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In China, blue sky defense is a crucial part of ecological environment governance. Objective environmental governance performance needs to be perceived by the public to more truly affect the public's evaluation of the government's environmental governance. This paper focuses on the public's subjective perception of air pollution and evaluation of the local government's environmental governance. Based on the Chinese General Social Survey data, the matched economic indicators, and air pollution data, we conduct a diachronic study on the public's evaluation of local governments' environmental protection work, and we analyze the relationship between the subjective perception of air pollution, the objective air pollution data, and the evaluation of local governments' environmental protection work. The results showed the following: (1) People's evaluation of local governments' environmental protection work significantly improved from 2013 to 2021. The objective indicator improved, while the subjective perception declined. (2) The subjective perception of air pollution has a significant negative impact on the evaluation of local governments' environmental protection work and needs to be better considered to improve air quality. At the same time, the effect of the objective indicator is insignificant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid socio-economic development and urbanization in China have led to a decline in air quality. Therefore, the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of urban air pollution, as well as its formation mechanisms and influencing factors, have become important areas of research in atmospheric environment studies. This paper focuses on nine monitoring sites in Nanjing, where concentration data for six air pollutants and vegetation index data were collected from 2013 to 2021. The objective of this study is to investigate the changes in air pollutants and vegetation index over time and space, as well as their relationship with each other, and to assess the social and environmental impacts of air pollution. The findings reveal a spatial distribution pattern of air pollution in Nanjing that exhibits significant variability, with pollutant concentrations decreasing from the city center towards the surrounding areas. Notably, the main urban area has lower air quality compared to the peripheral regions. The results obtained from best-fit linear regression models and correlation heatmaps demonstrate a strong correlation (coefficient of determination, R2 > 0.5) between the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and pollutants such as SO2, NO2, PM2.5, PM10, and O3 within a radial distance of 2 km from the air pollutant monitoring sites. These findings indicate that NDVI can be an effective indicator for assessing the distribution and concentrations of air pollutants. Negative correlations between NDVI and socio-economic indicators are observed under relatively consistent natural conditions, including climate and terrain. Therefore, the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of NDVI can provide valuable insights not only into socio-economic growth but also into the levels and locations of air pollution concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the theoretical mechanism and transmission channel for the impact of air pollution on firms' domestic value-added ratio (DVAR) in exports. Based on the matched Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database and China Customs Enterprise Database, the DVAR in exports is measured, and this mechanism is empirically tested with standard measurement methods. The study concludes that air pollution is not conducive to raising the DVAR during the sample period. This conclusion remains robust to many issues, such as endogeneity, measurement error, extension of the sample interval, substitution of the air pollution index, and policy changes. The impact of air pollution on the DVAR varies by the type of firm ownership, size, and age, as well as the size and location of the city. In addition, the negative impact of air pollution on the DVAR grows with increases in the PM2.5 concentration. The growing factor prices of domestic intermediate goods and the falling productivity due to air pollution are important transmission channels for the negative impact of air pollution on the DVAR. In order for firms to open up on all fronts through quality trade development, we recommend the prevention and control of air pollution, fueling internal driving forces for firms' independent innovation, and encouraging firms to target the medium- and high-end markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Preterm birth (PTB) is an important predictor of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Previous researches have reported a correlation between air pollution and an increased risk of preterm birth. However, the specific relationship between short-term and long-term exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) and preterm birth remains less explored. Methods: A population-based study was conducted among 515,498 pregnant women in Chongqing, China, to assess short-term and long-term effects of CO on preterm and very preterm births. Generalized additive models (GAM) were applied to evaluate short-term effects, and exposure-response correlation curves were plotted after adjusting for confounding factors. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using COX proportional hazard models to estimate the long-term effect. Results: The daily incidence of preterm and very preterm birth was 5.99% and 0.41%, respectively. A positive association between a 100 µg/m³ increase in CO and PTB was observed at lag 0–3 days and 12–21 days, with a maximum relative risk (RR) of 1.021(95%CI: 1.001–1.043). The exposure-response curves (lag 0 day) revealed a rapid increase in PTB due to CO. Regarding long-term exposure, positive associations were found between a 100 µg/m3 CO increase for each trimester(Model 2 for trimester 1: HR = 1.054, 95%CI: 1.048–1.060; Model 2 for trimester 2: HR = 1.066, 95%CI: 1.060–1.073; Model 2 for trimester 3: HR = 1.007, 95%CI: 1.001–1.013; Model 2 for entire pregnancy: HR = 1.080, 95%CI: 1.073–1.088) and higher HRs of very preterm birth. Multiplicative interactions between air pollution and CO on the risk of preterm and very preterm birth were detected (P- interaction<0.05). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that short-term exposure to low levels of CO may have protective effects against preterm birth, while long-term exposure to low concentrations of CO may reduce the risk of both preterm and very preterm birth. Moreover, our study indicated that very preterm birth is more susceptible to the influence of long-term exposure to CO during pregnancy, with acute CO exposure exhibiting a greater impact on preterm birth. It is imperative for pregnant women to minimize exposure to ambient air pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With severe haze pollution continuing to frequently occur in many regions of China in recent years, increasing research effort has been made to study the source and control of haze pollution using socio-economic factors. Based on the urban panel data of 21 cities in Guangdong Province, South China, from 2005 to 2016, this paper analyzes the spatial and temporal evolution trend, spatial autocorrelation and influencing factors of Guangdong's haze pollution through spatial econometric methods with inverse distance weight. First, the results show that the haze pollution of 21 cities in Guangdong Province has strong spatial autocorrelation and spatial clustering phenomenon. Aggregation areas of heavy air pollution are located in the Pearl River Delta region centered on Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhongshan and Dongguan. Those cities should be targeted as priority haze-pollution-reduction areas. Secondly, significant spatial dependence and spatial spillover effects of haze pollution in Guangdong are demonstrated by the spatial econometric models. Joint prevention and control of haze pollution between cities are therefore important and necessary. Thirdly, the direct and indirect effects of energy consumption on haze pollution are positive and significant at the 1% level. Meanwhile, population, foreign direct investments (FDI) and the ratio of the secondary industry (e.g., manufacturing and construction industries) relative to the service industry also play important roles in haze pollution, and all of them have positive effects on air pollution. However, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is not supported by the economy-emission data of Guangdong. Economic growth and car density are not significant factors in deciding the level of haze pollution. To effectively improve the local air quality, the government is recommending the introduction of policies for adjusting the structures of energy, economy and FDI, promoting the research, development and application of clean technologies, and enhancing the awareness of energy conservation among residents and enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 2000s, China has enforced regional collaboration as a way of resolving cross-diffused air pollution and jurisdictional limitations. It is, however, a hotly debated issue as to whether authority-driven regional collaboration can be sustained and effective, and no consensus has been achieved by the theoretical discussion. Despite extensive empirical research on the topic, most studies judged the sustainability of collaborations by analyzing the environmental outcomes within a short period after their initiation. To provide more comprehensive empirical evidence to the open question, this paper introduces the criterion of adaptivity to determine whether collaboration is sustainable. Taking the changing collaboration in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and its surroundings as a quasi-natural experiment, Difference-in-Difference model and Triple Difference Model are used to verify the adaptivity from two aspects. Results show that authority-driven collaboration adjustment yields better environmental outcomes. Additionally, the better environmental outcome is observed in original collaborators, implying that local governments can learn by doing and form interdependence through repeated collaborative actions. The adaptive collaboration, however, has two limitations. First, the collaboration mechanism is formed primarily based on performance evaluation and target assessment instruments, without showing adaptivity in reducing soft control indicators of air pollution. Second, the different regulation pressure between non-collaborating and collaboration cities results in undesirable spillover effects within a range of 40–100 km. This study not only contributes to empirical and theoretical studies on regional collaboration but also provides support to the improvement of the collaboration system in practice. • Process-adaptivity is introduced as the criterion to evaluate collaboration. • Authority-driven collaboration generates positive environmental outcomes. • Authority-driven collaboration is adaptive but limited to mandatory indicators. • Regional collaboration brings out negative spillovers within 40–100 km. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, various countries have put forward Banning Gasoline Vehicle Sales Policy (BGVSP), and the degree of public support for BGVSP is crucial to its design and implementation. Taking China as an example, this study built a policy support index using network crawler technology and natural language processing technology. Then, multi-spatial convergence cross-mapping technology was used to study the interaction between public support and air pollution, electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, EV technology, and use cost. The results showed that air pollution has a significant impact on public support; public support has a significant impact on the construction of the EV infrastructure and the level of EV technological research, and the use cost of traditional gasoline vehicles has a significant impact on public support. This study investigated the correlations between public support and the factors influencing public support, and the results can be used as a reference for the design and implementation of BGVSP in newly industrialized countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extensive use of traditional cooking stoves to meet daily cooking and heating requirements has highlighted the serious problem of indoor and outdoor air pollution. This study evaluates three improved cooking and heating stoves (ICHSs) and compared them with a traditional stove as a baseline reference. The stoves' performance regarding emission and thermal efficiency was evaluated with burning raw coal. All ICHSs surpassed the baseline stove in combined heating and cooking thermal and emission performance. Among the ICHSs, Model ICHS-3 was found to have the highest average thermal efficiency, 69.6±0.8%. The lowest emission of PM2.5 was 3.2±1.6 mg/MJNET, CO 2.9±0.34 g/MJNET, and CO/CO2 2.3±0.3%, respectively. It is concluded that the use of the ICHSs should be promoted for daily cooking and heating needs. The adoption of ICHSs could contribute to significant reductions of PM2.5 and CO emissions as well as save fuel to the benefit of the household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to mitigate global climate change and air pollution, the Chinese government has assigned high priority to expanding low-carbon power generation in China. Recent studies have shown that wind power is one of the most promising renewable energy option in China. Although many studies have estimated the generation potential of onshore wind power, their results vary widely from 1783 TWh to 39,000 TWh. Therefore, we examine the different assumptions in these papers and identify three main factors influencing the results. The three influencing factors are: weather data set, land utilisation factor, and wind turbine configuration. For our model-based analysis, we define a reference scenario which is used to compare the results. Our analysis shows using a different weather data set increases the generation potential to roughly 35,000 TWh. This is 54% higher than the generation potential of the reference scenario. The land utilisation factor also has a large influence, ranging between −10% and −51%. The studies' assumptions and data should be subjected to careful scrutiny, as the calculated wind power potentials are widely used to develop decarbonisation strategies for the energy system. • Study results on wind power potentials in China vary from 1783 TWh to 39,000 TWh • Influencing factors: weather data set, land utilisation, and wind turbine configuration. • Model-based sensitivity analysis with nine scenario settings. • Chosen weather data set has the highest impact on the calculated results with a variation of 54%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]