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Purpose: Higher education institutions have a critical role in creating and disseminating the knowledge required to address the complex global challenges faced by global society, as summarized in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This role of higher education is linked with the concept of internationalization, which has recently been called upon to help contribute to tackle the global challenges and meet the SDGs, particularly through more attention to "Internationalization at Home" (IaH). This paper aims to examine the role of higher education in addressing the SDGs, especially with respect to the links between IaH and the SDGs. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of the International Campus of Zhejiang University (iZJU) is conducted to illustrate how iZJU, which is a pioneer of "Internationalization at Home" and an exemplar of sustainable campus in China, contributes to the value of the SDGs and makes an impact. Findings: The authors examine the practice of IaH at iZJU in the dimensions of organization, curriculum, people and campus, and the authors find evidence from the iZJU model in addressing the value of the SDG4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. Originality/value: First, the authors contribute to the literature on the role of higher education in addressing the SDGs, especially with respect to the links between IaH and the SDGs. Second, the authors contribute to the IaH literature by examining IaH from a Chinese perspective, as there has been little exploration of what IaH means beyond the European context. Third, the authors build on the analytical framework in the IaH literature in the dimensions of organization, curriculum and people and extend with a new dimension of campus. Fourth, the authors show that IaH is a comprehensive approach to include both curriculum internationalization and campus internationalization.

Environmental resources play an extremely important role in economic development. In the context of China's economic development entering a new normal, attaching importance to environmental protection and strengthening environmental regulations will have an important impact on the original foreign direct investment (FDI) and China's economic development. Therefore, this paper combines the characteristics of the "new normal" of China's economic development, takes 30 provinces in China from 2008 to 2017 as the research object, and uses the PVAR model and impulse response function to re-verify the interaction mechanism and path among environmental regulation, FDI and high-quality economic development. The study found that: (1) There is an obvious mutual promotion relationship between environmental regulations and the quality of China's economic development and economic development environment. Strengthening environmental regulation is conducive to the realization of China's economic "new normal" development goal. (2) Although the strengthening of environmental regulation will have a significant constraint effect on FDI and China's economic growth rate, but the effect is relatively small. (3) FDI and economic growth rate variables are mutually motivated and promote each other, but both of them have a significant inhibitory effect on regional environmental regulation. In general, under the background of the "new normal" of China's economic development, appropriately increasing the intensity of environmental regulation is not only conducive to environmental protection and promoting high-quality and sustainable economic development, but also can serve the purpose of guiding the structure of foreign investment and transforming the mode of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small cities located on the periphery of large cities have long faced challenges such as difficulties in economic development and population loss, especially in China. The concentration of a few super-large cities in China has hindered the growth of per capita income in most small cities and led to a widening income gap between cities. In addition, studies have shown that central cities can have a polarizing impact on surrounding areas thereby hindering economic growth. To address these issues, this paper examines Baoding, a small city close to the capital, Beijing. Through literature and policy research, we analyse how Baoding can take advantage of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration policy and pursue its urban development in the presence of neighbouring large cities. By providing theoretical suggestions the research contributes to Baodin's urban development through five potential industries: healthcare, automotive, electronics, digital, and tourism. Furthermore, we emphasize the practical contributions such as: the importance of higher education as a key driver of sustainable development for the city. Based on our analysis, we suggest that Baoding's strategic development direction should be aligned with Beijing's needs while recognizing that such alignment is merely a means to an end. The goal of urban development should always be to improve the living standards and well-being of citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green finance has the obvious impetus function to economic ecologization development. Through the test of the spatial agglomeration degree of China's green finance and ecological economic development index from 2001 to 2017 (30 provinces except for Hong Kong, Tibet, Taiwan, and Macao), this paper analyzes the spatial correlation of the green finance index and the ecological economic development index. It uses the spatial panel econometric regression analysis model to reveal the impact of Green Finance on China's economic ecology. Results show that (1) the development level of green finance and economic ecologization in China has improved to varying degrees in different periods. However, there are still noticeable regional differences between the eastern, central, western, and northeast regions; (2) green finance plays a positive role in promoting economic ecologization. Developing green finance in one province can promote its economic ecologization and positively impact on economic ecologization of surrounding provinces. (3) Economic ecologization also has a positive spillover effect. The improvement of the ecological economic level of a province can drive the improvement of the ecological economic level of other provinces. Therefore, improving green finance across the country has become a meaningful way to promote economic ecology and promote China's high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient allocation of resources and transition towards cleaner sources of energy are among the key factors in minimizing the negative externalities arising from the growing dependency on fossil fuels. Moreover, environmentally benign trade policies are crucial due to the rapid expansion in global trade and comparative advantage. To explore the relationship between global trade and Consumption‐Based Carbon Emissions (CBCE) in China in the context of renewable energy consumption and energy efficiency from 1990 Q1 to 2020 Q4, this paper employs the dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lags (Dynamic ARDL) model to evaluate the connection between international trade, renewable energy usage, energy efficiency, and CBCE, with the Kernel‐Based Regularized Least Squares analysis being used to determine the causal association. The findings reveal that GDP and imports are directly linked with CBCE in the long run, while exports, energy efficiency, and renewable energy consumption have a negative significant long‐run and short‐run influence on CBCE. In addition, exports help in the reduction of CBCE by sharing and adapting environmentally friendly technologies adopted in, for example, renewable energy and ecological advancements. Renewable energy promotes the quality of the environment, which is attributable to the performance of renewable energy and environmentally friendly technologies that directly stimulate the reduction of CBCE emissions. By