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• The global tropospheric NO 2 columns have generally decreased in the past 18 years. • Several hotspots tropospheric NO 2 are observed over industrialized and highly populated coastal zone areas. • Atmospheric nitrogen deposition plays an important role in nitrogen pollution in Bohai Sea. • The highest tropospheric NO 2 occurs in winter, and the highest near-surface NO 2 occurs at 08:00 and 20:00 LT. • NO 2 trends observed from ground-based measurements and satellite-derived retrievals is consistent. Tropospheric and ground-level levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) may have changed due to environmental policies and technological changes. Here, multiyear ground-based measurement (2014–2022) and satellite-derived retrieval (October 2004 to May 2023) datasets of NO 2 concentrations are used to study the long-term ground-level and tropospheric NO 2 patterns and trends at four time scales (interannual, quarterly, monthly, and hourly) over the three regions with the highest global NO 2 concentrations. Several tropospheric NO 2 hotspots are observed over industrialized and highly populated coastal zone areas. Over the past 18 years, these hotpots have generally decreased due to the implementation of strong and effective environmental protection policies. A significant trend reversal was observed in 2011 in East-central China. The maximum values of tropospheric NO 2 occurred in winter over East-central China, Western Europe and East-central USA, with concentrations of 13.010, 4.243 and 4.149 × 1015 molecules cm−2, respectively. The Bohai Sea exhibited disproportionately high tropospheric NO 2 levels, suggesting it as a significant contributor to regional nitrogen pollution. Ground-level NO2 shows similar temporal patterns to tropospheric concentrations, with over 82.8 % of sites in East-central China exceeding 30 μg m−3, compared to 12.8 % in Western Europe and 3.8 % in East-central USA. The analysis of diurnal variations in ground-level NO 2 concentrations shows a significantly decrease during the daytime compared to nighttime, reflecting that the peak occurs at approximately 08:00 and 20:00 LT, while the lowest concentrations at around 12:00 LT. These insights clarify the impacts of environmental policies on NO 2 levels and identify critical areas for targeted pollution control, enhancing our understanding of NO 2 dynamics in high-pollution regions globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• It was found that Korea's LCGC policy is characterized by high rebound and short duration. • Regard pilot policy of Low-carbon Green City as a quasi-natural experiment. • This article examines the effectiveness of Korea's carbon trading system policy. • The mitigation effect of LCGC policies on carbon emissions shows a regional pattern increasing from north to South. Climate change response is a long-term, stage-specific global challenge that necessitates ongoing research on its routes. Although previous research has examined policy planning and indicator development for a low-carbon transition based on a variety of macropolicies, more research is needed to determine whether such policies can help reduce carbon emissions and accelerate urban transitions. Based on 2015–2021 panel data covering 17 South Korean first-level administrative districts, we employ a propensity score matching-difference in difference (PSM-DID) model and a mediating effect model to address issues of interregional development faults and policy feasibility and to investigate the impacts of the low-carbon green city (LCGC) policy in different regions on urban carbon emissions. To address the development gap and policy feasibility across regions, this study investigates the mechanism and path of the effect of the LCGC policy on urban carbon dioxide emissions in various regions, ultimately incorporating local spatial autocorrelation (LSA) to investigate the characteristics of the differences at the spatial level. The findings demonstrate that (1) the present regulations effectively limit total urban carbon emissions but are characterized by strong rebound elasticity and a short period. (2) Energy use and renewable energy production have the greatest influence on reducing total urban carbon emissions. (3) The local spatial autocorrelation clustering characteristics present the clustering characteristics of being high in the east and low in the north. The HH agglomerations have the largest coverage and are mainly distributed in the southeast and southwest directions of the study area. The results of the study provide a decision-making basis and theoretical support for relevant decision-makers to formulate differentiated carbon emission reduction policies and to eliminate the current transition dilemma with a new research methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analyze the layout of pollution-intensive industries using the kernel density method. • The characteristic of spatial evolution was "agglomeration-diffusion-agglomeration". • Using a spatial panel model to analyze the effects of the seven factors. • The degree of industrial agglomeration and economic level were the major effect factors. The studies of the spatial layout and impact mechanism of pollution-intensive industries have become one of the research hot spots for regional sustainable development. From the viewpoint of enterprise dynamics, this study used a spatial econometric model and kernel density analysis methods to analyze the spatial layout characteristics of pollution-intensive industries in the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (UAMRYR) in 2010, 2015, and 2020, and to explore the reasons for the formation of the spatial divergence of different sub-industries. The