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Toilet paper has been reported as one of the major insoluble pollutant components in the influent of wastewater treatment plants. Toilet paper fibers contribute to a large production of sewage sludge, resulting in a high treatment cost and high energy consumption. To find energy-efficient, cost-effective, and environment-friendly technologies for fiber removal and resource recovery from wastewater, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to analyze the wastewater treatment processes, including a sieving process for removing and recovering suspended solids before the biodegradation units. Based on the LCA results, it was estimated that the sieve screening process saved 8.57% of energy consumption. The construction phase of sieving consumed 1.31% energy cost compared with the operation phase. Environmental impact analysis showed that sieving reduced the impacts of climate change, human toxicity, fossil depletion, and particulate matter formation, which reduced the total normalized environmental impacts by 9.46%. The life-cycle analysis of the removal of toilet paper fibers from wastewater revealed the need to use more efficient methods to enhance the recovery of cellulose fibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly studies the impact of environmental protection tax (EPT) on the illegal emission behaviors of heavy polluting enterprises. Based on the real-time data from the nearest air monitoring points, this paper calculates the day-night difference of PM2.5 to measure whether there are illegal emission behaviors. And, difference in difference method (DID) is used based on the quasi-natural experiment of EPT. First, the baseline DID results show that EPT reduces day-night difference of PM2.5, and inhibits illegal emissions. Second, the influence paths results show that EPT can inhibit illegal emission by increasing innovation, environmental responsibility performance, and environmental penalty cost, and EPT aggravate illegal emissions by increasing environmental costs and environmental corruption. Third, the influence of different pollutant pricing on illegal emissions is further analyzed. The effect of air pollutant pricing on illegal emissions is inhibited first and then promoted, while higher water pollutant pricing will aggravate illegal emissions. This paper provides enlightenment on adjusting EPT policy for local governments to curb illegal emissions, and provides an economic explanation for the differences of illegal pollution discharge in different places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid development and agglomeration of manufacturing industries in China inevitably lead to serious environmental pollution problems. The government restrains development of manufacturing industries through environmental regulation policies, but this may affect manufacturing industries agglomeration. Therefore, studying the impact of environmental regulation (ER) on manufacturing agglomeration (MA) is a critical prerequisite for the sustainability of China's manufacturing industry. Based on the panel data of 41 cities in Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region of China from 2003 to 2017, this paper explores the threshold effect of ER on MA using a panel threshold model and analyzes the heterogeneity impact of ER on MA in different regions and analyzes the dynamic mechanism and contribution of each influencing factor on MA using a panel vector autoregressive model. The results show that (1) there is a double threshold effect of ER on MA, showing an inverted "U"-shaped effect of rising and then falling; there are threshold effects of ER on MA based on foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic development level (EDL). The effect of ER on MA has the threshold effect under different FDI and EDL level, in which the effect based on FDI shows an inverted "U" shape relationship of rising and then falling; the effect based on EDL shows a growing trend. (2) There are 29 cities in YRD region in the "weak regulation" or "strong regulation" stage, both of which are not conducive to MA. (3) ER has a facilitating effect on MA, but with the extension of forecast period, this facilitating effect turns into an inhibiting effect. MA is mainly influenced by itself and transportation conditions (TC). Our study can provide some insights for improving the ecological environment and promoting the development of manufacturing clusters in YRD region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving green energy efficiency is crucial to promoting China's high-quality economic development and reducing the environmental pollution. In this paper, the Malmquist-Luenberger index measures the green energy efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2004 to 2019. Based on the measurement results, the spatial Durbin model is used to empirically study the impact of environmental regulation on green energy efficiency and its spatial spillover effects. The results show that China's green energy efficiency is low, and its growth mainly comes from technological progress (TECH) rather than technological efficiency (EFFCH). The eastern region has the highest efficiency of green energy, followed by the West and the lowest in the Central region. The estimation results of the spatial Durbin model show that both environmental regulation and green energy efficiency have a significant spatial correlation. Environmental regulation can improve the green energy efficiency in the local province but inhibit green energy efficiency in the adjacent provinces. Finally, this paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions according to the research results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National environmental protection supervision and control has become essential means to regulate the environmental behavior of enterprises. Furthermore, the optimization, promotion, and sustainability of relevant policies are key topics of inquiry. Taking the implementation of national environmental protection supervision policies as the time series, this paper studies the impact of national environmental protection supervision and control on corporate production efficiency. It uses the multi-phase difference-in-difference (DID) method and explores the sustainability of said policies. Results indicate that, first, national environmental protection supervision and control can considerably enhance corporate production efficiency, and green technology innovation plays a vital role as an intervening variable. Second, national environmental protection supervision and control can only boost the increase in corporate production efficiency in the short term, and the impact will no longer be noticeable in the third year. This paper provides a decision-making basis for constantly boosting and revising national environmental protection supervision and control policies and stimulating green technology innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stakeholders and communities' involvement is vital for shaping novel intergenerational resource governance frameworks. This is crucial for modelling upcoming energy transitions towards cleaner and more sustainable production systems. New models envisage energy mixes in which renewable resources are prominent and offer sustainable development advantages. Examining electricity production figures is, hence, necessary to understand trends and formulate policies and actions. This paper aims at drafting the state-of-the-art of electricity production in the Nordic-Baltic Sea area, moving an exploratory regional appraisal. Aggregated and disaggregated data on electricity production sources are explored and compared for all the eleven selected countries—at domestic, sub-regional, and regional levels. The region shows great national diversity, which implies diversified energy policies. Thus, the role of local initiatives—such as power grid implementation—in local communities empowerment is revealed. From this outcome, possible strategies are prescribed locally to assist the regional sustainable energy appraisal and furnish indications for the European energy and ecological transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In manufacturing, Industry 4.0 operating models enable greener technologies. Thanks to digital technologies, environmental sustainability and organizational competitiveness are mutually reinforcing. The challenge for manufacturing organizations is to understand and quantify the magnitude of this synergistic action, and the holistic perspective of life cycle assessment tools may be a solution to the problem. Organizational Life Cycle Assessment (O-LCA) unlike Product Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is still an under-researched methodology with few applications in manufacturing contexts. This paper aims to fill this gap by implementing and validating O-LCA in the case of an Italian ceramic tile manufacturer. Following the O-LCA guidelines and exploiting Industry 4.0 technologies to perform the inventory analysis, the environmental assessment was conducted in three different plants, comparing the sum of the partial impact results with the overall results scaled to the whole organization. The experimental results demonstrated the validity of the organizational approach as an appropriate methodological option to obtain relevant information on environmental performance that, being based on empirical evidence, better support decision-making processes. Furthermore, the study provides empirical evidence of how Industry 4.0 is an enabler not only for the adoption of greener technologies, but especially for facilitating the organizational environmental impact assessment that is the necessary condition in order to set up and maintain greener manufacturing contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, industrialisation and urbanisation have led to the generation of hazardous waste (HW). Sustainable hazardous waste management (HWM) is the need of the hour for a safe, clean, and eco-friendly environment and public health. The prominent waste management strategies should be aligned with circular economic models considering the economy, environment, and efficiency. This review critically discusses HW generation and sustainable management with the strategies of prevention, reduction, recycling, waste-to-energy, advanced treatment technology, and proper disposal. In this regard, the major HW policies, legislations, and international conventions related to HWM are summarised. The global generation and composition of hazardous industrial, household, and e-waste are analysed, along with their environmental and health impacts. The paper critically discusses recently adapted management strategies, waste-to-energy conversion techniques, treatment technologies, and their suitability, advantages, and limitations. A roadmap for future research focused on the components of the circular economy model is proposed, and the waste management challenges are discussed. This review stems to give a holistic and broader picture of global waste generation (from many sources), its effects on public health and the environment, and the need for a sustainable HWM approach towards the circular economy. The in-depth analysis presented in this work will help build cost-effective and eco-sustainable HWM projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steel slag is an industrial by product of steel manufacturing processes and has been widely utilized within civil and construction materials for road materials and environmental remediation in countries like Japan, USA, and European Union nations. However, the current utilization of steel slag in Vietnam is very low mainly because of lack of quality control of slag treatment and chances for reuse of treated steel slag. This paper presents the up to date steel slag production status in Vietnam through the extensive survey and sampling at seven large steel factories. The paper also highlights the environmental and quality control issues of these steel slags to use as road construction aggregates by assessing the heavy metals concentration in the leachate. The basic oxygen furnace (BOF) and electric arc furnace (EAF) slag samples were collected to evaluate leaching properties of metals leached from the slags. The two standardized batch leaching tests of steel slag roadbed material in Japan (JIS K 0058-1) and toxicity characteristics leaching procedure (TCLP—EPA method 1311) were performed to the evaluated the hazardous metals. The results of the leaching test show that almost all of the concentration of the metals in the leached solution does not exceed the National Standard for Industrial Wastewater Discharge (QCVN 40-2011). The pH and parameters such as total chromium, nickel, copper, lead, arsenic, and manganese differ from the two test methods. The acidic conditions employed in the EPA 1311 were not representative of condition excepted during slag reuse in road constructions because in the operation condition of the road, acidic liquid is absent. The leaching test results confirmed that JIS test which uses deionized water with gentle mixing prevents the slag sample from size degradation is suitable for the environmental assessment of steel slag use for roadbed material. This research suggests that the adjustment of pH value prior to disposal or reuse as base materials and official guideline should be promulgate by the authorities to ensure the leachate meet the surface water quality standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing demand for energy consumption because of the growing population and environmental concerns has motivated the researchers to ponder about alternative fuel that could replace diesel fuel. A new fuel should be cheaply available, clean, efficient, and environmentally friendly. In this paper, the engine operated with neat punnai oil blends with diesel was investigated at various engine load conditions, keeping neat punnai oil and diesel as base fuels. The performance indicators such as brake specific energy consumption (BSEC), brake thermal efficiency (BTE), and exhaust gas temperature (EGT); emission indicators such as carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and smoke opacity; and combustion parameters like cylinder pressure and heat release rate were examined. The brake thermal efficiency of diesel is 29.2%, whereas it was lower for neat punnai oil and its blends at peak load conditions. Concerning the environmental aspect, oxides of nitrogen emission showed a decreasing trend with higher smoke emissions for Punnai oil blends. Detailed combustion analysis showed that on smaller concentrations of punnai oil in the fuel blend, the duration of combustion has improved significantly. However, for efficiency and emissions, the P20 (20% punnai oil and 80% diesel) blend performs similar to that of diesel compared to all other blending combinations. When compared with diesel, the P20 blend shows an improvement in BSEC by 26.37%. It also performs closer in HC emission, a marginal increase in smoke opacity of 4% with reduced NOx and CO2 emission of 7.9% and 4.65% respectively. Power loss was noticed when neat punnai oil and higher blends were used due to the high density and low calorific value of punnai oil blends which leads to injecting more fuel for the same pump stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research studied the impacts of the environmental Kuznets curve and the determinants of economic growth for Visegrad countries from 1990 to 2018. This paper reflects on the effects of renewable and non-renewable energy, urban population, foreign direct investment, economic growth, and carbon dioxide emissions. According to our results, the panel of unit root tests showed that the variables under study are integrated into the first differences. Considering the empirical results for the environmental Kuznets curve, we observe that economic growth is positively correlated with pollution emissions; nevertheless, the squared income per capita is negatively impacted by carbon dioxide emissions. Energy consumption increases carbon emissions, and foreign direct investment confirms the pollution halo hypothesis. Therefore, the econometric results showed that renewable energy consumption promotes regional growth. Consequently, urban population and foreign direct investment positively correlate with economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is widely used to evaluate product's life cycle environmental impact and identify the environmental weaknesses. However, it is difficult for existing LCA software to perform flexible LCA analysis based on the product life cycle characteristics and industry background. Meanwhile, under the existing LCA research model, product designers and manufacturers are usually not LCA evaluators, resulting in a certain time gap between the evaluation results and product improvement. Designers with less experience in green design often find it difficult to identify high environmental impact links in products at different life cycle stages and product levels, and updated products are challenging to meet various environmental restrictions. This paper establishes a multi-module product life cycle analysis model that combines product industry background that includes basic information, assessment information, structural information, and restriction information to achieve the multi-scenario of product LCA in different dimensions in a typical domain. The calculated mechanism of the dynamic power emission factor is built according to the service time and space dimensions. The proposed method forms an integrated environmental performance evaluation of household appliance (EPEHA) system. A software assessment and an optimization method are proposed to improve the EPEHA system. The results of this study show that these proposed methods can improve the timeliness and diversity of results analysis of product LCA in the field of household appliances in China. The universal data exchange format and simple operation interface of the EPEHA system enable people related to the product to quickly understand the environmental impact of the product in different scenarios, even if they lack green design knowledge and professional software training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal environmental regulation plays an important role in green innovation, which is of great significance to realize the win-win situation between environmental protection and economic development. However, few studies have focused on the incentive effect of informal environmental regulation on innovation motivation. Based on the panel data of 286 cities from 2003 to 2018, the DID (difference-in-differences) model is used to investigate the impact of pollution Information Transparency Index (PITI) published by ENGOs (Environmental Non-governmental Organizations) on substantive green innovation. The results show that PITI disclosure has a significant positive and robust effect on substantive green innovation in China. Additionally, heterogeneous analysis shows that key environmental protection and highly innovative cities benefit more from PITI disclosure. The effect in the second stage is stronger than in the first stage. Mechanism analysis shows that PITI disclosure enhances substantive green innovation through FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and human capital channels. Based on the above conclusions, three policy implications are put forward in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to analyse the life cycle of sheep milk cheese production, to investigate supply chain of cheese and to suggest improvements for minimizing the environmental impacts associated with this agri-food product. The functional unit chosen was 1 kg of sheep milk cheese. Modelling of the production process was performed based on real data obtained from a cheese production company in Romania. Two methods (CML and ReCiPe), included in GaBi software, were used for the environmental impact assessment. The following impacts: abiotic depletion potential elements, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, global warming potential, human toxicity potential (included in CML method) and climate change, fossil depletion, freshwater eutrophication, particulate matter formation, photochemical oxidant formation, terrestrial acidification (included in ReCiPe method), were calculated. Results highlighted that energy production and diesel consumption are the main activities which contribute to the environmental impacts associated with cheese product. Emissions from diesel production and consumption contribute to global warming potential with 11.70% and 82.36%, respectively. Wastewater treatment mainly contributes to freshwater eutrophication with 43.58%, followed by raw milk production (37.52%), diesel production (12.34%) and others. The results of this study showed that the values for most impact categories decrease when the energy is obtained by renewable sources compared to the energy produced by conventional procedures. It was concluded that, in order to reduce the environmental impacts associated with sheep cheese production, the energy used in the process needs to be more environmentally friendly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, environmental impact analysis is applied to the various auxiliary power units (APUs) used for commercial aircraft in air transportation sector. The exhaust emissions of different auxiliary power units used in commercial aircraft are investigated. The emission index (EI), global warming potential (GWP) rate, global warming potential index (GWPI), environmental impact (EnI) rate, environmental impact index (EnII), environmental damage cost (EDC) rate, and environmental damage cost index (EDCI) of the exhaust emissions of APUs are computed. The GTCP36-300 model APU has the lowest total emission rate (TER) with 1.333 kg/h, the GTC85-129 model APU has the maximum total environmental index (TEI) by 24.719 g/kg-fuel, the GTCP36-300 model APU has the best total global warming potential value with 2709.176 kg/h CO2_eqv, the TSCP700 model APU has the worst global warming potential index rate as 52.481 kg/kWh CO2_eqv, the best total environmental damage cost rate is calculated to be 3.717 €/h for GTC85-72 model APU, the TSCP700 model APU has the highest environmental damage cost index with 0.130 €/kWh, the maximum total environmental impact is computed to be 5656.378 mPts/h for GTCP660 model APU, and the best total environmental impact index is determined for the GTC85-72 model APU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are extensive studies of environmental corporate social responsibility at the macro level. However, the study of the impact of environmental corporate social responsibility on employees' work-related outcomes is inchoate. Drawing on social identity theory and signaling theory, this paper investigates the impact of environmental corporate social responsibility on employees' green innovative behaviors. The mediating role of perceived meaningfulness at work and the moderating role of moral identity are also investigated. Data were collected via a time-lagged and multisource survey. The study analyzed the responses of 271 employees of Chinese enterprises. Hypotheses were examined using hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrapping. The results indicated environmental corporate social responsibility to be positively related to employees' green innovative behaviors. Perceived meaningfulness at work mediates the link between environmental corporate social responsibility and employees' green innovative behaviors. Moreover, moral identity moderates the relationship between environmental corporate social responsibility and perceived meaningfulness at work. The indirect effect of environmental corporate social responsibility on employees' green innovative behaviors via perceived meaningfulness at work is also moderated by moral identity. Theoretical contributions and practical implications of the study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major strategy for addressing the imbalance in source-network-load distribution is interprovincial electricity transmission; however, this process also causes various environmental effects. Previous studies have mainly examined thermal power transmission, and few insights have been gained into the challenges hydroelectricity transmission poses for biodiversity conservation. Here, we innovatively incorporated the freshwater species diversity footprint into a hydropower environmental impact assessment, calculating the interprovincial transfer of freshwater species diversity embodied in hydroelectricity transmission. We proposed an evaluation model of an interprovincial hydroelectricity transmission network using freshwater species diversity as the ecological element and creatively identified significant nodes and paths of the network. Up to 28% of the transfer of freshwater species diversity was related to the demand for hydroelectricity consumption in Shanghai. 