cutting CBCE, energy efficiency tends to boost environmental quality. The research findings have noteworthy policy implications; trade enhances the quality of environment by introducing lower energy intensive production methods and technology that support sustainable development. As a result, this study advocated quite stringent policies in terms of aligning international trade orientation with environmental quality policy in China. Furthermore, energy efficiency policies are required to lower CBCE by focusing on high‐energy‐using industries and providing alternative clean energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Local governments and enterprises are two important actors in China's environmental governance system. A better understanding of the interaction between corporate environmental responsibility (CER) and governmental environmental responsibility (GER) will help to enhance the collaboration between corporations and the government, craft a good environmental governance system, and achieve coordinated development of economic development and environmental protection. This paper divides GER into three types: policymaking responsibility, implementation responsibility, and supervisory responsibility. Based on panel data on Chinese manufacturing companies listed during the period 2012–2017, this paper analyzes the relationship between GER and CER and explores the impact of the collaboration between the two on regional environmental pollution. The research results show the following: (1) in China, policymaking responsibility significantly promotes CER, whereas implementation responsibility has a significant negative impact on CER, and supervisory responsibility has no significant influence. (2) The collaboration between GER and CER effectively reduces solid waste discharge in a region but does not significantly reduce SO2 emissions or wastewater discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author argues that the deterioration of the natural environment in China provides a persuasive reason to reorient China's economic growth towards a more sustainable path. Reconciling the development and environment imperatives needs to become an urgent priority for the Chinese government in order to avert the cascading implications that will arise in terms of social unrest, loss of further development opportunities as well as deepening income inequality. This paper thus examines the inter-relationship between the current ecological challenge in China and the need for economic sustainability. It evaluates the extent of environmental damage in China and focuses on the environmental impact on development and social inequality. The paper then examines the recent legislative measures that have been taken by the Chinese government to address the problem of inefficient environmental monitoring. The author suggests that further reform is needed to achieve an economically and ecologically just pathway for China's future. The paper therefore demonstrates that the environment- development challenge in China is mainly a challenge of governance. Resolving it will contribute to better environmental justice and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the path to carbon neutrality, the journey to net‐zero emissions in the industry is achievable, and the green development of industrial parks is crucial for a smooth transition. We examined a sample of 171 green industrial parks certified by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Using the Tapio decoupling model, we conducted decoupling analyses at both the national and regional scales of their economic growth and environmental conservation for three consecutive years. Spatial heterogeneity is found in carbon‐economy decoupling states and carbon‐pollutant synergy effects. Industrial parks in the east of China present better carbon‐economy decoupling states and carbon‐pollutant synergy effects than the other regions. The CO2 emissions determinants were explored by using the STIRPAT model. The variable industrial value‐added per capita, which is representative of economic growth, presents a positive and significant effect on emissions; the energy output and the proportion of high‐tech industries present a negative effect. However, after dividing the parks into groups by their leading industries, the influence of the variables started to show a power discrepancy. The heterogeneity analysis of this study can provide a basis for developing diversified strategies for Chinese industrial parks under the net‐zero emission goal. Plain Language Summary: This paper evaluated the economic development and environmental impacts of the 171 green industrial parks certified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of China, using data and materials that were inventoried and summarized for the first time. The relationship of economic growth and CO2 emissions and other major pollutants was examined using the Tapio decoupling model, and the results suggest strong decoupling states for most of the cases, and a significant carbon‐pollution synergy effect. Further regression analysis indicated that industrial output and green and high‐tech industries are significant drivers of decoupling. The discoveries will guide future actions and policies toward sustainable development for the industrial parks of China. Key Points: Economic growth and environmental impacts are strongly decoupled for most of the studied green industrial parksA significant carbon‐pollution synergy effect is found in the green industrial parksIndustrial output and green and high‐tech industries are significant drivers of CO2 emissions but show discrepancy in different industries [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data play an increasingly crucial role in decision evaluation. However, the noise and redundant information in the data create confusion to the decision makers. To solve this problem, this paper creates a new attribute reduction model based on technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS), grey correlation analysis and coefficient of variation approaches. First, we obtain the time weights of panel data in different years by TOPSIS and then transfer the panel data into a cross-sectional data matrix. Second, we delete the overlapping attributes by grey correlation analysis method. Third, we use the coefficient of variation to select the attributes with the highest information content. Finally, the proposed attribute reduction model has been varied based on the green economy evaluation data of 15 sub-provincial cities in China. The experimental findings provide decision-making reference for the local government policymakers to adjust or formulate green economic development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable development of the economy is a key issue of global concern. Green total factor productivity (GTFP) combining economic growth with resources and the environment can evaluate the quality of economic development comprehensively and accurately. In this paper, super slack-based measure (Super-SBM) model and Malmquist-Luenberger (ML) index were used to calculate GTFP. The trend of industrial GTFP in China's 30 provinces from 2006–2015 was analyzed. Furtherly, a dynamic panel model was used to discuss the impact of trade openness on GTFP. The results showed that (1) the growth rate of GTFP rose from 2007 to 2011 and declined significantly from 2011 to 2015, and GTFP only achieved positive growth in 2011; (2) the growth rate of GTFP in the eastern region was higher than that in the central and western regions; (3) the trend of technical progress change (MLTECH) index was highly consistent with that of ML index. That was, technical progress played a major role in the variation of GTFP; (4) trade openness could significantly improve China's GTFP. Every 1% increase in trade openness could increase GTFP by 0.097% on average. It is advisable to implement differentiated economic development and environmental policies in different regions. Meanwhile, relevant measures can be taken to promote import and export trade, such as encouraging