results showed that (1) in the past decade, the pollution-intensive industries in the UAMRYR have spatial shift characteristics, basically presenting a "core-edge" pattern from central cities to peripheral cities, and an "agglomeration-diffusion-agglomeration" spatial trend. (2) Different sub-industries had obvious differences in their agglomeration and diffusion trends. The proliferation trend of the non-metallic mineral products industry and the agricultural and sideline foodstuffs processing industry were obvious, which made environmental management difficult. The manufacture of raw chemical materials and chemical products presented the trend of agglomeration, then diffusion, followed by agglomeration, and transferred to areas outside the urban agglomeration, which reduced the pollution to the environment to a certain extent. The spatial pattern of the electricity, heating power production and supply industry were relatively stable, with little overall change. (3) The spatial layout of pollution-intensive industries was mostly driven by the level of economic development and the degree of industrial agglomeration. Innovation capacity and labor cost promoted the spatial diffusion of industries, and the degree of trade openness intensified the agglomeration of pollution-intensive industries in space. The results of the study provided a more microscopic perspective for understanding the changes in the spatial pattern of pollution-intensive industries and served as a reference for the government to formulate industrial and environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Environmental regulations can improve energy-environment efficiency of firms. • Environmental policies have asymmetric impact on heterogeneous firms. • End treatment and source control are important channels for improving efficiency. • Impact of different policy tools on energy-environment efficiency is heterogeneous. • Micro evidence for evaluating the effect of environmental regulation is provided. Energy-environment efficiency can be used as a means of control to change the mode of economic development by considering the pollution reduction factor. Taking China as an example, this study uses a nonradial superefficiency data envelopment analysis method to measure microlevel energy-environment efficiency and investigates the relationship between environmental regulation and efficiency. The findings show that for every 1% increase in environmental regulation, firms' energy-environment efficiency increases by approximately 0.04% and that environmental regulations have a greater impact on pollution-intensive firms and private firms compared to other types of firms. A median effect model shows that end treatment and source control are important channels through which environmental regulation can improve firms' energy-environment efficiency. In addition, the influence of different environmental regulation policy tools on firm energy-environment efficiency is heterogeneous. With every 1% increase in a command-and-control and market-based incentive policy, energy-environment efficiency increases by 0.01–0.02%, while the effect of public participation policy tools is not significant. This study provides not only new micro empirical evidence for evaluating the effect of environmental regulation but also a reference for applying and coordinating different types of environmental policy tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• To investigate the green technology selection effect of environmental information disclosure policy. • Using mediation effect model to study the transmission mechanism of environmental policy. • Using instrumental variable approach to control the endogenous problem of environmental policy. • To examine the different effects of environmental information disclosure on green technology in different cityes. Based on 230 prefecture-level city panel data from 2003 to 2019 in China, this paper uses environmental information announcement system as a quasi-natural experiment, and uses the two-stage least squares (2SLS) model with instrument variables (IVs) to test the green innovation effect of heterogeneous urban environmental information announcement. The results show that environmental information announcement can significantly stimulate green innovation, and the stimulating impact has a long duration time and heightens year by year. Under the constraints of different affluence degrees, administrative level, industrial dependence degree and the difficulty of profit acquisition, the effects of urban environmental information announcement have obvious differences. Generally, the higher the degree of urban affluence or administrative level, the more prominent the effect of green innovation of environmental information announcement is. The more dependent the city is on the polluting industry, or the easier it is to obtain profits from the polluting industry, the more difficult it is to change the direction of green innovation of environmental information announcement. Simultaneously, environmental information announcement mainly motivates the choice of green innovation by changing the difficulty of obtaining industry profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Proposing the STSL framework for target selection and compensation modes in win–win PES. • Constructing the environmental vulnerability-livelihood assets evaluation system. • Detecting the priority areas for implementing conservation PES or restoration PES. • Developing ten differentiated hematopoiesis payment modes. Spatial targets and payment modes are the key components for solving the issue of "where to pay and how to pay" and for supporting ecosystem service providers to achieve sustainable livelihoods and end poverty