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The Review of Policy Research recently published three special issues on policy process research in China, artificial intelligence, and climate policies. The current issue focuses on perception and performance in environmental policy, examining how policy actors and the public perceive policy making and the conditions for achieving environmental policy objectives. The articles cover various topics, including emotions in policy conflicts, coalition formation, public communication strategies, public support for climate change mitigation, energy efficiency, coordination of the energy transition, policy analytical capacity, performance measurement in water pollution remediation, and campaign-style enforcement in environmental governance. The research provides valuable insights into environmental policy and offers opportunities for interdisciplinary research. [Extracted from the article]

The effect of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, has attracted the attention of researchers in recent years. However, the indirect effects of environmental policies in the process were not sufficiently considered. This study uses a panel threshold methodology to examine the nonlinear impact of environmental policy stringency on the relationship between FDIs and GHG emissions in 25 OECD countries. Our results show a negative relationship between FDIs and GHG emissions if the countries have environmental policy stringency index above a threshold level of (2.22). The results are also supported by the fixed effects model, which indicates a threshold effect of (2.88). The threshold effect is mostly due to the stringency of nonmarket-based environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1970 requires federal agencies to assess the environmental impact of proposed federal actions. NEPA thus affects delivery of a wide range of infrastructure projects. NEPA requires the completion of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for environmentally impactful federal actions. For infrastructure projects this can entail significant delays. A typical EIS now takes about four and one-half years and is over 600 pages long. Some EIS's take over a decade to complete. We provide the first detailed analysis of project approval times under NEPA by examining 1269 EIS permitting processes. We analyze empirically the well-defined interval from Notice of Intent to file to Record of Decision (ROD). We use a Cox proportional hazard model to estimate the impact of several factors on EIS duration. Factors include permits featuring major construction, those including private investment, those for projects located in states with restrictive environmental laws, those using the federal permitting "dashboard," and those publishing a Supplemental EIS prior to the ROD. We find that privately financed projects receive faster permitting, while projects involving major construction, those undertaken in restrictive states, and those utilizing the federal permitting dashboard, face slower permitting times. We also explore links between EIS page counts and permitting time. Greater EIS page counts are associated with longer permitting times. We conclude by examining EIS completion during economic stimulus programs such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), as well as the frequency of EIS completion by the federal government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As our planet faces more frequent and severe environmental threats due to climate change (including threats to biodiversity), environmental justice will be essential to ensure that the costs and burdens of combating these threats are shared equally, borne by all people worldwide in a fair and equitable manner. If the past is any indicator, however, environmental problems—and their "solutions"—disproportionately affect poor communities and communities of color, including Indigenous communities. Despite these past injustices, Indigenous lands, which make up only 20 percent of the Earth's territory, contain 80 percent of the world's remaining biodiversity—evidence that Indigenous peoples are among the most effective stewards of the environment. A primary reason for this remarkable statistic is the use and practice of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge; ecological wisdom which has been passed down for generations and has been shown to strengthen community resilience in response to the multiple stressors of global environmental change. While the United States government has been slow to acknowledge the value of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, it has recently begun to incorporate that knowledge into environmental policy in response to the worldwide climate crisis. Continuing the integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge into government environmental policy will ensure that such policies will be more effective at the federal, state, and local levels and more equitable in their application. Western scientists, government officials, and global leaders need to build trusting and co-equal relationships with Indigenous communities by actively listening to all cultures and respecting the many kinds of knowledge systems required to conserve the natural world and all living beings. This paper will address how incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge into U.S. policy would help safeguard the environment from further biodiversity loss and other ecological destruction, and advance environmental justice to ensure the fair treatment of all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the relationship between the sustainable development of urban buildings and spatial rationality planning under the guidance of local government policies, this paper takes Beijing, Shanghai, and other regions as examples to conduct a questionnaire survey literature, analyzes environmental policies and green building principles, and puts forward several hypotheses based on relevant literature. Spatial