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In the domain of global socio-economic dynamics, the pivotal role of food production (FP) cannot be overstated. It constitutes the bedrock of fundamental human necessities while being inexorably linked with critical aspects such as economic expansion, societal equilibrium, and geopolitical interplays. The multifaceted nature of FP appears through its direct impact on macroeconomic indicators and its latent influence on international relations and policy-making. This critical nexus underscores the imperative for a comprehensive understanding and strategic management of food production processes to sustain and enhance global socio-economic stability and growth. Investigating the nexus between green finance (GF) and FP is pivotal for ensuring national security and promoting sustainable economic development. This research thus paper examines GF's impact on FP in China as outlined in the 2017 green finance policies. It employs the difference-in-differences (DID) method and analyzes a balanced panel dataset comprising 282 cities in China from 2009 to 2020. The results show that GF has an inhibitory effect on FP, and this remains valid after a range of reliability checks, including parallel trend assessments and placebo tests. Further findings of transmission mechanism analysis indicate that non-agricultural factors and financial exclusion are critical for GF's inhibitory effect on FP. Heterogeneity analyses show that GF's inhibitory effect on FP is more pronounced in the main food-producing areas, the main food-marketing areas, and cities with better infrastructure. The empirical results of this paper comprehensively illustrate GF's impact on FP and how it contributes to the achievement of food security objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a double-difference model to test the impact of green credit policy on the default risk of heavy polluters based on the data of China listed companies from 2008 to 2021. It is found that green credit policy can significantly reduce the default risk of heavy polluters, and the reduction effect is more significant in state-owned enterprises. Further mechanism tests show that green credit policy reduces default risk by guiding heavily polluting firms to reduce financial leverage. Government environmental regulation and corporate green innovation capacity affect the role of green credit policy on corporate default risk. With the strengthening of regional environmental regulations and the enhancement of corporate green innovation capabilities, the effect of green credit policies in diminishing the default risk for companies with high pollution levels is increasingly evident. This study not only enriches the literature on green credit but also demonstrates the effectiveness of directing banks and various financial entities to allocate resources reasonably, guiding heavily polluting enterprises to control risks, and steadily achieving green transformation. These findings hold significant implications for decision-making in designing environmental policy and management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how urban greening policies affect urban ecological resilience through a quasi-natural experimental analysis of various cities in China. Leveraging the country's large-scale promotion of forest city development, we assess the effectiveness of these policies using differences-in-differences modeling across multiple time periods. The results affirm the positive impact of urban greening on resilience, as designated forest cities demonstrated enhanced resilience levels compared to control cities. Notable disparities were also found among the three major Chinese urban agglomerations - the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regions - in terms of policy effects. While short-term resilience increased under central government oversight, long-term gains relied more on intercity cooperation within agglomerations. It highlights the limitations inherent within China's "experiment under hierarchy" paradigm but also benefits from regional integration. This study contributes novel insights regarding the dynamic relationship between governance structures and urban ecosystem resilience under authoritarian contexts. Innovatively, we explore how intercity cooperation among urban agglomerations affects the long-term effectiveness of urban ecological governance, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the complexities involved in fostering resilient urban ecosystems under such governance models. • An evaluation index for urban ecological resilience (UER) was built based on DPSIR framework. • Multi-period DID model was used to analyze the impact of forest city on UER. • Yangtze River Delta had the highest resilience. • National Forest City Certification significantly improved UER of the three megacity clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green energy efficiency (GEE) is pivotal for sustainable economic growth, particularly in the context of China's ambitious environmental goals. This study assesses the impact of Green Financial Reform and Innovation Pilot Zones on GEE from 2005 to 2020, using the SBM-GML method and a Double Difference Model (DID). Findings indicate a significant improvement in GEE within these zones, driven by advancements in green innovation and environmental regulation. At the micro level, firms in pilot zones show enhanced Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance and experience fewer financial constraints. The effectiveness of green finance policies is more pronounced in resource-rich and financially efficient regions, suggesting that these initiatives can significantly contribute to sustainable development. Based on empirical evidence, we recommend expanding pilot zones, promoting green technological innovation, and developing tailored green finance policies to address regional ecological sensitivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to reveal how China's green finance reform and innovation demonstration zone policy affects ecologically sustainable development under the constraints of government environmental attention. Employing multi-period DID (Difference-in-Difference) and DDD (Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference) as the base model, the study tested the mechanism of the policy's effect on ecologically sustainable development, using panel data from 277 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2020. Endogeneity tests including Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS), counterfactual tests, and other robustness checks, were employed to enhance the study's validity. The research findings are as follows: (1) The policy effectively promotes ecologically sustainable development, and this conclusion remained valid even after conducting several robustness tests. (2) The more pronounced the government's emphasis on environmental preservation, the greater its efficacy in fostering ecologically sustainable development. (3) The stimulating effect of the policy on ecologically sustainable development is more pronounced in cities with higher ecological quality and a larger population. This study not only offers new analytical perspectives for comprehensively investigating the green finance policy but also emphasizes that enhanced policy outcomes hinge on the implementation of green financial reforms and innovations tailored to local conditions. Additionally, it provides valuable policy insights for optimizing the government's role in fostering ecologically sustainable development. (e.g., optimizing the governmental role in fostering ecologically sustainable development, enhancing both the scope and intensity of green finance policy, and harnessing the synergies between green finance policy and environmental protection policy). [Display omitted] • Green finance policy can improve ecologically sustainable development. • Government environmental attention can promote the effectiveness of green finance policy. • Focuses on 277 prefecture-level cities in China between 2006 and 2020. • Uses multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) as the base model. • China should give high priority to green finance policy to improve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on 196 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2021, this paper constructs a weight matrix of urban economic geography and uses the spatial differential model to verify the impact of smart city policies on urban green energy efficiency. The results show that the efficiency value of green energy fluctuates in Chinese cities. Different test results show that smart city policies can effectively improve urban green energy efficiency, but mainly from the time effect rather than the individual effect. It means the improvement in urban green energy efficiency comes more from the fast-growing of the Chinese economy and urban construction in this period than from the country's smart city pilot policy. In addition, from the spatial spillover effect result, China needs to design a better urban spatial development plan to improve the capacity of smart city energy services and vigorously develop intelligent technology represented by information and communication science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of green industrial policy in China is deeply embedded within a unique political, economic, cultural, and social milieu. The intricacies and complexities inherent in this context present challenges for quantitative policy research. In the existing literature, the study of thematic clustering of green industry policy instruments and their effectiveness measures in large-scale policy text repositories remains a relatively unexplored area. To fill this research gap, this study provides an analysis of China's green industrial policies from 1994 to 2022. By adopting the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model, implicit and optimal themes are identified, and key policy instruments are systematically and comprehensively parsed. Based on this, the cutting-edge Policy Modeling Consistency-Text Encoder (PMC-TE) index model was used to conduct an in-depth quantitative evaluation of various policy tools. The findings reveal 15 policy instruments from 7891 Chinese green industry policy documents. Notably, technical support, information resource demonstration project policies emerged as the most frequently