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Challenges to social, economic, and environmental sustainability are global in scale, yet sustainable development policies must be implemented locally. There has been a tendency for sustainable urbanism projects to engage in the conspicuous sustainability of spatially bounded and highly visible sustainability achievements, rather than spatially expansive, long-term achievements. China's complex system of multilevel governance encourages policy experimentation, but it is also frequently productive of entrepreneurial urbanism and intercity competition. This paper analyses spatial planning documents concerning Hengqin (Zhuhai Municipality, Guangdong Province), an island adjacent to Macao SAR, to show how the ambitions for a new-build district's contributions to sustainable development have become more spatially expansive and ambitious over time. This has occurred alongside changes in project leadership (from city, to provincial, to central government leadership) as well as a deepening awareness of the Greater Bay Area as a region for crossborder policymaking. The paper argues that crossborder perspectives are vital for genuine sustainable development but face certain obstacles in relation to the sites at which policy decisions are made. • Policymakers often prefer conspicuous sustainability to long-term achievements. • Innovative urban entrepreneurialism is common in China's multilevel governance. • Hengqin's spatial planning initially prioritised immediate, localised results. • Centralised leadership and regional awareness can raise sustainability ambitions. • Crossborder perspectives better reflect sustainable development needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the domain of global socio-economic dynamics, the pivotal role of food production (FP) cannot be overstated. It constitutes the bedrock of fundamental human necessities while being inexorably linked with critical aspects such as economic expansion, societal equilibrium, and geopolitical interplays. The multifaceted nature of FP appears through its direct impact on macroeconomic indicators and its latent influence on international relations and policy-making. This critical nexus underscores the imperative for a comprehensive understanding and strategic management of food production processes to sustain and enhance global socio-economic stability and growth. Investigating the nexus between green finance (GF) and FP is pivotal for ensuring national security and promoting sustainable economic development. This research thus paper examines GF's impact on FP in China as outlined in the 2017 green finance policies. It employs the difference-in-differences (DID) method and analyzes a balanced panel dataset comprising 282 cities in China from 2009 to 2020. The results show that GF has an inhibitory effect on FP, and this remains valid after a range of reliability checks, including parallel trend assessments and placebo tests. Further findings of transmission mechanism analysis indicate that non-agricultural factors and financial exclusion are critical for GF's inhibitory effect on FP. Heterogeneity analyses show that GF's inhibitory effect on FP is more pronounced in the main food-producing areas, the main food-marketing areas, and cities with better infrastructure. The empirical results of this paper comprehensively illustrate GF's impact on FP and how it contributes to the achievement of food security objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel spatial general equilibrium model was constructed and the impact of air pollution on urban residents' welfare in China was studied. • Empirical study shows air pollution significantly reduces urban residents' welfare and migration cost reduces the negative impact of air pollution on the welfare of urban residents. • Policy suggestions suggested that air pollution should be balanced against the welfare of residents, and should not be cleaned up by "one size fits all" in the early stages of economic development. Air pollution and its effects are important issues of human society. However, few literatures on the effect of air pollution on urban residents' welfare considered the cost of migration. This paper constructs a novel spatial general equilibrium model and studies the impact of air pollution on urban residents' welfare in 274 cities at and above the prefectural level in China from 2007 to 2017, and investigates the role of migration costs. The theoretical analysis and empirical research show that air pollution has a significant negative impact on the welfare of residents. Further, the simulation results indicate that the reduction of migration cost and the improvement of air quality accounts for roughly 24.65% improvement of resident's welfare from 2007 to 2017 in China. Another conclusion is that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between resident's welfare and air pollution. On another side, migration costs play a moderating role in the impact path of air pollution on residents' welfare. When the migration costs fall, it will help residents to move out of cities with poor air quality and improve the resident's welfare. The policy suggestions are as follows: (1) In the process of sustainable development, local governments need to coordinate the phased characteristics between air pollution and residents' welfare, effectively improve the livable degree of city and urban economic sustainability, and prevent the brain drain caused by excessive migration of residents. (2) Local governments should lower the migration costs between cities by deepening the reform of the household registration system, so as to promote the free flow of labor and ultimately improve the welfare of residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of sustainable development, the renewable energy technology innovation (RETI) may have a potential impact upon the industrial structure upgrading, while green finance will play a moderating part. This paper studies the role of green finance and renewable energy technological innovation on industrial structure in China. We found that RETI has contributed significantly to the adjustment of industrial structure. The research results of PVAR (Panel Vector Autoregressive) model further prove this dynamic and continuous positive promotion. The threshold regression results indicate that with the improvement of green finance, there is a non-linear relationship between RETI and industrial structure. In areas where green finance is relatively low, RETI can inhibit the upgrading of industrial structure. When the degree of green finance development is relatively high, the influence of RETI on industrial structure is remarkably positive. Heterogeneity analysis shows that in eastern China, renewable energy technological innovation has significantly promoted the industrial structure upgrading. Therefore, policy makers should take various measures to expedite the green finance development and strengthen the green finance support to renewable energy technology innovations. Chinese government has the need to continue to implement related green credit policies and expand the source of green funds. • Study the impact of renewable energy technology innovation on industrial structure. • Green finance is a moderating variable. • Threshold regression model is used to study nonlinear relationship. • Renewable energy technology innovation positively impacts industrial structure. • Green finance has a positive moderating effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rational assessment of the regional sustainable development level is an important prerequisite for formulating development strategies and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Currently, little literature provides nuanced understanding for national sustainable development from the perspective of county sustainability. Such studies can provide more accurate regional heterogeneity characteristics and policy decision support. Thus, this paper applies the entropy weight method and Chinese county data from 2000 to 2017 to reassess the sustainability of Chinese counties. The results show that China's county sustainability (Sustainable Development Index, SDI) is slowly improving. County sustainability performance is poorer in ethnic minority agglomerations, poor counties, old revolutionary counties, and central and western regions, better in county-level cities and eastern regions. The decomposition results show that economic sustainability and environmental sustainability are the main supporters of SDI growth, and livelihood sustainability is in urgent need of improvement. The regional inequality of SDI in Chinese counties gradually decreases, and inter-group differences are the main contributors to regional inequality in SDI. This paper provides support for China to develop county-level sustainable development measures and practice the SDGs. The findings could be useful for policymakers. [Display omitted] • Based on the entropy weight method and the Chinese county data, the sustainable development levels of 1533 counties in China from 2000 to 2017 are estimated. • Analyses of spatial-temporal dynamic heterogeneity, Linear decomposition, and Dagum decomposition are conducted to study the features of sustainable development in Chinese counties. •The influence of natural features and national concern preferences on county sustainable development are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty remains one of the long-term chronic dilemmas facing the sustainable development of human society during the 21st century. The spatiotemporal dynamics of poor regions, particularly in developing countries, is crucial for realizing fundamental sustainable development goals (SDGs). For decades, many scholars have sought to accurately measure, identify and alleviate poverty at different geographical scales. However, reliable data about the estimation of poverty remain scarce for developing countries, hindering efforts to accurately identify poverty. This paper utilizes the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) sensor nighttime light