rationality planning has an impact on the sustainable development of cities. Environmental policies and green building design principles have a constraining effect on the sustainable development of cities. Government policies can ensure the sustainability of urban building development and promote the rational distribution of space. The results show that there is an inevitable relationship between the rational spatial layout and the sustainable development of urban buildings, and environmental policy and green building design principles can promote the rational planning of space. Government policies can guide the rational layout of space and improve the sustainable development of cities. Therefore, spatial rationality planning is the main factor for the sustainable development of the city, government policy is the external factor, and environmental policy and green building design are the constraints. From the perspective of environmental policies and green building principles, local governments should guide spatial rationality planning to improve the sustainable development of buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of unprecedented ecological crises, a consensus has been consolidated in the global community to fundamentally alter current modes of economic growth and patterns of resource allocation, in pursuit of a low‐carbon transition. Environmental governance plays an important instrumental role in this global agenda. The policy mix framework has emerged as a holistic approach to the design and analysis of environmental policies. A policy mix encompasses different dimensions, featuring not only the horizontality but also the verticality and temporality of interactions. Nevertheless, existing literature on environmental policy mixes focuses on the horizontal interactions, and very few studies have systematically explored the vertical and temporal interactions of policy mixes. Drawing upon the case of agricultural residue recycling in China, this study captures the evolution of both the narrative temporality and the verticality of environmental policy mixes. More importantly, the changing political narratives around residue recycling exert an intangible but significant influence on the vertical interactions between multilevel governments in both policy making and policy implementation, in which institutional and organizational arrangements constitute a key operational and mediating mechanism to manage vertical coordination. The study finally proposes three avenues for future research on environmental policy mixes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public institutions have increasingly responded to calls for more accountability by promoting ideas of data-driven governance. As this focus on using data tools to strengthen governance intensifies, it is important to examine how the tools that underlie such claims are made. In the context of US agri-environmental policy, policy leadership has spoken the language of data-driven decision-making for over thirty years, primarily in response to accountability demands. However, the reliance on metrics and calculation is most explicit in the newest initiative called the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). Unlike other initiatives, the CSP used a single environmental scoring and decision-making algorithm to allocate approximately US$3.8 billion to 68,000 farmers. Applying a Social Construction of Technology approach to the development of the tool shows that different social groups – political aides, program officials, and subject-matter specialists – interpreted data-driven governance differently. Tool design emerges not despite but through the contestations over the purpose and practicality of doing data-driven governance. Social groups involved in tool development are themselves embedded in different accountability structures that shape the rationalities they marshal when negotiating practical decisions about tool design. The final tool used in the CSP was technically contested and the tool development process was poorly documented, yet it had an important legitimacy function: it deflected accountability pressures for more rationalization in public spending without causing major policy disruption. Centering analysis on the negotiations entailed in making the tools that come to underlie claims of data-driven governance can explain how and to what extent a push for more data in public policy can strengthen (and weaken) accountability relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The freedom of regions in regulating territories is now being promoted with the decentralization of environmental policies. This policy serves as the forerunner in empowering regions to function autonomously, thereby playing a role in practical politics. Therefore, this research aimed to analyze the role of decentralization of environmental policy and local government competition in navigating green development productivity in Indonesia. The slack base model and dynamic panel regression were used to generalize the method of the moment. The results showed that the decentralization of environmental policies and local government competition negatively affected the productivity of green development. Meanwhile, budget allocations for research and development, along with strategic initiatives in economic sectors such as agriculture and mining, showed a substantial positive effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions: What is the potential use of maps derived from a merged geographical and phytosociological approach to support the design of public environmental policies? Do these approaches and data sources deliver complementary land‐cover/vegetation maps? Objective: The present article documents a joint phytosociological and geographical approach to improve vegetation cartography in temperate‐tropical transitional ecosystems. Location: The research was conducted at national (Mexico) and state (Michoacán) scales. Mexico and Michoacán have been recognized as regions of high eco‐geographical