through payments for ecosystem services (PES) for environmental protection and poverty reduction. Here, we present the Spatial Targets and Sustainable Livelihoods (STSL) framework and analyze regional environmental vulnerability and livelihood assets in the Longnan Municipality of China. We constructed reasonable spatial targeting and payment modes according to each actual type. We classified the present 27 poverty-stricken areas in Longnan Municipality into two levels of environmental vulnerability, four classes in combination with natural capital, eight categories with the addition of human capital, and ten subcategories considering environmental vulnerability and all five livelihood assets. Finally, considering regional development and sustainable livelihoods for poor people, we suggest spatial layout targets for implementing conservation or restoration ecological projects and 10 differentiated payment modes. This study provides an appropriate proposal for certain regions to implement the environmental policy of win–win PES and fills the research gap regarding specific payment modes for PES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Adaptation of the Ecosystem-Based Quality Index for areas without well-defined ecosystems. • Modelling of the shallow heterogeneous subtidal ecosystem in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. • shGSL-EBQI considers ecosystem heterogeneity, epibenthic invertebrates and seaweeds. • shGSL-EBQI is flexible, robust and correctly assessed a harbor bay ecosystem status. • EBQI responds to drivers and can be used in Canada. R package developed for EBQI. The assessment of natural ecosystem status is a fundamental premise to enable environmental management at local scales to maintain ecosystem functioning, services and resilience. Ecologists have developed many biological and environmental indices to inform and support environmental management and policies. To promote efficient use of resources, existing indices would ideally be informative for the widest geographic extent to avoid the development of new but redundant indices. The Ecosystem-Based Quality Index (EBQI), developed for the Mediterranean Sea, may be adaptable to other ecosystems due to its functional approach being closer to a methodological framework than a specialized index. We investigated the adaptability of EBQI beyond its original geographical setting and its applicability to a predefined location rather than a predefined ecosystem. We propose a workflow to apply EBQI to areas without a priori well-defined ecosystems: the shallow subtidal coastal areas of Baie des Sept Îles (Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada), a major industrial port where the seafloor ranges from soft to mixed substrata (i.e., boulders and gravel in a soft-bottom matrix), creating ecosystem heterogeneity where species typical of different habitats often co-occur. We then tested the index for the assessment of this ecosystem with an explicit consideration of the ecosystem heterogeneity in shallow areas, typically unaccounted for by other indices. Using field sampling and a literature review, we showed that the EBQI can be implemented in areas where little prior information about a given ecosystem is available. Our EBQI implementation, shGSL-EBQI (shallow heterogeneous Gulf of St. Lawrence-EBQI), provided ecosystem status classifications that were robust and consistent with available environmental assessments in the area. We then showed that shGSL-EBQI relates to multiple environmental and anthropogenic drivers and suggest approaches to limit the effect of confounding environmental gradients. Finally, we discuss the potential applicability of shGSL-EBQI to other regions of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and provide advice on how a coastal monitoring initiative could facilitate widespread adoption of EBQI in Canada. As efforts to base future development on sustainability through ecosystem-based management increase both in Canada and internationally, we demonstrate that EBQI is well suited to the Canadian context and thus likely more generally in other jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic model is used to construct political factors. • SBM-DEA model is used to evaluate the ecological efficiency of 36 cities. • Time effect is introduced into FSQCA to analyze the panel data of all cities and four regions. • Differences of the four urban agglomerations are compared. • Analyze the different paths of political factors in 36 cities. Rapid economic development of any country will usually lead to negative environmental impacts. A free market economy cannot fundamentally solve this issue, which requires the guidance and control of the government. The environmental policies of governments can effectively improve the ecological conditions in a region. This study quantifies environmental regulation policies and takes four urban agglomerations in eastern China as the research object to explore the influence of environmental regulation on regional ecological efficiency. First, policies can be divided into policy control, pollution control, ecological protection, and social adjustment by building a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model of a policy text library to measure differences in urban policy bias. Next, a slack-based measure (SBM) model was used to measure urban ecological efficiency. Finally, using the qualitative comparison analysis method, the time effect was considered and the ecological efficiency configuration of the entire region was obtained. In addition, contrast analysis was conducted for different path configurations and the reasons of the statuses of the four urban agglomerations were obtained. The results show that policy