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Air pollution is an inevitable negative environmental externality in the process of industrialization and urbanization in countries around the world. Land misallocation in the process of urbanization and industrialization and the resulting urban sprawl exacerbates the above problems. As a major country in the stage of rapid urbanization and industrialization, China also faces severe air pollution problems. Therefore, this paper will systematically study the impact of land misallocation and urban sprawl on air pollution. We first set up the utility maximization problem of each economic entity in the process of land misallocation in the mathematical model, and form a general equilibrium theory model to analyze the relationship between land misallocation, urban sprawl and air pollution, and then put forward the research hypotheses. We further use the big data of land market transactions of China Land Market Network and LandScan global population data to build the land misallocation index and urban sprawl index respectively, and use an extended mediating effect model to empirically test the hypotheses. The results suggest that the effect of land misallocation on air pollution is significantly positive, and the impact of land misallocation on urban sprawl largely depends on the return rate of land relative to labor (RRIRL). When the RRIRL is relatively low, the impact is weak, or even has a negative effect to some extent. At this time, low transportation costs are conducive to reducing air pollution. On the contrary, when the RRIRL is relatively high, land misallocation has a significant role in promoting urban sprawl. At this time, high traffic costs are conducive to reducing air pollution. In addition, we also find that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between urban sprawl and air pollution. When the urban sprawl level is low, its impact on air pollution increases with the increase of its level, but once it exceeds a specific node, the impact will decrease. Based on the characteristics of the relationship among land misallocation, urban sprawl and air pollution under different RRIRL, we summarize four environmentally friendly urban development paths. We bring the land bid rent theory and environmental pollution research into a same theoretical model framework, which provides a modeling idea and research perspective with a micro-foundation for subsequent research on land misallocation. We integrate the research conclusions of existing literature and unify them under the research frameworks concerning different RRIRL in the empirical results, which greatly improving their applicability. The four urban development paths summarized in this paper will also provide inspiration for future researchers and policy makers. • We posit that urban sprawl is an important intermediate mechanism by which land misallocation affects air pollution. • We build a general equilibrium framework. • Land misallocation leads to an increase in air pollutant concentrations. • Land misallocation has a nonlinear impact on air pollution by restraining urban sprawl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have revealed that developing green technology innovation is extremely important for minimizing haze pollution. However, limited by serious endogenous problems, research rarely focuses on the effect of haze pollution on green technology innovation. Based on a two-stage sequential game model including both production and government departments, this paper mathematically deduced the effect of haze pollution on green technology innovation. Then China's central heating policy is considered a natural experiment in our study to verify whether haze pollution is the key factor affecting the development of green technology innovation. The result that haze pollution significantly inhibits green technology innovation is confirmed, and this negative impact is mainly concentrated on substantive green technology innovation. Robustness tests have been performed, and the conclusion is still valid. Moreover, we find that government behavior can significantly affect their relationship. Specifically, the government's economic growth target will increase the haze pollution's ability to block the development of green technology innovation. However, if the government has a clear environmental target, their negative relationship will weaken. Based on the findings, targeted policy insights are presented in this paper. • Introducing a two-stage sequential game model and mathematically deduced how haze pollution affects green innovation. • China's central heating policy is considered a natural experiment. • The result that haze pollution significantly inhibits green technology innovation is confirmed. • The economic and environmental target constraints affect the impact of haze pollution on green technology innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid urbanization and industrialization, environmental pollution caused by such activities has drawn much attention due to its adverse impacts on environmental quality and public health. Therefore, under the current background of China's ecological civilization construction, promoting the precise and scientific treatment of environmental pollution holds great significance. This paper proposes an improved perpetual inventory method to systematically measure the capital stock of urban and industrial pollution control. The efficiency of urban and industrial pollution control is measured by adopting the global data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. Then, the influencing factors of pollution control efficiency are empirically analyzed by using the spatial Tobit regression model. The results reveal that, first, the growth rate of the capital input scale of urban pollution control is greater than that of industrial pollution control, and the spatial distribution of capital input is unbalanced. Second, the efficiency of urban and industrial pollution control from 1991 to 2019 was generally low. The current efficiency values of urban and industrial pollution control are less than 0.2 and 0.5, respectively, indicating that urban and industrial pollution control are far from efficient. Third, the efficiency of urban and industrial pollution control is significantly positively related to the level of urbanization and industrialization, has a U-shaped relationship with the economic