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Based on survey data from CSS2017, this article examines the impact of Internet use on environmental pollution perception. The study found that after controlling for a range of demographic, psychological and provincial-level objective variables, three dimensions of Internet use variables have different effects on environmental pollution perception: The respondents' use vs. non-use of the Internet, information-oriented Internet use and commerce-oriented Internet use are significantly positively correlated with their perception of environmental pollution, while socially oriented Internet use, the belief that the Internet is more comprehensive than traditional media and the belief that the Internet can more truthfully reflect public opinion are significantly negatively correlated with their environmental pollution perception. The results of 2SLS and IV Probit estimation confirm that the Internet usage could effectively increase individuals' perception of environmental pollution. Further analysis found that personal annual income plays a moderating role between use/non-use of the Internet and environmental pollution perception and between information-oriented Internet use and environmental pollution perception. The above research findings have important policy implications. Governments should strengthen environmental governance, use the platform of the Internet to strengthen government-public communication, and take into account demographic, psychological and regional objective factors when adopting environmental governance policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uneven economic development due to varying strategic resource endowments has led to increasing competition between cities, regions and countries. This study examines the impact of different government's policies on place branding performance because place branding is a crucial strategy that distinguishes the region from its competitors. This research used primary data and surveys have been collected from managers of companies in Zhejiang Province. The findings of PLS-SEM show that government policies (supply-side, demand-side, and environmental) have significant impacts on place branding performance with boosting, pulling, and guiding effects. Market environment and Inter-firm collaboration partially mediate between government policies and place branding performance. Inter-firm collaboration directly mediates supply-side and environmental policy on place branding performance. Moreover, according to the Importance-Performance map analysis, demand-based policies are more important than supply-based and environmental-based policies in place branding performance. The study concluded that the government could put more effort into the pulling effect of demand-based policies on place branding performance. This research enriched the relationship between government policies, inter-firm collaboration/market environment and place branding performance. This study provided valuable insights on how governments can further promote the active participation of enterprises in regional branding and enhance place branding performance in practice, which encourage governments to conduct place branding to new statures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is designed to illustrate the process of customers' switching behavior from a traditional hotel to a green hotel by applying a pull-push-mooring theory and an exploratory mixed methods design. The push factors, including environmental policy, social media effects, and social norms, drive customers away from traditional hotels, while the pull factors, including personal norms, perceived health benefits, and emotional well-being, attract customers to green hotels. The mooring factors, including inertia and switching cost, show a vital moderating effect. This study provides a conceptual mechanism that clarifies factors that drive customers' green behavior in the hotel industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the configuration of conditions that trigger pro-environmental policy agenda setting (PAS) in an uncertain social context. It discusses the suitability and explanatory power of Kingdon's Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) in this context. It employs the MSF and implements a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis on 25 pro-environmental cases in China. The results indicate that the seven solutions that could be recombined into three successful driven patterns may trigger the establishment of China's pro-environmental policy agenda. China's pro-environmental PAS does not require the complete collection of conditions for all three streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to investigate the possibility of achieving Chinese climate and sustainable development goals (SDGs) with technological innovations and renewable energy policies. Currently, China is ranked first in global emissions. Hence, we utilized Chinese data of 1996Q1 2018Q4 to investigate the policy implication of technological innovation and renewal energy towards its climate goals. Economic development, technology, energy and environmental policies are incorporated in our study for clear insight on the impact of technology and renewable energy on China's climate goals. We adopt different scientific approaches (structural break, bound method of co‐integration, autoregressive dynamic lag‐ARDL dynamics and granger causality test) for both quantitative and theoretical analyses. Our discussions and policy inference are based on the findings from ARDL and granger causality analyses. Findings from ARDL tests debunk the inverted U‐shape EKC hypothesis for China. Technological innovations and renewable energies are found impacting favorably on Chinese environment by reducing carbon emissions. Output derived from Causality supports the results from ARDL with nexus established amongst the selected instruments. From the findings, we conclude by advocating for policy to be framed on renewable energy sector through investment and technological boosting towards a SDG for China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of China's economy has also led to serious environmental problems, which have seriously restricted China's sustainable development. To this end, the Chinese government has continued to explore environmental governance. So, can environmental governance policies promote industrial green transformation, so as to achieve the goal of sustainable development? Will environmental policy competition among local governments have an impact on them? These issues are the focus of this article. Based on the provincial panel data of China from 2006 to 2021, this article empirically analyzes the relationship between environmental governance, local government competition, and industrial green transformation. The results found that there was a "U" type nonlinear relationship between environmental governance and industrial green transformation. On the whole, most regions of China are still in the development stage where environmental governance is not conducive to industrial green transformation. There is competition for environmental governance policies among local governments in China, and the characteristics of "race to the bottom" are more significant. In the East