control, pollution control, ecological protection, and other mandatory policies can significantly reduce the negative environmental effects, especially when the policy controls involve an explicit form of punishment, which is a necessary condition for achieving a high level of ecological efficiency. However, social adjustment means having higher requirements for regional total factor development, which requires improving the environmental awareness of residents and improving corporate social responsibility. Regional differences will mean that areas with a lower level of economic development have a higher intensity of policy control, and the means of policy control should be matched with the level of economic development. In addition, this study proposes some policy suggestions, such as strengthening policy control and pollution prevention, strengthening social regulation, and promulgating environmental laws and regulations according to local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Forest condition, biodiversity and ecosystems services are strongly interlinked. • A transferable and operational European wide forest condition indicator is presented. • The methodology includes structural, functional, and compositional variables. • This spatially explicit indicator is built on information accessible EU databases. • This supports the monitoring and assessment of efforts towards EU and SDG goals. Forest condition, biodiversity, and ecosystem services are strongly interlinked. The biodiversity levels depend to a large extent on the integrity, health, and vitality of forests at the same time as losses of forest biodiversity lead to decreased forest productivity and sustainability. Under this conceptual framework, this study presents a methodology for mapping forest condition at European scale supporting the attainment of the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Target 5 " the rate of loss of all natural habitats, including forests, is at least halved and where feasible brought close to zero, and degradation and fragmentation is significantly reduced" and the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as well as the EU forest strategy since the sustainable forest management is oriented to support the provision of forest services and to enhance the condition of biodiversity forests' host. The work presents the developments of an operational indicator at European scale. This spatially explicit information on forest condition can be the baseline map with a 1 km resolution to monitor the state and changes of condition by exposition to pressures and threats. This condition indicator considers structural, functional, and compositional aspects of forest with relevance for health and vitality of species and habitats hosted by forest ecosystems. The methodology implemented used harmonized, published and open datasets. It provided confident results for the assessment of the condition within hemiboreal, temperate and alpine forests, showing the Carpathian, Dinaric Alps and Alps, among others, as hotspots with pre-dominantly good condition. The results were validated with data derived from the reporting for the EU Habitat Directive and explicit dataset on known primary forests in Europe. However, this method underestimated the forest condition in the Mediterranean and Boreal forest types due to data gaps, regional specific characteristics, and design limitations. This study illustrates an operational and transferable approach for addressing the assessment of ecosystem forest condition at European scale being considered as a support tool for European countries when mapping and assessing their national territory, as potential common approach to map forest ecosystems that allows for consistent aggregation and comparisons across scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The YREB region is transforming from a natural river basin to a consumption-oriented economic belt. • The YREB region exacerbates the gap between the north and the south through interregional trade. • The PHH effect held in 2002 in the cross reach linkage, but had disappeared by 2012. • Consumption structure and carbon intensity drive the deceleration of interregional outsourcing. As the largest river in Asia with masses of population and industries along the riverside, the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) produces tremendous carbon emissions. However, trade-induced environmental impacts of such a megaregion with multiple geographic linkages are always neglected in the river's environmental policies, even as it is expected to change dynamically in the context of a transition period. By incorporating the megaregion scale into the multiregional input and output framework, our main findings are as follows: (1) The YREB region transformed from a traditional river basin to a comprehensive consumption-oriented economic belt. The proportions of the YREB region's embodied emissions in local and international linkages are decreasing, while the proportions of that in cross reach and interregional linkages are increasing; (2) The YREB region exacerbates the gap between the north and the south by importing carbon emissions from the carbon-intensive north and exporting to the south with low emission intensity; (3) The Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH) effect held in 2002 in the cross reach linkage, while disappeared in 2012 due to changes in development and consumption patterns. Through structural decomposition analysis, this study detects driving factors of embodied emissions changes in multi linkages, and provides coordinating mitigation actions for the environmental governance of large river basins with comprehensive economic linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]