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As a fundamental factor driving economic growth, natural capital plays a key role in sustainable development. This paper incorporates various economic growth proxy variables into the MRW model and uses the BMA method to tackle the uncertainty issue of the model. Based on China's provincial-level panel data, this paper examines the impact of renewable natural capital and non-renewable natural capital on the country's economic growth and then carries out multiple mechanism analysis with the CART algorithm. The main findings are: 1 Natural capital has a significant deep impact on China's economic growth in models incorporating proximate and fundamental theories, and the direction of natural capital's impact varies with proxy indicators, which shows a significant 'Curse' effect of dependence and a 'Blessing' effect of abundance. This panoramic perspective can reconcile the serious disagreement on 'Resource Curse' among the literature. 2 The effects of renewable natural capital are in line with the 'Resource neutral' hypothesis, while nonrenewable natural capital has a stronger impact on economic growth in terms of both the 'Curse' effect of dependence and the 'Blessing' effect of abundance, and the overall effect on economic growth depends on patterns of resource use. 3 Under high physical capital accumulation, natural capital has a more fundamental impact on economic growth, and the 'Blessing' effect of abundance has been significantly enhanced. Based on their resource endowments and economic development levels, all provinces should reinvest natural resource rents in national wealth to mitigate the 'Resource Curse' through effective protection of natural capital and compensation from reinvestment. This is a reasonable way to embark on a win-win sustainable development path of economic development and ecological civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientifically characterizing the intrinsic mechanism of the biased reduction targets affecting agricultural green innovation is of great practical significance for the systematic promotion of the greening transformation of China's agricultural development mode. This paper first constructed a two-sector endogenous economic growth model, theoretically deducing the intrinsic mechanism by which the bias reduction targets were adjusted through the green transformation of agricultural production input factors, which in turn affected the research and development decision-making of the agricultural innovation sector. To the end, this paper treated the strategy of zero growth in synthetic fertilizer use (ZGS) implemented in 2015 as a policy shock and empirically assessed its green innovation effect using the staggered difference-in-differences model. The results showed that ZGS significantly contributed to the increase of green patents in Chinese agriculture. The above conclusion still held after a series of robustness tests, including using terrain complexity as an instrumental variable, estimating the robust staggered difference-in-differences model, eliminating policy interference, altering the estimated model, and replacing the explanatory variables. However, the obvious regional heterogeneity of this effect was reported: the higher the level of marketization and digitalization, the fuller the release of this innovation effect; and that ZGS was more significant in inducing the green innovation activities of enterprises and individuals than of innovation bodies such as universities and research institutions. Finally, this paper also empirically tested the two paths of the theoretical model about the green innovation effect triggered by the biased reduction targets. The study confirmed that the green innovation effect of ZGS mainly resulted from two channels: the expansion of the market scale for agricultural green technologies and the green-oriented allocation of innovation resources. The above conclusions imply that it is necessary to create a sound innovation ecology by strengthening the innovation of green science and technology institutions and combining active government with an effective market. Particularly, a portfolio of policy instruments, including the fiscal, taxation, financial, investment, price policy, and standard system concerning green technology development, should be created to guarantee green technology development. In addition, ZGS can set up differentiated reduction targets considering regional endowment conditions to ensure its smooth progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasingly prominent issues of climate change and energy shortages, large-scale development of renewable and clean energy has become a common choice for countries around the world. Among them, onshore wind power plays an important role in the global energy transformation process due to its mature technology, safety, and efficiency advantages. However, because wind energy resources have the characteristics of low energy density, instability, and spatial dispersion, large-scale development of onshore wind power requires a large amount of land resources to support. To ensure the land resource demand for wind power development under the goal of 'carbon neutrality,' this paper conducted a quantitative study on the land occupation of onshore wind power in China. Firstly, based on the criterion of exclusivity, this paper reclassified the types of land occupation for wind farms from a spatio-temporal perspective. Secondly, based on the sample parameter method and the alpha shape algorithm, this paper calculated the land area of existing onshore wind farms in China categorically. Finally, considering the development trend of wind power technology, this paper systematically simulated and predicted the wind power land demand in different development scenarios under the 'carbon neutrality' goal. The results indicated that: (1) Based on the principle of exclusivity, the total land use area of wind farms could be divided into two parts in the spatial dimension: the direct impact area and the indirect impact area. The direct impact area could be divided into two parts in the temporal dimension: permanent land use and temporary land use. (2) In 2022, the land occupied by the wind turbine foundation, permanent land use, temporary land use, and direct impact area of China's onshore wind farms reached 48.28 km², 352.08 km², 1 234.86 km², and 1 638.81 km², respectively. (3) In 2022, the indirect impact area and total land use area of China's onshore wind farms reached 9.81x104 km ² and 9.99x104 km², respectively. The total land use area was almost equivalent to the total urban land use area of China. (4) Compared with the scenario of current technical level, under the scenario of technological progress and wind turbine upgradation, the various types of land use demand for wind power in China will have significantly decreased by 2060, and land use demand will have reached its peak by around 2050. The large-scale upgradation of wind turbines has great potential for saving land resources. Therefore, perfecting the land use standards of wind power construction, improving the land use efficiency of wind power development, and promoting the construction of offshore wind power are important paths for coordinating the sustainable use of wind energy resources and land resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clean energy transformation in major powers, especially the rapidly expanding electric vehicle and wind power industries, has sparked an increasing demand for strategic resources such as rare earths (RE). The RE industrial chain has become a focal area of geopolitical competition between China and the United States. This paper utilizes theories and methods from law and political economics, employing the classic paradigm of global governance, to examine the underlying motivations and geopolitical impacts of the United