deployed and efficacious. Conversely, government procurement and service outsourcing policies, while showing incremental growth year-on-year, lagged in utilization and effectiveness. These policy instruments can be broadly categorized into three primary archetypes: supply-type, demand-type, and environment-type. The supply-type instruments dominate, while environment-type instruments remain underutilized. Additionally, this study delineates the four chronological phases of China's green industrial policy evolution, illuminating China's strategic pivots-transitioning from resource allocation, to market dynamics, and ultimately to environmental governance trajectories. [Display omitted] • A novel evaluation system of green industrial policy in China was proposed. • Supply-side policy instruments dominate, followed by environmental policy. • Significant policy effectiveness in technology and resource building, demonstration projects. • Weaknesses in market incentives, consumer education, and brand building from demand-side. • The evolution of China's green industrial policy can be divided into four periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental protection and sustainable development are now profoundly ingrained in the public consciousness in the modern era of the global green revolution. First, this paper uses an evolutionary game model to theoretically analyse the impact of environmental regulation and green finance on enterprises by dissecting the game behaviour between local governments, banks and enterprises. Then, we incorporate entrepreneurial spirit into the model to determine whether entrepreneurial spirit accelerates the achievement of green sustainability objectives. Environmental regulation and green finance are found to contribute substantially to the innovation of green technologies by local enterprises, while entrepreneurial spirit accelerates this process. Finally, we empirically test the findings based on a prefecture-level panel dataset from 2007 to 2020. We find that green finance has a positive impact in Central and Western cities of China, while Eastern cities are in greater need for government environmental regulation controls. For entrepreneurial spirit, the incentive effect of entrepreneurial spirit on the level of green technology innovation is more significant in Central and Western regions of China. This paper enriches the field of research on entrepreneurial spirit and regional green sustainable development by providing empirical evidence for the evaluation of environmental regulatory and green financing policy impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The escalating demand for resources in urban and rural construction development raises the crucial question of achieving green development within limited resource constraints. This study delves into the interplay between environmental policy and green development in urban and rural construction. Utilizing the spatial Durbin model for analysis, findings reveal that investment-oriented environmental regulation significantly impacts green development and positive spillover effects in neighboring regions when considering spatial weight matrices. In contrast, cost-based environmental regulations positively affect green development when spatial interactions are disregarded. However, they exhibit negative effects at the spatial level, potentially leading to a "pollution relocation" phenomenon. Although the influence of R& D subsidy-based environmental regulations on green development is not significant, their impact becomes notable upon considering spatial interactions, potentially generating positive effects across regions through mechanisms such as technology diffusion and knowledge transfer. Furthermore, from an endogeneity perspective, the impact of environmental regulatory tools on green development exhibits a time lag effect. Moreover, investment-type regulation in the eastern regions significantly fosters green development, whereas cost-based regulation shows a suppressive effect; investment-type regulation in central regions has a positive spillover on neighboring areas; and R&D subsidies in western regions negatively impact local green development. Moreover, the quality of governmental institutions, market integration, and technological innovation are key factors influencing green development in China's urban and rural construction. This study reveals the direct and indirect effects of various environmental policy tools on green development in urban and rural areas. It emphasizes the importance of considering spatial interactions in implementing environmental policies, providing a theoretical foundation and practical guidance for optimizing environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper chooses 98 mining cities in China from 2007 to 2021 as research samples. It investigates the policy practice of green development in mining cities according to the point of view of policy combination. We establish a super-efficiency model considering undesirable output to measure the green development level of mining cities and further construct a dynamic panel model based on the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to test the transmission mechanism and heterogeneous effect of different types of environmental regulation to promote the green development of mining cities. The findings demonstrate that environmental regulations about command control, market incentives, and public participation can all help mining cities develop more sustainably. Additionally, there is a nonlinear relationship of an inverted "U" shape between the degree of green development in mining cities and environmental regulations related to command control. Combining policies can encourage the green development of mining cities, but there are crowding-out and substitution effects when environmental regulations are combined with market forces. Environmental regulation promotes urban green development by improving the energy consumption structure of mining cities. In this process, the level of digital development positively regulates the impact of environmental regulation on urban green development. Therefore, the government should choose environmental regulation tools and combinations according to local needs to achieve a multi-pronged effect of energy structure improvement and urban green development and use digital technology to support the green development of mining cities. • Command-controlled, market-motivated, and public-participating environmental regulations can significantly promote urban green development by promoting the improvement of energy structure. • There is an inverted' U' -shaped nonlinear relationship between the intensity of command and control environmental regulation and the green level of mining cities. • The level of digitization can positively regulate the relationship between environmental regulation and urban green development. • The combination of environmental regulations have a significant positive impact on urban green development. • The combination of environmental regulations has heterogeneity in urban green development due to factors such as regional resource endowment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To encourage enterprises to take green innovation, the Chinese government has been promoting the development of green finance. However, it has brought about the risk of "greenwashing". This article analyzes "greenwashing" from the perspective of government intervention, focusing on the stakeholder theory and institutional theory that influence the decision-making of participants in green finance, constructing a three-party evolutionary game model for enterprises, green financial institutions, and local governments. By comparing the stable strategy changes before and after the introduction of blockchain technology, the mechanism of blockchain in addressing the "greenwashing" risk in green finance is discussed. The study shows that: first, government regulation plays a crucial role in stimulating enterprises to engage in green innovation and encouraging green financial institutions to provide financial services; Second, before the application of blockchain technology, low-intensity regulation cannot curb the "greenwashing" of enterprises and fails to stimulate them to engage in green innovation. However, after applying blockchain technology, even under low-intensity regulation, enterprises will actively engage in green innovation under the reputation mechanism constructed in the architecture of a consortium chain. This work provides a theoretical framework and guidance for subsequent scholars to conduct quantitative research on the resolution of "greenwashing" in green finance from a government perspective using blockchain. [Display omitted] • Blockchain's role in solving "greenwashing" via institutional and stakeholder theory. • Quantitative research on blockchain and green finance using evolutionary game theory. • Discussed government role in China's mandatory green finance policy context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With China's proposed green development strategy, environmental protection investment needs are growing exponentially, and government funding alone is inadequate to meet the massive demand. To encourage social investment in green industries and achieve green development goals, the authorities implemented the major green finance policy entitled the Guidance on Building a Green Financial System (GBGFS) in late 2016. Whether this policy effectively promotes the development of environmentally friendly (EF) firms is an essential under investigated question. This study employs a difference-in-differences approach to explore whether and how the GBGFS affects EF firms' total factor productivity (TFP) with a sample from 2012 to 2021. Our benchmark regression and robustness tests demonstrate that the GBGFS effectively promotes EF firms' TFP. We also obtain three notable research findings with a number of additional analyses. (a) Although there is a certain lag, the policy effect was obviously enhanced with the passage of time. (b) Our threshold effect analyses reveal that the enhancing effect of the GBGFS on EF firms' TFP only becomes significant when research and development (R&D) investment, profitability (ROA), and government subsidies (GSF) exceed certain values. Further analysis demonstrates that firms with higher ROA and more GSF can effectively