developed areas, there is a more significant "yardstick competition" game state. In the Midwest undeveloped areas, it is manifested as competition for resources by deregulation of the environment, thereby promoting short‐term economic growth. In addition, local protection behaviors negatively regulate the impact of environmental governance on industrial green transformation, that is, inhibiting local industrial green transformation by causing labor market mismatch. This study can provide valuable insights for policymakers aiming to adopt measures to achieve the sustainable development of the economy and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is making a challenging effort to achieve its ambitious goal of becoming carbon–neutral by 2060. Therefore, the Chinese government should develop effective policy tools to improve its carbon neutrality plan. Due to this importance, an empirical study is required to examine the comprehensive effect of the carbon neutrality policy on CO2 emissions in China. Also, the role of economic development on the environment, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the carbon neutrality-CO2 emissions nexus, has yet to be examined. Considering this gap, the present study investigates the impacts of carbon neutrality policy and the economy on CO2 emissions at China's provincial and regional levels from 2006 to 2017. We use a comprehensive approach to measure the carbon neutrality policy through the source control and sink increase perspectives. This study performs the panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) and the feasible generalised least squares (FGLS) regression techniques to control the heteroscedasticity and cross-sectional correlation issues. The results show that an improvement in energy efficiency and renewable energy power generation decreases the per capita CO2 emissions at the provincial level from the source control perspective. From the sink increase perspective, only green space development affects CO2 emissions reduction; the development of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) does not. Also, this study shows that the EKC hypothesis holds true in China nationally and in the central region. Due to differing regional development patterns, the impact of carbon neutrality policy on CO2 emissions varies across regions. This study suggests specific policy implications such as increasing R&D investment per unit of GDP to support CCUS technologies at provincial and regional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study investigates the relationship among environmental regulation, trade openness, and pollution emissions using a two-way fixed and mediating effect model based on the panel data of 283 prefecture-level cities obtained from 2005 to 2019. The results reveal that trade openness has a significant impact on the production of polluting emissions. Environmental regulation policies can effectively reduce the adverse impact of trade openness on polluting emissions. By further investigating the intermediate mechanism, it is found that the environmental regulation policies negatively regulate the trade openness and polluting emissions, mainly by promoting industrial upgrading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important indicator of sustainable development, industrial eco-efficiency (IEE) has aroused growing attention from governments all over the world including China, in recent decades. The Chinese government has introduced numerous environmental regulations; however, the environmental pollution issue does not appear to have been solved. Moreover, although several earlier studies have shown that environmental regulations may promote innovation, there is no consensus on their ultimate effects on IEE. Therefore, this study took a critical look at the connection between environmental regulations and IEE in 36 Chinese sub-sectors from 2009 to 2018. Based on the weak Porter hypothesis (weak PH) and strong Porter hypothesis (strong PH), this paper constructed two panel regression models and conducted group analysis by pollution intensity to check the relationships among environmental regulations, technological innovation, and IEE. It was found that environmental regulations can improve technological innovation and IEE, but these impacts vary across different pollution groups. Specifically, environmental regulations have a U-shaped or inverted U-shaped relationship with technological innovation and IEE. Of the 36 sub-sectors, 26 prove the existence of the Weak PH while 10 verify the Strong PH, indicating that environmental regulations generally advocate technological innovation for most sub-sectors but only promote IEE in a few sub-sectors at present. Finally, differentiated policy implications for environmental regulations and technological innovation are provided for decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world becomes more concerned about carbon emissions, the Chinese government, which is a large contributor to carbon emissions, has also begun to pay attention to the issue of carbon emissions. Environmental regulatory policies have been implemented to improve the environment, but are these policies really conducive to improving firms' eco-innovation performance? This paper empirically investigates the relationship between environmental regulation policies and firms' eco-innovation performance in China and finds that: firstly, environmental regulation in China is inadequate and that manufacturing eco-innovation performance is generally low; secondly, there is a U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation policies and firms' eco-innovation performance; thirdly, there is significant industry and regional heterogeneity in the induced effects of environmental regulation tools; and fourthly, there is a mediating effect of industrial agglomeration on the promotion of firms' eco-innovation performance. The conclusions of this paper are: firstly, that the Chinese government should continue to improve environmental regulations and strictly enforce them so that green becomes the colour of 'economic recovery'; secondly, that the Chinese government should develop scientific and reasonable environmental regulatory policies according to local conditions; thirdly, that Chinese companies should increase their spending on research and development; and fourthly, that the Chinese government needs to optimise the industrial layout and support mechanisms. The Chinese government should play an active role in industrial agglomeration in technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The massive use of energy has caused a rapid increase in global carbon dioxide emissions, resulting in a series of environmental problems such as climate warming. Investment in the energy industry can guide funds into green and clean production, reduce carbon emissions in the energy industry, and promote the green development of the energy industry. This paper considers the energy, the environment, the economy, and other factors and focuses on energy consumption and investment structure. Taking 30 provinces in China as research samples, a dynamic spatial Durbin model is established. The results show that the first-order term of carbon emissions has a driving force of 0.5068% for current carbon emissions at a significance level of 1% and that