imagery to identify poor counties in China from 1992 to 2013. Using 16 statistical and spatial features extracted from this nighttime light imagery and using 96 poor counties and 96 nonpoor counties from 2010 as the classification sample, we describe the spatiotemporal dynamics of poor counties based on a random forests approach. Our study finds that the number of poor counties is decreasing in a fluctuating pattern and that contiguous poverty-stricken areas are becoming fragmented. The reduction in poor counties exhibits a manner of moving horizontally from the eastern regions to the central and western parts of China, while the number of poor counties in the central and western regions has decreased around the central cities or areas. The Aihui-Tengchong Line is not the dividing line in the distribution of poor counties in China, which means that China's poor can also be found in areas with relatively high population density. Together, the findings reveal that the key to reducing regional poverty is the development of regional economies and the implementation of national macro policies. This paper provides references for formulating antipoverty strategies for each county and offers new insights into poverty estimation and regional sustainable development for other developing countries. Image 1 • A new research framework is proposed to identify poverty. • Imagery and random forests are used to classify poor counties. • Spatiotemporal dynamics of poor counties are monitored in China. • Poverty dynamics generate implication for poverty policy and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the completion of the poverty alleviation task in China, the Chinese economy has made great breakthroughs. Meanwhile, the implementation of Chinese "dual carbon" goal has entered an important window period of both strategic opportunities and difficulties. The emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) leads to the greenhouse effect, which affects the sustainable development of society. Therefore, this paper proposes an improved analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with Slacks-based measure integrating data envelopment analysis (SBMDEA) (AHP-SBMDEA) based efficiency evaluation model for different provincial-level administrative regions in China, which is used to analyze and optimize the Chinese energy structure of different provincial-level administrative regions. With coal, gasoline, petroleum, fuel oil, diesel, crude oil and natural gas as inputs, the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the desired output and the CO2 as the undesired output, after linear weighted calculation of the results of the AHP-SP model and the SBMDEA model, the energy efficiency evaluation model of different provincial administrative regions in China is established. The results show that there is a large difference in efficiency between Chinese northern and southern regions, and the overall efficiency of southern regions is higher than that of northern regions. In addition, it is easier to find out the optimal energy efficiency benchmark, which can provide suggestions and help to guide the energy consumption input structure improvement of other inefficient provincial-level administrative regions. Furthermore, the energy structure can also be adjusted through the redundant variable calculated by the SBMDEA model. For example, Sichuan Province can reduce the consumption of the coal, the gasoline, the diesel, the fuel oil, the crude oil and the natural gas by 5269.95 × 10000 tons (WT), 513.01 WT, 59.05 WT, 34.37 WT, 4,73.33 WT and 130.37 billion cubic meters (BCM), respectively. Its CO2 emissions can be reduced by 1925.4 WT, and raise the efficiency of energy utilization in the province. [Display omitted] • Novel economy and CO 2 emissions evolution model based on a AHP-SBMDEA is proposed. • The proposed model can identify the optimal energy efficiency benchmark. • GDP per capita can be increased and CO 2 emissions can be decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metal industry (MI) in China is energy and emissions intensive. This paper tries to provide guidance for the green development transformation of China's MI, by investigating the green total-factor productivity (GTFP) and its influencing factors using a global data envelopment analysis and a spatial Tobit regression model. The estimation results show that: (1) from 2000 to 2015, GTFP of China's MI enjoyed a considerable improvement. However, the current value of GTFP of China's MI is still less than 0.5, indicating that GTFP of China's MI is far from efficient; (2) the spatial correlation test shows that GTFPs of China's provincial MIs have positive spatial correlations. Most of the provinces scattered in "high-high" and "low-low" agglomerations; (3) GTFP of China's MI is significantly positive related to the degree of marketization, fiscal decentralization, environmental regulation, industrial scale, is significantly negative related to resources endowment and product structure, and has "U" shaped relationship with the level of economic development. The above results suggest that China already has made remarkable achievements in promoting green development of its MI. However, there is much room for further improvement. Policy options for the green development transformation of China's MI include but are not limited to promoting market-oriented and financial system reforms, strengthening environmental supervision, and optimizing industrial scale and product structure. Finally, recommendations for the effective implementation of these policies are provided at the end of the study. • This paper analyzed the historical performance and influencing factors of GTFP of China's MI. • Results show that GTFP of China's MI achieved considerable improvement in the past few years. • However, the current level of GTFP of China's MI is still very low. • There are many effective policy options for further promoting GTFP growth of China's MI. • Some implications for the implementation of these policies are provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous advancement of the digital economy and green development strategies, exploring the impact of digital transformation on corporate green technology innovation becomes an importantly urgent issue. Based on the perspectives of asymmetric effects and structural breakpoints, this paper empirically analyses the effect of digital transformation on green technology innovation, as well as its heterogeneity and non-linear characteristics, using fixed effect models and panel threshold model with a sample of Chinese A-share-listed corporates from 2011 to 2021. The findings suggest that digital transformation of corporates can significantly promotes green technology innovation, which remains valid after a series of endogenous and robustness tests. Heterogeneous regression results shows that digital transformation exhibits an asymmetric impact on green technology innovation, with greater incentive effect for state-owned corporates, manufacturing corporates, and corporates located in areas with stricter environmental regulations. Additionally, threshold effect analyses prove that a positive non-linear relationship between digital transformation and green technology innovation, when corporate human capital, industry competition and regional institutional quality exceeded their respective structural breakpoints, the marginal contribution of digital transformation is further strengthened. This research provides clearer policy insights for corporates to promote cleaner production and low carbon development through digitization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rapid urbanization growth during the past decades which has highly promoted its affluence has induced various challenges for the countryside. The problem of rural decline of quite many villages which are suffering depopulation in turn challenges the urbanization sustainability in China. By way of in-depth historical and literature review, the paper finds distorted urban-rural relationship and the tendency of village decline owing to China's long time urban biased policy. By further investigating China's new-type urbanization strategy, the paper draws concerns about future rural development which is less mentioned in the plan. It calls for ruralization and actions to revitalize the countryside so as to be adapted to China's new-type urbanization plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to deal with anthropogenic environmental impacts are focussed predominantly on cities. This paper applies metafrontier-data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the capacity of 286 Chinese cities of different sizes and in different regions towards green growth development and assesses gaps in their efficiencies. The determinants of efficiency, including regional and population size effects, were estimated using logistic regression model. Results show that the state of green growth efficiency was different for cities of different sizes and from different regions, and gaps existed compared to the best production frontier. The paper suggests that more endeavours are required for environmental and social dimensions, and a short-term target can include achievement of group frontier efficiency and significant reduction in technology gap ratios. Owing to significant population size effect, policy programs should have target plans for cities of different sizes as they differ in performance and capacity building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the regulatory policies, feed-in tariffs (FIT) and renewable portfolio standards (RPS) are the most popular to promote the development of renewable energy power industry. This paper uses system dynamics (SD) to establish models of long-term development of China's biomass power industry under FIT and RPS schemes, and provides a case study by using scenario analysis method. The model, on the one hand, not only clearly shows the complex logical relationship between the factors but also reveals the process of coordination between the two policy tools in the development