increase R&D. (c) Finally, GBGFS implementation has a greater impact on firm TFP in China's more developed region than its less developed regions. The findings suggest that regulatory authorities should persist in enforcing the GBGFS policy and encourage corporate R&D investment. In addition, the central government should design targeted policies based on the characteristics of different regions to improve the policy effect. • The Chinese authorities implemented the GBGFS on August 31, 2016. • The GBGFS effectively promotes EF firms' TFP (this result is robust). • The policy effect gradually expanded as the GBGFS was enforced over time. • The policy effect becomes significant when R&D, ROA and GSF exceed certain values. • The GBGFS has a greater impact in more developed region than less developed regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Haze pollution caused by particulate matter such as PM2.5 and PM10 significantly affects public health. Confronted with haze pollution, people have increasingly taken to expressing opinions online to demand restrictions on pollution discharge by enterprises to protect their health rights. However, are such public demands met by the government and incorporated into policy agenda relating to environmental regulation policies? To investigate this question, this study employed text content analysis to examine the role of public opinion as an intermediary in the relationship between haze pollution and the formulation of environmental regulation policies, using a dataset of 460 environmental regulation policy documents and over 800,000 public opinions on environmental issues spanning from January 2011 to December 2021. We found that public opinion exerted a significant intermediary effect by linking haze pollution and environmental regulation policy tools. Further analysis revealed heterogeneity in the influence of public opinion on environmental regulation policy tools. Public opinion exhibited the most substantial intermediary effect on command-control policy tools (with a 6.68% intermediary effect), followed by economic incentive policy tools (4.65%) and social autonomy policy tools (4.58%). Additionally, there was a notable time lag in the impact of public opinion on environmental regulation policy tools. It took approximately 7–10 months for the government to respond to the disseminated public opinions. This study may shed light on how the government can encourage public engagement, respond to, and guide public opinion. [Display omitted] • Public opinion plays an intermediary role between haze and regulatory policy. • 7–10 months' time lag of environmental policy to public opinion was estimated. • The heterogeneity in the impact of public opinion on three policy tools was analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of China's environmental regulations, with a focus on the green credit policy, on green innovation in pursuit of the "carbon peak and carbon neutrality" goal. Given the implementation of the 2012 Green Credit Guidelines, this paper employs the Difference-in-Difference Method (DID) and conducts a quasi-natural experiment to empirically examine the interactions among the central government, local governments, and high-pollution and high-emission enterprises by exploring the impact of green credit policies on green innovation of these enterprises. Relying on 4503 samples of 237 high-pollution and high-emission enterprises listed in the main board in China from 2003 to 2021, this study reveals that the green credit policy can improve green innovation of these enterprises. Specifically, this study explores the detailed mechanism through which the green credit policy enables these enterprises to increase their market concentration and then the monopoly profits, which in turn promotes their green innovative productivity. In addition, this paper also reveals how local governments' political and financial incentives may serve as positive and negative moderating factors, respectively, within the impact mechanism. This study has valuable implications for how to effectively formulate and implement environmental regulations by balancing the interests of the central government, local governments and enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the global inclination of economies toward green solutions, the current study aims to explore the association between green energy transition, adjusted net saving, energy intensity, and carbon dioxide emission in China. To achieve this, a novel approach utilizing Wavelet analysis is employed to examine the dynamic association among these variables from 1979 to 2020. The analysis utilized continuous wavelet, wavelet coherence, and partial and multiple wavelet coherence techniques, offering a comprehensive understanding beyond the limitations of prior research by investigating the relationships over various time frames. The findings from the wavelet coherence analysis yielded intriguing insights, indicating that an increase in energy transition is likely to result in higher energy intensity and increased CO2 emissions. Surprisingly, the study observed a negative impact of adjusted savings on energy transition in the medium run, whereas in the long term, an increase in adjusted net savings was associated with higher carbon emissions in the Chinese economy. This highlights the intricate interplay between energy transition, adjusted savings, and environmental impacts, with different time scales playing a significant role in shaping these connections. Policymakers should carefully consider these dynamics to formulate effective strategies for sustainable development and carbon emission reduction in China. Furthermore, employing partial and multiple coherence analysis, the outcomes has demonstrated a strong interconnected correlations between energy intensity, green energy transition, CO2 emissions, and adjusted net savings across short-run, medium-run, and long-run time frequencies. Overall, the study concludes the positive link between energy and carbon emissions in China, while the effectiveness of the green energy transition remains vulnerable. The findings offer valuable insights for informed decision-making and policy implications, facilitating the adoption of appropriate measures to promote a greener and more sustainable future in China. • Study explores green energy transition, net saving, energy intensity, and CO 2 in China. • Advanced time-frequency based Wavelet analysis is used to analyze asymmetric relationships. • Energy transition is found to have positive link with CO 2 and energy intensity. • Net adjusted saving have positive effect on CO2 but negative on energy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of using green finance policies to prevent climate-related systemic risk (CRSR) while promoting low-carbon production is of great concern. Despite its significance for a stable transition to low-carbon energy, this topic remains underexplored in the literature. Our study examines the impact of monetary policies promoting low-carbon development on CRSR based on China's low-carbon transition scenario. To achieve this, we develop a financial network model with a forward-looking climate stress-testing framework. This model captures banks' heterogeneous behaviors regarding carbon asset allocation and the systemic feedback effects of climate policy shocks in a multilayer network. Our findings reveal that targeted reductions in the required reserve ratio (RRR) and carbon reduction re-lending policies have significant and distinct effects on CRSR. We also observe that larger banks tend to have higher systemic importance and are more responsive to adjustments in low-carbon monetary policies. By contrast, relatively smaller banks demonstrate greater vulnerability to climate policy shocks. Additionally, these policies influence CRSR through mechanisms involving credit restructuring and interbank network interconnectedness. This study provides valuable insights for enhancing low-carbon financial policies and facilitating a stable low-carbon transition. • The impact of monetary policies promoting low-carbon development on climate-related systemic risk (CRSR) is analyzed. • A financial network with a climate stress-testing framework in China's low-carbon transition scenario is constructed. • Targeted reductions in the required reserve ratio (RRR) and carbon reduction re-lending policies significantly affect CRSR. • Their impact shows apparent differences in quantity- and price-based adjustments. • Influencing mechanisms based on credit restructuring and interbank network interconnectedness are verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the implementation process of economic and environmental policy, a key concerned problem is the inability of some local officials to faithfully implement environmental policies made by the central government in China, as well as many other developing countries. In this paper, a multitask principal-agent model is established to make a comprehensive comparison on the role that the current incentive mechanism (CIM) and the long-term performance-oriented incentive mechanism (LTPOIM) play in policy implementation. In addition, both the incentive effect and the choice of incentive intensity in the LTPOIM are investigated. The results provide the insight that local officials may trade off the efforts of environment protection for economic growth in the CIM. However, local officials are incentivized to allocate higher efforts toward the implementation of environmental policies (IENP) to strengthen environment protection, or invest higher efforts toward IENP and the implementation of economic policies (IECP) to pursue the win-win situation for economy and environment in the LTPOIM. Besides, the chance of distributing higher efforts toward IENP and IECP in the case of complement tasks is higher than that in the case of substitute tasks. The optimal incentive intensities of long-term performance in the case of complement tasks are higher than those in the case of substitute tasks. • The long-term performance-oriented incentive motivates local officials to balance environmental and economic policies. • The central government makes use of the multitask agency problem to gain a win-win situation for economy and environment. • The adjustment of local officials' efforts portfolio and central government's incentive strategies are investigated. • The chance of distributing higher efforts