States in promoting the restructuring of the global rare earth industrial chain. Taking into account the two major characteristics of the U.S.' geopolitical strategy, namely 'controlling key industrial chains' and 'containing China with allies,' this paper reveals the underlying logic and strategic responses of significant political and economic relationships in the ongoing geopolitical competition. These relationships include the connection between the decoupling of the RE industrial chain and reconstruction of the global 'dual chain' pattern, the enactment of the 'three major acts' by the U.S., and the dominance of the global clean energy industry system, as well as the game between China and the United States as major powers and Japan's industrial security. The results show that: (1) In terms of controlling key industrial chains, the technological 'de-rare earth' initiatives of downstream enterprises are reinforcing the 'de-sinicization' strategic orientation of western governments, and vice versa. This joint effort is promoting the formation of a global strategic resource 'dual chain' pattern. (2) In terms of containing China with allies, the United States requires that Japan and other allied countries share the responsibility in geopolitical competition with China. Japan, driven by its own interests, has been deeply involved in the restructuring of the global RE industrial chain, shifting from a high dependence on Chinese RE imports to a deep participation in a new global RE industrial chain led by the U.S. (3) The promulgation of the 'three major acts' by the U S. is a strong proof of its consistent use of domestic laws to shape geopolitical relations. The underlying motivation behind this is to reshape the strategic resource industrial chain and gain control of the global clean energy transformation. In the face of escalating strategic resource competition and based upon the 'dual circulation' new development pattern, China should, on the one hand, leverage its resources and production capacity advantages in the front and middle streams of the industrial chains, leading the independent extension of the strategic resource industry chain through innovation. On the other hand, China should engage strategically and integrate global key mineral resources, develop effective countermeasures, and continuously enhance the resilience of key industrial chains such as rare earths, so as to improve the level of national strategic resource security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recycling carbon tax revenue is a significant part of the design of a nation's carbon tax system. The impact of different recycling principles on the socio-economy and carbon emission reduction varies greatly. Under the background of China's goal of reaching peak carbon emissions, this paper designed three carbon tax recycling principles based on the goal of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), including recycling principles based on output ratio, export ratio, and carbon intensity. A recursively dynamic CGE model was developed in this study to evaluate the economic effects of these three carbon tax recycling principles based on tax neutrality under China's goal of reaching peak carbon emissions. Carbon tax recycling measures could mitigate the economic losses caused by carbon tax, and the results could be greatly affected according to different recycling principles. The results showed that: 1 The recycling principle based on output ratio could reduce economic losses and improve households' social welfare. 2 China's carbon intensity in 2030 could be reduced by more than 65% compared with that in 2005, and the proportion of non-fossil energy in primary energy consumption could reach 25% using the recycling principle based on carbon intensity, but the economic loss mitigation effect of the recycling measures based on this principle was small. 3 Adopting the recycling principle based on export ratio would narrow the competitive gap between China and foreign countries, and the exports of high-carbon-intensity goods would not increase under this principle. 4 According to principles based on output ratio and export ratio, the NDC goal of non-fossil energy accounting for about 25% of primary energy consumption by 2030 could not be achieved, and only the NDC goal of reducing carbon emissions per unit of GDP by more than 65% compared with that of 2005 could be achieved. In brief, as an essential policy tool to achieve China's goal of reaching peak carbon emissions, the carbon tax should be implemented as soon as possible. At the same time, according to China's national conditions, a targeted choice of carbon tax recycling principle is needed. The role of the carbon tax in the process of achieving the goal of Nationally Determined Contributions should be fully utilized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of achieving the goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality, mandatory corporate environmental information disclosure has begun to be implemented. According to the theory of geographical economics, the closer the geographical distance between enterprises and ecological environmental regulatory authorities, the more likely it is to form a 'deterrence' (the 'distance attenuation effect' of supervision costs) or a 'reliance' (the 'distance attenuation effect' of rent-seeking costs) for enterprises. Based on the data of listed companies with major pollutants from 2015 to 2020, this study empirically tested the directions and paths of the impact of the geographical distance between enterprises and ecological environmental regulatory authorities on the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure using fixed effects model and mediating effects model. The study showed that: 1 The closer the geographical distance between enterprises and ecological environmental regulatory authorities, the higher the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure, which supported the 'distance attenuation effect' hypothesis of supervision costs. 2 The impact of geographical distance on the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure was realized through the intensity of supervision and monitoring at the provincial level and the intensity of law enforcement at the prefecture level. 3 The strengthening of environmental governance intensity, the improvement of regional digitalization level, and the increase in media attention suppressed the 'distance attenuation effect' of supervision costs. It is concluded that in order to achieve a balanced development of the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure in the whole region, it is necessary to strengthen environmental governance intensity, improve regional digitalization level, and increase media attention. From the perspective of geographical economics, this paper expands the influencing factors of corporate environmental information disclosure quality, enriches the theoretical practice of the 'distance attenuation effect' in geographical economics, and provides solutions and theoretical bases for promoting the balanced development of corporate environmental information disclosure quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The achievements of ecological civilization construction in the new era have attracted worldwide attention and become a significant symbol of historic achievements and transformation in the cause of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese nation in this era. Based on the perspective of ecological and environmental governance modernization, this paper summarizes and reviews China's green development in the decade of the new era. From the perspectives of green development system and mechanism, ecological environment quality, green economic transformation, green and low-carbon life, and global sustainable development, this paper statistically demonstrates the results of China's