of the industry. On the other hand, it provides a reference for scholars to study similar problems in different countries, thereby facilitating an understanding of biomass power's long-term sustainable development pattern under FIT and RPS schemes, and helping to provide references for policy-making institutions. The results show that in the perfect competitive market, the implementation of RPS can promote long-term and rapid development of China's biomass power industry given the constraints and actions of the mechanisms of RPS quota proportion, the TGC valid period, and fines, compared with FIT. At the end of the paper, policy implications are offered as references for the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the onset of industrialization over the past several decades, the rural areas are undergoing considerable changes in China. Optimal rural industrial land use distribution provides a spatial foundation for sustainable development in rural areas. Moreover, the importance of appropriate rural industrial land use adjustment is evident in rural spatial restructuring. This paper investigates rural industrial land use patterns and its impact on rural areas in Pinggu District of Beijing based on a combined method of “landscape indices” and the “geospatial analysis.” Subsequently, this paper proposes a rural industrial land use adjustment. The results show that according to the relevance of township and village enterprises (TVEs) to rural development, rural industrial land can be classified as rural industry land (RI-land) and non-rural industry land (NI-land). “Small scale, spontaneous dispersion” is the overall rural industrial land use pattern in China, and the spatial patterns between the two types of rural industrial land are quite different: the pattern “dispersion inside rural settlements” is usually observed in RI-land, while “agglomeration around regional central towns” and “linear sprawl” are common on NI-land. Considering the peculiarity of TVEs, the dispersion for RI-land is designed to absorb the surplus labor and raw materials nearby in the countryside to enhance their output-efficiency, whereas the agglomeration for NI-land is to pursue the efficiency of agglomeration economies. This paper also revealed that current disperse rural industrial land use pattern has generated polluting effects on the environment. Therefore, following the “classification principle,” rural industrial land use adjustment should not merely pursue economic efficiency and agglomeration efficiency but should also engage in labor absorptivity and environmental benefits. The formation and development of rural industrial land in China is quite different from traditional industrial land; these differences are largely attributed to their unique driving mechanisms and historical backgrounds. In particular, the traditional Theories of the Location of Industries directed by “agglomeration,” are unsuitable for rural industrial land in China. Therefore, the results in this paper can help form a basis for sustainable planning of rural industrial land and contribute to rural transformation development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Performance-friendly regulation is illusion in China. • We document that investments and fees for environmental protection are mutually complementary in China. • We show that regulation in China leads to better firm performance but stimulate little for environment. Porter (1991) and follow-up scholars hypothesize that environmental regulation stimulates innovation to promote performance. As a complement to the existing literature, this paper reveals an ironic reality: performance-friendly regulation as a proxy for the "win–win" solution of environmental regulation is an illusion due to ineffective intensity for sustainability. With firm-level evidence from China, we measure the intensity of environmental regulation by a firm's investments for environmental protection (IEP) or fees for environmental protection (FEP). After identifying a positive causal effect on performance of IEP or FEP, we document that IEP and FEP are complementary and thus ineffective for sustainable development. We further document that the effects between IEP and FEP are mediated by performance insignificantly from an economic perspective, thereby revealing the incentive incompatibility of a firm in IEP and FEP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This meta-analysis aims to identify the relationship between natural resources abundance and economic growth in China to provide policy guidance for sustainable development. Empirical evidence was collected from 44 studies published in Chinese between 2005 and 2017 at provincial and city level. Results show that the existence of the resource curse is ambiguous. Although most of the studies conclude that the resource curse exists, particularly in the fast-growing central and western regions of China, a number of studies find the opposite. This latter finding is mainly attributed to other growth determinants and transition mechanisms, such as spillover effects driving the demand for natural resources and resulting in higher prices. Significant methodological advances have been made over the past decade, both in terms of the econometric modelling of causal relationships between economic growth and natural resources and the level of empirical control through the inclusion of new explanatory factors. However, in order to enhance the comparability of results, more attention should be paid to the types of resources and their measurement, alternative determinants of economic growth, such as new economic policies, as well as the application of appropriate econometric modeling approaches. The paper ends with policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A circular economy desires procurement innovation. • PPP execution needs to be more innovative for a circular economy. • The lessons learned are to base PPP on a general concession framework. • Price, concession and operation are on relational contract-type of agreement. • It needs to prevent corruption and opportunistic behaviors. Amidst the global trend of advocating a circular economy, various nations and regions in recent years have started to explore innovative procurement models (e.g., Public Private Partnership [PPP]) in dealing with beset issues related to construction and demolition (C&D) waste. However, PPP is suffering from problems such as 'long negotiation time', 'lack of transparency', and 'uneven risk and return allocation', which in turn lead to 'ineffective delivery' and 'poor value for money'. Using a case study, this paper reports some lessons learnt from innovative practices of procuring C&D management services in Suzhou, China. It is discovered that the public and private sectors, without prior knowledge, are operating based on a general concession framework instead of negotiating a clear-cut agreement from the outset. Several key arrangements, such as price, concession period, and strategic operations, are based on relational contract-type of agreements, which are found particularly innovative for shortening the negotiation time, fostering the trust between the relevant parties, dealing with emerging ad hoc problems, and allowing sustainable development of the circular economy. To make such PPP work, it is critical to devise institutions to prevent corruption and opportunistic behaviors. This research provides useful references to developing a circular economy. Although they focus on C&D waste management, the research findings can be applied to other public procurement settings, such as municipal solid waste management service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• HE-D and DE-D were stable; most regions showed a relatively concurrent development of DE and HE. • D of the two subsystems differed in different regions with "high in the east and low in the west." • CCD fluctuated relatively steadily with differences of "high in the northern and coastal regions". • "HE benefits" and number of academic papers are the primary influencing dimension and factor in HE. • "DE input" and popularity rate of mobiles are the primary influencing dimension and factor in DE. Analyzing the coupling coordination interactions of higher education (HE) and digital economy (DE) to achieve sustainable growth is crucial. Thus, we constructed the coupling coordination interaction mechanism and the comprehensive evaluation system of the two subsystems to measure their coordination interactions; then, we processed the temporal-spatial analysis of the development status and the coupling coordination degree (CCD) in the case of China. Furthermore, we used the gray correlation model to determine the primary influencing factors and proposed differentiated policymaking suggestions. We found that: (1) the development status of higher education (HE-D) was more stable than that of the digital economy (DE-D), which showed a slight upward trend; besides, there were noticeable spatial differences for HE-D and DE-D. (2) The temporal changes of CCD were not noticeable. (3) Expenditure on research activities in HE and the number of patents were the significant factors affecting DE; the popularity rate of mobile phones and the number of employees in the DE industry were the significant factors affecting HE; besides, HE's output benefits and DE's input was more influential in the coordination relations. Furthermore, we also put forward targeted, specific, and differentiated policymaking suggestions, which can guide policymakers to formulate regional sustainable development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the goal of "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" in China, it is significant to explore whether green finance contributes to carbon emission reduction. Therefore, based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2020, this paper empirically examines the impact of green finance on carbon emissions and its mechanism using the FE model, GMM model, DID, and the mediating effect model. Results find that green finance can significantly promote carbon emissions