64% of the relationships in the hydroelectricity transmission network were implemented at the expense of ecological losses on one side. Shanghai and Sichuan provinces and some transmission lines related to them were significant nodes and paths for improving the overall status of the network. This research can help policymakers comprehend the challenges to freshwater species presented by interprovincial hydroelectricity transmission and serve as a reference for ecological compensation for hydropower development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are pleased to present this special issue featuring articles presented at the National Conference on Environmental Toxicology: Impact on Human Health (Environ Tox 2021), held on 25 SP th sp -26 SP th sp November 2021 at Vivekananda Global University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. We hope that this special issue on Environmental Toxicology: Impact on Human Health provides valuable insights to the researchers working in nanobiotechnology. [Extracted from the article]

Governance is one of the basic determinants of pollution levels through property rights, the effective judicial system, etc. it is accepted as that bad governance because of inefficient regulatory structures, government bureaucracy, weak law enforcement, etc. support environmental pollution. In this context, in some countries of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, it will be studied the impacts of governance on environmental pollution over the period of 1996–2018 by the panel quantile and Granger causality methods. The countries were selected by considering two different measurements, EPI (2020) index and governance index (2020). According to EPI (2020), these countries have low scores in terms of environmental quality, and in the governance index (2020), they have bad governance scores. In this study, in which panel quantile regression model is used, control variables are included in the model to prevent omitted-variable bias. The results of the analysis determined that the effect of governance on carbon emissions is positive, as well as that the effects of independent variables on CO2 emission are heterogeneous across quantities. Panel quantile regression revealed the evidence of the relation among the environmental pollution, two parameters of governance, FDI, financial development, human development index, and trade openness used as the explanatory variable and determined that government has the greatest positive effect on CO2 emission. On the other hand, by using traditional Granger causality and Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality methods, it was found the evidence of causality among governance and environmental pollution in the context of two parameters of governance. Accordingly, it was determined the evidence of unidirectional causality relation from political governance to environmental pollution and besides from economic governance to environmental pollution. And it was determined the evidence of unidirectional causality from FDI and the other explanatory variables to environmental pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most scientific studies on microplastic (MP) pollution report their results as number of particles (e.g., particles/m2, particles/m3, particles/kg dw). An important limitation of this expression is to consider all MP particles as environmentally equivalent, regardless of their size, volume, mass, or specific surface area. Using a theoretical approach, we advocate that including such morphological attributes reveals significant differences in results of supposedly equivalent samples that consider only the number of particles. Our goal is to present how particle size and shape produce different results for hypothetical samples with the same number of particles. Therefore, from these examples we expect to stimulate the debate and contribute to improve accuracy and comparability of studies on MP pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management of waste through dual way of recycling (i-e offline and online) is assumed to have a key role in attaining ecological sustainability and enabling circular practices. The research on online recycling is gaining evolution in recent age. Prior literature on the current research theme has failed to provide a comprehensive outlook and future trend. Therefore, the current research intends to elaborate the current research scenario linked with online recycling by critically scrutinizing the prior research over the last 41 years. A comprehensive analysis was conducted using the Scopus database, retrieving a total of 866 articles. These articles were selected to provide a conceptual overview and understanding of the fundamental research conducted in the field. By employing bibliometric analysis this research provides comprehensive detail about evolution, mapping of publications and prominent trends from the year 1981 to 2022 to understand the practices and future trends of online recycling research. The outcomes elucidated that there is exponential increase in research publications relating to online recycling over the last five years. The most influential producer of online recycling research are China, United Kingdom and United States. Chinese Universities has the highest number of publications among all the countries across globe. Moreover, the current research trend is focused on technology based circular economy, industrial ecology, bio-based waste management, dual channel recycling, municipal waste, waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), environmental impact and lifecycle assessment. Hence, the prominent research perspective and highlighted features could offer recommendation for upcoming studies to contribute in literature and help practitioners, policymakers and professionals move towards circular practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of various catastrophic consequences of climate change, Malaysia, a rapidly developing economy, is also inevitably experiencing environmental degradation that merits prompt and serious attention from policymakers and its government. Hence, this study simultaneously highlights the short and long-run dynamic connections between carbon emission in Malaysia and the trio of corruption levels, foreign investment inflow, and trade liberalization. The study also controls for a combination of other factors including energy use, GDP, and urbanization. A robust empirical analysis was conducted on time series observations for the country based on the recent Dynamic ARDL simulation. It was observed that Malaysia's per capita pollution levels significantly reduces based on the corruption perception levels during the sampling period while the economic expansion's effect on emission levels is positive. Additionally, urbanization, trade levels and energy use all aggravate the emission levels. On the other hand, although FDI poses an insignificant environmental damage in the short run, its environmental sustainability enhancement roles were supported by its long-run negative impacts on carbon emission. Lastly, the EKC was established and as such, essential policy directions were provided for stakeholders in the rapidly emerging Malaysian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, two types of liquid alkali-free accelerators were prepared by aluminum sulfate (AF1) and aluminum mud wastes (AF2), and the life cycle assessment (LCA) in the preparation of AF1 and AF2 was compared. The LCA was considered from cradle to gate including raw materials used, transportation, and accelerator preparation based on the method ReCiPe2016. The results indicated that AF1 had a higher environmental impact in all midpoint impact