companies to increase investment in green technology research and development, optimizing the trade environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing multipolarity in international affairs together with the rise of non-state actors do require us to re-think what constitutes sustainable development, in general, but also how economic growth can be respectful of the environment and individual rights. The People's Republic of China (China) does constitute an important part of that story. This paper aims to analyse China's discourse, laws, and policies on sustainable development at both national and international levels. It situates sustainable development in the broader context of China's current development policy; addresses the ways in which China engages with multilateral and bilateral institutions (i.e. legal instruments) in the area of sustainable development; as well as assesses the scope and limitations of China's focus on sustainable development in the context of Outward Foreign Direct Investment in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses income accounting techniques to assess, counterfactually, the implied impact over the last 10 years of a hypothetical government policy to constrain investment growth in order to raise the share of consumption in GDP and to bring about a balance on current account. We find that both target variables are very sensitive to changes in investment and that a policy of careful reform is called for. In the light of this finding, we review Chinese government policy pronouncements and activity with a view to assessing their appropriateness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China’s energy consumption structure, which relies heavily on fossil fuels, has, on the one hand, weakened environmental sustainability at the national level, and also intensified the problem of climate change at the global level, on the other hand. It is therefore essential for policy-makers to adopt immediate measures to transfer to a trajectory of sustainable energy development with low carbon emissions. Using a decoupling index that describes the difference between energy consumption and economic development, this paper studied the process of decoupling in each province in China. Results showed that there was a phenomenon of weak decoupling in China as a whole, while North, Northeast, and East China have experienced rapid economic development and improved energy utilization efficiency, leading to a high level of decoupling. Neimenggu (Inner Mongolia) Province experienced both the highest energy consumption and economic growth, while Beijing and Guizhou Province showed the strongest decoupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a new measurement for regional/national sustainable social economic development based on data envelopment analysis. This new measurement can reveal the impact of energy over-consumption and pollutant over-emission on economic development, giving regional/national sustainable development a more proper measure. This new measurement is applied into an empirical study for 10 year (2004–2013) sustainable development analysis of 30 regions in mainland China. The empirical results show that: (1) China has a quite unsustainable development in 2004–2013, and the level of unsustainability increased over time. The primary driver of these two phenomenon is pollutant over-emission and resource over-consumption respectively. (2) Area-wide sustainable development in China is quite unbalanced. Eastern China has a much better sustainable development as compared to other areas, and the variation of Eastern China's sustainable level is very little in 2004–2013. (3) Resource over-consumption and pollutant over-emission in western China are serious, even the absolute values are quite low. This makes western China develop unsustainably in 2004–2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the possibility of China falling into the so-called middle income trap in terms of three checkpoints: innovation capability, world-class big businesses, and inequality. Based on these criteria, our conclusions are as follows: First, China has increasingly become innovative and thus differs from other middle income countries. Second, China has many successful big businesses, a number disproportionate to its size. Thus, China differs from other middle income countries with few world-class big businesses, and the only qualification is that those big businesses are mostly non-manufacturing firms focused on such areas as finance, energy, and trading. Third, China faces great uncertainty in terms of inequality. Although several signs show that the Kuznets curve will come to represent China, as noted by the gradual reduction of surplus labor and rising wage rates starting in the coastal provinces, the Chinese are now facing new sources of inequality in China, such as wealth (including financial and real estate assets) and non-economic factors (including corruption). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of regional water and energy consumption is of great significance to improving regional resource utilization. This paper analyzed the water and energy footprints in different provinces of China, considering regional economic levels. The results indicate: (1) both the largest water footprint and water footprint per capita were in Xinjiang and agriculture had the largest value; (2) Shandong was the largest energy consumer, Ningxia had the largest energy footprint per capita, and coal occupied the largest proportion for the top five energy footprint provinces; and (3) the resource input–output efficiencies in Beijing and Fujian were high, while water and energy consumption were low and gross regional product was high, compared with the average value of China. The situations in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia were opposite. The change of consumption pattern for each inhabitant, the adoption of water-saving technology, and an increase to water-saving awareness would be helpful to decrease regional water consumption. An increase of regional energy use efficiency and a change to reduced energy consumption would contribute to the decreasing of regional energy consumption. More attention should be paid to renewable and clean Energies. In addition to solution from the local perspective, the virtual water trade and the energy product trade may relieve regional resource pressure in some extent, and the possible influencing should be considered at the same time. This paper could provide suggestions for regional resource utilization and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By positioning in the discourse that economic output is always coupled with natural resource depletion, pollution, and carbon emission, decoupling analysis is widely adopted to evaluate how “quality” economic growth can lead to fewer such downsides so as to encourage sustainable development. This paper aims at examining the decoupling relationship between economic output and carbon emission by focusing on China's construction industry, which is a pillar industry for national economic growth, meanwhile contributes a huge amount of carbon emission. The method of Tapio decoupling model is used to examine the decoupling relationships at both national and provincial levels from 2005 to 2015. It continues to identify the driving force leading to a certain decoupling state by adopting the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI). Results show that: (1) there existed an expansive decoupling relationship between economic growth and construction carbon emission in most provinces of China during 2005–2015; (2) Shanghai presented the best decoupling performance, while in contrast, other provinces such as Guizhou and Fujian displayed expansive negative decoupling state; and (3) “Economic output” played the most significant role in inhibiting the decoupling at both national and provincial levels, while “Indirect carbon intensity” was the main driver for promoting the national decoupling. Although the paper refers to the specific construction of China, the decoupling analysis approach can be extended to other countries as well as to other pollutants such as land pollution, waste water and haze. The understanding of driving forces for the decoupling state in China's construction industry provides international policy-makers with valuable reference for formulating effective measures to balance the dilemma between economic output and carbon emission. [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]