green development in the new era in the past decade. Guided by the five major relationships of coordinated promotion of carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and economic growth, the study proposed an optimized path to further promote green development on the new journey towards modernization. Green development is a new development model formed by the CPC after unremitting exploration and a profound revolution in the development concept. It includes aspects of the green transformation of the economy and the development of a green economy and has profound theoretical logic, historical logic, and realistic logic. In the decade from the 18th to the 20th CPC National Congress, China took multiple measures to improve its governance system, promote environmental co-governance through multi-dimensional interaction, implement governance measures scientifically and effectively, and improve governance effectiveness in a multi-pronged approach, successfully exploring a green development path that conforms to nature and promotes harmony between humanity and nature. In that decade, China had continuously improved its institutional mechanisms for green development, achieved overall improvement in ecological and environmental quality, made important progress in green economic transformation, and made green and low-carbon living a new trend, contributing China's strength to global sustainable development. China has created a world-renowned ecological miracle and a green development miracle, and green development has become a prominent feature in pursuing a Chinese path to modernization. We should fully understand the new tasks and requirements put forward by the 20th CPC National Congress, analyze the new situation and problems currently faced, and continue to promote green development on the new journey. We must effectively strengthen the concept of the system, jointly promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and economic growth, and accelerate the formation of a mechanism to coordinate the relations between these four aspects and correctly handle the five major relationships. And we will accelerate the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature, cultivate a green feature for high-quality development, and promote the steady and long-term development of green development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

W ith the continuous deepening of (Jhinas green environmental protection concept, the corporate social rcsponsihilitj7 (CSR) reports of listed companies have gradually become an important indicator for evaluating the future value of enterprises. Based on the order effect theory of psychology: this paper focused oil the plicnomciion of the fonvaid presentation of the environmental information chapter in (JSR reports, constnictcd the location measurement variables of the cnvironmciital inlbrmation chapter with the (JSR reports of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shcnzlicn Stock Exchange from 201 1 to 2021, and explored the impact of the presentation order of the environmental chapter on institutional investors through empirical research. The results showed that: (1) The forward presentation of the environmental information chapter in CSR reports led to an increase in institutional investorsf shareholding ratio, which was still valid after a series of robustness and endogeneity tests. (2) The heterogeneity analysis showed that the differential effect of the fonvard presentation of the environmental information chapter on institutional investors was mainly reflected in corporate cnvironmciital awareness, and the characteristics of institutional investors, i.c., the environmental pctformancc level, environmental information disclosure quality, and industry environmental sensitivity of listed companies, all affected the role of the environmental information chapter in institutional investorsf shareholding ratio. (Compared to non-invcstmcnt-oricntcd institutional investors, investment-oriented institutional investors were more susceptible to the impact of the fonvard presentation of the environmental information chapter, of which QFII and insurance institutional investors were more affected by the order of the environmental information chapter location.③ The economic conscquciiccs of the forward presentation of the environmental information chapter in CSR reports were mainly reflected in the improvement of the future value of enterprises. This result was tested on different value measurement variables. In low-Tohiiifs QJisted companies, the incremental effect of the fonvaid presentation of the environmental information chapter oil the future value of the enterprise was more significant. Further rcscaich showed that institutional investors could keenly perceive the economic consequences of the fonvard presentation of the environmental Liifbrmatioii chapter, and this conclusion indirectly confirmed the smart money? effect of institutional investors by favoring listed companies with low Tohinfs Q and the fonvard presentation of the environmental information chapter. This paper analyzes the impact of the order of the environmental information chapter oil institutional investorsf investment decisions, providing empirical evidence for the order effect of the environmental information chapter location in CSR reports and broadening the research field of psychological order effects in the capital market. It lias significant implications for improving the disclosure system of (JSR reports, strcngtlicning the supervision of disclosure, and increasing the usefulness of institutional investorsf dccision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction of greenhouse gases and atmospheric pollutants is an important component of environmental and climate governance. Synergizing the reduction of air pollution and carbon emissions is a general starting point for advancing the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, which is helpful for the construction of a beautiful China and the achievement of the goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. This paper systematically reviews the concept, category, and quantitative evaluation methods of promoting the synergistic effects of air pollution control and carbon emission reduction, and compares the characteristics and applicability of comprehensive top-down, bottom-up, and mixed synergistic effect evaluation models. We also analyzed and summarized the application of synergistic effects in policies to achieve a single target and collaborative control in various countries, with the purpose of providing empirical guidance for China's relevant policies to exert synergistic governance effects. From a technical perspective and combining the direct and indirect links between pollutants and greenhouse gases, this paper analyzes the deep-rooted causes of the synergistic effects, explores the driving forces of key industries such as electric power, industry, and transportation to help reduce pollution and carbon emissions, and summarizes four key scientific issues in comprehensive evaluations of synergistic effects from a management science perspective. The standardization of the comprehensive evaluation process and the interdisciplinary intersection of various evaluation processes reflect the complexity of the evaluations, and it is necessary to analyze the production and transmission processes of greenhouse gases and pollutants, as well as the direct and indirect links between the two and their mechanisms impacting health. The diversity of time, space, and evaluation object selection in comprehensive evaluations leads to uncertainty in the results. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on gradually mature big data collection and storage technology to strengthen the synergistic control and quantitative mapping of the impact on emission levels, health levels, emission reduction costs, and agricultural and ecological systems. Enhancing the comparability of comprehensive evaluations is conducive to the mutual confirmation and comparative analysis of different results. It is also necessary to reasonably calculate the comprehensive benefits of synergistic control in different dimensions. The focus of evaluations at the national, regional, and urban levels varies greatly, so it is necessary to clarify the pollution and carbon reduction governance system and strengthen the hierarchical nature of the evaluations in order to promote more scientific implementation of policies by management departments at all levels to achieve the synergistic effects of carbon emission reduction and air pollution control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology is a vital technical path to realize the low-carbon transformation of the coal power industry as well as a key means to ensure the safe and stable operation of the future power system. However, the current development path of coupling coal power and CCUS technology is not clear, and there is room for the optimization of the corresponding policy mechanism. This paper quantitatively estimates the contribution of CCUS application in the coal power industry to China's low-carbon energy transition strategy, describes the future development path of coal power's CCUS industrialization from the spatio-temporal dimension, and further constructs a comprehensive supporting policy system framework. The results show that the development of coupling coal power and CCUS technology is technically and economically feasible, which can not only achieve deep decarbon-ization of the power system and bring significant output and employment dividends in the coal power industry, but also effectively control the average carbon price level of society. In terms of the temporal dimension, the development path of coal power's CCUS industrialization in the future should be divided into three stages: technology research, development, and demonstration (2021--2030), large-scale application (2030--2040), and commercial development (2040--2060). In terms of the spatial dimension, the technically and economically feasible regions for cluster development are the Ordos Basin, the Junggar Basin, the Bohai Bay Basin, etc. Constructing a comprehensive policy support system framework incorporating ' macro support, fiscal and tax finance, market mechanism, technology research, development, and demonstration, as well as management system' is conducive to realizing a large-scale CCUS application in the coal power industry. In the stage of technology research, development, and demonstration of coal power's CCUS application, more definitive incentive policies such as storage subsidies, compensation for power generation hours, and feed-in tariff subsidies should be implemented. When the project cost drops to a certain extent, there should be a gradual transition to market-based policy tools such as carbon trading and green electricity trading mechanisms, and green finance should also be promoted. Based on the relevant conclusions, some targeted policy suggestions are put forward to provide references for promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of China's coal power industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to meet the practical needs of the people to equitably share the fruits of economic development, urban economic construction should be based on the coordinated development of the environment and the economy, which means that high-quality urban development should be realized through a greener and more inclusive path. Under the wave of the fourth industrial revolution, industrial intelligence, characterized by the application of industrial robots, provides an opportunity to promote the green and inclusive development of Chinese cities. Based on the construction of the Malmquist-Luenberger index to scientifically measure the level of inclusive green growth in cities, this study empirically examined the impact of industrial intelligence development on inclusive green growth and its internal mechanisms based on industrial robot application data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) from 2007 to 2020 and city-level data in China using various models. The study found that: (1) Industrial intelligence significantly contributed to inclusive green growth in cities, and the effect was more obvious in cities with lower financial support, a higher level of information infrastructure construction, and greater innovation and entrepreneurial dynamics, demonstrating significant heterogeneity in geographical location characteristics. (2) As far as the channels of action were concerned, industrial intelligence was mainly realized through the channels of promoting digital technology innovation and industrial structure upgrading. (3) The development of industrial intelligence had a positive spatial spillover effect on the enhancement of the inclusive green level of cities. Furthermore, if the driving effect could be effectively realized, the regional sustainable development capacity would be effectively enhanced. This paper seeks to enrich the empirical evidence and empirical research on the benefits of industrial intelligence development in promoting inclusive green growth in cities and to provide policy references for the development of smart manufacturing and inclusive green economic growth in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strengthening the rule of law in the ecological environment is a long-term mechanism to promote comprehensive green transformation in economic and social development. Environmental courts, as an institutional innovation in the specialization of environmental justice, aim to improve the efficiency of environmental justice and the quality of environmental governance. However, few studies have paid attention to the impact of environmental justice reform on corporate green transformation. In view of this and considering the establishment of environmental courts by China's local intermediate people's courts as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper examined the impact of environmental judicial specialization on corporate green transformation and its mechanisms using a multi-period DID model based on the data of China's A-share listed companies from 2004 to 2020. The results showed that: (1) The establishment of environmental courts had a significant positive impact on corporate green transformation, as evidenced by the promotion of green innovation and an increase in total factor productivity. This conclusion still held after a series of robustness tests. (2) The mechanism analysis showed that the establishment of the environmental court promoted corporate green transformation through strengthening external constraints and improving the internal dynamics of enterprises. Specifically, the external constraint mechanism included weakening the governance failure caused by the collusion between the government and enterprises, as well as enhancing the soft constraints imposed by the public. The internal dynamic mechanism included reducing the financing pressure and improving the innovation efficiency faced by enterprises in the progress of green transformation. (3) Heterogeneity analysis found that the green transformation effect of environmental courts had a more significant positive effect on polluting industries, private firms, and firms with CEOs with environmental backgrounds. This study showed that the positive impact of environmental justice specialization on corporate green transformation was sustainable and would not squeeze out green innovation activities because of the potential transformation costs, exploring an incentive-compatible legal path for corporate green transformation. Therefore, it is necessary to deepen the reform of environmental justice specialization, strengthen cross-basin and cross-regional