categories and endpoint indicators than that of AF2, and AF2 reduced 43.59% emission of CO2, 59.09% emission of SO2, 71% consumption of mineral resources, and 46.67% consumption of fossil resources than that of AF1 respectively. As an environment-friendly accelerator, AF2 had a better application performance than traditional accelerator AF1. When the dosage of accelerators was 7%, the initial setting times of cement pastes containing AF1 and AF2 were 4 min 57 s and 4 min 04 s respectively, the final setting times of cement pastes containing AF1 and AF2 were 11 min 49 s and 9 min 53 s respectively, and the compressive strengths at 1 d of mortars containing AF1 and AF2 were 7.35 MPa and 8.33 MPa respectively. This study aims to provide technical feasibility and environmental impact assessment for exploring new avenues of preparing environment-friendly liquid alkali-free accelerators with aluminum mud solid wastes. It has great potential in reducing carbon and pollution emissions and has a greater competitive advantage due to great application performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a consensus among world leaders at COP26 and COP27, every country is trying to deal with environmental issues. In this context, the role of green innovation efficiency is crucial, as it can positively drive the environmental efforts of a country. However, past research has ignored the methods through which a country can drive green innovation efficiency. To address this research gap, this work selected data from 2007 to 2021 in China, measured the green innovation efficiency (GIE) of each province, and constructed a systematic GMM model to analyze the role of environmental regulation policy and human capital on GIE. The findings of the study are as follows. (1) The overall GIE in China is 0.537, which is still at a low efficiency level, and high efficiency is mainly concentrated in the eastern region, while the western region has the lowest level of GIE. (2) The relationship between environmental regulations and GIE in the whole country and in the eastern, central, and western regions is shown to be "U" shaped. The regression coefficient of human capital on GIE is found to be positive, but there is regional variation, which is not significant in the western region and shows a significant positive correlation in other regions. (3) There is regional heterogeneity in FDI's impact on GIE; the results in the eastern region are consistent with the national results, which can promote GIE, but not significantly in the central and western regions; marketization can improve GIE in the national and eastern regions, but is not significant in the central and western regions; scientific and technological innovation can promote GIE except in the central region; and economic development can improve GIE in all regions. Studying the impact of environmental regulation and human capital development on the efficiency of green innovation and realizing the coordinated development of the environment and economy under institutional innovation and human capital innovation is of great significance for the development of China's low-carbon economy and has important reference value for accelerating sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental goods and services industry consists of the activities that generate products and services to monitor, avoid, restrict, reduce, or repair environmental risk and decrease non-renewable energy resource usage. Although the environmental goods industry does not exist in many countries, mainly developing countries, through international trade, its impacts are reaching developing countries. This study examines the impact of environmental and non-environmental goods trade on emissions in high and middle–income countries. For empirical estimation, the panel ARDL model is applied using the data from 2007 to 2020. The results indicate that importing environmental goods decreases emissions while imports of non-environmental goods increase the emissions in high-income countries in the long run. It is found that imports of environmental goods in developing countries decrease emissions in both the short and long run. However, in the short run, the imports of non-environmental goods in developing countries have an insignificant impact on emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the environmental impacts of the energy mix of mainly oil-producing African nations. The economic aspects of decarbonization prospects were also viewed from the perspectives of fossil energy dependence among the countries. More insights on the impacts of energy mix on decarbonization prospects were also provided on a country-specific analysis basis via the application of second-generation econometric techniques in assessing carbon emission levels across the countries between 1990 and 2015. From the results, only renewable resources proved to be a significant decarbonization tool among the understudied oil-rich economies. Moreover, the consequences of the trio of fossil fuel consumption, income growth, and globalization are diametrically opposed to achieving decarbonization as the rise in their usage significantly acts as pollutant-inducing tools. The validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) conjecture was also upheld for the combined analysis of the panel countries. The study thus opined that the reduction in conventional energy dependence will enhance environmental quality. Consequently, given the advantages of the geographical locations of these countries in Africa, concerted strategies for more investment in clean renewable energy sources like solar and wind were suggested to policymakers among other recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing energy efficiency is an important issue for countries facing pressures from energy shortages and environment pollution. Given increasing interest in the role of environmental supervision and the current lack of empirical evidence on this topic, this study investigates the impact of environmental supervision on firms' energy efficiency by taking the Environmental Protection Admonishing Talk (EPAT) policy in China as a quasi-natural experiment. Using the difference-in-differences method and the panel data of more than 3 million firms in China from 2008 to 2016, we find that environmental supervision improves firms' energy efficiency. This finding is validated by robustness tests and the difference-in-differences method combined with propensity score matching. The EPAT policy has varying effects on firms based on their location and size. A mechanism analysis shows that the EPAT policy improves firms' energy efficiency mainly by incentivizing them to adopt new technologies and transforming their modes of production. These findings can provide novel microscopic evidence on environmental supervision and energy efficiency and offer clues for the improvement of environmental enforcement in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research is aimed at assessing the environmental impacts of landfill mining of soil-like material with on-site sorting for land application using life cycle assessment. The scenario is compared with no-landfill mining (base scenario) and future scenario (including material recycling and incineration). Soil-like material is processed using windrow composting. The impact assessment was performed using the EASETECH™ software tool. ReCipE 2016 midpoint world impact method with eight impact categories was used for assessing the environmental profiles. The functional unit of the assessment was 1 t of recovered waste in India. Overall, the results showed that excavation of landfilled waste with on-site recovery of soil and land application of soil resulted in higher environmental benefits compared to no mining condition in global warming potential (GWP), freshwater eutrophication (FEW), human toxicity (HT), and fossil depletion (FD), while higher impacts were observed in terrestrial acidification (TA), terrestrial ecotoxicity (TE), marine eutrophication (ME), and photochemical oxidation (PCO). After composting, land application of recovered soil contributed to environmental offsets in GWP, HT, and FEW while contributing to TE