The shortage of water resources has seriously restricted the sustainable development of China's economy. Contracted water-saving management (WSMC) has emerged as an important measure to effectively alleviate this problem. However, the rationality and fairness of benefit allocation affect the stakeholders' enthusiasm for participating in the project. The lack of a water-saving benefit allocation scheme is one of the critical obstacles hindering the implementation and promotion of the project. This study identifies the core stakeholders in WSMC projects in Field-project in an irrigation district. Then, with comprehensive consideration of the importance, cost input, risk-taking, and effort of each participant, we examined the benefit allocation scheme in the WSMC projects of Field-project in an irrigation district by building a model based on Nash Equilibrium, Shapley value method, and modified Shapley value method. We found that the case in which the WUA E implements the WSMC project alone yields the lowest total revenue of the schemes considered, and each participant's benefit is also at the lowest. Nash Equilibrium can achieve the maximum expected return for both participants. With the Shapley value method, the WUA E earns the largest benefits, accounting for 57.5% of total revenue, followed by the WSSE D. Under the calculation principle of the modified Shapley value model, the WUA E's benefit decreases significantly, implying that the revenues previously earned by the WUA E are transferred to the WSSE D. This result is due to the below-average levels of importance, cost input risk-taking, and effort for WUA E in the project. It can be seen that the modified Shapley value method is more suitable for benefit allocation of the WSMC project of Field-project in an irrigation district. Finally, a typical case study in China on a shared WSMC project of Field-project in an irrigation district showed how the proposed method works. Then, we proposed policy implications for promoting project implementation from three perspectives: stakeholders, income distribution, and risk management, and identified the limitations of the research and outlined the future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a common belief that entrepreneurship active regions tend to have better economic development. This paper aims to examine what changes have occurred on a region's social, physical (e.g. air, water, soil or health that can affect human physical survival) and economic conditions during a large scale regional entrepreneurial development. Focusing on the entrepreneurially active region, Zhejiang Province of China, the study finds mixed results based on the published statistics by the Chinese Government and information from the U.S. satellite data during the 1980-2010 timeframe. The findings may have policy implications for China's further progress, as well as for the progress of other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary geo-economic development is characterised by global transformation from the EU and Western countries, in general, towards the Asia-Pacific and East Asian concept, which will result in further evolution of the World System determined by the economies of the new industrial and post-industrial countries. The objective of this article is to investigate the role of economies of East Asian countries in global economic development. Particularly this paper analyses the situation in the textile industry, as exemplified by China, in the world market to identify prospects for its sustainable and competitive development. During the progress of this work, it was determined that the textile industry in China is currently under the influence of delayed adverse effects of the global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2010, which can further lead to systemic risk emergence in the Chinese economy, as the textile industry plays a leading role in its economic development. Analytical procedures performed in this study clearly showed the urgency of implementing technological and managerial innovations in order to increase the competitiveness of the Chinese textile industry. The government also needs to revise its measures of support to the sector. Improving competitiveness and providing sustainable growth and development of the textile industry in China allows to create a new margin of safety for the Chinese economy and secure unconditional long term leadership for the textile industry. [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]

Promoting sustainable development in resource-based cities is required to accelerate transformative economic development, which also can promote harmonious development and accelerate progress of industrialization while playing a critical role in China's urbanization. However, the role of regional sustainable development plans within resource-based cities is unclear. This paper selected 87 resource-based cities as the treated group, matching propensity scores of city characteristics on a total of 253 cities in China from 2008 to 2018. The paper used the difference-in-differences method to evaluate the impact of the implementation of the "National Plan for Resource-based City Sustainable Development (2013-2020)", measuring six years before and five years post-planning implementation. We found: (1) The implementation of the plan has promoted economic, social, and ecological transformation by 19.6%, 55.4% and 74.5% respectively (p < 0.01), but there appeared to be no additional effects on sustainable utilization of resources. (2) Among driving factors, market development affected all forms of transformation the most. (3) The impact of this transformation varied by stages of urban development according to the full life cycle of the resource-based city and its local resources. Specifically, the transformation effect of the growing type city in economic, social, ecological and resource transformation was the strongest among that of all type stages. • Regard pilot policy of Resource-based City Sustainable Development as a quasi-natural experiment. • Employ a differences-in-differences method with panel data of 253 cities in China from 2008 to 2018. • Evaluate policy effects upon resource-based city sustainable transformation. • Exploit drive mechanism and market development is an important driving factor. • Transformation effects vary from stages of urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The interaction mechanism between haze pollution and economic development is studied. • With increasing economic development, haze pollution presents a trend of first rising and then falling. • The "four trillion yuan stimulus policy" delays the appearance of the turning point. • Spatial factors amplify the inhibitory effect of haze pollution on economic development. Seeking the sustainable development of environment and economy has become the consensus of Chinese society. This paper uses the generalized three-stage least squares (GS3SLS) method to establish a spatial simultaneous equation model to explore the interaction mechanism between haze and economic development. Regarding the entire country, the relationship between PM 2.5 and per capita GDP presents an inverted U-shaped curve, which verifies the existence of the environmental kuznets curve (EKC). The relationship curves for the eastern and western regions also show this feature, but the relationship in the central region increases monotonically. To further observe whether the interaction mechanism between haze and economy has changed before and after the 2008 financial crisis, this paper takes 2008 to examine the time heterogeneity. Under the stimulation