environmental justice linkages, explore collaboration models among judicial, administrative, and social organizations, and improve the comprehensive governance mechanism that coordinates external constraints with internal dynamics, so as to stimulate the endogenous motivations of the whole society to build, share, and govern the ecological environment while maintaining normalized external pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial development has greatly promoted China's economic growth. Under the dual pressure of resources and the environment, high-quality economic development has become an inevitable requirement of China's new era. Under the new development pattern of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which is 'to step up conservation of the Yangtze River and stop its over-development,' it is of great significance to explore the transmission mechanism of the impact of environmental regulations on the economic belt's high-quality economic development. Based on the panel data of 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2005 to 2019, this paper constructed an index system of high-quality economic development and verified the mediation effect of environmental regulations on its high-quality economic development by using the mediation effect model. Intermediate variables, including technological input and industrial structure, were used. In addition, the dynamic threshold model was used to verify the impact of environmental regulations on high-quality economic development under different threshold variable levels. The results found that: (1) The results of the mediation effect test showed that both technological input and industrial structure had a partial mediation effect in the impact of environmental regulations on high quality economic development. Environmental regulations helped to improve the level of technological input and optimize the adjustment of industrial structure, which in turn had a positive impact on the quality of economic development. (2) The results of the threshold model showed that when technological input and industrial structure were the threshold variables of environmental regulations, environmental regulations had a threshold effect on high quality economic development. In regions with high technology input and a backward industrial structure, environmental regulations could better promote high quality economic development. (3) The results of the heterogeneity of the threshold effects showed that a temporal heterogeneity existed in the threshold effects of technology input and industrial structure variables and that factors such as the policy orientation of technological inputs and the rigidity of industrial structure affected the implementation effect of environmental regulation policies. Based on the above conclusions, the following policy recommendations are put forward: (1) Formulate differentiated environmental regulation policies and promote the effective implementation of environmental regulation policies. (2) Improve the level of technological input and provide new impetus for high-quality economic development. (3) Optimize industrial structure, and accelerate the green development and transformation of industries. (4) Clarify the mechanism of environmental compensation and special governance, and promote the synergistic development of regional economy and environmental regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strategic deployment of building a comprehensive socialist modern state has put forward new requirements for the green and low-carbon transformation of China's economic and social development. As the core subject of promoting this process, the incentive mechanism for enterprises to practice environmental protection and emission reduction and take on green responsibilities has become a hot topic of social and academic attention. This paper examined the impact of the implementation of the low-carbon city pilot policy on the quality of environmental, social and governance (ESG) of listed companies using the staggered difference-in-differences model based on microdata of Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2021 as a representative low carbon transition policy and a quasi-natural experiment. The findings were as follows: 1 The low-carbon city pilot policy implemented in China since 2010 significantly improved the ESG quality of listed companies. The policy resulted in an average increase of 27.42% in the ESG index of listed companies in pilot cities. This result held after a series of robustness tests, including controlling for other policy interferences, propensity score matching, and placebo tests. 2 Under the influence of this policy, pressure from government regulation and public opinion supervision became a crucial driver for companies to autonomously enhance their ESG quality. 3 Green financial support helped alleviate corporate financing constraints and promoted green technological innovation, serving as an important mechanism for improving corporate ESG quality under the low-carbon transformation policy. Among these mechanisms, green technological innovation exhibited a trend toward both quantity and quality improvement. Innovation in energy-saving green technologies played a more significant role in enhancing corporate ESG quality in the context of the low-carbon city pilot policy. This study demonstrates that China's low-carbon city pilot policy not only promoted regional green and low-carbon transformation at the macro level but also encouraged enterprises to embrace the concept of low-carbon transformation and undertake responsibilities for sustainable and green development at the micro level. While enriching and supplementing the research on factors influencing corporate ESG quality, this study also provides theoretical and decision-making support for China's achievement of its 'dual carbon' goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordinated development of the value chains at provincial, national, and global levels proves to be pivotal in facilitating international and domestic circulations and ensuring the soft landing of China's economy, while green input-output efficiency, under the context of high-quality development, has been identified as a core factor in evaluating the potential of enterprises. In this view, this study attempted to calculate the coupling coordination degree of triple value chains by tapping into the global input-output table, China's multi-regional input-output table, and data from listed companies. The Slacks-based Measure (SBM) method was employed to measure the green total factor productivity enveloping undesirable output. The balanced panel data consisting of 770 listed companies in China in 2012, 2015, and 2017, assisted by a multidimensional fixed-effects model, was used to estimate the impact of coupling coordination degree of triple value chains on the green total factor productivity of enterprises. The results revealed that: ① There existed a virtuous cycle in which the coupling coordination degree of triple value chains rose, the GVC embeddedness was fortified, and green total factor productivity increased, but its effect was attenuated as factor density increased. ② Further analysis indicated that the forward coupling coordination degree of triple value chains brought about an effective and long-acting improvement in the green total factor productivity of enterprises, while the backward one produced a short but significant rise for labor-intensive enterprises in particular. To conclude, this paper arrives at several policy suggestions about coordinating value chains and optimizing industrial layout. First, governments need to be more actively involved in evaluating the advantages of local enterprises to ensure that policy formulation is specific to local micro agents. In this regard, labor-intensive provinces or industries should possibly promote