reduction, and this promotion remains still after robustness tests. The heterogeneity analysis shows that green finance's carbon emission reduction effect is more significant in developed and western regions. Moreover, the results of policy intervention effects confirm that green finance reform and innovation pilot zones (GFRIs) for carbon emission reduction are more pronounced than in other regions. Finally, the mediating effects reveal that industrial structure and green innovation are the core transmission channels through which green finance influences carbon emission reduction. These findings offer meaningful implications for formulating reasonable carbon emission reduction plans and determining the future development direction of green finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late 1990s and early 2010s witnessed China’s efforts to reform its coal industry towards sustainability. A series of rigorous initiatives were launched to consolidate its coal resources and upgrade its mining sector. The “mine closure and production reduction campaign” (MCPRC) and “coal resources consolidation campaign” (CRCC) were among the notable. This paper conducts a general review of the policies and regulations relating to these initiatives with Shanxi, one of the key coal-producing provinces and one of the pilot areas for reform, as a case study. The paper argues that the “one-size-fits-all” approach may have brought short-lived political and economic benefits. However, in the long run, a rationally-designed, stable, socio-economically and environmentally co-ordinated regulatory framework for both large and small coal mines is needed for the sustainable development of China’s coal sector. This finding would be helpful for the potential similar reform initiatives for the coal sector and for the wider energy sector across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of environmental degradation, sustainable development has become a common goal across the globe. Making a scientifically based investment scheme is of great significance to promote the sustainable development of China's economy. However, there is scarce research related to such an investment scheme of sustainable development. This paper proposes a new inverse data envelopment analysis method with undesirable outputs to make several scientifically based investment schemes from different perspectives, namely, the natural, regulation, and optimal perspectives. By this method, decision makers can scientifically forecast the specific amount of investment based on their actual sustainable development objectives, which is conducive for reducing the blindness of investment in the future. In addition, a new ideal perspective is defined to guide a definite direction for improving the level of sustainable development. Combined with the gray forecasting model GM(1,1), the methods proposed by this paper were then applied to analyze the investment problem for China's sustainable development during the 2015–2024 period. The results show that: the unbalanced distribution of labor investment and the excessive investment in capital and energy are serious barriers to China's sustainable development in the short term; and in the long term, the demand for investment in labor and capital will continue to increase along with a lower demand for energy investment, and that appropriately strengthening environmental regulations will not affect the overall demand for investment. Meanwhile, improvement directions for improving China's sustainable development are discussed, and the results show that most of developing and undeveloped regions in China have great potential for improvement. Finally, some suggestions are proposed in order to create better conditions for China's sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable consumption (SC) is key for sustainable development, but only limited studies have examined how to motivate SC among consumers in developing countries. Younger consumers tend to more sustainable consumption while whether they really understand the SC concept is not clear. To explore the role of SC understanding for motivating SC behaviors, this paper develops a concept model with hypotheses to propose that SC understanding mediates relationships between influencing factors and SC behaviors. Based on 623 usable questionnaires collected from junior high schools and senior high schools in three eastern cities of China, five influencing factors for SC behaviors are identified, they are, education, awareness & attitude, social influence, effectiveness of energy saving and emission reduction for sustainable products, and differentiation of sustainable products from regular products. Statistic results through hierarchical regression analysis demonstrate that SC understanding is necessary to motivate SC behaviors with certain influencing factors. Chinese adolescents can understand the SC concept through education and then purchase sustainable products. Only if sustainable products can show benefits of energy saving and emission reduction, Chinese adolescent would like to use these products. Environmental awareness and attitude can bring environmental treatment and disposal of products, but SC understanding is necessary. This paper contributes to extend the TPB to develop a conceptual model including education as one influencing factor for SC behaviors. It also develops three factors for SC behaviors from the product life cycle perspective. Besides, it also contributes to extend the previous studies about motivation of SC consumption to adolescents in an emergent economy of China to examine the role of SC understanding. Statistic results reveal the low implementation level of SC behaviors, and the government should highlight sustainable education to improve sustainable awareness and SC understanding. It is also shown that adolescents would like to purchase sustainable products if environmental performance of such products can be demonstrated, which also provide insights for enterprises to achieve win-win opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China provides a stark and globally significant illustration of how changing patterns of food production and consumption (especially related to increased intake of animal protein) are creating negative impacts on biodiversity, climate, nitrogen and phosphorous cycles and the use of freshwater. However, China's rapidly growing innovation capabilities and dynamic pattern of development also offer a unique opportunity for transitions towards more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems. Applying a ‘food practices in transition’ framework (Spaargaren et al., 2012), this paper discusses the technological, political and socio-cultural factors central to such systemic changes, with a focus on maize as a core case study. In particular it presents and discusses two contending (but not mutually-exclusive) pathways towards more sustainable maize production and consumption. One, which we call the ‘indigenous innovation’ pathway is framed by ‘systemic rationalities’ and characterised by a focus on R&D-intensive technologies for agricultural intensification, including the controversial use of transgenic phytase maize. The second, which we term the ‘alternative’ pathway, is framed by ‘lifeworld rationalities’ and focusses on improved management practices, shorter supply chains, agro-ecological and participatory research. The two pathways claim different environmental benefits and present different risks and political implications. This paper analyses the food practices in transition in each pathway, identifying links with shifting political conditions and pointing to the increasingly significant role of consumer agency in steering patterns of maize production and consumption in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New energy vehicles (NEVs) have been recognized as a sustainable eco-innovation to address China's energy and environment problems. As a strategically emerging industry, China's NEV manufacturing industry has been prioritized by governments and manufacturers, significantly impacting its spatial distribution pattern and stimulating the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutralization. China, the largest NEV producer and consumer and with distinctive regional diversity, has experienced a new round of capacity expansion. Therefore, the literature on the spatial distribution patterns and influencing factors of NEV industry in provincial level is vital for the transformation of manufacturing industry and transportation sector, while to date, the related studies is few. In this paper, considering the number and location of key enterprises/production bases, the spatial distribution and influencing factors of China's NEV industry were discussed by an empirical study. The results are gained from a spatial perspective. Firstly, in general, China's NEV industry presents a "T" spatial distribution pattern. Secondly, a point-axle spatial exploration pattern is proposed, which includes "four points and one axle" namely Bohai rim, Yangtze River Delta (YRD), Pearl River Delta (PRD), Hubei-Chongqing clusters and Eastern Coastal NEV industrial belt. Thirdly, different types of NEV enterprises show various location preferences and spatial distribution characteristics. Fourthly, the influencing factors on China's NEV spatial distribution are concluded from five aspects of supporting policy, infrastructure condition, economic drivers, technical capacity, and industrial foundation, and the degree of factors is different considering varying enterprise classification and industrial development stage. The findings of this paper provide a reference for rational layout in China's NEV industry, and are expected to stimulate the sustainable development of NEVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New energy vehicles (NEVs) have been recognized as a sustainable eco-innovation to address China's energy and environment problems. As a strategically emerging industry, China's NEV manufacturing industry has been prioritized by governments and manufacturers, significantly impacting