Search

The joint participation of multiple subjects is crucial for environmental governance. Using panel data for 273 Chinese cities during 2013–2019, this study investigates the impact and mechanism of public demands on environmental pollution. The results demonstrate that public demands measured by the number of environmental complaints placed on government leaders significantly reduce environmental pollution. Furthermore, increases in the rate and speed of government responses improve the effect of public demands on environmental governance. Public demands placed on provincial leaders reduce local environmental pollution to a greater extent than public demands placed on prefectural and county leaders. Province-level governments are more willing to consider public opinions and attach more importance to environmental governance; Prefecture-level governments prioritize province-level governments' attention to the environment when implementing environmental governance. Moreover, strong political ties between provincial and prefectural leaders and long tenures among prefectural leaders strengthen the pollution reduction effect of public demands placed on provincial leaders. The reduction effect of environmental complaints on pollution emission is more significant in cities with high level of Internet construction and environmental disclosure. Our results illustrate the role of public demands in environmental governance, offering a reference for developing effective environmental policies. • Public demands placed on government leaders reduce environmental pollution. • Effects are strengthened under effective government response. • Demands to provincial leaders are more effective than those to prefectural leaders. • Strong political ties and long tenures of prefectural leaders enhance the effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although our knowledge of national carbon emission trading system and green certificate trading system are powerful incentive instruments that can deliver on increasingly ambitious climate targets in China, there remains an uncertainty of systems' structural reforms. This study builds on and extends a well-established dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to incorporate carbon trading system and green certificate trading system into the modeling framework, simulating a diverse of system development pathways further allows an exploration of the many possible policy effect. Then, using total factor productivity as a comprehensive indicator to asses policy effectiveness, the evolutionary trend of comprehensive effects under different paths are separately evaluated to discover the reforms' optimal range. Our work offers main results: First, these instruments provide a price signal. The introduction of a carbon allowance auction drive up carbon prices, while the implementation of a green certificate punishment and the expansion of the trading scope promote an increase in green certificate prices. Second, all policy scenarios that help reduce carbon emission intensity and optimize the power supply structure. However, in achieving the net-zero goal, the green certificate policy incurs more economic costs than the carbon trading policy. Indeed, the combination of multiple policy tools alleviates the decline of social welfare levels. Third, synergism design among policy tools: the focus should be on carbon trading policy from 2021 to 2030, green certificate trading policy from 2030 to 2050, and strengthened policy from 2050 to 2060. Reform measures within policies may need to be introduced in a timely manner. This study offers specific insights and tailored policy proposals to support policymakers in balancing environmental goals with economic and social needs in light of the aforementioned findings. Fig. 1. Introduction of the research questions Fig. 2. Framework of this paper. [Display omitted] • Carbon emission trading and green certificate trading policies were introduced into a dynamic CGE model. • The comprehensive performance of different scenarios were measured using total factor productivity index. • The policy effects of different scenarios were explored from 2020 to 2060. • The even more effective reform measures were adopt, within a single policy. • A sensible mix were proposed, within different policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trading of carbon emissions is a crucial regulatory method to address environmental pollution issues. This study takes China's carbon emission trading pilot policy established in 2013 as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the DID model to empirically test the urban panel data from 2006 to 2019. The results show that the carbon emission trading pilot policy can effectively reduce urban environmental pollution, and this effect is more noticeable in mid-western cities, northern cities, cities with fewer resources, and large-scale cities. In addition, to address the urban environmental pollution problem through this policy, the government is encouraged to raise its environmental protection awareness and put more effort into the innovation of technology. In general, this study uses carbon emission trading policies from China to confirm that market-based incentive environmental regulation tools can effectively reduce environmental pollution in urban areas. These findings can provide more theoretical support and empirical evidence for the government to use mechanisms of the market to effectively solve pollution problems, improve ecological environment quality, and accelerate the realization of green economy. • The DID model is used to track pilot policy impact on urban environmental pollution. • Carbon emission trading pilot policy can reduce urban environmental pollution. • The government's environmental awareness is the channel of action. • The government's technological innovation efforts are the channel of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental pollution and social well-being issue caused by the huge energy consumption in cities reflect the urgency of improving urban energy performance from multiple dimensions of economy, environment, and well-being. As a result, various countries and cities have promulgated a series of policies. However, the complexity of the policies makes the categories and utilities need to be further clarified, and the diseconomy caused by the lag of policy effect evaluation makes the focus of policy implementation