the increase in current carbon emissions will lead to a continued increase in carbon emissions in the next period. The increase in the carbon emissions of neighbouring provinces will increase their carbon emissions through the spatial spillover effect. Whether in the short term or long term, the increase in energy investment and the optimization of the energy investment structure can reduce carbon emissions. The above conclusions can provide a reference for the formulation of government environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the impact of air quality ranking on energy efficiency and its spatial spillovers will help improve the pollution and carbon reduction effects of environmental governance policies. Based on the panel data of 285 cities at or above prefecture level in China during 2009–2019, this study pioneers in adopting difference-in-differences (DID) model with multiple time periods, spatial DID (SDID) model with multiple time periods, and mediating effect to explore the direct influence of ranking on China's energy efficiency, as well as its spatial effect and influence mechanism. Results show that air quality ranking is of significant positive impact on energy efficiency, proved by parallel trend hypothesis, placebo control, and policy heterogeneity. With spatial effect considered, such impact still exists, and ranking of the experimental group has significant positive spatial spillover effect on efficiency of the control group, meaning the ranking also promotes the efficiency of nearby cities in control groups via spatial spillover effect. In addition, air quality ranking greatly elevates energy efficiency via industrial structure and technological innovation, the mechanism of which is of significant positive spatial spillover effect. Based on the above results, some policy recommendations on environmental competition policy, industrial structure adjustment, and low-carbon applicable technology promotion were proposed to promote the energy efficiency of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low efficiency of environmental policy implementation is an important issue in China's environmental governance. The Environmental Protection Interview (EPI) policy is an administrative means for the central environmental protection department to urge local governments to earnestly fulfill their environmental protection responsibilities. This paper takes China's EPI policy as a quasi-natural experiment. We use panel data of 261 prefecture-level cities in China from 2009 to 2018 as research sample and use spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model to investigate the effect and mechanism of EPI policy on air pollution. The results show that EPI policy can effectively improve air quality, EPI policy has obvious spatial spillover effects. Namely, the EPI policy can not only reduce the local air pollution, but also reduce the air pollution in neighbouring cities. The EPI policy reduces the air pollution in the neighbouring cities within a spatial attenuation boundary of 400 km.The results of mechanism test show that the EPI policy can improve air quality by promoting industrial structure upgrading and technical advancement. Moreover, the pollution reduction effect of EPI is more significant in resource-based cities. The research results of this paper provide important reference for China and other developing countries to improve air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focus of the article is the pursuit by President Xi Jinping (2013–2021) of an aggressive policy of environmental protection and preservation with the ambitious goal of creating a 'beautiful China'. Article begins with a summary of the rise to national leadership by Xi Jinping from a local and provincial leader to national prominence, and then examines the creation of central and local bureaucracies for policy implementation on the environment along with such initiatives as the system of 'river chiefs' to address the serious problem of waterway pollution. By tracing the transition to more environmentally friendly economic and industrial policies, government efforts are also described to foster greater environmental consciousness on the part of the Chinese public. The article concludes by weighing the accomplishments of the new policies along with various economic, institutional, and structural obstacles to achieving a 'beautiful China'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and environmental policy stringency (EPS) in affecting environmental quality is gaining great attention in the literature. However, none of the existing studies has thought to investigate their combined effects on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Additionally, the individual investigations into the nexuses EPU-emissions and EPS-emissions primarily took a symmetric assumption between these variables into consideration. The current paper is an early attempt to close these gaps by examining the combined effects of economic policy uncertainty and environmental policy stringency on CO2 emissions within asymmetric (nonlinear) frameworks in China and the United States (US). The empirical findings indicate that an improvement in EPU degrades the environmental quality in both countries. However, a negative shift in EPU decreases emissions in China while increasing them in the US. In terms of EPS, the estimates in the two nations led to similar results. A positive change in EPS is conducive to fewer emissions, whereas a negative change worsens environmental damage. These findings still hold with the sensitivity analysis using ecological footprint as an alternative gauge of environmental destruction. This study, therefore, suggests that both nations adopt stricter environmental policies. Additionally, Chinese policymakers should work to lessen uncertainty shocks, while the US government should promote more transparent economic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political connections and state ownership have ubiquitous impacts on the economy, yet the environmental implications are largely unexplored. This paper theoretically and empirically studies the role of political connections and state ownership on the environment in China. Our theoretical analysis indicates that political connections are conducive to more pollutant emissions, and state ownership exhibits a similar direct effect. State ownership also has an indirect effect on pollutant emissions that depends on the interplay with political connections. In the case of chemical oxygen demand (COD), our empirical results show that the effect of political connections is positive, so are the direct and indirect effects of state ownership. Moreover, firm managers' political background of government officials at the county level is mainly accountable for the environmental implication of political connections. Furthermore, we find that political connections mainly affect the implementation of environmental policies, while state ownership could have similar effects on both the implementation and the making of environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the inconclusive literature on the relationship between board gender diversity (BGD) and green innovation (GI). It empirically examines the moderating role of normative, mimetic and coercive pressures in the relationship