its spatial distribution pattern and stimulating the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutralization. China, the largest NEV producer and consumer and with distinctive regional diversity, has experienced a new round of capacity expansion. Therefore, the literature on the spatial distribution patterns and influencing factors of NEV industry in provincial level is vital for the transformation of manufacturing industry and transportation sector, while to date, the related studies is few. In this paper, considering the number and location of key enterprises/production bases, the spatial distribution and influencing factors of China's NEV industry were discussed by an empirical study. The results are gained from a spatial perspective. Firstly, in general, China's NEV industry presents a "T" spatial distribution pattern. Secondly, a point-axle spatial exploration pattern is proposed, which includes "four points and one axle" namely Bohai rim, Yangtze River Delta (YRD), Pearl River Delta (PRD), Hubei-Chongqing clusters and Eastern Coastal NEV industrial belt. Thirdly, different types of NEV enterprises show various location preferences and spatial distribution characteristics. Fourthly, the influencing factors on China's NEV spatial distribution are concluded from five aspects of supporting policy, infrastructure condition, economic drivers, technical capacity, and industrial foundation, and the degree of factors is different considering varying enterprise classification and industrial development stage. The findings of this paper provide a reference for rational layout in China's NEV industry, and are expected to stimulate the sustainable development of NEVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between hydroelectricity consumption and economic growth in China, while controlling for fossil fuel consumption, financial development, capital, institutional quality and globalization and its components for the period, 1970–2014. We have employed the Bayer and Hanck, (2013) combined cointegration test to examine the long-run relationships between those variables as well as the autoregressive distributed lag method with structural breaks as a robustness check. The empirical findings demonstrate a long-run relationship between those variables. Hydroelectricity consumption, fossil fuel consumption, capital, financial development and globalization and its components have a positive influence on GDP in China. The findings also provide predominant evidence on the long-run feedback hypothesis between the variables. The findings suggest that policies should be implemented to increase the role hydropower in the energy mix for sustainable economic growth in the country. Highlights • We examine the relationship between hydropower consumption and economic growth in China. • We control for fossil fuel consumption, financial development, capital, institutions and globalization. • We employ the Bayer and Hanck, (2013) cointegration test and ARDL bounds-testing method with structural breaks. • The findings demonstrate a long-run relationship between those variables. • The explanatory and control variables have positive influence on GDP in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Numerous machine learning-based land change models have been presented by researchers over the last two decades. To date, however, far less have simulated multiple land use classes and specific land use subclasses at the same time. In some areas of the world, it is important to simulate both of these dynamics to understand fully the drivers and consequences of land change. One important example is the process of urbanization in China, as urban policies have been developed that guide urban expansion, rural protections, and urban subclass development. This paper presents a new model integrating geographic information systems (GIS) with artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict multiple transitions among land use types and urban subclasses in the Zhanggong District of Ganzhou city in China. We show that the model produces satisfactory goodness of fit values-based on location, quantity and spatial configuration-between simulated and observed land use maps for 2015. Our simulated future maps produced by the model for 2020 and 2025 demonstrate that transitions from farmland and forest to urban will remain the main pathway of urbanization although we predict that the rate will slow after 2025. The goals of urban planning should be aligned with land use planning according to "Combining multiple laws and regulations" in China. Taking into account the current and future land use transitions will enhance the accuracy and timeliness of land use policy making and urban land planning. For the sustainable land use in Zhanggong District, we argue for a strengthened regulation of the land market by government and believe that planning officials should guide the spatial distribution of land supply actively. Furthermore, improving the production, living and ecological functions of land resources are the key points to optimize urban land use functions and the allocation of land resources. We discuss how our model can be adapted to other areas to benefit land use management and urban planning in China. Highlights • GIS and ANNs were used to predict multiple land use transitions and urban subclasses. • A case study demonstrates that the model performs relatively well validated with several measures for goodness of fit. • The simulated maps suggest that farmland and forest are the most common candidates for urban expansion. • The methodology can be adapted to other study areas to benefit land use management and urban planning in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and seeks to understand the scale of the electric bicycle (electric two-wheeler) market in China, and to begin to explain its emergence with a view to outlining the prospects for learning from this case for applications in other countries around the world. Drawing on secondary data from Chinese government sources, electric bicycle industry websites, Chinese media sites and other sources, this exploratory paper positions the development of the electric bicycle market as occurring largely in the absence of positive policy intervention – in stark contrast to the nurturing afforded the electric car sector world-wide. The paper develops a multi-scalar perspective of transitions theory in an institutional setting, with examples drawn from Beijing and Fuzhou, to explain the processes of change outside of the traditional reference context of technology policy and management. It is concluded that transitions theory has a greater flexibility and adaptability as an explanatory framework than previously shown, but empirically the electric two-wheeler is a weakly-embedded alternative to mainstream automobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Agenda 2030 poses critical elements regarding the transition towards a more sustainable development. This paper aims at exploring and comparing the path of sustainable development within the United States and China at the subnational level. An index of Integrated Sustainable Development is introduced to measure local sustainable development on an internationally-comparable scale. This Index is computed both at the national and subnational level and the resulting scores are compared within and across the two countries, also through the adoption of convergence and cluster analysis, allowing to answer four questions: Are the US and China moving towards a sustainable development agenda? Are the current achievements uniformly distributed within the two countries? Are states/provinces converging towards a more uniform level of sustainable development? Do the existing differences and analogies between states and provinces give rise to common clusters across the two countries? The results lead to one robust conclusion: while the US can claim a better result in the national and subnational rankings of sustainable development, China exhibits a more balanced achievement in terms of synergies across Goals and spatial distribution. Nonetheless, both countries are characterized by subnational disparities and scarce achievements of Planet-related Goals. Policy recommendations are discussed accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bicycles are a desirable form of transportation for many reasons, including the fact that taking a bicycle is environmentally-friendly, economically cost-effective, a way to keep fit and healthy and, on occasions, an enjoyable social activity. This paper explores the characteristics and commonalities between particular bike-sharing systems in urban areas, with a view to deriving influences on the sustainability of such systems. The empirical study is China and the paper analyses bike-sharing systems in five Chinese cities. China is suffering from the severe negative consequences of high private vehicle usage in large and densely populated cities. Nevertheless a long history of bicycle usage in the country provides great potential for such a green form of travel to be part of public and private transportation. The findings show that bike-sharing systems have varying degrees of success. The configurations which seem the most sustainable consider and integrate elements relating to transport planning, system design and choice of business model. Key conclusions are that those responsible for developing policy and practices in relation to bike-sharing systems need to understand the diverse aspects of value for the stakeholders wishing to engage with such a system. Public bicycle sharing, as a Product Service System, needs to be carefully developed to appreciate the quality and timely interplay between the physical design of the system and the provision of services being offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building resource-conserving and environmental-friendly society (referred to as “two-oriented society”, TOS) is an important way proposed by the Chinese government to achieve sustainable development. In this paper, a pilot city of constructing TOS in China-Wuhan is taken