coupling coordinated development of triple value chains to enforce the transformation and upgrading of local enterprises and to achieve harmonized industrial development. Second, regarding factor input, more attention should be placed on resource allocation for local high-tech enterprises. On the other end, cross-regional cooperation should be encouraged to achieve the integration of production and supply so as to enhance the promoting effect of forward coupling coordination on the endogenous growth of enterprises. The implementation of green environmental protection standards in supply chain processes should also be considered. Third, the tuning of policies and the convenience of transactions among provinces need to be strengthened. Enterprises of different regions must pursue market specialization, rather than being embedded in GVC discretely, to implement agglomeration effects to realize full industrial upgrade and break the technological barriers in China's domestic market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, prioritizing green development and promoting digital empowerment have become key paths in China's economic transformation. To explore whether 'green development' and 'digitalization' can achieve synergistic development at the industrial level, this paper used the panel data of 283 prefecture-level cities in China to innovatively verify the regulatory effect of the digital economy in the process of green transformation of the industrial structure. Firstly, the multiple threshold test was used to find the nonlinear relationship between environmental regulation and industrial structure adjustment. Based on the fitting of a high-order function, two adjustment variables--industrial digitalization and digital industrialization--were added to analyze the synergy between environmental regulation and digital empowerment. The results showed that: ① Environmental regulation had no significant impact on the rationalization of industrial structure but had a single threshold effect on the upgrading of industrial structure; that is, when the intensity of environmental regulation exceeded the threshold value, environmental improvement and industrial structure upgrading could achieve a winwin situation. ② The joint operation of industrial digitalization and environmental regulation led to a dual threshold effect in the rationalization of industrial structure. As the integration of the two deepened, synergistic development could be achieved by gradually reducing the intensity of environmental regulation. However, the joint operation of industrial digitalization and environmental regulation led to the disappearance of the single threshold effect of industrial structure upgrading, and the interaction coefficient was significantly positive but not stable. ③ The joint operation of digital industrialization and environmental regulation did not have a significant impact on the rationalization of industrial structure but had a single threshold effect on the advancement of industrial structure. As the integration of the two deepened, the intensity range of ecological and industrial synergistic development would gradually expand. From the heterogeneity regression results of local regions, the main conclusion could still be verified, but it was found that there was a phenomenon of pollution transfer from economically developed areas to underdeveloped areas. Based on the above conclusions, this study proposes that shortsighted behaviors of local environmental governance and the objective differences in the industrial levels of each region should be considered in the top-level design process. We should also guide the governments in the developed areas to pay more attention to the long-term driving force of green technology innovation and promote the deep integration of 'green consensus' and development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the issue of why agricultural land property rights need to be reconstructed after the 'separation of two rights' and built on the comparison of two forms of the 'separation of two rights,' i.e., market transaction and free distribution, this paper analyzes the essence, dilemma, and optimization paths of the 'separation of three rights' of agricultural land and discusses the possible ultimate form of agricultural land property rights. The results show that: ① The mode of 'separation of two rights' determines the transformation paths of land property rights. By comparing the differences concerning the mode of the 'separation of two rights' between urban land property rights and agricultural land property rights, the study finds that the 'separation of two rights' based on the market mechanism needs no further subdivision of property rights, while the 'separation of two rights' based on free distribution needs further construction of property rights. Therefore, the crux of the 'separation of two rights' of agricultural land is not the right structure, but the mode of rights separation. ② Although the 'separation of three rights' helps to reduce the instability of property rights and solve the closure problem of property right transactions, the 'separation of three rights' based on land transfer is faced with the governance dilemmas of contract instability and multiplicity of the subjects of property rights, which makes it difficult for the land management rights to become property rights with the character of the real right, resulting in incomplete separation between contract rights and management rights. ③ Therefore, in the short term or considering locally, the institutional design of the 'separation of three rights' needs to adapt to the stage characteristics of an unstable circulation contract and endow transforming land management rights with limited functions. In the long run, complete separation of contracting rights and management rights can be achieved by changing the organization of management right circulation or the mode of property right transaction. ④ As the 'separation of two rights' based on free distribution is only the early form of agricultural land property rights, the 'separation of three rights' may also be a form of agricultural land property rights at a specific stage. In addition, the form of agricultural land property rights may eventually evolve into the 'separation of two rights' based on the market mechanism. One possibility is through the market-oriented reform of land contract rights, which could take a detour to the 'separation of two rights' based on free distribution; the other is the separation of land management rights from the collective property right based on the market mechanism directly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change has reached a 'climate emergency.' Many countries and regions, including China, have successively announced the carbon neutrality goal and the net zero emission commitment. In addition to the traditional mitigation and adaptation measures to climate change, studies on negative emission technologies and economic feasibility are in full swing in the fields of natural science and climate economics, but there are few studies on the evaluation of the comprehensive effect of negative emission technologies from the perspective of sustainable development economics. Based on the ecological value theory of sustainable development economics, this paper combined the comprehensive assessment model of climate change with the dynamic general stochastic equilibrium (DSGE) model of macroeconomics and constructed an N-DSGE model including natural ecosystem sectors to comprehensively assess the climate, ecological, economic, and welfare effects of negative emission technologies. The assessment results showed that: ① When the traditional emission reduction measures reached their maximum emission reduction potential under the available technical conditions, negative emission technologies could be used to achieve net zero