relate to the outcome of environmental policy. It is assumed that when elections happen the electoral punishment and incentives will be distributed. Specifically, when there are high number of effective number parties (ENP) in the legislature, it brings competition to the incumbent to provide more public goods. Hence, the electoral competition and party fragmentation will bring more provision of public goods. Using these assumptions, the electoral competition theory provides basic pieces of information to predict the effect of electoral competition on environmental policy outcome; a high ENP will provide a better outcome of environmental policy. Taking Indonesia as our case selection, we discovered a positive association between the number of effective parties and energy efficiency, such as LED, and a negative correlation between the usage of wood for domestic fuel. This means that political competition such as electoral competition promotes better outcome for environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the transformation towards greenness, focusing on consumer environmental awareness within a circular city model characterized by elastic demand. Our findings reveal that the equilibrium investment in environmentally friendly initiatives falls short of the socially optimal level for a given market structure. The degree of excess or insufficient market entry is influenced by the level of environmental awareness. Further, we delve into the role of environmental delegation, demonstrating that heightened environmental awareness can mitigate underinvestment in the environment and reduce inefficiency in market entry. From a policy perspective, we expand our analysis to include the "Green Product Policy." This extension aims to explore the impact of such a policy on environmental awareness and assess the applicability of the "excess entry theorem" in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, no studies have examined the nationwide support for environmental peacebuilding projects in post-conflict countries, that is, projects that seek to use the management of natural resources as a way of fostering peace and cooperation. However, public support can be crucial for the legitimacy and effectiveness of these projects. This article aims to address this gap by exploring which project characteristics influence public support for environmental peacebuilding projects. It does so through a conjoint experiment in Colombia with 1,504 survey respondents, focusing on forest conservation projects. The findings indicate that provisions related to the reintegration of ex-combatants and the dialogue between victims and ex-combatants resonate positively with respondents. Participants from the political right or those opposed to the 2016 peace agreement were somewhat less responsive to this information. The most significant impact was observed with provisions for job creation and public investments that targeted the entire population. Based on these findings, we conclude that the inclusion of environmental peacebuilding provisions in forest conservation projects can increase public support for them in post-conflict countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of the digital infrastructure supporting decisions is an important factor in the preparation phase of any environmental policy action, and this quality can greatly reduce the level of transaction costs. However, the development of a solution for Coaseian bargaining raises several unsolved technical problems to be able to efficiently decrease external costs. Here, we show the recommended structure of an information and communication technology (ICT)-based software infrastructure that aims to guide relevant stakeholders to achieve environmental deals and enhance green innovations. After reviewing the existing methods, practical solutions, and economics of transaction costs, we selected the design process of a new platform. We identified the functionality modules of the ICT infrastructure with descriptions of the features. Our results demonstrated that the establishment of an ICT-based e-governance system featuring participatory modeling could efficiently reduce transaction costs based on the widely used typology of them. We found that our platform could improve the involvement of any group of stakeholders through collaboration. Furthermore, we elaborate on the assessment of risks and evaluate the potential to avoid serious risks during the implementation or operation of the system. We anticipate our paper to be an initial step in the implementation of an innovative platform for the interested parties of environmental policy actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the adoption patterns of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification in China, analyzing data from 2010 to 2021. We find that builders' choices of certification levels are positively correlated within each province. However, for commercial buildings, builders differentiate from each other in the choice of certification levels. The study also identifies spatial spillovers of LEED certification across nearby provinces. We propose potential explanations for these findings and discuss their policy implications. The results suggest that the design of certification schemes should account for the strategic behavior of firms. Additionally, regional policies promoting green building certifications may have spillover effects, encouraging adoption in neighboring regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing long‐term and high‐resolution pollution remote sensing data, this study examines the dynamic impact of export expansion on the local environment in China from 2000 to 2020. Regions facing larger export expansion experience more pronounced initial deterioration in local air quality, while followed by a more prominent subsequent environmental improvement, indicating that the environmental impact of trade varies over time. Further analysis reveals that a key driver behind this dynamic change is the adjustment in environmental policies, particularly when local government faces higher pressure in achieving the environmental goals and when the central government takes over environmental monitoring powers. Additionally, under more stringent environmental regulations, regional export growth leads to increased environmental expenditures, concurrently driving localities to reduce heavily polluting engergy inputs such as coal. Our study suggests that environmental policies can facilitate the synergistic development of trade and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

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