emissions. Emissions associated with excavation and on-site sorting contributed 55.1% to freshwater toxicity, 25.5% to human toxicity, 16.2% to climate change, and 10.8% to terrestrial acidification. The choice of energy, transportation, and fuel for waste activities affected the performance of alternative scenarios in GWP. Application of recovered metals in the manufacturing process, incineration of plastic, and textile components improved the environmental performance. The outcomes of this research will equip regulatory bodies in the development of guidelines and frameworks on material and energy recovery from the waste components mined from legacy waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing literature on the inequality-emissions nexus, this area of empirical interest is still inconclusive, particularly in the era of globalization. Hence, this empirical work investigates the effect of income inequality on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions controlling the model for globalization. Considering the unique characteristics of various proxies of inequality, different proxies have been employed to develop an in-depth understanding of the inequality-emission nexus. The Driscoll-Kraay and generalized least square regression approaches are used for 38 sub-Saharan African countries from 1990 to 2016. Empirical results infer that higher income inequality promotes carbon reduction in the sample countries of the study. Further, findings suggest that globalization is beneficial for the environment by contributing to carbon emission mitigation. Several additional variables are used to validate the findings. The study offers some important policy implications in the end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering site selection is an essential and systematic work in the early engineering construction stage. At present, the subsea tunnel site selection mainly depends on manual experience. There is still a lack of subsea tunnel site selection systems based on environmental impact. This study develops a comprehensive site selection evaluation system based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy evaluation method for the subsea tunnel site selection. It is a multi-indicator mathematical model evaluation system. On this basis, the ecological site selection method of the subsea tunnel is further studied, an indicator system for evaluating the environmental carrying capacity of the island is established, and the site selection results of the subsea tunnel based on the environmental indicators are obtained. We compared the site selection results of the two methods. The results show that the conventional method and the ecological site selection method based on environmental indicators can well carry out the site selection of subsea tunnels. The two methods take into account both the overall and local optimum of the subsea tunnel route and organically combine the overall and local objectives. This way provides a reference for the design and construction of the subsea tunnel in the future and points out the direction for the site selection of other large-scale projects with significant environmental impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite political volatility, Yemen's construction sector is gradually progressing to satisfy the country's housing needs. Most construction projects, however, employ traditional construction methods and have yet to be able to adopt sustainable construction, which is economically feasible, socially responsible, and environmentally beneficial. To support sustainable construction, this study analyzes various factors that might drive sustainable practices in construction projects in Yemen. These drivers are discovered from the literature and validated by experts using grey Delphi. Forty-four drivers were approved across three dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. These drivers are assessed using grey AHP. The economic factor is determined to be the most crucial in the adoption of sustainable construction. Competitiveness, improved well-being, and improved indoor environmental quality are rated as the top economic, social, and environmental dimensions, respectively. Overall, competitiveness is acknowledged as the most important driver for the implementation of sustainable practices in Yemen's construction projects. The study's findings were discussed with the experts who were involved in the evaluation. The findings were agreed upon, and it was underlined that a proactive approach from both construction project participants and public authorities can increase the competitiveness of sustainable construction. Additional policies to promote competitiveness of sustainable construction are also advocated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating a group of generation units and loads into a microgrid improves power supply sustainability, decreases greenhouse gas emissions, and lowers generating costs. However, this integration necessitates the development of an improved energy management system. The microgrid distributes electricity among energy resources to optimize either the generating cost or the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions, or both at the same time. The low-cost energy supply requires a precise cost model for each energy component. This article aims to develop the generation cost model that incorporates renewable energy to lower the total operating cost and curb greenhouse gas emissions. The suggested optimization problem deals with the low-cost energy solution for the rural area of India. The proposed system used particle swarm optimization, a global optimization strategy, in the study. Minimum cost and emission scenarios are objective issues while operating with tolerable emissions, and costs are multi-objective of the present study. The outcomes of the scenarios are used to provide viable optimized solutions to multi-objective problems using the optimization technique. Finally, a battery bank's potential to compensate for generation shortages while minimizing emissions is being studied. The study is performed on a microgrid comprising photovoltaic PV, diesel generator, battery, wind turbine, and an Indian rural scenario load profile. The finding suggested that the optimal configuration has a total net cost of operation is $59,195.61. The per-unit cost of energy is 0.20 $/kWh with a saving of CO 2 emission is 5994 kg/year. This modular feasibility analysis demonstrates that utilizing a hybrid energy system to power the planning is cost-effective. This research is anticipated to aid rural communities and other stakeholders in making well-informed decisions throughout the planning stages of similar initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global population continually increases, and providing power and ensuring sustainable development is becoming increasingly challenging. As a result of increased industrialization and mobility, population growth produces changes in land usage and greenhouse gas emissions. Air quality is influenced by the amount of energy used. The release of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere harms the ecosystem. Although renewable energy sources can help reduce carbon emissions, their unreliability means that energy output is unpredictable, necessitating the development of battery storage to bridge the demand–supply gap. Much attention has been paid to combining renewable energy sources with batteries into rural electrification. The designing and operation of a rural standalone microgrid with electrical loads modeled for the electrification energy deficient village of Uttarakhand (India). The proposed work optimized the component size, cost of energy, net present cost, and pollutant emission reduction in the environment. The optimization is carried out using the gray wolf optimization algorithm. Four different microgrid systems are investigated for the feasibility evaluation of cost-effective rural power. A comparative evaluation of models is provided based on environmental and economic factors. The optimum design has an energy cost of 0.313 $/kWh and a net present cost of $ 65,241.32. The second arrangement, which has the most