development level, and has heterogeneous effects on technology, energy intensity, government influence and foreign trade. On this basis, we provide constructive suggestions for optimizing the performance of pollution control. [Display omitted] • This paper systematically, comprehensively and in detail measures EPC's capital input in China. • We analyze the historical performance and influencing factors of EPC. • Results show EPC's efficiency has not been significantly improved from 1991 to 2019. • The current level of urban and industrial EPC is still very low. • Factors have spatial and heterogenous effects on the efficiency of EPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extensive use of land resources and environmental pollution in rural areas are two major problems prevalent in China and even the world. It is unknown whether improving the degree of intensive use of rural land can reduce environmental pollution; whether environmental pollution will be promoted or inhibited still lacks in-depth discussion. This paper first provides a theoretical analysis of the generation process of nonpoint source pollution loads (NPSP) in rural land use (RLU) and the mechanism and path of intensive rural land use (IRLU) to reduce agricultural nonpoint source pollution loads (ANPSP). Then, it takes 31 provinces in China from 1978 to 2019 as the research object to examine the temporal and spatial evolution features of IRLU and ANPSP. Furthermore, the paper uses the decoupling model and the Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) model to test the linear and nonlinear relationship between the two. The research shows that the degree of IRLU in China decreased from 0.54 in 1978 to 0.27 in 2006, and then continuously increased to 0.56 in 2019. Moreover, the ANPSP continued to increase from 1955.14 t in 1978–3622.74 t in 2019. The decoupling relationship between the degree of IRLU and environmental pollution experienced the evolution process of "negative decoupling-decoupling", and the EKC had an "inverted N-shaped" characteristic. Overall, China shows that the IRLU helps to reduce ANPSP. At the same time, it was also found that there is obvious heterogeneity among the 31 provinces used in this research in China. Among them, the degree of intensive land use (ILU) in the principal grain-producing regions tends to be better and stable, while other areas show fluctuating changes. The ANPSP in economically developed areas gradually decreases, while that in underdeveloped areas continues to increase. More than 80% of the provinces in China show a trend of IRLU to advance the reduction of ANPSP, but there has also been an increase in the over-intensification of RLU in some major grain-producing areas. The research concludes that there is an inevitable relationship between RLU and ANPSP. Appropriately increasing ILU has a positive effect on decreasing ANPSP. • Moderate intensive rural land use (IRLU) helps reduce environmental pollution. • The agricultural nonpoint source pollution loads (ANPSP) continued to increase. • The decoupling relationship shifted from negative decoupling to decoupling. • The panel EKC curve in China showed the characteristic of "inverted-N″ shape. • The IRLU, ANPSP and their relationship are obvious heterogeneity in provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) play an increasingly important role in the process of urban environmental governance, especially in some developing countries such as China. However, existing studies pay little attention to such an issue in China. In this paper, we consider 113 cities in China from the pollution information transparency index (PITI) list released by ENGOs as the treatment group and some other cities as the control group, and use the difference-in-differences (DID) model and propensity score matching DID (PSM-DID) model to explore the role of ENGOs in China's urban environmental governance. The results show that ENGOs play a significantly positive and robust role in China's urban environmental governance. Furthermore, using regression analysis for eastern, central, and western China, we find that the influence of ENGOs exists in eastern and central China rather than in western China. In addition, the results of the Placebo test indicate that the effect of ENGOs shows an upward trend since 2008. We suggest that ENGOs' role should be strengthened in China, and governments at various levels should take into account environmental information released by ENGOs and consider appropriate measures to improve local environment quality using the obtained information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the roles and regional differences associated with cleaner production (CP) and end-of-pipe treatment (ET) can provide valuable information for the reduction of pollutant emissions. Considering the differences of these impact pathways, this paper proposes a two-stage decomposition method for investigating the contributions of CP and ET to the reduction of pollutant emissions. This two-stage method enhances the accuracy and obtainable detail of the decomposition results. Then, empirical research was conducted by decomposing the changes of China's industrial sulfur dioxide (SO 2) emissions during 2005–2015. At the national level, CP and ET both decreased Chinese SO 2 emissions, and CP has become the dominant approach for SO 2 emission reduction in 2010–2015. Moreover, coal pollution intensity and treatment strength are key factors that need to be improved in CP and ET , respectively. At the provincial level, CP exerts a stronger impact on SO 2 emission differences among different regions, while ET exerts less impact on SO 2 emission differences among different regions. Based on the decomposition results, this paper presents targeted policy implications. • We proposed a two-stage method to enhance the accuracy and richness of results. • The SO 2 emission changes are decomposed into 7 factors from 2005 to 2015 in China. • Cleaner production became dominant approach of SO 2 emission abatement in 2010–2015. • Coal pollution intensity and treatment strength are the key factors to be improved. • The difference in contributions of cleaner production among regions has widened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution, especially haze pollution is a serious environment problem that directly affects the sustainable development in China. Identifying the key factors affecting PM2.5 concentration