of the economic policy of the "four trillion rescue plan", the inflection point of the EKC shifts slightly to the right, and the economic stimulus policy delays the inflection point of haze pollution. Haze pollution also reacts to economic development and has an inhibitory effect on economic development. Under the influence of spatial factors, the inhibitory effect of haze pollution on economic development is amplified. Population size, FDI and the secondary industry all aggravate haze pollution, while urbanization and the tertiary industry can improve haze pollution under the influence of spatial factors. Market size, education level and convenient transportation promote economic development. This research can provide reference for haze control policies in China and has important practical significance for ecological environment protection, high-quality economic development and promoting good quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of China's marine economy has never been more challenging due to serious problems such as the waste of marine resources, pollution of the marine environment and uneven development in the region. Therefore, the study of China's marine economic growth pattern has great significance and may ensure the sustainable development of the marine economy. This study utilizes data on China's eleven coastal regions from 2006 to 2014 and applies the Cobb-Douglas production function and the Solow residual method to evaluate the contribution rate of the total factor productivity of the marine economy of China's coastal regions. To more objectively illustrate the marine economic growth pattern, this paper introduces the intensive coefficient of marine economic growth. The results indicate that the contribution rate of the total factor productivity of the marine economy of China showed a slightly rising trend from 2006 to 2014, and its average growth rate increased from − 0.58% to 3.39% between 2006 and 2014. China's coastal regions differed in their contributions to the total factor productivity of the marine economy. During the same period, the main driving factor of marine economic growth was factor inputs and China's marine economic growth pattern was still extensive. In terms of regions, although most coastal regions in China experienced extensive growth, the extent of the growth of the marine economy of China's coastal regions has declined after the pilot projects implemented by the Chinese government in 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern China is a country that witnesses complex interactions of economic development and sustainability. Based on fieldwork in China, this study applies the Copenhagen School framework to examine the actors, processes and outcomes in prioritizing the environmental sector in China. The study aims specifically to unravel the peculiarities of behavioural changes of the state and society in ecological concerns that lead to the securitization process. It also reappraises the emerging trends in state-society relations in the context of prioritizing ecological security in the country. The study finds that the government under Xi Jinping in China has adopted a number of extra-ordinary measures in terms of legal frameworks and enforcement initiatives, in order to address public concerns emerging from the environmental sector. Major policy shifts towards environmental security include; assigning new functions for conventional security apparatus, prioritizing and elevating environmental institutions, improving top-level design of the environment management system and most significantly, promoting public participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development zone is an important institutional form of industrial spatial organization in China's economic transformation and is an essential growth pole of urban economic development. Based on the county-level panel data of Guangxi from 2005 to 2017, this study contributes to the discussion by exploring the effects of development zones on economic development in developed regions. Additionally, this study further attempts to illustrate the character of the agglomeration effect built on development zones and try to reveal the significant influence factors of the effect of development zones on the economy. Through the progressive difference-in-difference (DID) model approach, empirical results reveal that the development zone has a negative effect on the local economy within three years after its establishment, and the "development zone fever" significantly reduces the potential for regional economic growth. With the decrease in the established frequency of development zones, the effect of the development zone on economic growth becomes positive. However, this promoting effect is unsustainable because the agglomeration effect of development zones is mainly caused by the "clusters of enterprises". Certain industrial agglomeration and technological capabilities are essential prerequisites for development zones to promote economic growth, while the negative impact appears in a highly competitive environment caused by excessive government intervention. Therefore, the key to maintaining the sustainability of development zones' competition is to strengthen the assessment standard of survival of the fittest for enterprises, and promote the agglomeration of high-end industries by improving the selection effect of development zones. These findings have great potential in policy making and can be used as a resource by policymakers to promote the sustainable development of less developed regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing serious energy constraints and environmental challenges, policy makers in China have set up clear targets to reduce energy intensity in order to secure a sustainable economic growth; however, it is unclear in theory what the determining forces are. The empirical evidence, although intensively discussed in the literature, also remain divided in opinion. This paper contributes to the existing literature full of heated debates using a Bayesian averaging approach to identify robust determinants of energy intensity in China. Using provincial level data, key contributors that help explain the level of energy intensity across China are found. By ranking the relative importance of explanatory variables according to their posterior inclusion probabilities, this study can also offer support to policy makers in designing intensity reduction policies. It is suggested that policies should focus on those robust and relatively more important factors such as fiscal expenditure, infrastructure and economic structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid growing number of automobiles, new energy vehicle is becoming one of approaches to mitigate the dependence of the auto industry on petroleum so as to reduce pollutant emissions. The Chinese government has promulgated a number of policies from the perspectives of industrial development, development plans, demonstration projects, fiscal subsidies and tax incentives with an aim to promote the new energy vehicle industry. This paper presents a comprehensive and critical review of the policy framework for new energy vehicles. The analysis shows that electric vehicle has been assigned a top priority in the future development of the automobile industry in China. Policy guidance and planning has played a vital role to the growth of new energy vehicle industry. However, this industry faces significant challenges related to technologies, industrial chain and social factors. Some core technologies are still in its infancy. Similarly, the market share of new energy vehicles is very small in spite of the preferential policies. The construction of supporting facilities and infrastructures has to be accelerated in order to accommodate the growing demands. There is a long way to go for the industrialization and popularization of new energy vehicles in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green economic growth and sustainable development complement each other, promoting green economic growth has important