between BGD and GI, derived from an industry‐specific isomorphic exhibition of institutional theory. Appertaining to A‐share listed firms of China, the findings highlight the moderating effect of masculinity, environmental sensitivity, environmental regulation level and export orientation of an industry on the said relationship. Moreover, the coercive isomorphism exhibits pronounced impact with the intensity of export orientation. However, firms associated with high‐tech industries have not been confirmed for significant effect on the relationship. Thus, the findings imply that the dynamics of the corporate governance and institutional isomorphism in case of BGD and GI relationships, in the organisational field of industry, are likely both pertinent and prevalent. Moreover, the increase in the number of females on the corporate boards could enhance the green performance of a firm, subject to the fulfilment of industry specific boundary conditions, predefined by the unique set of industry specific institutional pressures. These pressures amid affiliation with a specific industry should be evaluated and controlled for, on the bases of coercive, normative, and mimetic isomorphism it hatches, to device an optimum composition of the corporate board. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon innovation plays an essential role in carbon reduction worldwide. This study investigates the nexus between low-carbon innovation, economic growth, and carbon emissions by the dynamic spatial Durbin model from 2007 to 2020. First, the Moran index results verify the provincial spatial agglomeration of carbon emissions. High-emission provinces concentrate in major economic zones and energy extraction areas. Second, the effect decomposition results show that long-term and short-term effects are consistent. Low-carbon innovation has a significant mitigation effect on carbon emissions in local regions, which effect, however, is not significant in the adjacent areas. The environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is validated locally, but all provinces and cities have not reached the inflection point of the environmental Kuznets curve, and the linkage effect in adjacent regions remains insignificant. The above results have been tested to be robust. Third, the results of the mechanism analysis show that environmental policies, absorptive capacity, and financial development play a moderating role in the relationship between low-carbon innovation and carbon emissions. Finally, the heterogeneity test showed significant differences between Eastern, Central, and Western. The direct effect of low-carbon innovation exists in Eastern and central regions; the spillover effect of low-carbon innovation is only in the eastern region. In addition, corresponding measures are proposed based on the conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the new normal of economic growth, implementing environmental regulation policies and developing digital finance have become essential factors affecting high-quality economic development. This study aims to examine whether environmental regulation has a positive effect on high-quality economic development and what impact digital finance has in the process of environmental regulation affecting high-quality economic development. This study uses the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2019 to measure the high-quality economic development by using the entropy-TOPSIS method based on constructing an indicator system for high-quality economic development. Then, environmental regulations are classified into four categories: economic, command based, legal, and supervised, and digital finance is included in the analysis framework. The impact of heterogeneous environmental regulations on high-quality economic development and the indirect influence mechanism played by digital finance are empirically analyzed. The results show that command-based environmental regulation significantly hinders improving economic development quality. In contrast, supervised environmental regulation plays a significant positive role and can therefore serve as an essential driver of high-quality economic development. In addition, digital finance plays a significant positive moderating role in the influence of environmental regulation on the economy's high-quality development level. After the robustness test, the conclusion is still valid. Further heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of environmental regulation on high-quality economic development and the moderating effect of digital finance differ across dimensions of economic quality development and have regional heterogeneity. The research findings are conducive to formulating appropriate environmental regulation policies and giving full play to the positive role of digital finance, providing support for promoting high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen oxide (NOx) contains two harmful air pollutants: nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The reasonable prediction of China's NOx emissions is of positive significance for the government to formulate environmental protection policies. To this end, a new grey prediction model with second-order differential equation is proposed in this paper, which has more reasonable model structure and better modeling performance than the traditional grey model. Secondly, according to the data characteristics of NOx emissions of China in recent years, a smoothing algorithm and weakening buffer operator are employed to process the original data to solve the rationality of the prediction results of the new model. Thirdly, the model for predicting China's NOx emissions has been constructed by the new proposed model. The results show that the mean comprehensive error of the new model is only 0.0692%, and its performance is much better than that of several other mainstream grey prediction models. Finally, the new model is applied to China's carbon dioxide prediction in the next 5 years, and the rationality of the prediction results is analyzed. Based on the prediction results, relevant countermeasures and suggestions are put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the impact of environmental-related taxes on green growth and CO2 emissions in China covering the time 1996–2019. To get the short- and long-run estimates, we have applied the bounds testing approach. Estimates of the study provide some important results. In the short run, environmental taxes and environmental policy stringency estimates are negatively significant in the CO2 emissions models and positively significant in the green growth models. Likewise, the long-run estimates attached to environmental taxes are significantly negative in the basic and robust CO2 emissions models while insignificant in the green growth models. However, the long-run estimates of environmental policy stringency are significantly negative in the basic and robust CO2 emissions models and significantly positive in the basic and robust green growth models. In general, our findings imply that an increase in environment-related taxes and strictness in environmental policies help reduce CO2 emissions and promote green growth in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heavy-polluting industry is inexorably to responsible for the deterioration