and the interaction mechanism between them through quantitative analysis can greatly help a city devise PM2.5 pollution control strategy. Using the geographical detector model, we quantitative measured 13 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region's social factors and their interaction impacts on PM2.5 concentration in 2016. In the analysis process, factor analysis method is used to separate the factors preliminary. According to the results, the factors mainly divided into two categories, i.e. economic factor and environment factor. R&D ranks top in the studied cities in terms of factor detection results, presenting closely relationship between PM2.5 concentration and R&D. We also find the interaction between any two factors all enhance impact on PM2.5 concentration than any one alone. This study provided a scientific basic and guidance for measure the driving degree of social factors and their interaction effects. • This paper identifies the key elements affecting PM2.5 concentration. • The geographical detector model is used to study the interaction mechanism of those factors. • This paper takes 13 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased attention has been paid to PM 2.5 pollution in China. Due to its detrimental effects on environment and health, it is important to establish a PM 2.5 concentration forecasting model with high precision for its monitoring and controlling. This paper presents a novel hybrid model based on principal component analysis (PCA) and least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) optimized by cuckoo search (CS). First PCA is adopted to extract original features and reduce dimension for input selection. Then LSSVM is applied to predict the daily PM 2.5 concentration. The parameters in LSSVM are fine-tuned by CS to improve its generalization. An experiment study reveals that the proposed approach outperforms a single LSSVM model with default parameters and a general regression neural network (GRNN) model in PM 2.5 concentration prediction. Therefore the established model presents the potential to be applied to air quality forecasting systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries have formulated strict environmental regulation policies, but unfortunately, environmental pollution is still severe. We believe that this phenomenon may result from institutional factors. We study whether local government competition affects the dependence on polluting industries and test it with the transaction data of China's land market. We find that the decline in the economic ranking of cities increases the scale of land transferred to polluting industries, and the more the ranking decline, the larger the scale of land in polluting industries. Besides, we analyze the impact of the first decline in the urban economic ranking, finding that the land transfer scale of polluting industries exhibits a trend of slowing down after a rapid rise in the short term. Heterogeneity analysis shows that officials with lower education levels and before-retirement age will dependent more on polluting industries to a greater extent when they face local government competition, and cities with economic growth lower than the national average will increase their dependence on polluting industries to a greater extent. This paper provides new insights into the causes of the environmental governance dilemma, which also highlights the need to weaken economic indicators and strengthen environmental indicators in government performance assessment. • Local government competition is an important factor in environmental pollution. • Economic ranking falls will increase the amount of land going to polluting industries. • Economic competition and environmental protection are competitive relation. • Heterogeneity effect of officials' characteristics and economic growth targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the strict control measures, China has achieved phased victory in combating with the COVID-19, production activities have gradually returned to normal. This paper examined whether air pollution was rebounded or realized green recovery in the post-COVID-19 era with a dataset of weather normalized pollutant concentrations using difference-in-differences models. Results showed that air pollution experienced a significant decline due to the wide range of control measures. With entering the post-epidemic period, air pollution raised due to the orderly production resumption. Specifically, production resumption increased the PM 2.5 concentrations of lockdown cities and non-lockdown cities by 43.2% (22.3 μg/m3) and 35.9% (17.3 μg/m3) compared with that in the period of COVID-19 breakout. Although the economic activities of China have been gradually recovered, PM 2.5 concentrations were 8.8–11.2 μg/m3 lower than the level of pre-epidemic period. In addition, the environmental effects varied across cities. With the process of production resumption, the PM 2.5 concentrations of cities with higher GDP, higher secondary industry output, more private cars and higher export volume rebounded less. Most developed cities realized green recovery by economy growth and air quality improvement, such as Beijing and Shanghai. While cities with heavy industry reflected pollution rebound with slow economy recovery, such as Shenyang and Harbin. Understanding the environmental effects of control measure and production resumption can provide crucial information for developing epidemic recovery policies and dealing with pollution issues for both China and other countries. • Production resumption increased PM 2.5 concentrations in the post-COVID-19 era. • PM 2.5 concentrations in the post-COVID-19 era were lower than that during the period without epidemic. • PM 2.5 concentrations of cities with higher GDP, secondary industry output, and export volume rebounded less. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the proposal of carbon neutralization, countries pay much more attention to environmental protection. As waste electric vehicle battery (WEVB) has an important impact on the environment, its reverse logistics process has been a vital issue, in which an excellent reverse logistics network (RLN) becomes a prerequisite for waste recycling, cost reduction, profit increasement and efficiency improvement. However, reverse logistics network design (RLND) for WEVBs is still a significant challenge. In general, the amount and quality of the returned product in a RLN are highly uncertain, and the WEVB market in China is no exception to this. From a circular economic and environmental perspective, this paper is devoted to designing a multi-participants-based RLN for WEVBs, considering recycling and remanufacturing processes. Then, a fuzzy optimization model is proposed to determine the number and location of facilities in this RLN, promote sustainable development, reduce environmental pollution, and consider carbon emissions and two types of WEVBs. Finally, the results from a case study in Chongqing show good performance in cost reduction, profit increasement and efficiency improvement, which could significantly support the decision-making of WEVBs recycling. [Display omitted] • Build a multi-participants based collaborative optimization model for RLND. • Consider different recovery options and carbon emissions simultaneously. • Introduce the bill of material in recycling process of WEVBs. • Establish an appropriate number and location of different functional facilities. • Determine the flow and route of different items in RLN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with other countries, China's local governments often adopt the land supply strategy of "low price and sufficient supply" for industrial land and "high price and limited supply" for commercial land in the allocation of land resources. The allocation of land resources is an important means to promote the rapid development of China's economy, and the impacts of land resource misallocation (LRM) on environmental pollution are increasingly apparent. This paper uses panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2009 to 2018 to discuss the relationship between LRM and environmental pollution. The ratio of the average price of commercial land to the average price of industrial land is used to measure the degree of LRM. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), spatial Durbin model (SDM), threshold model, and mediation effect model are used to study the direct effect, spatial spillover effect, nonlinear relationship, and conduction mechanism of LRM on environmental pollution. The results show that LRM significantly aggravated environmental pollution. This conclusion still holds after robustness tests including the substitution of dependent variables and IV estimates. The LRM aggravates environmental pollution through industrial structure and technological progress. Interestingly, the impact of LRM on environmental pollution also has a significant positive spatial spillover effect in adjacent regions. In addition, there is also evidence that the adverse effect of LRM on environmental pollution is nonlinear at different levels of industrial structure and technological progress. The threshold model shows that with the optimization of the industrial structure, the impact of LRM on environmental pollution shows a weakening trend of "inverted V-shaped", and with the advancement of technology, the impact of LRM on environmental pollution presents an "S-shaped" changing trend of "strong-weak-strong". • 1.Land resource misallocation (LRM) of 30 provinces in China are estimated. • The impact of LRM on environmental pollution is investigated. • A spatial Durbin model that addresses the effects of latent space spillovers is employed. • Threshold panel model is used to discuss the nonlinear relationship between LRM and environmental pollution. • LRM aggravates environmental pollution through industrial structure and technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for an efficient pollution tax rate system that reflects the differentiation of marginal health damages of the individual emission sources. Although China is the first country in the world to launch a regionally differentiated pollution tax rate program, due to the absence of marginal damage estimation, whether this policy is efficient and equitable remains unknown. In this paper, we build an Integrated Assessment Model to measure the marginal damage of SO2, NOx and PM2.5 emitted from 38 coal-fired power plants in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and evaluate the policy performance of tax rate systems with different differentiation magnitudes. Results show that the spatial variations are huge, the range of marginal health damages of coal-fired power plants in the BTH region between the lowest and highest emission source is $2375 to $33245 per ton for SO2, $307 to $4984 per ton for NOx, and $11513 - $163126 per ton for PM2.5. Shifting from the uniform tax rate system to the current partially differentiated tax rate system will increase the total health benefits by 51.6% but with some regions worse-off than the uniform tax rate system. If we incorporate the source-specific variations of marginal health damages into the tax rate system, such a fully differentiated tax rate system will further increase the total health benefits of current partially differentiated tax rate system by 43.1% with every region better-off. Furthermore, even though the policy benefits of both differentiated tax rate systems are much more unequally distributed than uniform tax rates, their impacts on environmental inequalities are better than the uniform tax rate system. Because uniform tax rate systems do not offset the original inequalities of environmental health burdens while differentiated tax rate systems achieve this buy efficiently allocate mitigation targets among regions with different burdens. Image 1 • This is the first study in China to measure source-specific air pollution marginal damages. • Marginal damages of coal-fired power plants in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region vary greatly. • The current tax rate system is more efficient and slightly more equitable than uniform systems. • We design a fully differentiated tax rate system based on marginal damages. • The fully differentiated tax rate is more efficient than current policy with higher equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government management is the main tool to solve environmental pollution. Considering the unique fiscal decentralization institution in China, this paper investigates the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on urban haze pollution in China from the perspective of spatial econometrics. The Generalized Spatial Two Stage Least Squares (GS2SLS) method is employed to treat the spatial correlation of air pollution. Based on a