significant level of renewable energy penetration (90%), has provided a reliable power supply to the region. On the other hand, the proposed design satisfied all constraints while retaining a competitive energy cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to widespread use of nanoparticles in surfactant-based formulations, their release into the environment and wastewater is unavoidable and toxic for biota and/or wastewater treatment processes. Because of concerns over the environmental impacts of nanofluids, studies of the fate and environmental impacts, hazards, and toxicities of nanoparticles are beginning. However, interactions between nanoparticles and surfactants and the biodegradability of these mixtures have been little studied until now. In this work, the environmental impacts of nanofluids containing mixtures of surfactants and silica nanoparticles were valuated. The systems studied were hydrophilic silica nanoparticles (sizes 7 and 12 nm), a nonionic surfactant (alkyl polyglucoside), an anionic surfactant (ether carboxylic acid), and mixtures of them. The ultimate aerobic biodegradation and the interfacial and adsorption properties of surfactants, nanoparticles, and mixtures during biodegradation were also evaluated. Ultimate biodegradation was studied below and above the CMCs of the individual surfactants. The interfacial and adsorption properties of surfactant solutions containing nanoparticles were influenced by the addition of silica particles. It was determined that silica nanoparticles reduced the capability of the nonionic surfactant alkyl polyglucoside to decrease the surface tension. Thus, silica NPs promoted a considerable increase in the surfactant CMC, whereas the effect was opposite in the case of the anionic surfactant ether carboxylic acid. Increasing concentrations of surfactant and nanoparticles in the test medium caused decreases in the maximum levels of mineralization reached for both types of surfactants. The presence of silica nanoparticles in the medium reduced the biodegradability of binary mixtures containing nonionic and anionic surfactants, and this effect was more pronounced for larger nanoparticles. These results could be useful in modelling the behaviour of nanofluids in aquatic environments and in selecting appropriate nanofluids containing nanoparticles and surfactants with low environmental impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the quality of environmental indicators has become a global concern that necessitates the identification of possible channels through which environmental welfare can be enhanced worldwide. Against this backdrop, this current study aims to elucidate the environmental effects of ethnic diversity, controlling for financial development, urbanization, economic growth, and energy consumption in the context of 51 less-developed countries during the period from 1996 to 2016. For measuring the environmental impacts, we use both the ecological footprint and carbon dioxide emission figures of these countries. Overall, the cointegration analysis confirms the existence of long-run relationships among the study variables. Besides, the regression analysis reveals that ethnic diversity deteriorates environmental quality by surging the ecological footprint and carbon dioxide emission levels of the selected nations. Similarly, financial development and energy consumption are found to impose identical adversities on the environment while urbanization is evidenced to ensure environmental welfare. Lastly, for both the environmental indicators considered in this study, the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is verified from the findings. Hence, considering these key outcomes, a set of relevant environmental welfare-related policy interventions are recommended in the context of less-developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, the proportion of energy consumption and carbon emissions embodied in international trade in chemical industry is high. It is important to consider how international trade policy adjustments in chemical industry will affect the economy and environment so as to achieve the goal of carbon intensity. This study investigates the impact of international trade policy adjustments. We adopt a computable general equilibrium model to simulate the impacts of trade policy adjustment. The result shows all adjustment plans cause economic losses. All plans will promote energy structure toward cleaner. All plans reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption but cannot realize the carbon intensity and energy intensity target. The adjustment of tariff policy in basic raw materials sector should be smaller than that of other sectors. Raising the export tariff is the best policy choice for achieving the carbon intensity target, but other low-carbon policies should be introduced. In particular, protection measures should be taken for the energy industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While intensive peach production has expanded rapidly in recent years, few studies have explored the environmental impacts associated with specific regional systems or the optimal management strategies to minimize associated environmental risks. Here, data from a survey of 290 native farmers were used to conduct a life cycle assessment to quantify the acidification potential (AP), global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication potential (EP), and reactive nitrogen (Nr) losses in peach production in Pinggu District, Beijing. Total annual Nr losses, and GWP, AP, and EP values for peach production in Pinggu District were respectively 10.7 kg N t−1, 857 kg CO2-eq t−1, 12.9 kg SO2-eq t−1, and 4.1 kg PO4-eq t−1. The principal driving factors were fertilizer production, transportation, and application, which together accounted for 94%, 67%, 75%, and 94% of Nr losses, GWP, AP, and EP, respectively. In the high yield, high nitrogen-use efficiency (HH) group, relative values of Nr losses, GWP, AP, and EP were respectively 33%, 25%, 39%, and 32% lower than the overall averages for 290 orchards. Further analyses indicate that improved farming practices such as decreasing application rates of fertilizers, increasing proportion of base fertilization rate, and proper fertilization frequency in the HH group were the main reasons for these orchards' better performance in peach yields and partial factor productivity of nitrogen fertilizer, and their reduced environmental impacts. These results highlight the need to optimize nutrient management in peach production in order simultaneously to realize both environmental sustainability and high productivity in the peach production system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic not only has caused a global health crisis but also has significant environmental consequences. Although many studies are confirming the short-term improvements in air quality in several countries across the world, the long-term negative consequences outweigh all the claimed positive impacts. As a result, this review highlights the positive and the long-term negative environmental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by evaluating the scientific literature. Remarkable reduction in the levels of CO (3 − 65%), NO2 (17 − 83%), NOx (24 − 47%), PM2.5 (22 − 78%), PM10 (23 − 80%), and VOCs (25 − 57%) was observed during the lockdown across the world. However, according to this review, the pandemic put enormous strain on the present waste collection and treatment system, resulting in ineffective waste management practices, damaging the environment. The extensive usage of face masks increased the release of microplastics/nanoplastics (183 to 1247 particles piece−1) and organic pollutants in land and water bodies. Furthermore, the significant usages of anti-bacterial hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and pharmaceuticals have increased the accumulation of various toxic emerging contaminants (e.g., triclocarban, triclosan, bisphenol-A, hydroxychloroquine) in the treated sludge/biosolids and discharged wastewater effluent, posing great threats to the ecosystems. This review also suggests strategies to create long-term environmental advantages. Thermochemical