emissions or even net negative emissions. ② The low-intensity and small-scale implementation of negative emission technologies had positive climate, ecological, and economic effects. However, with the increase in the implementation intensity of negative emission technologies, the climatic effect was enhanced, the economic effect was weakened, and the comprehensive social welfare was significantly reduced. ③ The sensitivity analysis proved the robustness of the assessment results and further indicated that the implementation effect of negative emission technologies would be affected by the traditional emission reduction level and natural carbon sink capacity. Based on the evaluation results, China should carefully expand the implementation scale of negative emission technologies, strengthen scientific and technological research and development, and reduce technology costs. China should also adopt differentiated development strategies for different negative emission technologies, strengthen the governance of negative emission technology implementation, avoid and minimize the negative impact of these technologies as much as possible, and promote the synergy of sustainable development goals in terms of climate, ecology, and economy. Even if negative emission technologies are deployed, traditional efforts to reduce emissions cannot be relaxed. Efforts should be made to reduce peak carbon emissions while enhancing the carbon sink capacity of natural ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been five years since the implementation of China's rural revitalization strategy, and there is an urgent need to reconsider the practice of rural revitalization from the logic of the policy system, major tasks, and inner theory. Based on regularity and tendency analysis, this paper intends to re-examine and re-analyze this strategy for the future. The research finds that: ① In terms of the policy logic, the top-level design for rural revitalization has been refined, and the policy's systemic architecture, structure, and key issues are becoming clearer. In terms of its tasks, the focus on key aspects of rural revitalization has become increasingly comprehensive, but there is a need to enhance the accuracy and precision of its application. In theoretical terms, research on rural revitalization is considered to lag behind its practical exploration, requiring further breakthroughs for future development. ② In terms of regular trends, under the background of decreasing agricultural and employment shares, the development of rural industries shows a trend of 'over-expected fission,' such as expanding industrial capacity, rapidly improving efficiency, and accelerating the reshaping of industrial forms. The rural spatial economy and society show the trend of 'categorized transformational development,' rural evolution shows new features, and rural construction shows new dynamics. Urban and rural factor mobility demonstrates a shift in the flow of production factors from unidirectional exclusion to bidirectional synergistic coupling, entering a trend of 'two-way cross-border windows.' The years from 2020 to 2035 are seen as a window of opportunity for breaking the rural-urban dual structure and establishing a comprehensive rural-urban integration development mechanism. ③ To promote rural vitalization, we should adhere to bottom-line thinking and build a strategic bottom-line security system around extreme issues; foster integration thinking and cultivate new vitality for regional coordinated development between urban and rural areas; maintain transformational thinking; explore future paths of rural construction practices; embrace 'window' thinking and seize opportunities for digital and ecological development; and uphold reform thinking and activate endogenous dynamics for rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China mentioned that China is facing tightening resource and environmental constraints, environmental pollution, and other issues, and the energy-consuming right trading policy is a key measure to promote green, circular, and low-carbon development in China. Under the dual consideration of ecological benefits and economic benefits, this paper took the pilot launch of energy-consuming trading as a quasi-natural experiment and used panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2009 to 2020 and the different-in-differences method to explore the impact of this policy on the optimization and upgrading of China's industrial structure. The study showed that: (J) The energy-consuming right trading policy could promote the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure, and the promotion effect on the upgrading of the industrial structure outweighed its adverse impact on the rationalization of the industrial structure, as evidenced by a series of robustness tests. © The mechanism analysis showed that the realization paths of industrial structure upgrading were the upgrading of technological innovation and that of energy consumption structure, and the policy suppressed the adverse impact on the rationalization of industrial structure by improving the input structure and output structure of some industrial sectors. © In addition, the pilot policy of energy-consuming rights had obvious regional heterogeneity for the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, which significantly promoted the upgrading of industrial structure in the central and western regions and the rationalization of industrial structure in the eastern regions. This study provides some policy references for the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure from the perspective of improving the energy-consuming right trading market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the background that China has entered the middle-late stage of population urbanization, conducting a multi-dimensional exploration of its development pattern from a structural level under the superficial phenomenon of rapid urbanization is conducive to a clear identification and understanding of the internal mechanisms and rules of urbanization, the discovery of problems existing in the process of urbanization, and the proposal of rational response strategies. This paper mainly used the county-level data from China's sixth and seventh population censuses, taking the prefecture-level administrative region as the basic statistical unit, to comprehensively analyze the development pattern of China's population urbanization from 2010 to 2020 in terms of changes in the urban and rural populations, sources of urban population growth, and the spatial distribution of the urban population at the provincial and regional levels. The results showed that: (J) The increase in the population urbanization ratio was the result of the joint effect of changes in the urban and rural populations, and the contribution of urban population growth was slightly higher than that of rural population decline. © The migration of the rural population to cities was still the absolute main force driving urban population growth in China, followed by territorial adjustment growth and natural growth. © The spatial distribution of the urban population tended to be dispersed, and the contribution of county-residing urban population changes to urbanization was slightly higher than that of urban population changes in urban areas. ® The urbanization ratio increase in the northeast region was mainly the result of the decrease in the rural population. Natural negative growth and net outflows occurred in the urban population. Moreover, most of this region experienced serious losses in the county-residing urban population. Accordingly, different levels of governments should promptly examine the structural characteristics of their urbanization in the past, continuously promote economic development, and improve public service supply based on the characteristics of their own natural