panel dataset comprising 276 Chinese cities during 2004–2018, we find a positive effect of FDI on urban haze pollution. For one standard deviation increase in FDI, the average annual PM2.5 concentration increase by 1.5%, ceteris paribus. Evidence also suggests that this effect varies across regions with different levels of fiscal decentralization. Through the test of the moderating effect and the threshold effect, we found that the higher of the fiscal decentralization, the weaker of the impact of FDI on haze pollution. This study proposes a new solution for sustainable development: increasing the financial autonomy of local governments to restrain the attraction of non-cleaner investment. • Examining the impact of FDI and fiscal decentralization on haze pollution in Chinese cities. • The GS2SLS method is employed to treat the spatial correlation of air pollution. • An increase in FDI by one standard deviation causes a 1.5% increase in average annual PM2.5 concentration. • The higher of the fiscal decentralization, the weaker of the impact of FDI on haze pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanism between financial agglomeration and environmental pollution is an important concern for both academia and policymaking. The main objective of this paper is to study the nonlinear impacts of financial agglomeration on environmental pollution. A theoretical framework was first constructed based on the scale effect, structure effect, and technology innovation effect of financial agglomeration and a Copeland-Taylor endogenous growth model. Using the panel data of 281 Chinese prefectural-level cities from 2003 to 2019, a panel threshold regression model was introduced to estimate the nonlinear association between financial agglomeration and environmental pollution. Industrial smoke (dust) emissions and industrial wastewater discharge were adopted to quantify current environmental pollution in China. The results show that financial agglomeration had a significant effect on improving the environment characterized by gradient thresholds; also notable is that 68.64% of the cities crossed the threshold value, entering the decelerating phase of financial agglomeration inhibiting environmental pollution. Both upgrading industrial structure and enhancing marketization could reduce environmental pollution, whereas increasing human capital, environmental regulation, and energy consumption had a deteriorating effect. The three channels for financial agglomeration to reduce environmental pollution were revealed to be financial scale, financial structure, and financial technology innovation. Our findings provide strong evidence for policymaking in sustainable development. [Display omitted] • Financial agglomeration (FA) is a crucial way to improve environment pollution (EP). • We built the theoretical framework of FA and EP based on the Copeland-Taylor model. • We tested the nonlinear impacts of FA on EP using the panel threshold model. • We revealed the transmission mechanism between FA and EP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local governments' strategy of increasing the land supply by selling industrial land at low prices causes industrial land in China to be priced substantially below the market value. Whether under planned or market allocation, urban land is an important part of China's market-oriented economic reform. However, direct empirical research on the impact of industrial land transfer on environmental pollution is still lacking. Based on matched data, this study investigates the impact of land resource mismatch and land marketization on the pollution emissions of Chinese enterprises. Pollution emissions refer to the emission intensity of industrial enterprises' major pollutants, such as industrial water, industrial waste gas and sulfur dioxide, and it is calculated by the comprehensive index method. The impact of land resource mismatch and land marketization on the pollution emissions of Chinese enterprises is investigated using a panel fixed effect model, subsample regression, the instrumental variable method and a mediating effect model. The benchmark analysis shows that land resource mismatch increases pollution emissions. The influence mechanism analysis shows that land resource mismatch may increase the pollution emissions of enterprises by causing overinvestment and low productivity. In addition, the expanded analysis shows that China's land marketization can reduce the intensity of and have a long-term impact on the pollution emissions of enterprises. This paper provides a theoretical and scientific basis for correcting the mismatch of land resources and promoting the reform of land marketization in China. • Land resource mismatch increases the pollution emissions of enterprises in China. • Land resource mismatch increases pollution emissions by causing overinvestment. • Land resource mismatch increases pollution emissions by restraining productivity. • China's land marketization can reduce the pollution emission intensity. • Land resource mismatch has an asymmetric effect on pollution emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is significant interest among policymakers and academics about whether or not green credit, which is a market-oriented environmental policy tool, has achieved its intended effect in improving the environment in China. This paper addresses this question from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Using panel data from 30 provincial administrative regions of China from 2007 to 2016, we apply the fixed effect model and the gray correlation analysis method to examine the influence and its mechanism of green credit on China's environmental quality. The results show that green credit does improve China's environmental quality overall. Green credit can reduce environmental pollution through three mechanisms: improving enterprise performance, motivating enterprise innovation, and upgrading industrial structure. However, there are regional differences in the emission-reduction effect of green credit. Green credit improves the environmental quality in resource-based regions more than non-resource-based regions; the emission-reduction effect is significant in regions with developed financial markets, but not significant elsewhere. The results indicate that green credit policies should be regionally differentiated to more effectively achieve emission-reduction targets. • We examine the influence mechanism