practical significance. However, the existing research focuses on qualitative analysis and less on quantitative analysis of the green economic growth. This study constructs a comprehensive index system of green economy, and uses entropy weighted TOPSIS method to evaluate the green economic growth from 2000 to 2017 in China. This study shows that:(1) Since the 21st century, China's green economy has been constantly improved. Ecological civilization and social progress are the main support for green economic growth. Economic development is secondary, and innovation-driven is lagging behind. (2) There are obvious regional differences in green economic growth. The eastern region is obviously better than the central and western regions, but the overall regional differences are shrinking. At the same time, the green economic growth shows obvious spatial agglomeration effect. (3) Population size, economic development level, technological innovation, industrial structure, urbanization, environmental regulation and FDI have impacts on the green economic growth, but the spatial effect of each influencing factor is different. In the process of developing the green economy, policy-makers should fully combine the spatiotemporal evolution of the green economy and its influencing factors, and make targeted policies. • This paper measures China's green economic growth. • Entropy weighted TOPSIS framework is employed. • China has made great progress in green economic growth. • China's green economic growth has obvious regional heterogeneity. • China's green economic growth has a spatial effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development stipulates 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The implementation of this agenda will mobilize countries worldwide to incorporate the SDGs into their national development strategies. The agenda does not specify how these goals are interconnected, thus limiting their implementation. In addition, air quality affects human life and plays a vital role in achieving these SDGs. Clarifying the interconnections between SDGs related to air pollution and other SDGs will accelerate the implementation of air protection and SDGs while simultaneously promoting policy coherence. In this paper, we use the latest calculation of the SDGs in China to construct national and provincial panel data to investigate the trade-offs and synergies among Chinese air pollution-related SDGs. The findings are as follows. First, most air pollution-related SDGs have synergetic relationships, except for SDG12, which has a trade-off relationship with other air pollution-related SDGs. Second, the synergies between air pollution-related SDGs and other SDGs far outweigh the trade-offs. Third, rapidly developing areas are more likely to experience a trade-off between economic development and air pollution problems. Fourth, geographic advantages in reducing air pollution, such as being adjacent to the sea, may weaken the synergies among air pollution-related SDGs and their synergies with other SDGs. These findings indicate that most air-pollution-related SDGs and interactions between air-pollution-related SDGs and other SDGs have substantial synergy; that is, measures aimed at one goal are conducive to the advancement of other goals. However, SDG12 reflects a trade-off relationship between economic development, environmental protection, and resource utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes the concept of a China Ocean Economic Development Index (OEDI), and constructs an index with three dimensions - development level, development efficiency and development potential. Twenty-nine sub-indices are used to generate a comprehensive quantitative evaluation of China's ocean economic development. It is argued that such an index can play a crucial role in improving the capacity for monitoring and evaluating the ocean economy activities, serving the macro-regulation and control of the ocean economy, facilitating ocean economic structural optimization and adjustment, and promoting the sustainable development of the ocean economy. The application of the OEDI to China's ocean economy development during the period from 2010 to 2018 has shown that China registered continuous ocean economic development, with growing economic strength, development level, development efficiency and development potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

•This paper distinguishes three types of development modes based on China's practice. •A nonparametric model was built for examining the win-win ability during China's transition. •Results show that China could achieve a win-win of its economy and environment. •There is a "U" shaped relationship between win-win ability and economic development stage. •China has not succeeded in passing the turning point of the curve. Since reform and opening up, China's economic development mode has moved from "extensive" to "bottom line," and will further turn to "green" in the future. Using non-parametric and spatial econometric models, this study investigates the win-win ability of environmental protection and economic development and the best time for China's transition. The results reveal that at present, China's green development transition on the whole could achieve a win-win of environmental protection and economic development, but this ability is on a waning trend. During the past decade, the best time for China's green development transition was 2011 and 2012, when its economy came into "New Normal." For many of the country's internal provinces, such transition seems to have negative impacts on the economy in the short term. There is a "U" shaped relationship between the win-win ability and economic development stage, and China has not succeeded in passing the turning point of the curve. Under the high-, medium-, and low-growth scenarios, this decay cycle is expected to end in 2025, 2027 and 2032. Compared with the environmental Kuznets curve, the turning point of the win-win curve comes much later. It means that while the public's willingness to protect the environment is sufficiently high and has crossed the inflection point of the environmental Kuznets curve, the win-win ability is going through decay cycles over longer periods (more than 10 years). Besides, to better adapt to the economic and social changes brought about by development mode transition, the central government should give local governments much more autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Driven by solid economic developments, emerging economies are experiencing significant institutional change, particularly in regulatory structures and market systems. Coupled with fierce market competition and reforms, serious challenges for the sustainable development of new ventures are created due to smallness and newness liabilities. This study examines how new ventures grow and adapt to the rapid environmental shifts in emerging economies by exploring the effects of entrepreneurial bricolage. This study found that entrepreneurial bricolage has a positive impact on both new venture growth and adaptiveness. Further, institutional voids have contrasting effects on these two relationships. The effectiveness of entrepreneurial bricolage on new venture growth is stronger in a context with serious institutional voids, while the effectiveness of entrepreneurial bricolage on new venture adaptiveness is weaker in a context with serious institutional voids. These findings not only enrich our knowledge on the implications of entrepreneurial bricolage, but also advance our understanding of the emerging economy context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is simultaneously the world's biggest polluter, largest victim of pollution, and most ferocious fighter against pollution. So the question is: How can pollution be reduced to pave the way for the ecological civilisation of the future moderately affluent Chinese society? For China to play a leading role in escaping the global environmental crisis, for the benefit of its own population and the rest of the world, technological improvements