need to be clear in advance. Therefore, based on public choice theory, this research follows the idea of "prior analysis" and takes Chinese cities as the research object. Firstly, the collected energy performance improvement policies of Chinese cities were analyzed and classified by the content analysis method, and the main utilities of all policies and the specific utilities of each category were summarized. Based on the multiple dimensions of urban energy performance research (namely, economy, environment and well-being dimensions), this research summarized the policy utilities that help to improve the urban energy performance of each dimension, and also preset the policy utility values. Secondly, the effect prediction model for urban energy performance improvement policies in each dimension was constructed by Back-propagation (BP) neural network. Thirdly, the energy performance of Chinese cities in 2020 measured by Data Envelopment Analysis method was taken as the benchmark value, and the energy performance of Chinese cities in 2025 measured by the policy effect prediction model was taken as the comparison value. According to the results of performance improvement, the energy performance improvement policies of Chinese cities were selected respectively from the dimensions of economy, environment and well-being. This research shows that: the energy performance improvement policies of Chinese cities mainly include six categories, namely energy conservation and emission reduction policies, energy development policies, ecological environmental policies, fiscal and tax policies, industrial policies and economic and social policies. It is needed to focus on ecological environmental policies, fiscal and tax policies and industrial policies to improve urban energy performance from the economic dimension. For the environmental dimension, the key and priority policies are ecological environmental policies. Compared with the economic dimension, the focus of implementing policies adds economic and social policies in the well-being dimension. In the implementation of policies, the differences of energy performance among cities can be reduced through multi-feature analysis of cities or regions, appropriate adjustment of specific measures and targets, and improvement of digital information management of urban energy performance. This research can effectively help cities clarify which policies require higher implementation intensity and attention before and during policy implementation, thereby maximizing multi-dimensional urban energy performance. • The types of urban energy performance improvement policies in China were proposed. • Policy utilities for improving performance in different dimensions were clarified. • Predictive models for policy effects in different dimensions were constructed. • Key policies have been selected before and during policy implementation. • The study considers multiple policies and cities, and three performance dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid developments in environmental infrastructure have contributed to significant improvements in green total factor productivity, but further investigation is required to provide a detailed assessment to understand the policy mechanisms involved. This paper analyzes environmental progress in China through MMQR, CCEMG, and AMG as empirical strategies for 30 provinces in China. Our empirical results reveal that energy optimization through renewable energy is the most effective channel to improve green total factor productivity, though it is not the only available option. Since environmental regulations, infrastructure development, and green technology innovation also directly impact energy efficiency, adopting these within policy channels will positively impact environmental sustainability. Our empirical approach helps suggest novel environmental policy suggestions. In particular, policymakers must introduce structural changes within energy developments to foster renewable energy. Furthermore, China must increase environmental spending to upgrade its energy infrastructure further and solve ecological issues. These insights offer valuable policy guidance for decision-makers in China and globally, aiming to foster economic and environmental sustainability and achieve zero-carbon transition goals. • The current study analyses the role of green factor productivity in zero carbon transition. • We use 30 chinese provincial datasets from 2005 to 2020. • Energy transition is the most effective channel to improve green total factor productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encouraging enterprises to engage in green innovation is a potent strategy for reducing carbon emissions from production. As one of the largest carbon emitters, China has launched a series of policies to achieve carbon peaking and neutrality collectively referred to as China's dual carbon policy. However, existing research on the impact of China's dual carbon policy on green innovation by heavy-polluting enterprises is insufficient. To fill this gap, this study constructed a theoretical model to draw hypotheses about the impact of the dual carbon policy on enterprises' green innovation and verified this impact using a difference-in-differences model to conduct a quasi-natural experiment based on data from 2010 to 2022 from Chinese A-share-listed enterprises. The results indicate that the dual carbon policy had a significantly positive influence on green innovation in heavy-polluting enterprises. Moreover, environmental tax mediated this effect, while enterprises' total costs and subsidies positively moderated it. Additionally, the impact exhibited variations based on several key factors, including green patent type, carbon emissions, enterprise ownership structure, and Environmental, Social, and Governance ratings. This study supplements related research on the effects of environmental policy on green innovation and provides both theoretical and empirical support for adapting subsequent environmental policies. • This study explores the impact of China's dual carbon policies on green innovation by firms. • We create a theoretical model and validate it using data from listed Chinese firms. • The dual carbon policies significantly increase green innovation by firms. • This relationship is mediated by environmental tax and moderated by firm costs and subsidies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]