of green credit on China's environmental quality. • We use panel data from China's 30 provincial regions during 2007–2016. • We apply the fixed effect model and the gray correlation analysis method. • Green credit can reduce environmental pollution through three mechanisms. • There are some regional differences in the emission-reduction effect of green credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the reforms pertaining to the energy structure in the automotive industry, new energy vehicles (NEVs) have long been the focus of government attention, as an effective means to reduce air pollution. Therefore, this paper employs the rolling-window Granger causality test, in order to discuss the environmental benefits of new energy vehicles, so as to explore the active role of the transportation sector in reducing air pollution. By studying the interactions between NEVs and particulate matter (PM 2.5) from the time period spanning from 2013:M1 to 2020:M9, we have found that the positive influences from NEVs to PM 2.5 ascertain that NEVs cannot be considered as an efficient measure to mitigate air pollution. Moreover, these results are not supported by the energy and environment interaction model, which essentially indicates that replacing traditional energy with renewable energy is an effective measure for controlling environmental pollution. In fact, PM 2.5 tends to have a negative impact on NEVs, which underlines that the air quality index is a leading indicator, particularly when it comes to analyzing the development of the NEVs market. This essentially highlights that in China, NEVs still do not account for a high proportion of car sales, and therefore, its environmental protection effect is not obvious. At the same time, the factor of public awareness regarding environmental protection will thus occupy a considerable proportion in the transmission of NEVs sales. These revelations will help the government to formulate environmental governance policies, and expand the new energy vehicle market to achieve carbon neutrality targets in China. • The impact of NEVs on particulate matter (PM2.5) to investigate the role of the transport sector in mitigating air pollution. • NEVs can not be considered as an efficient measure to mitigate air pollution. • Not supported by the energy and environment interaction model. • The public's awareness of environmental protection will occupy a considerable proportion in the transmission of NEVs sales. • Help the government to formulate environmental governance policies and expand the new energy vehicle market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncontrolled socioeconomic development has strong negative effects on the ecological environment, including pollution and the depletion and waste of natural resources. These serious consequences result from the high flows of materials and energy through a socioeconomic system produced by exchanges between the system and its surroundings, causing the disturbance of metabolic processes. In this paper, we developed an ecological network model for a societal system, and used China in 2006 as a case study to illustrate application of the model. We analyzed China’s basic metabolic processes and used ecological network analysis to study the network relationships within the system. Basic components comprised the internal environment, five sectors (agriculture, exploitation, manufacturing, domestic, and recycling), and the external environment. We defined 21 pairs of ecological relationships in China’s societal metabolic system (excluding self-mutualism within a component). Using utility and throughflow analysis, we found that exploitation, mutualism, and competition relationships accounted for 76.2, 14.3, and 9.5% of the total relationships, respectively. In our trophic level analysis, the components were divided into producers, consumers, and decomposers according to their positions in the system. Our analyses revealed ways to optimize the system’s structure and adjust its functions, thereby promoting healthier socioeconomic development, and suggested ways to apply ecological network analysis in future socioeconomic research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The rapidly growing industrial activities in emerging economies such as China have been causing resource depletion and pollution problems. This reality requires China to adopt an integrated management approach to resolve the conflict between industrial development and environmental protection, and the concept of circular economy (CE) serves this purpose. In this paper, we examine if different types of manufacturing enterprises on environmental-oriented supply chain cooperation (ESCC) exist. We also determine if the Chinese manufacturer types varying in ESCC differ in their implementation of the CE practices towards achieving the CE-targeted goals on improving both environmental and economic performance. Our cluster analytic results with multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) among the four identified types of Chinese manufacturers varying in environmental-oriented supply chain cooperation highlight the importance to intensify the cooperation with upstream and downstream supply chain partners for a CE initiative to succeed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Water is a critical issue in China for a variety of reasons. China is poor of water resources with 2300m3 of per capita availability, which is less than of the world average. This is exacerbated by regional differences; e.g. North China''s water availability is only about 271m3 of per capita value, which is only of the world''s average. Furthermore, pollution contributes to water scarcity and is a major source for diseases, particularly for the poor. The Ministry of Hydrology [1997. China''s Regional Water Bullets. Water Resource and Hydro-power Publishing House, Beijing, China] reports that about 65–80% of rivers in North China no longer support any economic activities. Previous studies have emphasized the amount of water withdrawn but rarely take water quality into consideration. The quality of the return flows usually changes; the water quality being lower than the water flows that entered the production process initially. It is especially important to measure the impacts of wastewater to the hydro-ecosystem. Thus, water consumption should not only account for the amount of water inputs but also the amount of water