of the environment. Improving environmental performance is an unavoidable decision for heavy-polluting firms to ensure sustainable development under the policy framework of the carbon peak target. This study provides theoretical and empirical evidence for the effect of environmental protection subsidies on environmental performance. This study constructs basic and mediating effect models to measure how environmental protection subsidies affect environmental performance using panel data of China's heavy-polluting listed firms from 2008 to 2019. This is an important outcome of industrial green transformation in environmental governance and provides a scientific basis for government departments to formulate environmental policies. The results of the empirical analysis show that environmental protection subsidies can improve the environmental performance of heavy-polluting listed firms. After receiving environmental protection subsidies, firms engaged in clean and green production through green technology innovation, thereby reducing external environmental pollution and improving their environmental performance. The mediating role of green technology innovation in the relationship between environmental protection subsidies and environmental performance is significant only in state-owned firms and firms in Eastern China. The research results may further guide the direction of green development of heavy-polluting industries, and thus promote harmonious development between the environment and the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of People & Nature is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper re-examines the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) by taking environmental regulation in ambient regions as a critical determinant concurrent with own regulation. Exploiting the Two Control Zones policy in China as a quasi-natural experiment, we find that both the curbing effect of the local environmental regulation and the spillover effect of ambient regions affect high-polluting foreign direct investment (FDI) location. Moreover, reallocated FDI results in redistributing instead of reducing pollutant emissions. Our evidence enriched by spatial spillover primarily supports the PHH in the context of China. It suggests a national-wide coordinated environmental policy with a unified goal performs better than separately implementing stringent regulations in highly polluted areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between three fiscal policy instruments, environmental innovation, and firms' competitiveness. We select panel data of firms listed on heavy energy consumption in China's manufacturing sector as the sample. The results show that environmental taxes have positive impacts on firms' incremental environmental innovation but negative impacts on firms' radical environmental innovation, while tax incentives have a positive impact on firms' radical environmental innovation and environmental subsidies have negative impacts on firms' incremental environmental innovation. In addition, only radical environmental innovations have a positive impact on firm competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various targets need to be accomplished before the dream of sustainable development comes true. Among these targets, increasing renewable energy demand, reducing carbon intensity, and achieving green growth are the most noticeable. Therefore, the present study focuses on capturing digital financial inclusion's impact on renewable energy demand, carbon intensity, and green growth in the presence of ICT trade and environmental policy stringency in China. To empirically estimate the model, we have applied ARDL covering the time span from 1995 to 2020. The results state that the estimated coefficients attached to education, ATMS, and environmental policy stringency are positively significant in the renewable energy and green growth model and negatively significant in the carbon intensity model. From these results, we confer that education, digital financial inclusion, and environmental policy stringency are good for increasing renewable energy demand, reducing carbon intensity, and achieving green growth in China. In the short run, some of the estimates are negative; hence, we conclude that the results are inconclusive. The results recommend some imperative policy suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To speed up the transformation of green economy and promote the development of green finance, the Chinese government set up pilot zones for green finance reform and innovations in five provinces in 2017. This study constructs a quasi-natural experiment, and uses the difference-in-difference model to explore the impact of pilot zones for green finance reform and innovations policy on environmental quality for the first time. This study also examines the impact mechanism of the policy on environmental quality from the perspective of digital finance and green technology innovation for the first time. The results show that the environmental quality has been improved after the implementation of the pilot zones for green finance reform and innovations policy, and digital finance and green technology innovation have a significant intermediary effect in the process of green financial policy on environmental quality. Meanwhile, the policy effect has regional heterogeneity, with the policy effect in the east stronger than that in the central and western regions. The degree of marketization and informationization can promote the policy effect. This study provides important policy implications for the promotion of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones, and helps the government to evaluate the implementation effect of green finance policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green credit, a market-driven environmental policy instrument and an essential component of the green financial system, has piqued academic and policymakers' interest in whether it has successfully improved Chinese green total factor productivity (GTFP). Utilizing Chinese province panel data from 2006 to 2019, this study assesses GTFP using the slack-based model with the Global-Malmquist-Luenberger technique and investigates the influence of green credit on GTFP as well as its mechanism. The findings suggest green credit has a favorable influence on China's GTFP. Green credit can boost GTFP through three mechanisms: upgrading industrial structure, stimulating green innovation, and optimizing energy consumption structures. Furthermore, green credit improves GTFP in eastern regions but has little impact elsewhere; the promotion impact is more effective in financial developed regions and legal developed regions. As a result, the Chinese government should encourage regionally differentiated green credit policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the Chinese government has implemented numerous regulations to address environmental deterioration. Several studies have examined the effect of environmental regulation policies on China's economic performance. However, whether environmental regulations can alleviate China's resource misallocation problem—a critical issue in transitional economies—remains unclear. This study fills this gap in the literature by employing the difference‐in‐differences