conversions of solid wastes including medical wastes and for treated wastewater sludge/biosolids offer several advantages through recovering the resources and energy and stabilizing/destructing the toxins/contaminants and microplastics in the precursors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the environmental awards granted by credible third parties to recognize firms' devotion to environmental protection, this study examines the impact of environmental awards on firms' green technology innovation by using a data sample comprising Chinese A-shares listed firms for a period of 2007 to 2019. Our results show that environmental awards can significantly promote corporate green technology innovation. This finding remains valid after endogenous and robustness testing, including the alternative measure of green technology innovation, and the replacement of the estimation method with the Poisson regression and the negative binomial regression. Additional tests reveal that this influence is exerted through increased long-term loans and government environmental subsidies. Moreover, our study reveals that this effect only exists among non-state-owned enterprises, companies with high financial risk, and heavily polluting enterprises. Compared to extensive studies on how environmental regulation forces companies to conduct green technology innovation, this study provides essential guidance on the role played by positive incentives in driving corporate green technology innovation from the perspective of environmental awards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proper information regarding the performance of waste management systems from an environmental perspective is significant to sustainable waste management decisions and planning toward the selection of the least impactful treatment options. However, little is known about the environmental impacts of the different waste management options in South Africa. This study is therefore aimed at using the life cycle assessment tool to assess the environmental impact of the current, emerging, and alternative waste management systems in South Africa, using the city of Johannesburg as a case study. This assessment involves a comparative analysis of the unit processes of waste management and the different waste management scenarios comprising two or more unit processes from an environmental view. The lifecycle boundary consists of unit processes: waste collection and transportation (WC&T), material recycling facilities (MRF), composting, incineration, and landfilling. Four scenarios developed for the assessment are S1 (WC&T, MRF, and landfilling without energy recovery), S2 (WC&T, MRF, composting, and landfilling with energy recovery), S3 (WC&T and incineration), and S4 (WC&T, MRF, composting, and incineration). Based on the result of this study, MRF is the most environmentally beneficial unit operation while landfill without energy recovery is the most impactful unit operation. The result further revealed that no scenario had the best performance across all the impact categories. However, S3 can be considered as the most environmentally friendly option owing to its lowest impact in most of the impact categories. S3 has the lowest global warming potential (GWP) of 33.19 × 106 kgCO2eq, ozone depletion potential (ODP) of 0.563 kgCFC-11e, and photochemical ozone depletion potential (PODP) of 679.46 kgC2H2eq. Also, S4 can be regarded as the most impactful option owing to its highest contributions to PODP of 1044 kgC2H2eq, acidification potential (AP) of 892073.8 kgSO2eq, and eutrophication potential (EP) of 51292.98 MaxPO4−3eq. The result of this study will be found helpful in creating a complete impression of the environmental performance of waste management systems in Johannesburg, South Africa which will aid sustainable planning and decisions by the concerned sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmland abandonment, as a manifestation of the low efficiency of the rural economy, has a profound impact on the process of agricultural and rural modernization. This study uses the 2016 China Labor Force Dynamic Survey data based on 8116 samples from 104 cities, constructs the Tobit model and IV Tobit model to analyze the land abandonment quantitatively from the perspective of environmental pollution. The results show that (1) environmental pollution can significantly increase the probability and area of land abandonment, (2) there is significant regional heterogeneity in the impact of environmental pollution on land abandonment, (3) the impact of environmental pollution on land abandonment varies significantly with different family sizes and land management scales, but the land management scale is relatively more sensitive. This study provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between environmental pollution and land abandonment in China and provides a basis for formulating relevant policies to strengthen the treatment of environmental pollution to solve the dilemma of land abandonment, which is of great practical significance to sustainable development of rural economy and the guarantee of food security in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial production creates material conditions for mankind, but also seriously pollutes the environment. In order to avoid pollution damage to the atmosphere, water, sound, and other environments, environmental impact assessments must be carried out before the project starts, and possible environmental pollution factors must be analyzed and predicted in advance. Company A, a manufacturer of mechanical parts, plans to build a new surface treatment production line, including two production links: anodizing and painting. The product coefficient method and the material balance method were used to evaluate and analyze the environmental pollution factors such as waste gas, wastewater, noise, solid waste, and discarded bath solution discharged during the operation period of the production line. The evaluation results show that after chromium mist recovery, spraying, filtration, and activated carbon adsorption and other measures are concentrated treatment, the concentration of various exhaust gas discharged in an organized manner is lower than the standard limit; various wastewater can be recycled after being filtered by ion exchange resin and activated carbon use, a very small amount of concentrated liquid needs to be handled by an external professional unit, and a cofferdam is installed under the production line and the ground is strengthened to prevent leakage, which will not pollute the groundwater environment; the noise level on the four plant boundaries during the operation of the production line meets the noise standard. No noise pollution will be generated; solid waste and discarded bath solutions are centrally stored by the enterprise and entrusted to an external professional unit for processing, and no other pollution will be generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental regulation and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow have an important impact on the progress of green technology. This study analyzes the impacts of environmental regulation and FDI on green technology innovation (GTI) based on the panel data of 13 Chinese manufacturing sectors. The results of static panel regression show that the environmental regulation has a positive impact on GTI, while the FDI has a negative impact. The results of the panel threshold model reveal that the effect of environmental regulation on GTI presents a nonlinear shape. The negative effect of FDI on GTI is strengthened when the environmental regulation exceeds its threshold. Increasing FDI inflow can inhibit the effect of environmental regulation. Meanwhile, a strict environmental regulation can enhance the inhibiting effect of FDI on GTI. The FDI inflow into high-tech manufacturing sectors has a less negative impact on GTI than the FDI inflow into low-tech sectors in the case of the enhancement of environmental regulation. This study provides some implications for the formulation of environmental regulation and the FDI inflow into China to improve the GTI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]