contaminated in the hydro-ecosystem by the discharged wastewater. In this paper we present a new accounting and analytical approach based on economic input–output modelling combined with a mass balanced hydrological model that links interactions in the economic system with interactions in the hydrological system. We thus follow the tradition of integrated economic–ecologic input–output modelling. Our hydro-economic accounting framework and analysis tool allows tracking water consumption on the input side, water pollution leaving the economic system and water flows passing through the hydrological system thus enabling us to deal with water resources of different qualities. Following this method, the results illustrate that North China requires 96% of its annual available water, including both water inputs for the economy and contaminated water that is ineligible for any uses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Water pollution from small rural industries is a serious problem throughout China. Over half of all river sections monitored for water quality are rated as being unsafe for human contact, and this pollution is estimated to cost several per cent of GDP. While China has some of the toughest environmental protection laws in the world, the implementation of these laws in rural areas is not effective. This paper explains the reasons for this implementation gap. It argues that the factors that have underpinned the economic success of rural industry are precisely the same factors that cause water pollution from rural industry to remain such a serious problem in China. This means that the control of rural water pollution is not simply a technical problem of designing a more appropriate governance system, or finding better policy instruments or more funding. Instead, solutions lie in changes in the model that underpins rural development in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Chinese government adopted a new environmental program during "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period. Whether this program can achieve its goal of pollution reduction and quality improvement for exports is of vital importance for China's sustainable development. This paper constructs a quasi-difference-in-difference (DID) framework to identify the effects of the new environmental policy on export product quality by using highly disaggregated trade transaction data at the product level. Empirical results show that the implementation of pollution reduction targets is negatively correlated with export product quality. This negative impact is more profound in western regions, capital-intensive industries, privately owned firms and firms exporting to countries which are not members of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development group. In addition, our extended analysis shows that the negative effects can be mitigated through product switching within the firms. The major policy implication is that local governments should take proper measures to strengthen the effects of innovation offsets caused by environmental regulation and effectively utilize the induced effects of environmental regulation on product switching. The goal is to achieve a win-win outcome for environmental protection and improvement in export product quality. • Pollution reduction enforcement significantly reduces export product quality. • Innovation can be an offsetting force for this negative impact. • The negative effects can be mitigated through product switching within the firms. • There are variations across regions, sectors and ownership. • Environmental regulation should accommodate these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is experiencing serious atmospheric pollution, which also exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity. The Chinese government has implemented targeted pollution control measures at the city level, emphasizing coordination among cities to prevent and control air pollution in key regions such as Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration. This study combined an inter-city multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model with an air quality dispersion model consisting of a weather research and forecasting (WRF) model and the CALPUFF model (WRF/CALPUFF) to study the inter-city economic consumption, pollutant emission and concentration among 13 cities in BTH urban agglomeration. NO x is chosen as an example. The combined effects of economic linkage and atmospheric transport show that NO x concentrations in cities in the BTH urban agglomeration are attributable to three consumption sources: a local contribution from the target city's own local economic consumption (average, 25%), and non-local consumption contributions, including other cities in the BTH urban agglomeration (average, 36%) and regions outside of BTH (average, 39%). Compared with the contributions to NO x concentrations calculated using only the MRIO model or atmospheric transport stimulation model, the results of this paper quantify that the consumption outside of a city could provide a greater impact on the city's air quality due to the combined effects of economic linkage and atmospheric transport. To avoid negative impacts of emission reduction targets on economic consumption, governmental regional pollution control policies should consider the combined effects of economic linkage and atmospheric transport. • The inter-city MRIO model is combined with the air quality simulation model. • The non-local consumption could drove a greater impact on a city's air quality in BTH region. • Provide a useful guidance to the inter-city air pollution control policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 18 prefecture-level and above cities in the Yangtze River Delta region of China during the period of 2007–2016, this paper uses a relative price approach to calculate the degree of market integration (segmentation), and further adopts the dynamic spatial panel Durbin model and the generalized spatial two-stage least squares method to investigate the effect and its mechanism of market integration on environmental pollution. The results show that the degree of market integration and the total emissions, per capita emissions, and emission intensity of three types of pollutants (i.e., sulfur dioxide, industrial wastewater, and industrial smoke and dust) all show an inverted "U-shaped" curve relationship. When market integration