method to examine how environmental regulations affect resource misallocation. We found that stringent environmental regulations have reduced the extent of resource misallocation in China, with resource reallocation being the driving force behind this improvement. The emission reduction mandate reduces investment inflows and hinders firms' entry into regions with low total factor productivity, while directing the flow of resources to highly productive areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With serious environmental, cost, and social concerns arising from emerging countries' rapid growth in agricultural food cold chain (AFCC), AFCC firms urgently require a set of comprehensive sustainable strategic solutions. Therefore, this research identified and modeled the critical success factors (CSFs) that support the sustainable development of AFCCs. The study integrated institutional theory, stakeholder theory, and the triple bottom line model; it also surveyed cold chain experts from 16 different organizations in China and applied the adversarial interpretation structure model (AISM). This comprehensive analysis indicates that managing stakeholder pressure is the most motivating CSF of all strategies. This strategy eventually contributes to the sustainability of AFCC in China by driving other CSFs. Additionally, the study determined the degree of interdependence and dominance of different strategies. Thus, this study establishes a theoretical foundation for the sustainable improvement of AFCC organizations' business strategies and environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulation and innovative development are essential means to solve the negative externalities of environmental pollution. However, developing countries often face the dual pressures of environmental pollution and innovative development. This paper focuses on whether environmental protection policies (EPP) can achieve a win–win situation between green development and innovative development. Based on the panel data of 277 cities in China from 2006 to 2016, this paper studies the impact of China's EPP on urban innovation efficiency by using a time-varying difference-in-differences approach. Combined with the geographical features of Chinese cities, we further take urban form into the mediating effect analysis. The results show that (1) EPP has a significant positive impact on innovation efficiency, and the result satisfies the parallel trend test; (2) the robustness test shows that EPP has technological innovation and diffusion effects; and (3) the mediating effect test show that urban form has a significant mediating effect on the impact of EPP on innovation efficiency. Therefore, environmental policies should be formulated considering the differences of urban form to achieve the optimal implementation effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological efficiency (EE) provides much reference for formulating appropriate regional economic, social and environmental policies to promote sustainable development. Interactive subsystems of economy, society and environment within EE system have been considered in this paper. By innovatively integrating the merits of two advanced economic research methods (global super efficiency network data envelopment analysis (GSE-NDEA) and panel vector autoregression (PVAR) and updating the EE evaluation indicator system by following the new features of sustainable development in the recent China, this paper comprehensively evaluates EE by drawing evidence from 3 regions in China during the period of 2011–2020, and further reveals how the three subsystems within EE system interact to achieve EE enhancement. The findings show EE and its three subsystems’ trend, the major constrains of EE development, the regional discrepancies in EE progress, and the interactions among the subsystems of economy-society-environment within the EE system in different regions of China. The policy implications are proposed accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2022, the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the "Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework" (GBF), which aimed to strengthen international protections on terrestrial and marine areas through biodiversity investments, corporate responsibility, and the elimination of environmentally damaging subsidies. China was fundamental in forming and passing this pivotal biodiversity framework. China's leadership in COP15 should result in escalated Chinese biodiversity protections, specifically through mandated biodiversity impact disclosures (BIDs) for companies associated with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). To achieve this, BID clauses should be inserted into BRI development agreements between Chinese foreign development institutions and BRI partner states or companies. Mandated BIDs would expand biodiversity and human health protections within China and globally. BRI-associated companies would be motivated to improve BID ratings for financial benefits, increased social capital, employee engagement, and customer loyalty. Biodiversity protection will also "future-proof" companies against any future environmental policy changes. By providing improved materiality to investors, governments, and other interested parties, BRI BIDs would enhance corporate oversight and awareness of biodiversity issues, advance the standardization and pervasiveness of BIDs, and elevate biodiversity and human health issues into more traditional commercial reporting systems. Thus, China's corporate responsibility measures under COP15 will influence global biodiversity, human health, and the future of BIDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of a rapidly unfolding marine plastic pollution crisis, China, the world's largest plastic producer and consumer, has been thrust to the fore-front to regulate the growing plastic problem in stewardship of ecosystems. While a growing body of literature discusses China's central-level efforts in addressing marine plastic pollution, a thorough overview of actions at the local level remains scant. This article uses Sanya City in Hainan Province as a case study to assess the local government's capacity to formulate and implement environmental policies in achieving nationally set environmen-tal goals. Designated as a pilot for a 'Zero Waste City' and a 'Model City' for ecological civilization, Sanya has crafted regulatory approaches and en-forcement mechanisms to strengthen the governance of marine plastic pol-lution. A critique of the effectiveness and weaknesses of Sanya's regulatory regime holds important implications for local-level environmental govern-ance of marine plastic pollution in China and many other parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On May 12, 2008, southern Aba prefecture in north-central Sichuan was devastated by the M8.0 Wenchuan earthquake. A massive multi-year central government environmental mitigation effort resulted in economic revitalization based largely on the development of nature- and ethnic- tourism and the expansion of production from agriculture and husbandry. Concurrently, however, management of pasture areas was largely removed from local control and ceded to provincial and national environmental managers who instituted many draconian measures intended to