toward two tasks is higher in the case of complement tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy consumption from municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has brought escalating dual pressure of high expenditure and greenhouse gas emissions to environmental engineers and policy makers. In order to identify the underlying factors affecting energy usage, a comprehensive nationwide investigation program was done to analyze 1184 urban WWTPs in China over a period of 30 years (1984–2013). This investigation included a consolidated evaluation of key design parameters (scale, treatment process and effluent standard), different treatment units and geographical distribution of WWTPs in terms of energy consumption. Comparisons were also made between the statistical- and the baseline-value of unit energy consumption. These findings demonstrated the importance of the integrated effects of key design parameters on WWTPs energy consumption, and specific reference benchmark, recommendations, strategies and future development were provided accordingly. The present work can hopefully assist in understanding of how and to what extent key factors are incorporated into design guidelines, and also help decisions makers and engineers construct and upgrade WWTPs in the best energy saving way. Image 1 • A nationwide study was done to analyze 1184 wastewater treatment plants in China. • Comparisons were made between the statistical and baseline value of unit energy consumption. • Specific energy benchmark was provided for reference to achieve energy saving. • Key design parameters were integrated to formulate strategies for best energy saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite China's stringent environmental regulations, there has been a persistent policy implementation gap at local level, specifically due to local protectionism and inadequate enforcement measures. To address this issue, the Central Environmental Protection Inspection (CEPI) initiative was launched in 2016, replacing the Regional Environmental Protection Inspection (REPI) system. This study examines why the REPI failed to tackle the implementation gap and how the CEPI works. This is achieved by constructing a tripartite evolutionary game (EG) model consisting of the central government, local governments, and polluting enterprises. Using system dynamics (SD), the study simulates and analyzes the behavior and strategies of the three game players in two scenarios, namely weak and strong negative incentives. Then, this study analyzes the evolutionary process of environmental protection inspection (EPI) by means of a case study. The results show that: (1) the strategy adopted by polluting enterprises depends on the actual signal conveyed by the local governments. In addition, whether the strong regulatory signal of the central government can be effectively transmitted to polluting enterprises mainly depends on the attitude of the local governments. (2) The CEPI conveys a reliable commitment and provides effective external stimuli that adjust the incentive structure of local governments. Meanwhile, the REPI lacked significant punishment measures, which made it difficult for the central government's environmental regulatory signals to reach polluting enterprises in an effective manner. This study contributes to a better understanding of the evolutionary process and causes of the EPI system, as well as how the Chinese government tackles the local environmental policy implementation gap. • The strategy adopted by polluting enterprises depends on the actual signal conveyed by the local governments. • The CEPI conveys a reliable commitment and provides effective external stimuli for local governments. • The key to effective environmental regulation is to break through the obstacle of local protectionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environment-related innovations are widely appreciated as a vital factor in achieving sustainable development goals, and stability in the financial sector can help boost the output of environmental innovations by removing financial constraints. Hence, the primary aim of the analysis is to investigate the impact of financial stability on environmental innovation in China by using the QARDL model over the period 1995Q1-2020Q4. The study's main findings confirm the positive role of financial stability on environmental innovation in both the short and long run. Wald test also confirms the asymmetric impact of financial stability on environmental innovation in the short and long run. Moreover, the long-run impacts of GDP, R&D activities, and environmental policy stringency on environmental innovation are positive. In the short run, the estimates of research and development and environmental policy stringency are positively significant at higher quantiles only. Based on the findings, our research will help policymakers to develop valuable policies for financial stability to enhance environmental innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As urbanization has developed, a variety of urban clusters have gradually emerged with important effects on regional economic growth and carbon emissions. This paper constructs a multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model for testing how urban cluster synergistic development policy (UCSDP) affects urban carbon productivity in 148 cities of China with 13 urban clusters as the experimental group from 2003 to 2019. According to the results, the UCSDP improves carbon productivity, mainly via reducing energy intensity. In addition, UCSDP improves carbon productivity by adjusting energy structure, increasing green innovation, altering city greening levels, and accelerating the process of urbanization. Moreover, it can produce synergistic effects in terms of energy structure, green innovation, greening level, and urbanization level. Furthermore, the UCSDP has heterogeneous effects on the carbon productivity in various cities. Specifically, the carbon productivity of high-status, high-rank, and resource-based cities responds more significantly to UCSDP. Therefore, policymakers should strengthen the integration of urban clusters, offer targeted development suggestions for different cities, modify the energy and greening structure, accelerate the process of urbanization, and focus on the formulation of reasonable environmental regulation policies. • Exploring the impact of UCSDP on carbon productivity with multi-period DID model. • The improvement of carbon productivity by UCSDP mainly comes from the decrease of energy intensity. • UCSDP increases carbon productivity by affecting energy structure, green innovation, greening level and urbanization level. • UCSDP produces synergistic effects in terms of energy structure, green innovation, greening level and urbanization level. • The impact of UCSDP on carbon productivity varies by city status, city rank and city type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green Mining Construction (GMC) is the Chinese national strategy of the environmental regulation of the mining industry to motivate mining enterprises to improve their resource utilization efficiency, protect the environment and harmonize the relationship between enterprises and communities. This paper uses system dynamics (SD) and the Malmquist-Luenberger (ML) Index to model the sustainable effect of the policy instruments of Green Mining Construction, namely, environmental taxes and subsidies. A case study of typical coal mining enterprises in Anhui, China, is provided to demonstrate the application of the proposed model in which the corporate performances of three optional strategies in response to the Green Mining Construction policies are examined. The responsive strategies are categorized as scale expansion, technical innovation and environmental protection. The simulation results show the following: (i) The environmental taxes and subsidies with disparate rates can help enterprises that focus on technical innovation and environmental protection perform better, albeit with a certain degree of lag. (ii) The synergy impact of subsidies and taxes is not significantly more than the separate ones. (iii) Environmental regulations reduce the productivity of mining enterprises, but to varying extents. This negative effect of environmental regulation should be compensated by other measures. This study offers insights to help enterprises select optimal strategies in response to the Green Mining Construction policies and to inform the government of possible sustainable policy designs to promote the Green Mining Construction. The limitations of the model are discussed for further improvements in simulating the effect of environmental regulation. • The hybrid model is used to test the effect of mining environmental policy in China. • Environmental taxes and subsidies are effective, but there are delays. • The effect of policy combination is not better than that of the single policy. • The model negates the Porter hypothesis, but there are differences among enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, it is found that environmental regulation is an important mechanism that trade openness affects the level of human capital. The author established a theoretical framework to analyze the influence of trade openness on the level of human capital and adopted the system GMM to test it, using Chinese provincial data over the period 1995–2015. The empirical results show that environmental regulation has a long-term U-shaped effect on the level of human capital, while the current environmental regulation in China is conducive to improving the level of human capital. Furthermore, the promotion of human capital level can also increase the possibility of improving environmental regulation, which is conducive to the internal formation and positive interaction between human capital and environmental regulation. The research further enriches the theory of sustainable development of environment and economy. It provides theoretical support for China and developing countries with similar economic and technological levels to actively implement more stringent environmental policies in the context of trade openness. Image 108550 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emission charge policy has recently switched from pollutant discharge fees to environmental taxes in China. Considering spatial heterogeneity, the effects of changes in emission