exceeds a certain critical level, market integration will have an emission-reduction effect on these three types of pollutants. Most cities in the Yangtze River Delta region are in an emission-reduction state of market integration. Market integration facilitates strengthening the emission-reduction effects of technological innovation, environmental regulation, and energy efficiency. Moreover, both environmental pollution and market integration have a significant spatial spillover effect. The market integration in neighboring regions is conducive to reducing local pollution emissions. We suggest that China should accelerate market-oriented reform and promote regional market integration, so as to make full use of the emission-reduction effect of market integration. • We explore the emission-reduction effect and its mechanism of market integration. • We use a panel data set at the city level in China's Yangtze River Delta region. • We adopt the spatial panel Durbin model and spatial two-stage least squares method. • Market integration and pollution emissions show an inverted "U-shaped" relationship. • Market integration in neighboring regions helps to reduce local pollution emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological civilization construction in China is in its critical period and the natural resources assets are audited to the administration. However, the natural resources accounting is still in its infancy, especially the atmospheric environmental resources accounting, which refers to the ability of the atmospheric environment to accommodate and purify certain pollutants. This paper established a methodology to calculate the atmospheric resources assets with the index of SO 2 , a convenient method to calculate the physical accounts for atmospheric environmental resources based on the capacity of SO 2 and an accessible way to estimate the monetary accounts with market-based price. Based on the methodology, a calculation was conducted on the assets and liabilities of SO 2 capacity resources for 31 provinces of China in 2015. Empirical results showed that the physical accounts for SO 2 capacity resources quantify the environmental pollution status in each region, and the monetary accounts reflect whether the industry and energy structures in one region are sound and sustainable. The findings provide specific profit or loss in terms of physical and monetary accounts for each region, which enable to quantify the government's occupancy and affordability of SO 2 capacity resources, and contribute to the establishment of natural resource balance sheet and ecological compensation mechanism. • A simple and valid approach was established to evaluate the atmospheric environmental resources. • The physical and monetary accounts for SO 2 environment resources in each province of China were calculated. • The results can be used to quantify the government's occupancy and affordability of SO 2 capacity resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Joint Prevention and Control of Regional Air Pollution in China" has been put forward to solve serious regional air pollution. However, there is no geographical division covering the whole country that could reveal the similarities and differences among regions to support implementing this policy. This paper applied an air quality model and a multiregional input-output model to analyze the impacts and patterns of atmospheric transmission and trade transfer of regional air pollution, then compared the differences among typical provinces in the northern, central and southern regions. The social network analysis method was used to analyze the interacting pattern of regional atmospheric transmission and trade transfer, and 31 provinces in mainland China were divided into 5 clusters to reveal the interprovincial relationship of atmospheric transmission; then, the 31 provinces were divided into 3 clusters to reveal the interprovincial relationship of trade transfer. Based on these results, the provincial geographical division of "Nine Atmospheric Environmental Transmission Zones" covering mainland China was carried out. In addition, the key regions linking atmospheric transmission and trade transfer were also found. For example, Inner Mongolia is a typical key linkage region. From an atmospheric transmission perspective, it is linked to the northeast area. However, from a trade transfer perspective, it has a close relationship with the southern provinces. The linkage among provinces provides support for the interregional interaction mechanism of air pollution and the formulation of "Joint Prevention and Control of Regional Air Pollution in China". Image 1 • The impact of atmospheric and trade transfer on regional pollution were discussed. • The atmospheric transmission is location-sensitive and trade transfer is not. • The social network analysis was used in air atmospheric environmental zoning. • The 31 provinces were classified into 9 atmospheric environmental transmission zones. • There are four provinces being nodes connecting atmosphere and trade transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have examined the correlation between economic growth and air pollution, but few focuses on the nexus between environmental regulation and <2.5 μm (PM 2.5) fine particle matter. Using Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) and Spatial Two-stage Least Squares (2SLS) methods to analyze 277 Chinese cities over the period 2002–2010, this paper finds inverted U-shaped relationships between PM 2.5 concentration and formal/informal environmental regulations for the whole and eastern and western regions. By removing the depression year of 2008, regulation effect on pollution strengthened, indicating that the main task for local governments in crisis is to avoid GDP decline rather than official promotion. Further, green technological innovation and industrial structure optimization induced by environmental regulation is shown to be beneficial for haze pollution mitigation. Some policy recommendations are proposed in conclusion. • The Spatial Models are used to examine the effect of regulation on the PM 2.5 of 277 Chinese cities during 2002–2010. • An inverted U-shaped relationship is found for the nexus. • Eastern and western China generally has an inverted U-shaped relationship. • Technical innovation and industrial structure are confirmed to be important mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]