conditions and conditions of urban population changes and distributions to formulate more targeted population urbanization strategies and to explore a sustainable population urbanization path that meets their own reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New urbanization plays an important role in China's regional economic growth and green transformation. In this stage of high-quality economic development, the effect of the government-led new urbanization policy on reducing pollution and carbon emissions needs to be verified. Based on the data of 180 prefecture-level cities in China from 2004 to 2020, this paper built a difference-indifferences model from the two dimensions of ' pollution' and ' carbon emission' to empirically test the effect of the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions in new urbanization and its influencing mechanisms. The results showed that: (J) The new urbanization construction had a significant effect of reducing pollution and carbon emissions, which was characterized by its annual increase. The conclusion was still robust after validity and robustness tests. © Based on the ' location-feature-scale' dimensional urban heterogeneity, the effect of the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions was more significant in the samples of eastern cities, non-resource-based cities, cities with high human capital, and larger cities. Quantile estimation results showed that this effect in the new urbanization construction was increasing marginally. © Mechanism analysis showed that the new urbanization construction could not only directly promote the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions, but also effectively promote this reduction by fostering the overall upgrading of industrial structure, service structure, and performance-based technological innovation. However, the impact of input-based technological innovation on this reduction was not obvious. This article offers new ideas for the next stage of regional pollution control in China. It is suggested that the government should promote the synergy between the new urbanization and the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions and release the dividends of the new urbanization in regional green development in a more effective way with the help of industrial structure upgrading and performance-based technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The No. 147 guiding case of the Supreme People's Court set a precedent for the crime of intentionally destroying scenic spots and historic sites in Article 324 (2) of the Criminal Law to protect scenic resources. Its significance lies not only in the innovation of judgment thinking, but also in the reconfirmation of the criminal law protection of scenic resources. In order to further define the trial philosophy of guiding case No. 147, resolve the dilemmas in the judicial determination of crimes of intentionally destroying scenic spots and historic sites, and clarify the boundaries of power and rights in the field of ecological environment, administrative violations, and criminal crimes, this paper adopts the three-stage analysis framework of ' object - transgression - legal interest' to construct the paths of the criminal law protection of scenic resources. In terms of the definition of the objects involved, ' scenic resources' in the crime of intentionally destroying scenic spots and historic sites should be defined as the ecological landscape rather than the ecological scenic spots so as to maintain the coordination of criminal protection between natural reserves, national parks, and scenic spots. When identifying ' damaging behaviors,' we propose the concept of ' nested regulation theory' with ' destroying' scenic resources as the main standard, supplemented by ' value reduction' to clarify the boundary between illegal and criminal behaviors and to avoid excessive severity of criminal identification. In the restatement of legal interest value, the ' 1+X' model is adopted to summarize the legal interest value characteristics of scenic resources: ' 1' refers to the basic and original ecological legal interest characteristics of these resources; 'X' refers to the legal interest attributes of cultural relics contained in scenic resources as natural and humanistic heritage, which can be further divided into biological legal interest value, enlightening legal interest value, aesthetic legal interest value, and economic legal interest value. Different types of legal interest value are endowed with different meanings for the criminal identification of ' serious damages. ' The ' destruction' of ecological legal interests, biological legal interests, and scientific research value is the condition under which the criminal law initiates the protection of scenic resources; however, the 'value reduction' of popular science value and aesthetic legal interests is the condition under which the criminal law initiates the protection of scenic resources. The economic legal interests of scenic resources do not affect the judgment of criminal illegality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As urbanization enters its mid- to late-stage and the household registration system is steadily liberalized, inter-city mobility is replacing urban-rural mobility as the mainstream of population migration, and the environment is playing an increasingly important role in the cross-city migration decisions of the population. Understanding the positive feedback mechanism between environmental governance, population mobility, and more far-reaching economic impact is important for strengthening confidence in the resonance between environmental governance and high-quality development and activating the dynamics of Chinese modernization. This article constructed a quantitative spatial model (QSM) incorporating labor migration to structurally estimate the changes in urban labor productivity and its influencing factors from 2008 to 2020, and assessed the economic impact of haze management based on the calibrated quantitative model with realistic data from 285 local cities in China. The results showed that: 1 Haze control could improve both urban labor productivity and residents' welfare, and the policy overlay effect of household registration reform could further strengthen this positive effect, and haze control would boost labor productivity by 7.75% on average under the scenario of sufficient labor mobility. 2 There were multiple heterogeneities in the effect of haze control on urban labor productivity, with megacities and cities with severe haze pollution having a greater average labor productivity increase from haze control. 3 A counterfactual simulation of a series of actions under the 'dual carbon' goals found that the government's mandatory environmental targets improved urban labor productivity while urging cities to improve air quality, and that the 'dual carbon' goals were more effective in regional coordination than in key regions. These goals were more effective than the 'plus' policy imposed on the key regions. Therefore, in the future, we need to focus on the joint efforts of household registration system reform and environmental governance and further 'unbundle' population mobility to build a unified national market, so as to effectively release the structural dividends of labor mobility across regions, establish common governance goals to implement multifaceted collaborative haze control, and activate labor and various production factors based on a more livable urban environment to further promote urban economic potential. To further promote the high-quality development of the urban economy, we have set up a common governance goal to implement multi-faceted cooperative haze control and activate the potential of the labor force and various production factors based on a more livable urban environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]