charge policy may subject to different Chinese regions. In this study, environmental efficiencies of Chinese regions are evaluated through provincial environmentally extended input-output tables and a frontier-based optimization model. Driving factors of environmental productivity growth are identified through global Luenberger productivity decomposition approach. Moreover, spatial heterogeneity on the effects of change in emission charge policy on environment and economy are assessed. Results show that all regions experienced environmental productivity growth. Technology progress is the major driving factor in most regions with an average contribution of 90%, while technical efficiency regress slows environmental productivity growth in Southwest region. Switching from pollutant discharge fees to environmental taxes would decreases emission intensities by 1.42% on average, but it would have different negative impact on economic growth (−1.13%∼-4.90% of regional GDP) due to spatially heterogeneous trade-offs between environmental protection and economic development. Addressing such spatial heterogeneity provide not only a basis for diversified tax rate determination but also a framework for other environmental policy assessment. Note: The percentage changes of (a) environmental inefficiency score, (b) GDP, and (c) emission intensity of seven Chinese regions when changing emission charge policy from pollutant discharge fees to environmental taxes. Image 1 • Environmentally extended input-output tables for Chinese provinces are proposed. • Input-output analysis is combined with frontier-based optimization model. • Environmental productivity growth and its driving factors are identified. • Effects of replacing pollutant discharge fees with environmental taxes are assessed. • Spatial heterogeneity on effects of emission charge policy change is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Sweet sorghum is one of the best renewable non-grain energy crops for ethanol production due to its high sugar content, short growing period and good tolerance to natural conditions. However, insufficient studies have been conducted on the spatial distribution of sweet sorghum-based bioethanol production potential. This study presents a method, i.e., a land surface process model (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate GIS-based (GEPIC) model) coupled with a life cycle analysis (LCA), to simulate the spatial distribution of potential bioethanol production, energy efficiency and environmental impacts throughout the whole life cycle of sweet sorghum-based ethanol. The results showed that approximately 49.65 million ha of marginal land in China were suitable for sweet sorghum planting, and more than 13.57 million tons of sweet sorghum could be yielded. Based on sweet sorghum, 847.81 thousand tons of ethanol could be produced. A potential net energy gain of 115 billion MJ which is equivalent to 2.38 million tons of 90-octane gasoline would be achieved if all marginal lands could be used. The results of the environmental impact assessment showed that the total environmental effect index was 0.25 million (population equivalents). The global warming potential was the most significant environmental impact category. Guizhou Province can be given priority for sweet sorghum-based bioethanol development in China. Highlights • A method, GEPIC model coupled with a life cycle analysis (LCA), was applied. • The marginal land suitable for sweet sorghum cultivation in China was calculated. • Spatial distribution of bioethanol production, life cycle energy efficiency and environmental impacts were analyzed. • Global warming potential was the most significant environmental impact. • Priorities could be given to Guizhou Province for sweet sorghum-based bioethanol development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper examines the how new manufacturing firms choose locations in response to the environmental regulations in Jiangsu, China. In particular, we utilize three representative measures of the environmental regulations to test the consistence of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH). The dramatic results indicate that different measures of environmental regulation lead to different conclusions of the PHH. However, firms' relocation patterns are common and consistent, i.e., new polluting firms are more likely to be driven by the government environmental mandates to northern Jiangsu, where the pollution abatement cost is high. This pattern is consistent with the industrial planning of the province, suggesting that local government may use environmental regulations to achieve economic objectives. More comprehensive and equitable policy design is thus recommended to address the problems of environmental equity in China. Highlights • We examined firms' location choice in response to the environmental regulations. • We utilized three representative measures of the environmental regulations. • We find different measures of environmental regulation lead to different conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: As world's top two carbon emitters, driver analysis of China and the USA helped the governments to develop policies to cut or slow down carbon emission. Many studies identified the factors affecting carbon emission in China and the USA (emitting more than 40% of the global CO 2 emission), however, few studies considered stratified heterogeneity or the interactions of factors. Here, we adopted the modified Geographical Detector tool to investigate the main drivers of carbon emission from the perspective of stratified heterogeneity. The results of this analysis showed that human economic activities in China were the dominant effect of carbon emission changes, while energy intensity contributed toward controlling the carbon emission in China. Furthermore, population growth was the most significant driving force followed by energy intensity toward controlling the carbon emission of the USA. All these factors are mutually enhancing in changing carbon emissions, while oil share with energy intensity and coal share were more significantly enhanced in China's carbon emission than other interactions. The factors of human activities and energy mix posed a more powerful effect when they mutually enhanced each other to change carbon emission compared to other enhancing interactions. This work represents a pilot scheme for a carbon dioxide emission analysis from the categorical stratified heterogeneity based on statistical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Contaminated sites are receiving increasing policy attention internationally due to the significant threats they pose to eco-environmental and human health. In China, a range of policies for contaminated site management have been developed and implemented with the ambition of reaching "zero contaminated sites" – in particular using a policy-driven approach to remediate or manage site risk while delivering useful synergies between services and opportunities in site reuse. To examine the interaction between policy making, policy implementation, and policy outcome, we designed a three-dimensional conceptual model of policy evaluation, and established an indicator framework of stakeholder perceptions covering policy formulation, policy implementation and policy outcome, which was tested in five cities in China (Chengdu, Beijing, Changsha, Chongqing and Shanghai) through interviews with various stakeholders. A combined method of fuzzy synthetic evaluation and entropy weight was applied for the purpose of quantification and comparability of evaluation results at different levels. The results show that: (1) there is no inevitable causality between policy formulation, policy implementation and policy outcome. Policy formulation, which is the premise of policy implementation and may largely influence policy outcome, does not perform well in all tested cities. Policy implementation is the key step and contributes most to the performance of the whole policy process. (2) In general, Chongqing and Beijing have a less-than-ideal performance compared to the other three study cities in contaminated site management. Due to differences in regional context, the same measure may produce different policy outcomes in different cities, indicating a need to carry out specific, locally contextualized or calibrated policies, based on the local cultural and socioeconomic environment. (3) The fuzzy synthetic evaluation method proved feasible in the quantitative evaluation of environmental policy, and can help to (i) better understand the advantages and challenges of implementing contaminated site management policy in target cities, and (ii) provide evidence for further decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the incentives for pursuing a low-carbon electricity sector that are embedded in China's regulatory and policy framework. To do so, we first describe the industry structure and the regulatory framework. Second, we explicitly review the policies that were developed to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy. These policies range from the introduction of legal requirements to undertake particular actions to pricing mechanism and financial incentives. Based on this, we tease out the challenges faced by a sector governed by a myriad of complex arrangements, different institutions and agents who face different and often conflicting incentives for pursuing environmental and energy efficiency objectives. Finally, we provide suggestions to scientifically set up low-carbon policies and to achieve the expected goals with minimum social cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Individual Low-carbon Behavior Rewarding System (ILBRS) is a new Chinese environmental policy that aims to guide public participation in sustainable development through applying a range of incentive mechanisms. It is regarded as an important and effective way of reducing carbon emissions in response to climate change. However, knowledge of the influencing factors of support for the ILBRS is still scattered and lacks systematic analysis. This study is one of the first literatures to explore public support for ILBRS through a large sample of longitudinal data relying on psychological theory. Based on the Responsible Environmental Behavior model, we established a mechanism that consists of three levels of factors affecting public support for the ILBRS. These