and the greening of the economy, important as they are, will not suffice. More is needed in terms of limiting resource consumption, namely a reorientation from economic growth towards sustainable consumption and sufficiency. Improving efficiencies on all levels by technological and social innovations is a condition for this, as is a change of consumer aspirations from more to better, towards sufficiency and a good life. Chinese philosophical traditions and values offer anchoring points for such a green enlightenment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid economic growth and urbanization have contributed to increasing concerns around sustainable development in China. Although urban sustainable development is often comprised of environmental, economic, social and governance aspects, most empirical studies on the public perception of sustainability have exclusively focused on the environmental aspect. Using extensive survey data from three representative cities in Henan Province, China, this study is a first endeavor to examine how perceptions of urban sustainability performance and concerns vary by demographic and socio‐economic status of local residents. This study documents that familiarity with sustainable development concepts is positively associated with education, income, party affiliation and personal health of individuals, while negatively correlated with age. In addition, this study has shown that the most severe threats to sustainability as perceived by citizens are air pollution, corruption, income and education inequality, and excessive industrial production. At the same time, economic indicators such as unemployment, poverty and consumerism are considered lesser threats than social inequality or environmental pollution. Furthermore, residents generally view the sustainable development performance of their cities as mediocre. While generally younger residents and residents with higher levels of education tend to be more critical and long‐term residents tend to be more forgiving, results frequently show that concerns and attitudes towards sustainable development by various socio‐demographic groups differ from city to city. This is strong evidence to support independent local policies tailored to the socio‐demographics of each individual city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of China's photovoltaic (PV) industry, and the concomitant curtailment problem, provides an opportunity to reconsider China's industrial governance. It is argued here that the curtailment is intertwined with the multi-level character of China's energy governance. Borrowing the insights of multi-level governance (MLG), we identify the relevant stakeholders situated at different levels and clarify their positions and considerations concerning the solar PV industry. MLG analysis reveals that curtailment in China's solar PV industry was primarily the result of uncoordinated development at different levels - sub-provincial, provincial, national, and international. China's response to the curtailment problem is then examined, considering whether such policy adjustments will contribute to greater societal participation, changes in development ideas, an improved coordination mechanism, or alternative institutional arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart urban development is an inevitable choice, and is essential to overall strength improvement. It is important to explore an urban smart development path which unites smart growth with driving shrinkage perfectly in forming scientific and sustainable development concept and responding to new normal strategic opportunities. Based on statistic data of 294 prefecture-level cities and above in China from 2000 to 2015, we analyzed spatial and temporal evolution of urban smart development in China by constructing a dynamic fitting model of urban land expansion, population growth, and economic development as well as the coefficient of variation of urban smart development (CVSD). Further efforts were then made to consider differential distribution regularity of urban smart development so as to understand the driving mechanisms of heterogeneous classification of urban smart development in China from different scales and scale variation. Our results indicate that: 1) the disordered growth tendency of urban cities in China is overall well controlled in the middle, and late research and it mainly presented a doublet coexistence of shrinkage disordered cities and smart developing cities. It is particularly obvious that Northeast China and East China have regarded shrinkage disordered cities and smart developing cities as main development tendency separately. 2) Areas with basic stability and relative variation were relatively dispersed across the time period, but the proportion was far beyond areas with significant variation. It demonstrates a relative equilibrium spatial and temporal differential evolution pattern of prefecture-level cities and above in China, except for Tongling, Lanzhou and Chaoyang. 3) prefecture-level cities and above in China are mostly characterized by shrinkage disordered and smart development classification under the background of different scale and scale variation from 2000-2015; however, the spatial resonance relation is not obvious. 4) There are many interaction factors forming an important driving mechanism in developing the spatial and temporal pattern of urban smart development in China, including natural geographical factors, industrial structure adjustment, human capital radiation, regional traffic accessibility, and government decision-making intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green building has emerged as a new type of building to mitigate the conflict between the rapid expansion of buildings and the deteriorating ecological environment, thus promoting ecologically sustainable development of building projects. However, the development of green building suffers from issues such as high initial costs and complicated process. In this study, a system dynamics (SD) approach has been used to investigate green building development (GBD) in China. The validity of the GBD-SD model has been verified and further applied to simulate GBD in the city of Wuhan. Three problems in current GBD system of Wuhan have been identified based on analysis of simulated results: (1) slow-paced GBD; (2) imbalanced green building supply and demand; and (3) low overall green level. Furthermore, three strategies have been proposed accordingly to solve those three problems. This study provides a GBD-SD model to comprehensively understand the dynamic relationships between participants in a GBD system and may shed light on sustainable development of green buildings for policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water resources are the basis for the sustainable development of China. However, the country is currently facing alarming water-related problems associated with its fast economic development and climate change. This editorial introduces briefly the status of its water resources research at the national level and the researcher level. It also introduces the research reported in this thematic issue to highlight its role in addressing flood and water-scarcity issues, improving water management in inland plains and supporting the sustainable development of the country. Finally, some further recommendations for improving water resources research in China are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many uncertainties and risks in residential electricity consumption associated with economic development. Knowledge of the relationship between residential electricity consumption and its key determinant--income--is important to the sustainable development of the electric power industry. Using panel data from 30 provinces for the 1995-2012 period, this study investigates how residential electricity consumption changes as incomes increase in China. Previous studies typically used linear or quadratic double-logarithmic models imposing ex ante restrictions on the indistinct relationship between residential