protect pasture areas from further degradation while significantly restricting access by local pastoralists. Results of fieldwork, and subsequent analyses of archived data, indicate the strict enactment and enforcement of new environmental regulations with limited local input radically altered the local economy including the structure of husbandry activities, expanded tourism and crop production and shifted residence patterns. These policy interventions that excluded local stakeholders also increased income inequality and drastically reduced the practice of transhumant pastoralism which in turn created new ecological challenges. • Study of Aba Sichuan identifies expected and unexpected outcomes of environmental and economic policies post-2008 earthquake. • Local control of environmental and economic policy in west China is lost if funding is from central government sources. • Investment in tourism infrastructure in Tibetan areas of China aids local economy but speeds erosion of traditional culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental stringency policy shocks and environmental tax have become fundamental policy tools for mitigating the degradation of the environment. The study explores the effects of environmental tax and environmental stringency policy shocks in the reduction of pollution emissions in China for the time 1993 to 2019. This study is a pioneer in assessing the simultaneous impact of these two policy instruments on pollution emissions in China. For empirical investigation, the study employed NARDL estimation techniques. The NARDL results show that positive shocks in environmental tax reduce N2O emissions by 0.03%, PM2.5 emissions by 0.13%, CO2 emissions by 0.18%, and GHGs emissions by 0.01%, however, negative shocks in environmental tax increase N2O emissions by 0.01%, PM2.5 emissions by 0.07%, CO2 emissions by 0.28%, GHGs emissions by 0.17% in the long run. The long-run results also show that positive shocks in environmental policy stringency reduced CO2 emissions by 0.94%, GHGs emissions by 0.77%, while negative shocks in environmental policy stringency increased N2O emissions by 0.17%, PM2.5 emissions by 0.50%, CO2 emissions by 0.63%. The findings suggest vigorous policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of global response to climate crisis and environmental pollution, environmental regulation plays an increasingly important role in green technology innovation. This paper uses data from 280 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2019 to empirically answer the question whether environmental regulation can improve the level of urban green technology innovation. It is found that environmental regulation has a significant positive effect on green technology innovation. Under the heterogeneity of economic geographical region and resource-based city, environmental regulation has positive promoting effect on urban green technology innovation. Heterogeneity results also show that environmental regulation significantly promotes green technology innovation in central and resource-based cities, but does not significantly promote green technology innovation in eastern and western cities and non-resource-based cities. Further research shows that environmental regulation can promote the level of green technology innovation through the two transmission mechanisms of government technology input and foreign direct investment. For the Chinese local government which is implementing the policy of green economic transformation, the formulation of scientific regional environmental policy is beneficial to improve the level of green technology innovation, increase government technology input and optimize the foreign investment environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This perspective paper elaborates on how the burden of environmental issues on public health and the economy led China's government to declare its revised environmental policies or "war on pollution". It explains the importance of photovoltaic solar (PV), electric vehicles (EV), and carbon capture and storage (CCS) in helping China to mitigate its environmental concerns while maintaining economic growth. China already leads PV solar and EV manufacturing; however, it has not made a tangible contribution to CCS technology yet. On the other hand, CCS is far behind its envisaged role in contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and supporting countries to meet their net carbon zero targets. China's existing coal power plants are good candidates to be retrofitted with CCS. Similar to PV and EV technologies, China could influence this technology globally, by reducing the uncertainties, demonstrating the viability, and driving the costs lower. China's revised policies have been effective and shown global impacts, but their implementations remain as strong as the political will behind them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors describe district-specific disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) of lung cancer attributable to ambient particulate matter < 2.5 um in diameter (PM2.5) for Guangzhou city in China, so as to help prioritizing environmental health action from geospatial perspective. Comparative risk assessment and satellite-derived PM2.5 concentrations were used to investigate the spatial-temporal distribution of DALY attributable to ambient PM2.5 for lung cancer. Integrated exposure-response model and kriging model were constructed based on estimated relative risk (RR) from risk assessment. Annual mean PM2.5 increased by 25.9% from 2010 (71.1 ug/m3) to 2013 (89.5 ug/m3). Estimated RRs ranged from 1.37 (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 1.04 ~ 1.86) to 1.99 (95% UI: 1.12 ~ 3.19) among the districts. For lung cancer, DALY attributable to PM2.5 increased by 26.8% from 2010 to 2013, reaching 43352.7 DALYs (95% UI: 8157.9 ~ 62371.7) in 2013. The paper showed that population residing in highly-polluted and aged districts might suffer a higher relative risk for developing lung cancer. Our validated analysis framework also showed that population suffered from a higher loss of lung cancer DALYs, partly due to the higher PM2.5 exposure in some subareas within the city. We reveal that ambient PM2.5 pollution contributed substantially to lung cancer burden, both locally and sub-locally. These results suggest the need for enhanced environmental health policies in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulations are considered a prerequisite for environmental performance. However, very limited studies have explored the asymmetric relationship between clean energy consumption, environmental regulation, and CO2 emissions. This study scrutinizes the asymmetry phenomenon in environmental regulation-clean energy consumption and environmental quality nexus in China by using the time series nonlinear ARDL approach by covering the period 1993–2019. The result reveals that the impact of environmental regulation on clean energy consumption and CO2 emissions is asymmetric. A positive change in environmental regulation has a positive effect on clean energy consumption but a negative impact on CO2 emissions in the long run. While a negative change in environmental regulation has insignificant effects on clean energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the long