as a case to evaluate the performance of TOS from 2005 to 2012. Treating the indicators of TOS as multi-dimensional vectors, this paper proposes a methodological framework by integrating the methods of vector angle and Euclidean distance to measure the angle and distance between the vector of annual status of TOS and the vector of planning target of TOS. Based on this, the paper employs coordination (the angle between the two vectors) and effectiveness (the distance between the two vectors) to describe the performance of TOS and its subsystems, including economic development (ED), social and people's well-being (SW), resource consumption (RC), resource recycling (RR), environmental quality (EQ) and pollution control (PC). Moreover, grey relational analysis approach is used to analyse the core factors influencing TOS construction. Results reveal that the performance of TOS in Wuhan is continually improved in the study period while the performance of its subsystems shows several differences: (1) both coordination and effectiveness of TOS, ED and SW keep on improving, while those of EQ fluctuate; (2) the effectiveness of both RR and PC shows a downward trend while the coordination of them fluctuates; (3) the actual value of RC indicators reaches the planning targets. Based on the analysis of determinants, we suggest that strengthening technological ability and adding investment are extremely important to improve the performance of RC and PC. For the sake of improving RR, it is critical to provide more government public expenditure and encourage financial institutions to provide more loans to stimulate and support the businesses. Moreover, increasing the amount of R&D funding and maintaining steady external economic environment are proved to be effective to improve all subsystems of TOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is vast, abundant and particularly plentiful in energy sources, due to which it has obtained remarkable achievements on economy. However, its energy structure is too simple to support the sustainable development of economy as coal still contributes to the majority of energy consumption in China. As a consequence, Renewable Energy Law was enacted in 2005, and Chinese government announced a series of policies to boom renewable energy industry. Subsidy policy is one of the major forms of these policies. This paper aims to present these subsidy policies and to analyze their effects according to relative data in energy industry 2005–2013, to find out the deficiencies and enlighten possible policy improvements. The original intentions and abstracts of 5 different levels of subsidy related policies are summarized, and the effects in reality are attentively analyzed. It can be concluded that subsidy policies have different short-term effect on different renewable energies, and they all show some negative effect to a certain extent. 6 core problems are summarized in this paper, and remedy strategies are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common utility tunnels (utilidors) are attracting more and more attention in China with the rapid urban development and growing need for public facilities. China is a large country with a huge north–south divide, which leads to different situations of construction, types of utilities incorporated, route design and governance issues for utility tunnels in different cities. This paper introduces the latest status for such tunnels in China by collecting and analyzing existing and planned utility tunnels in China from 1959 to 2020. Furthermore, the key issues that may influence the development of utility tunnels in the next decade in China are summarized. These, in combination with the domestic and foreign research status, suggest typical cases and a policy orientation which may be helpful to the future development of common utility tunnels in China and other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correlation between urbanization and environmental pollution is a major focus of study in geography, environmental science, and economics. Particulate matter is the primary pollutant of air pollution and made up of heavy metal, organic carbon and aromatic hydrocarbon and complicated chemicals. PM 2.5 are fine particulate matter with diameters that are less than 2.5 μm. The aim of this study on the relationship between urbanization and PM 2.5 concentration is to achieve a win-win situation of both economic development and environmental protection, which is of great significance to sustainable development in China. This paper uses PM 2.5 remote sensing data and statistical yearbook data from 2000 to 2011 to build four panel data models within the urbanization-PM 2.5 concentration Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework. The goal is to find out the correlations between PM 2.5 concentration and economic urbanization, population urbanization, and space urbanization. Furthermore, scenario simulations are set to predict when China will reach inflection point and achieve its target concentration. Results show that the relationship between economic urbanization and PM 2.5 concentration is an inverted N-shaped or inverted U-shaped curve. Most cities in East China have reached the second inflection point of inverted-N curve to step into the win-win stage while many cities in Middle China still need 10–15 years to arrive at the inflection point of the inverted-U curve. Therefore, China is under great pressure to prevent PM 2.5 pollution and pursue more targeted PM 2.5 -reduction policies for air quality improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the iron and steel industry (ISI) accounts for more than 16% of China's total energy consumption. Improving energy efficiency (EE) and promoting energy savings in this industry have vital significance for China's further sustainable development. Using provincial panel data from 2000 to 2014 and meta-frontier data envelopment analysis (DEA), this paper investigates EE and the energy-saving potential (EP) of China's ISI by considering regional technology heterogeneities. The results show that (1) from 2001 to 2014, EE in China's ISI achieved significant improvement. Technological progress is the most powerful driving factor, while the declines in scale efficiency and pure technical efficiency are two obstructive factors; (2) the sources of energy inefficiency (EI) show distinct spatial difference characteristics. EI in the eastern region mainly stems from scale inefficiency and pure technical inefficiency, while that in the central and western regions stems from three aspects of scale inefficiency, pure technical inefficiency, and technology gap; and (3) there is considerable EP in China's ISI, which represents nearly 80% of ISI's current total energy consumption. Because the sources of EP vary across regions, the focus of future work for China's regional ISI should also vary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the constraints to achieving optimal infrastructure sustainability for mountainous townships in Southwest China. Although such townships are relatively less developed, it is well recognized that investment in infrastructure projects in less developed townships plays a vital role in China's sustainable development mission. While the benefits of infrastructure investments are usually measured by means of economic performance, their long-term sustainability performance is largely overlooked. It is therefore imperative to understand the constraints that impede infrastructure sustainability and what corrective actions can be taken. The constraints are identified in this study via exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Twenty-one townships in the mountainous regions of Southwest China were investigated by means of a questionnaire survey. The study reveals that the major constraints include four dimensions: “Economic Capacity”, “Governance and Management”, “Policy Instrument and Public Participation”, and “Local Geographic Characteristics”. Identification of these constraints provides a valuable reference for local governments to take adequate measures to ensure that their infrastructure sustainability can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction industries have significant impacts on the economy, society and environment. To transform construction industry towards sustainability, construction enterprises' perceptions and performance on sustainability needs to be understood and evaluated, which has not be fully explored by existing studies. This paper holistically examines the Chinese construction enterprises’ attitude towards and performance on various aspects of sustainability (e.g. the economic, social and environmental aspects) in order to identify those aspects the firms perceive to be the most and least important and those aspects the firms perform best and worst on. The associations among the sustainability attitude, sustainability performance, and firm size are also explored. The findings show that quality management and customer service are perceived as the most important as well as the best-performed aspects by the firms while supporting community development is the least important and worst-performed aspect. Sustainability attitude is positively correlated with performance, and larger firms tend to have better sustainability performance than that of small ones. However, larger construction firms do not necessarily perceive sustainability more important. This study provides a useful reference for policy makers and researchers to understand how sustainability is perceived and implemented by the Chinese construction firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because industrial sectors in China are energy-intensive, improving energy efficiency and promoting energy savings in these sectors are of great importance for the further sustainable development of China’s economy. Using a proposed meta-frontier data envelopment analysis (DEA), this paper analyzes the total-factor energy efficiency and energy savings potential in China’s provincial industrial sectors for the years 2000–2014 from three perspectives, namely, the