electricity consumption and income. Contrary to those models, we employed a reduced piecewise linear model that is self-adaptive and highly flexible and circumvents the problem of "prior restrictions". Robust tests of different segment specifications and regression methods are performed to ensure the validity of the research. The results provide strong evidence that the income elasticity was approximately one, and it remained stable throughout the estimation period. The income threshold at which residential electricity consumption automatically remains stable or slows has not been reached. To ensure the sustainable development of the electric power industry, introducing higher energy efficiency standards for electrical appliances and improving income levels are vital. Government should also emphasize electricity conservation in the industrial sector rather than in residential sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resource-development trajectory of developed countries after the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries can be portrayed as an ' environmental mountain' (EM). It is important for developing countries to decouple their resource use from economic growth and tunnel through the EM. In this study, we embedded the decoupling indicators for resource use and waste emissions into EM curves to quantify China's progress in tunneling through the EM over a specific time period. Five case studies regarding the conditions required for decoupling energy consumption, crude steel production, cement production, CO2 emissions, and SO2 emissions from economic growth in China were conducted. The results indicated that during 1985-2010 the trajectories of energy consumption, and CO2 and SO2 emissions in China met the requirements for tunneling through the EM, but the trajectories of cement and steel production did not. Based on these results, suggestions regarding China's environmental policies are provided to enable the country to tunnel through the EM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metafrontier Malmquist-Luenberger (MML) index was used to measure the environmentally sensitive productivity and analyze its decompositions on China's regional productivity growth. Using the MML index, the environmental undesirable outputs and regional heterogeneities were analyzed simultaneously. The empirical results showed that although China had accomplished rapid growth rate of GDP over the last decade, environmentally sensitive productivity has been relatively constant with a low growth rate. The productivity growth is driven mainly by technology innovation. Regarding the regional differences, the eastern area showed the highest productivity growth, whereas the central and western areas showed productivity deterioration. Some implications and suggestions on the regional differences are proposed based on the empirical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater treatment infrastructure (WWTI) construction in China has entered an accelerated stage of development in recent years as a result of rapid economic growth, urbanization, and the demand for improving water quality. As a result, a large amount of resources and materials will be allocated for the WWTI, and it is particularly important to find ways to reduce resource consumption effectively so that social dematerialization and sustainable development can be achieved. In this study, we employed the dynamic material flow model to estimate the material flows and stocks of WWTIs and the associated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through 2050, considering effects of a rise in water consumption, a longer lifetime, and an increased material recycling rate. Our results indicate that material consumption in WWTIs will increase rapidly through 2025 to meet the needs of the increased volume of discharged wastewater as well as to overcome the shortage of existing wastewater treatment plants. In contrast with the moderate effects of rise in water consumption, prolonging the lifetime will greatly reduce material consumption in WWTI construction during the period 2030-2050, and approximately 60% of the total material input will be saved in the medium-lifetime scenario, compared with the short-lifetime scenario. Material output and CO2 emissions associated with WWTIs will be reduced by 87% and 37%, respectively, in the medium-lifetime scenario, compared with the short-lifetime scenario, under high-water-consumption growth. Our results highlight the great importance of pipeline construction and cement consumption in resource consumption associated with WWTI construction in China. Moreover, this study also examined the potential ways to reduce material consumption in WWTI construction in the context of the demand chain, the design, construction, operation and management, and demolition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China launched a new urbanisation programme for the period of 2014-2020. The new urbanisation programme will produce positive impacts on China's social and economic development through focusing on integrated urban and rural development, creating city clusters and promoting sustainable urban development. However, the new urbanisation programme may also bring some new social and economic problems, like widening the gap in urban development between different regions in China, leading to the formation of a new urban poor class, based on the current design and implementation. To minimise the negative effect, we suggest to better deal with the relationships between market and government and between economic and social development in the process of urbanisation. We argue that the key is to allow the market to determine the flows of capital, land and people in the process of urbanisation so as to achieve a sustainable development of China's urbanisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating and exploring regional eco-environmental quality (EEQ), economic development equality (EDE) and the coupling coordination degree (CCD) at multiple scales is important for realizing regional sustainable development goals. The CCD can reflect both the development level and the interaction relationship of two or more systems. However, relevant previous studies have ignored non-statistical data, lacked multiscale analyses, misused the coupling coordination degree model or have not sufficiently considered economic development equality. In response to these problems, this study integrated multisource remote sensing datasets to calculate and analyse the remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) and then used nighttime light data and population density data to calculate the proposed nighttime difference index (NTDI). Next, a modified coupling coordination degree (MCCD) index was proposed to analyse the MCCD between EEQ and EDE. Then, spatiotemporal and multiscale analyses at the county, city, province, urban agglomeration and country levels were performed. Global and local spatial autocorrelation and trend analyses were performed to evaluate the spatial aggregation degree and change trends from 2001 to 2020. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The EEQ of China displayed a fluctuating upwards trend (0.0048 a−1), with average RSEI values of 0.5950, 0.6277, 0.6164, 0.6311 and 0.6173; the EDE of China showed an upwards trend (0.0298 a−1), with average NTDI values of 0.1271, 0.1635, 0.1642, 0.2181 and 0.2490; and China's MCCD indicated an upwards trend (0.0220 a−1), with values of 0.4614, 0.5027, 0.4978, 0.5401 and 0.5525. (2) The highest global Moran's I of NTDI and MCCD was achieved at the city scale, while the highest RSEI was achieved at the county scale. From 2001 to 2020, the spatial agglomeration effect of the RSEI decreased, while that of the NTDI and MCCD increased. (3) A power function relationship occurred between NTDI and MCCD at different scales. Furthermore, the NTDI had a higher contribution to improving the MCCD than the RSEI and the R2 of the fitted curve at different scales ranged from 0.8183 to 0.9915. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]