factors involve individual characteristics, individual perception, and willingness of performing other low-carbon behaviors. The results of a longitudinal panel survey at one-year interval with 2,324 valid responses indicated that connectedness to nature, perception that climate change is happening, willingness to sort waste and to use green energy could significantly and positively predict public support for the ILBRS. Based on the findings of this study, we provide practical suggestions for policy makers to further improve the implementation of the ILBRS by raising public awareness of climate change and integrating it with other relevant environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's longest-implemented market-based environmental regulation policy, emission charges have contributed outstandingly to improving the ecological environment and reducing firms' pollution emissions. We assess the impact of emission charges on the innovation quality of Chinese firms based on the perspective of firms' breakthrough technological innovation. By observing Chinese A-share listed firms with heavy pollution from 2011 to 2020, we find that corporate breakthrough technological innovation positively moderates the emission charges to enhance the quality of corporate innovation. Our mechanism tests suggest that emission charges and breakthrough technological innovation positively affect innovation quality by improving the means of green innovation of enterprises. In addition, heterogeneity analysis shows that emission charges and firms' breakthrough technological innovation are only effective in improving the innovation quality of state-owned firms, and the effect on the innovation quality of non-state-owned firms is not significant. Our findings suggest that the imposition of emission charges and incentives for firms to embark on breakthrough technological innovation can effectively improve the quality of innovation. • The article is probably the first literature to explore the effects of breakthrough technological innovation and emission charges on the innovation quality of heavily polluting enterprises in China, enriching the research on the impact of enterprise innovation models on environmental regulation. • Based on the IPC information of enterprise patent applications, the paper distinguishes enterprise innovation patterns and explores the moderating effect of breakthrough technological innovation on emission charges to enhance the quality of enterprise innovation. • This paper provides micro evidence on the impact of environmental regulation on innovation quality based on the perspective of firms' breakthrough technological innovation, which has important implications for adopting environmental regulation to achieve a "win-win" situation between pollution control and improving innovation quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the pressure of environmental deterioration mounted in recent years, Chinese government has formulated a series of environmental policies and regulations with the intention of improving environmental quality. However, the effectiveness of these environmental regulations have not been carefully examined yet. This study for the first time investigates the effects of environmental regulations on the environmental performance. Using the city-level panel data of 283 Chinese cities for the period 2003–2010 and four indicators for environmental quality (the industrial waste water discharged, industrial SO2 emissions and industrial Soot emissions), this study employs the first-difference GMM method that could deal with potential endogeneity and allow dynamics to conduct the empirical estimations. Overall, the estimation results indicate that current environmental control measures and regulations have not achieved the desired goal of controlling and reducing pollution. Moreover, the direct impact of FDI on China's environment is negative, suggesting that there is evidence for the “Pollution Heaven” hypothesis. The coefficients of the interactive term of environmental regulation and foreign direct investment are estimated to be negative, which indicates that the environmental regulation is effective only when FDI is controlled for. The estimation results are basically consistent for different Chinese regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although existing studies have paid a great deal of attention to the impact of government policy instruments on environmental governance, they failed to explore the relationships and differential effects of major government instruments on environmental performance. In this study, the panel data of 31 Chinese provinces over the 2004–2015 are utilized to investigate the impacts of performance assessment and public participation on environmental performance. Statistical data of four kinds of pollutants emissions were used to measure environmental performance. We collected the performance assessment data from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau, and the official statistical yearbook data of petitions and environmental non-governmental organizations were used to measure public participation. We empirically confirm that performance assessment is only significantly correlated with binding high-visibility environmental pollutant emissions (e.g., sulfur dioxide), while it exhibits less influence on low-visibility binding environmental pollutant emissions (e.g., chemical oxygen demand). Public participation has differential effects on environmental performance. Environmental petitions are significantly correlated with non-binding environmental pollutants (e.g., industrial wastewater). However, environmental non-governmental organizations do not exhibit statistically significant effects on environmental pollutant emissions. Compared with the 11th Five-Year Plan, the environmental performance assessment in 12th Five-Year Plan is more effective. This analysis implies that China should optimize the governmental approach both for the performance assessment and public participation to respond effectively to environmental pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change caused by carbon emissions poses a severe challenge to human economic and social development. The Chinese government has committed to a series of emission reduction initiatives to achieve carbon intensity targets by actively promoting the green transformation of the industrial sector—the main source of energy consumption and environmental pollution. This transformation has been ongoing for more than five years, and the effects, problems and experiences are worth discussing. Therefore, using province-level panel data for China's industry from 2010 to 2015, we systematically analyze the regional structure and developmental trend of industrial green transformation and empirically investigate its dynamic threshold effects on carbon intensity under different degrees of environmental regulation. The results show that China's industry has gradually undergone a green transformation, which has significantly reduced pollution emissions. However, the process has a large developmental scope due to regional heterogeneity and fluctuation characteristics. Interestingly, the impact of the industrial green transformation on carbon intensity is limited by the "critical mass" of environmental regulations. Paradoxically, weak environmental regulation significantly facilitates a decrease in carbon intensity through industrial green transformation. Once environmental regulation surpasses a critical level, the role of this transformation in CO 2 reduction is weakened, resulting in a failure to decrease carbon intensity. We provide insights into the driving factors that reduce carbon intensity and improve our understanding of the driving forces, paths and policy designs needed to successfully reach carbon intensity targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model could capture the full range of interaction and feedback effects among different agents in the economic system. This study analyzes the economic impacts of differentiated carbon reduction targets by using a two-region CGE model in Tianjin Municipal City of China (hereafter “Tianjin”). Firstly, based on a business-as-usual (BaU) scenario and seven proposed carbon reduction scenarios, this paper quantifies the macroeconomic impacts of different carbon reduction targets in both regions, especially the carbon reduction costs and industrial output. Furthermore, several typical industries in Tianjin are chosen to explore how their competitiveness is affected under different carbon allocation scenarios. The results show that compared with the BaU scenario, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Tianjin would achieve the highest growth rate if the carbon intensity reduction target is set at 65% in Tianjin whereas 55% in the rest of China (ROC). Meanwhile, residents’ welfare loss in Tianjin will be the largest if carbon intensity reduction target in 2030 is set to be 65% in Tianjin and 75% in ROC. Also, the local pillar industries (including electronic sector and the metal smelting sector) would benefit from the carbon reduction policy, while the paper sector would be negatively influenced. Policy recommendations are raised, in which several factors should be fully considered, including development stages, resource endowments, technical levels and local environmental carrying capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better establish a unified carbon market in China, this study evaluates the effect of current carbon trading policy and further investigates the relationship between such policy that is published during the second phase of Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange (SEEE) and Shanghai Emission Allowance (SHEA) price. We aim to analyze whether these policies can improve the operation efficiency of current carbon market. By the Mean Reversion Test, Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) Model, and Event Study Method, we first analyze the potential price discovery function of SHEA products, thereby describing the transmission channel of current policy to SHEA price. Then we examine the effect of carbon policies published in different periods on their corresponding SHEA price. By the Auto-correlation Test and CIR simulation, we find that 3/4 of all auto-correlation values are less than 0 after Apr. 2017, and the minimum cumulative error is 31.3792 under