technology gap, management, and scale. The results indicate that (1) driven by technological progress, energy efficiency during the sample period was greatly improved, though the expansion of technology gaps between regions and the decline in scale efficiency represented two significant handicaps; (2) the current energy efficiency in China’s industrial sectors remains extremely low, indicating that there is considerable potential for energy efficiency improvement and energy savings; and (3) the sources of energy inefficiency and energy savings potential in China’s industrial sectors exhibit spatially distinct characteristics. Accordingly, it is determined that most of China’s eastern provinces should focus on improving scale and management efficiency, whereas most of its central and western provinces should concentrate on three factors: narrowing the regional technology gap, improving management efficiency, and optimizing the industrial scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the concept of remanufacturing is gaining popularity in practice, its effect on environmental protection and energy saving is significant, which has attracted widespread concerns, especially in the automotive components field. Automotive components remanufacturing (ACR), as a prominent part in automotive life-cycle development, can dramatically reduce resources-waste and mitigate energy-crisis, which has become a prominent direction to promote sustainable development of Chinese economy. Thus, influence factors analysis and enterprise operation patterns assessment which primarily contribute to ACR industry development are of paramount importance. This paper elaborates the criteria influencing the ACR industry operation and analyzes the main operation patterns for ACR in China. To overcome the uncertainty of the evaluation process, a new hybrid multi-criterion decision-making (MCDM) model that combines fuzzy AHP (analytical hierarchy process) and fuzzy G-TOPSIS (combining gray relation analysis and technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution) is proposed to determine weights of influence criteria and evaluate ACR production operation patterns. In addition, sensitivity analysis is applied to monitor the robustness of the method. The study refers to the experience of Chinese end-of-life vehicle (ELV) laws and implementation requirements of extended producer responsibility (EPR). The obtained results provide the new guideline to revise the regulations of Chinese ACR industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is not neutral with respect to local quality of life. With the transformation of traditional city roles and the boom of urban tourism in China, the interaction between tourism and local livability is increasingly important for sustainable development plans of urban areas. Our paper aims to address the complex interdependence of the emerging tourist industry and local livability in Chinese cities. Based on a conceptual model and a subsequent empirical statistical analysis of 35 large and medium-sized Chinese cities for the years 2003–2012, our study finds that urban livability and its related factors benefit tourism development, and that, in turn, tourism has a reverse impact on livability in urban areas; their performance appears to vary in different sub-regions and for different factors of livability; the geographic interdependence between livability and tourism development is also remarkable. Potential threats from excessive tourism development on urban livability, in particular in the Chinese Eastern and Central large and medium-sized cities, can be inferred from our empirical analysis. These conclusions may lead to important lessons to policy makers, while various suggestions based on our findings are provided as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, there is no specific legal basis for the development and utilisation of marine renewable energy, nor legal protection for the developers in China. The consequence is that the Chinese Government is unable to provide institutional support for the substantive development of marine renewable energy, resulting in slow development of China's marine energy industry. This paper provides an institutional framework for the establishment of relevant laws in China and legislative proposals in legal perspective, for the better development of marine renewable energy. The Chinese Government should optimise the administrative management system, strengthen financial regulation such as tax and emphasise sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has been very successful in creating conditions for industry localization in solar and wind energy manufacturing. In terms of their competitiveness in foreign markets, however, Chinese solar photovoltaics firms have shown significantly greater achievements than their counterparts in the wind energy sector. Moreover, the success of China’s solar photovoltaics industry has come in spite of significantly lower levels of domestic market support. The paper argues that technology-related factors and their implications for international technology transfer are critical for explaining the different speeds with which Chinese firms have been able to catch up in the two sectors. This is supported by a comparative analysis of technology transfer in the two sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical discussion in the existing literature on the relationship between transportation infrastructure and innovation remains limited. As one of the most important transport infrastructures, China's high-speed railway (HSR) has greatly compressed the space-time distance and strengthened the linkages between cities, which may contribute to innovation activities. Using the panel data of 285 Chinese prefecture-level and above cities and employing the difference-in-differences (DID) model, this paper examines the impact of HSR opening and HSR service intensity on the urban innovation. Propensity score matching (PSM) together with DID (PSM-DID) method is utilized to address the potential estimation biases. The empirical results demonstrate that HSR has significantly improved the level of urban innovation. Heterogeneity analysis finds that the promotion effects of HSR on innovation are more remarkable in peripheral and small cities. Moreover, the effects of HSR on cities far away from the central and large cities are with higher significance and greater magnitude than cities close to central and large cities. For cities near central and large cities, the service intensity of HSR is more likely to improve their innovation level. In addition, we further find that service industries and private enterprises benefit more from the effect of HSR in promoting innovation. This study can provide robust evidence for the effect of HSR on promoting urban innovation, as well as policy enlightenment for innovation growth and sustainable economic development. • The impact of high-speed railway (HSR) opening and HSR service intensity on urban innovation is examined employing the difference-in-differences (DID) model. • Propensity score matching together with DID method is utilized to address the potential estimation biases. • The HSR service is associated with a significant improvement in urban innovation. • The heterogeneous impact of HSR on urban innovation is tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A "Load – Carrier" perspective evaluation method has been introduced. • Overall tourism resource carrying capacity performance in China has been raised. • The performance in Northeast China has been Low-Medium Interval. • The performance of Eastern China has fallen in High Risk Overload Interval mostly. • The performance of the Central and Western provinces has been improved. Rapid development of the tourism industry has brought various challenges by causing unbalance between tourism resource load (TRL) and tourism resource carrier (TRC), such as the decline in tourist satisfaction, and the destruction of tourist attractions. The concept of tourism resources carrying capacity (TRCC) can be used to describe the relationship between TRL and TRC. Due to the vast territory, different provinces in China have different resource endowments and socio-economic environments, and their TRCC performances are different. Therefore, this paper investigates the temporal-spatial evolutionary performance of TRCC at provincial level in China. The theory of "Load-Carrier" is used to select evaluation indicators, the Entropy Weight Method and the Linear Weighted Summation Method are used to calculate the performance value, and the Quartile Method is adopted to classify the TRCC performance. Data used in this study were collected from 30 provinces in China from 2008 to 2019. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) From a temporal evolution perspective, the overall TRCC performance in China has been improved, due to the implication of various tourism development policies. (2) From a spatial differences perspective, the TRCC performance of Northeast China has changed from High Utilization Interval to Low-Medium Interval; TRCC performance of Eastern China maintained in High Utilization or High Risk Overload Interval, and TRCC performance in Central and Western China has been continuously rising. This study provides valuable references for both central and local governments to take appropriate policy measures to improve their TRCC performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development that conceptually can be divided into the following parts: environmental, social and economic, is a pattern of resource use, which aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come in future. This paper is a comparative study on the socio-environmental sustainability in traditional courtyard houses in Iran and China, as two of the ancient civilizations in the world. The aim is to investigate the potential of traditional courtyard houses in responding to environmental challenges alongside social norms over a long period of time. To achieve this purpose, social and environmental dimensions of the sustainability as well as the main elements of traditional courtyard houses in Iran and China are identified. Then, the way these elements have contributed to the social and environmental sustainability of heritage settlements are described, analyzed, and compared through library and field survey studies. Results of this research show that Iranian and Chinese traditional courtyard houses were designed based on a careful attention to climatic requirements in their socio-cultural context, in order to provide both physical and mental comforts for residents. As conclusion, some socio-environmental design principles are extracted, as lessons learned from the past, which can be considered in designing of contemporary sustainable residential buildings in Iran and China. These design patterns, can be generalized to all cases with similar climatic conditions, in order to save more energy as well as enhancing social values in mentioned areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to examine if the “strong” version of Porter Hypothesis is supported in China by investigating how different regulatory instruments and the relative stringency impact “green” productivity. We use a slacks-based measure (SBM) and Luenberger Productivity Index, accounting for undesirable outputs, to evaluate the industrial “green” productivity growth rates of China's 30 provinces. The estimates imply an unsustainable development model in China with significant regional differences. By employing a panel threshold model and a province-level panel dataset during 2000–2012, empirical results show that both command-and-control and market-based regulation have a non-linear relationship with and can be positively related to “green” productivity but with different constrains on regulation stringency: there are double thresholds with the command-and-control and exists an optimal range of stringency for productivity improvement; while a single threshold has been found with the market-based regulation and its current stringency is reasonable for most of provinces. Moreover, based on China's reality, the productivity effect driven by market-based regulation is much stronger than that of the command-and-control. The mechanism of informal regulation is much more complicated. Consequently, we find evidence to support the “strong” Porter Hypothesis that reasonable stringency of environmental regulations may enhance rather than lower industrial competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological protection project of substituting small hydropower for fuel (SSHF) in China is to consolidate the achievements of conceding the land to forestry and natural forest protection, solve the problems of the peasants' fuel and rural energy, protect the ecological environment, and promote the comprehensive development of rural economy and society. It is of great importance to the sustainable development of China in the 21st century. This paper provides a survey of substituting small hydropower for fuel in China. Over the last ten years, using small hydropower to replace the rural living fuel in China has resulted in great fruits. By the end of 2013, 252 SSHF projects had been completed in China, and the newly installed capacity of the SSHF power plants had reached 564 MW (MW). The demand of 1.593 million rural residents for living fuel and energy had been met in a long term, 6.29 million ac-res of the forest area had been protected, and the emission of a large amount of pollutants had been decreased. Moreover, many SSHF projects all over the country are still under construction. With regard to the challenges existing in the development course, some suggestions have been proposed. Implementation of the SSHF project will help realize the harmonious coexistence between human beings and the nature in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various theories and approaches have been introduced in the debate on how to address sustainable consumption. In this study, we first discuss different theoretical perspectives on sustainable consumption, particularly developed in the fields of economics, social psychology and environmental sociology. We argue that neither an ‘individualist’ nor a system- or structural perspective alone is sufficient for understanding and analysing the transition towards sustainable consumption. Therefore, we propose to apply the Social Practices Approach (SPA) that combines both human agency and social structures to understand sustainable consumption issues. Following the SPA framework, we review and summarize research on sustainable consumption in China in particular on three consumption fields: food, housing energy and mobility. It is found that introducing more efficient production technology is commonly taken as the focal point in these sectors when sustainable consumption was introduced to China. Despite a rising interest in consumers' perceptions of products' sustainability in recent years, research has rarely paid any attention to consumers' behavioural change or to the transition dynamics towards sustainable consumption. In general, ‘individualist’ perspectives have largely dominated Chinese sustainable consumption research. This paper proposes to move attention to a better understanding of Chinese consumption issues by emphasizing the link between the provision of sustainable products and the diverse sustainable consumption practices. Also, images of food, energy, mobility and other consumption products that are undergoing transitions need to be considered in future research as these have consequences for socio-technical changes, material infrastructures and for ‘lifestyle’ innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to assess the status and progress of rural household energy sustainable development in China. A new composite indicator, rural energy sustainable development index (RESDI), is developed based on the improved grouped principal component analysis method (GPCA) which is the combination utilization of principal component analysis (PCA), factor analysis (FA), and entropy weight method. The improved grouped principal component analysis method keeps the advantages of principal component analysis and factor analysis. To capture the characters of rural energy sustainable development, ten indicators selected based on the criteria presented by OECD are designed to construct the RESDI. The main results are as follows. The RESDI increased from 0.185 in 1991 to 3.189 in 2012. However, the curve of RESDI can be divided into three phases: a slow increase stage between 1991 and 1996, a rapid decrease stage from 1997 to 1998, and a rapid increase stage between 1999 and 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• GDIM is used to investigate the influencing factors of energy-related PM 2.5 emissions in China. • A novel decoupling indicator is constructed based on GDIM decomposition results. • The increase of PM 2.5 emissions is primarily due to output scale and energy use effects. • Emission intensity and emission coefficients are the main factors decreasing PM 2.5 emissions. • Technical effect plays an important role in promoting the decoupling of PM 2.5 emissions. Haze pollution has become a severe threat to China's sustainable development. It is crucial to provide a complete explanation for the mechanism behind the changes in PM 2.5 pollution and explore how to decouple economic growth from PM 2.5 pollution. Compared with the traditional decomposition analysis methods, the Generalized Divisia Index Method (GDIM) integrates multiple influencing factors and provides a fuller understanding of the influence mechanism of PM 2.5 pollution. In addition, the decomposition of the monitored PM 2.5 concentration in previous studies leads to ambiguous economic meanings of some relative impact indicators. In this paper, GDIM decomposition is applied to study the driving factors of energy-related PM 2.5 emissions changes in China. Then, based on the GDIM decomposition results, this paper constructs a novel decoupling indicator to study the decoupling relationship between PM 2.5 emissions and economic growth, and the contributions of the technical and non-technical factors to the decoupling indicator are quantified. The main results are summarized as follows. (1) The output scale effect and energy use effect are the main reasons for the increase of PM 2.5 emissions, while the emission intensity effect and emission coefficient effect make major contributions to decreasing PM 2.5 emissions. The effects of population, per capita emissions, per capita output, and energy intensity are relatively minor. (2) China and its three economic regions move from strong decoupling in 1998–2000 to weak decoupling during 2000–2010, and then into strong decoupling over the period of 2010–2014. (3) Technical effect plays an important role in promoting the decoupling between PM 2.5 emissions and economic growth, but its contribution shows a downward trend over time. In contrast, non-technical effect hinders the decoupling process, and its contribution is decreasing from 2000 to 2014. This paper is supportive for formulating emissions reduction policies and improving China's air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the recent green turn in China by investigating a large-scale urban greenway project. Using the perspective of the socio-ecological fix, we demonstrate that multi-scalar states strive to upgrade environmental quality. Specifically, the local state seizes the opportunity for 'ecological civilisation' envisioned by the central state to carry out green infrastructure development. We reveal complex motivations to incorporate ecological changes into entrepreneurial urban governance instead of encroaching greenspace for economic growth. Our state-centred analysis reveals that such an environmental strategy, the making of Chinese green urbanism, is promoted like a political mission, despite its operation by the development corporation. We argue that, while the socio-ecological fix facilitates capital accumulation, its deployment must be understood through state politics and actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]