run. The study suggests that China should need to revisit environmental regulation policies that could help in improving environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of Policy Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Incorporating natural resource management and eco‐environmental responsibility into the local government assessment system would change the local governments' intensity of environmental regulation. However, it is unclear whether and how this change is reflected in the firms' environmental strategies. This paper empirically examines the effects and mechanisms of local government regulation on firms' environmental strategies using the quasi‐natural experimental context of the Leading Officials' Natural Resources Accountability Audit (NRAA) in China. The results show that after the implementation of the NRAA, heavily polluting firms are more likely to adopt a source prevention strategy than an end‐of‐pipe governance strategy to cope with the local government's environmental management pressure. Resource support from local governments and increasingly stringent environmental constraints are potential channels for the NRAA to induce firms to adopt a preventive environmental strategy. The environmental governance pressure transmitted to firms differs due to different promotion expectations of local governments. Thus, corporate environmental strategies are related to government promotion expectations. In addition, we apply the Porter hypothesis to the NRAA. Finally, we explore the governance boundaries of the NRAA for different regions, audit intensities, and firms. This paper clarifies the interaction logic between the local governments' environmental constraints and the enterprises' environmental governance behaviors after the implementation of China's pilot policy, enriching research on natural resource asset audits and environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years government publicity was extensively used to convey environmental issues; therefore, it is important to explore the role of green government publicity influencing people’s pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs). This study is to uncover the impact of China’s green government publicity on people’s willingness to use green packaging. This research collected data from Guangzhou of China, we used convenient sampling and online questionnaire survey to gather data, and there were 584 effective samples. Using the statistical software Amos17.0, the results reveal that green government publicity has a significant effect on environmental concerns and moral obligation. Environmental concerns and moral obligation both have positive effects on PEBs. In addition, Environmental concerns and moral obligation all have mediating effects in the relationship between green government publicity and people’s PEBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of new-energy demonstration cities (NEDC) is a typical energy policy recently implemented in China, which aims to accelerate energy transition. Using panel data for 269 Chinese cities during 2010-2017, this study examines the effect of the NEDC construction policy on environmental pollution under the difference-in-differences (DID) framework from the perspective of pollutant emission intensity control. The results show that China's NEDC construction policy exerts a significant negative impact on environmental pollution, especially in the central and western cities, as well as the cities with a low level of economic development. However, the pollution reduction effect is unsustainable due to the lack of long-term policy planning. The mechanism analysis suggests that the NEDC construction policy mainly reduces environmental pollution through the scale effect, that is, reducing the scale and intensity of electricity consumption. The findings of this study provide beneficial inspiration for scientific implementation of energy policies in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper used a dynamic spatial panel model to empirically analyze the effects of environmental regulation, market demand, and the associated spatial spillovers on regional green innovation in China, from which the following was found. (1) The environmental regulations had a positive "U-shaped" effect on local green innovation and a positive neighborhood spillover effect, and market demand had a significant positive effect on local green innovation and a "ripple effect." (2) The mechanism analysis found that the environmental regulations tended to inhibit regional green innovation input through a "cost compliance" effect, and market demand had a stronger incentive effect on innovation input than the environmental regulations, thus promoting the improvement of green innovation level. (3) The environmental regulation and market demand effects on green innovation had obvious spatial and temporal heterogeneity. The results of this study could help to promote regional green innovation by formulating reasonable environmental policies and stimulating the vitality of green technology market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of Policy Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The environmental stressors associated with the cross-provincial transfer of coal resource-based enterprises (CREs) have become a critical concern for the green, sustainable, and high-quality development of resource-rich areas in central and western regions. This study referred to socioeconomic statistics and carried out an interview survey, literature review, and systematic analysis to clarify the mechanism underlying environmental stressors arising from the cross-provincial transfer of CREs. The intervention factors associated with such environmental stressors were identified, and the study conducted an empirical analysis of relevant data related to the coal-resources industry in three central and western provinces in China for the period 1997–2016. Research findings: (1) The intensity ranking of the influencing factors associated with environmental stressors caused by cross-provincial transfers of CREs has certain rules. The 'level of the enterprise's investment in environmental protection' is the weakest, the 'enterprise's development mode level' is slightly stronger, the 'enterprise scale' is stronger, and 'environmental regulation' is the strongest. (2) Stricter endogenous and exogenous policy regulations for environmental governance in rich coal resource-based regions are associated with weaker negative externalities in respect of resource development and the intensity of stressors. (3) Larger CREs are associated with a better green mining capacity, environmental repair cost advantages, social constraints, self-discipline, and thus, a weaker stress effect. (4) CREs that adopt more superior modes of development that focus on the utilization of the 'three wastes' are associated with a weaker stress effect. (5) The higher the level of investment by CREs in environmental protection technology, facilities, and equipment, the weaker the stress effect. The conclusions of the study can provide a theoretical basis to assist the Chinese government to develop relevant regulations to control inter-provincial transfers by CREs and to thereby diminish environmental stressor effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]