the supply and demand channel. These findings imply that SHEA price has the discovery function at the middle and end of trading period, and the current policy affects SHEA price through its effect on the fundamentals of supply and demand. Further, more than 60% of all r-values (r-value that reflects the response of price to policy) are less than 1, which implies that the published policy will improves future SHEA price. Accordingly, we argue that SEEE belongs to a policy-oriented market, and the change of carbon price is closely related to emission allocation policies. In this case, China's government should further push forward the smooth operation of current carbon market by the aid of incentive policy in the coming period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A better understanding of the economy-material-emissions nexus is fundamental in order to reveal the interactions between human development and the natural environment, and more importantly, to design integrated de-carbonization and de-materialization policies. In this paper, we conducted a decoupling analysis of fossil fuel-induced CO 2 emissions and in-use material stocks in infrastructure to economic growth at the provincial level in China and investigated the trilateral causal relationships among the three indicators. The results show that the average elasticity of CO 2 emissions and material stocks to economic growth was smaller than 1, representing a status of relative decoupling. However, in many less developed provinces in central and western China, we observed increasing trends of elasticity in the past three decades, which suggest their economic growth became more tightly linked to CO 2 emissions and the accumulation of material stocks. Granger tests suggest that in the long run there existed a unidirectional causality running from CO 2 emissions, economic growth and urbanization to material stocks. In the short run, a bi-directional causality between CO 2 emissions and economic growth and a unidirectional causality from material stocks to CO 2 emissions were detected. Policy implications for the de-carbonization and de-materialization transition include enhancing renewable energy utilization, upgrading industries to less carbon-intensive ones, developing compact cities, prolonging the lifespan of infrastructure, and strengthening the life-cycle carbon management of infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, environmental problems associated with excessive energy consumption are escalating with rapid economic development, and the greenhouse effect caused by increased carbon dioxide emissions has risen into the focus of domestic and even international attention. Based on the reduction target China committed in 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, the study proposes a dynamic factorization model to decompose and compare the effect of industrial structure on the reduction of carbon emissions during the five Five-Year Plan (FYP) Periods from 2006 to 2030 at the dimensions of industries and sectors. Results show that China's industrial restructuring exerts a positive impact on reduction of carbon emissions and the impact varies with the ratio of sectors within the economic structure, in the later five years, carbon reductions emissions causing by restructuring in the three major industries and in the secondary industrial sectors account for 28.22% and 4.26% of the national total carbon reductions emissions respectively; in industrial sectors to mitigation was less than in the three major industries in the past two FYP Periods, but will increase in the next three FYP Periods. These findings are significant for the government in formulating environment and economy policy and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprises, which are the entities that must implement emission reduction policies, as well as other regional management bodies exhibit significant differences with respect to certain indicators. Previous studies mainly focus on one-indicator or one-sector evaluation methods, which are overly simple and inadequate for enterprise analysis. To solve this problem, this paper selects three key indicators for enterprise evaluation and proposes an integrated classification approach grouping enterprises into sets. The proposed approach comprises one main model and three sub-models. The sub-models (Emission Model, Data Envelopment Analysis Model and Geo-spatial Model) pre-compute the indexation of emissions, overall efficiency and geo-location conditions as input data for the main model. The main model synthesizes these three sub-models’ inputs and classifies enterprises into different classification sets. For verification, we conduct a case study of 8106 manufacturing enterprises in Shanghai. In the case study, the proportions of enterprises in top set, middle-top set, middle-low set and low set were 19.5%, 47.5%, 29.4% and 3.6%, respectively. The classification approach provides adequate quantitative technical support for flexible policy design and has the potential to promote efficient regional emission reduction, optimize regional industrial structures and distribute enterprises rationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing industry is the pillar industry in China, making China become the world's manufacturing center. While, the rapid development of manufacturing industry in China not only promotes the economic growth, but also consumes lots of resources and generates too much carbon dioxide. To make a sustainable development, this paper adopts a non-radial DEA model with natural and managerial disposability to examine the energy-environmental performance of China's manufacturing industry during the 2006–2014 period. The energy-environmental performance is evaluated by the unified efficiency under natural and managerial disposability (UENM). Additionally, the investment strategy is confirmed by industrial types of damages to return (DTR). The empirical results indicate that the unified efficiencies of most manufacturing industries present a rising trend in the sample interval. Moreover, the unified efficiency of most manufacturing industries in light industry have a little higher value than the efficiency of those in heavy industry. Besides, the light industry presents more investment effect than the heavy industry, and many industries in heavy industry have little potential for investment in terms of developing the green growth. According to these results, China should increase investment and enhancing the R&D input to improve the unified efficiency of light industry. Policy support need focus on boosting innovation in strategic emerging industries instead of traditional manufacturing industries. Part of industries with excess capacity should be transferred to other countries through outbound investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaining public support for environmental policy can promote pro-environmental behaviors and facilitate policy implementation. A telephone survey was conducted in Hong Kong to solicit 504 respondents’ level of support for different waste management policies and to investigate the role of key socio-demographic variables in influencing the level of support for these policies. Data was examined by using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Findings revealed that variance in policy support for different measures differs significantly across gender, age groups, and education level, while household size and political inclination exhibited less association with support for the policies. Respondents also indicated a varying level of support across policy tools, with policies of developing recycling industry and extending Producer Responsibility Scheme received more support, but municipal solid waste charging scheme and publicity and education measure were less welcomed by respondents. Our analysis infers that current waste management framework should be driven toward a more coherent mode in order to secure greater public support and maximize policy effectiveness. Policy implications could be applied to waste management framework development in cities which share similar background with Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission reduction (CER) comes to be the principle in most countries particularly China, the largest carbon emitter. For finding an efficient solution, the priority is to find the key impact factors (KIFs) of carbon emission. Previous studies for identifying KIFs, which partially selected only a few potential impact factors (PIFs), are inconsistent in their findings. This study aims to explore the KIFs of carbon emission in China among 43 PIFs, which comprehensively covers 30 relevant studies. The KIFs in China are identified using the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model with correlation analysis, partial correlation analysis and stepwise regression. The findings of this study are as follows: (1) China's carbon emission has five KIFs: the real GDP per capita, urbanization rate, ratio of tertiary to secondary industry, ratio of renewable energy, and fixed assets investment; (2) the most significant carbon emission contributor is real GDP per capita and the most significant carbon emission inhibitor is urbanization rate. This study provides the reliable KIFs for governors' targeted decision-making on CER, and policy implications from the identified KIFs are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's ecological environmental problem becomes severe, corporate environmental behavior (CEB) has become the focus of a range of stakeholders, policy makers and the whole society since the operating activities of companies is the main source of environmental pollution. This study used a questionnaire survey and structural equation model (SEM) to examine the relative importance of external and internal pressures (EIP) on driving CEB. Data was obtained from 702 papermaking companies in China. The mechanism of EIP effects on CEB was tested employing SEM through path analysis, using AMOS 21.0. The results showed that government pressure, economic pressure and internal pressure played significant positive roles in environmental behavior of papermaking companies in China. Economic pressure was the most important factor on environmental behaviors (including defensive, accommodative and proactive behaviors) of papermaking companies. Furthermore, the role of internal pressure on CEB (defensive and proactive) was second only to economic pressure, while the role of government pressure on CEB was much weaker than our expectation. However, the role of social pressure, which was imposed by general public and environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), was not significant. Thus, policy makers should emphasize on the interactions of economic mechanism, government regulation and internal incentive mechanism to stimulate firms to adopt active environmental behavior. More concerns from the general public shall be addressed to enhance their driving effect on CEB in Chinese papermaking industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is one of the highest growth economies in the world, and it has experienced a significant rise in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in recent decades. Its economic growth heavily depends on fossil fuels of coal and oil which led to huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions. This study logically analyzes the nexus of CO 2 emissions, economic growth and energy consumption (by decoupling greenhouse gas emission of CO 2 and economic growth) to provide more conclusive evidence on the phenomenon of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) over the period 1970–2015. To achieve the objective of consistency in the estimation results, the study applies different estimation techniques such as ARDL (Auto regressive Distributed Lag) model, FMOLS (Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares, DOLS (Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares), and impulse response and variance decomposition. In addition, ‘the business as usual' inverted U-shaped relationship between GDP per capita and an economy-related CO 2 emission is hypothesized. The result supports the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis from different techniques, the turning point hovers around $744665. The estimation result indicates that China EKC turning point shows some inconsistencies when compared to other turning points obtained from different studies. The inconsistency of the EKC turning point is attributed to the sensitivity of the result to different data source, variables selection, different pollutants and scope of the data. Although the EKC turning point of this present research differs from other China EKC turning points, it gives a clear policy roadmap on the pursuance of long run economic growth in favour of environmental quality. Besides, significance of the turning point lies with the need to explore other structural policies such as articulated demographic and energy policies rather than passively waiting for the arrival of the inflexion point. One interesting findings of the analysis is the consistency of the estimation results from the different estimation techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To combat significant pollution problems, a number of local governments in China have utilized performance management to improve cadres’ accountability on environmental issues. Despite the extensive literature on public sector performance management, attention to environmental performance management has been relatively scant. Taking Shenzhen – one of China’s most densely populated, affluent, and rapidly growing cities – as a case study, this article describes and analyzes the evolution of the local environmental performance management system from 2007 to 2015. A series of external and internal factors are identified as determinants of policy evolution, including cadres’ individual decision-making, higher-level policies, intra-governmental interactions (horizontally and vertically), the relative salience of environmental issues, and strategies in policy experimentation. The multiplicity of factors further complicates the already complex process of performance measurement by setting it in a complex political context, which can distort the efficacy and objectives of the system, resulting in an unpredictable and compromised policy tool. Improving government environmental performance management involves reducing complexity by reforming aspects of the political context, allowing for a more serious, open, and transparent decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has experienced serious environmental problems along with rapid economic development in recent years. Industrial production is the fundamental cause of Chinese environmental problems, while production is mainly managed and governed by local industrial Parks. Currently, Chinese industrial parks have just begun to think about sustainable development, and the demonstrative parks are designated as eco-industrial parks (EIPs); however, the EIPs' development strategies and targets are still vague and lack scientific guidance. Therefore, an optimal decision making approach can support EIPs to address environment problems and achieve regional economic development. This study provides an integrated approach to assess the multiple impacts of EIP development strategies and propose optimization planning by using a case study in Wuhu EIP. The initially constructed decision-making model systemically integrates the dynamic model of the Environment-Economic-Energy (3Es) system and an input-output model; then, the model is established and simulated using a linear optimization method. An optimal development strategy can be put forward by analysing scenarios for the Wuhu EIP. Based on the findings of this study, there are several substantial opportunities to further relieve energy pressure, improve the environment, and support socioeconomic activities, such as promotion of clean production and subsidies for technological improvements and changing the industrial structure. Additionally, adopting total environmental quantity constraints rather than intensity constraints is an urgent need in EIP planning. This study provides an applicable and feasible decision-making basis for the development of sustainable industrial parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has the world’s highest levels of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, and its adoption of optimal measures to address climate change is extremely important. In this article, we assess the performance of various Chinese policies aimed at addressing climate change in terms of cost effectiveness, cost-benefit efficiency, and their contribution to a reduction in emissions with a new single-region model, DEMETER-CCPE. Our analysis shows that the performance of these Chinese policies strongly depends on the principles and indicators used in the evaluation. When climate-specific cost indicators are considered, the mixed policy performs best in terms of cost reduction. When cost-efficiency indicators are used, a single policy performs better to some extent. From the perspective of evaluating the contribution to emissions reduction, the development of non-fossil-fuel-based energy technologies offers the greatest opportunity for reducing emissions in a mixed-policy scenario. Finally, this article study possible ‘burden’ and ‘free-rider’ scenarios in order to explore the effect of different levels of joint actions between China and the rest of the world (ROW) on a performance evaluation of policies to address climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The size and number of firms in a region represent key characteristics of that regional economic ecosystem, but few studies have linked such characteristics with the stringency of local environmental regulation. In this study, we discuss the effects of local firm scale on environmental regulation and its mechanism, and the optimal strategic choices theoretically and empirically for environmental regulation in regions with different firm scale. We find that when government capacity is insufficient, regional environmental regulation will be relatively more stringent when dealing with fewer but larger firms because of the government scale effect. When government capacity is sufficient, firm size has no influence on environmental regulation. Our results are robust and offer insights for government decision makers to improve local environmental regulation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study incorporates demand emission sensitivity into a programming model to explore the issue of decoupling the lock-in effect between economic growth and CO 2 emissions through structure adjustment from a final demand perspective. As a demonstration, the proposed methodology is applied to data from China for the year 2012, the most relevant productive linkages and the most sensitive components of final demand in terms of CO 2 emissions were identified. The results indicate that to formulate better carbon mitigation policies, we should pay more attention to the main internal linkages in terms of CO 2 emissions within the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real estate development is among the main consumers for green building materials (GBM), and developers play a critical role in the development of GBM. Therefore, green procurement (GP) practice adopted by developers is important to the promotion of GBM products. There are various factors acting as an impetus for developers to adopt GP in the areas of business policy, marketing, supplier selection, and enterprise organization. There are a number of attributes to each of these areas, and some of them are key factors playing essential roles in affecting developers' GP practice. This study examines the green features of GBM, factors affecting GP practice, and green procurement behavior in the context of real estate development. Research data used for analysis are collected through a questionnaire survey to developers, with the receival of 39 effective responses. The one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) technique is employed in identifying key factors to GP behavior. The study reveals that the key factors include “Marketing benefits”, “Market pressure” and “Internal pressure within organization”, and the typical reasons for developers to adopt GP are “Policy pressure”, “Marketing benefits” and “Business benefits”. The research findings on these key GP factors provide a valuable reference for assisting relevant government departments to formulate effective policies and regulations in order to encourage real estate developers to adopt GP and consequently promote the development of GBM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]