complexity, where temperate‐tropical conditions intermingle, creating large eco‐socio‐cultural mosaics. Methods: Data from 268 field verification sites and 223 relevés surveyed during the last two decades and recent land cover sources were used as the main inputs. The results were further validated by three workshops with local botanists and field verification during 2021. Results: At the national level, Mexico's forests, shrubs, herbs, and non‐vascular major formation classes were hierarchically split by dominant life forms and prevailing climatic affiliations. At the state level, these major formation classes split into 19 sub‐formations, of which 15 were forest communities. Conclusions: We discuss the scientific challenge of transitioning from land cover into vegetation maps and (dis)similarities of approaches reviewing concepts and analytical (quanti)qualitative instruments. The paper contrasts the present output with the experiences of other countries such as Canada, the United States, Bolivia, and Colombia. Finally, the results are discussed in light of their relevance for constructing public environmental policies, such as land use planning, establishment of protected areas, allocation of incentives for sustainable environmental services, and long‐term conservation practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is both the theoretical advancement and the application of policy process theories and public policy perspectives on science, technology, and environmental policy and related fields, such as health and agricultural policy. Moyson et al. (2022) cross-fertilize the ACF with the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to ascribe an advocacy coalition's successful translation of beliefs into policy to the use of an overly present and simple frame. The last two articles of this issue study the role of administration in environmental policy implementation, more specifically the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). [Extracted from the article]

With China's commitment to achieving a carbon peak and carbon neutralisation by 2030 and 2060, respectively, the government's requirements for enterprises to adopt green technology are becoming increasingly urgent. We established a tripartite evolutionary game model of an enterprise, government and bank. We analysed conditions for the existence of stable points and factors affecting the choice of stakeholder's strategy. The influence of the change in each parameter on the evolutionary stable strategy was further studied. We found that the government's reward, subsidy and taxes for enterprise's green technology innovation can increase the willingness of enterprises to implement green technology innovation, and the role of taxes is greater than that of subsidies. The preferential interest rate for green innovation is conducive to stimulating enterprises to engage in green innovation, but the increase in the cost of green credit will reduce the willingness of banks to provide green credit. With the increase in the subsidy, incentives and the cost of environmental regulation, the policy burden of the government will gradually increase, thus reducing the willingness of the government to implement environmental regulation policy. The research presented in this paper furthers work on the theoretical modelling of green credit and environmental regulation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Corporate environmental protection investment (EPI) is one of the ways to accelerate green development. This paper develops a theoretical model of EPI focusing on three factors: the government, the public, and the enterprises. It uses data from A-share listed Chinese companies from 2008 to 2014 to analyse the effects of the government environmental policy and public participation on the corporate EPI. Results of this research show that both the environmental regulations issued by the government and the demands put forward by public opinion encourage enterprises to increase investment in environmental protection. Moreover, the government's green policy efforts and public participation result in synergy in governance. Relevant regulations issued by the government improve the efficiency of actual public participation. However, redundant government intervention is not conducive to increasing corporate investment in environmental protection. According to this research, market-oriented reforms can boost the positive impact of government and public efforts on corporate EPI. In order to improve environmental governance and achieve green development, it is necessary to deepen market-oriented reforms and build a coordinated, complementary, and incentive-compatible governance system that deals with issues, demands, rights, and responsibilities of the government, the public, and enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the greatest socially responsible sovereign wealth fund in the world, namely, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund‐Global (GPF‐G), as a proxy for the world market portfolio, and collecting investment data from 2006 to 2021, our research studies how the attitude of environmentally concerned investors has changed, on different markets, over time, particularly before and after the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. We investigate, with an event study methodology, what happens to stock prices when companies are excluded from the GPF‐G portfolio for serious environmental violations, unacceptable level of greenhouse gas emissions, or for their involvement in thermal coal processing. In line with previous studies, our results show that Paris Agreement has acted as a catalyst for environmentally conscious behavior by international investors, and this is particularly true in Anglo‐Saxon countries. Especially US, Japanese, Chilean, Indian, and Canadian investors care about the environmental issues that have led to the exclusion from the fund investment portfolio. To the contrary, investors in China, Germany, Australia, and UK seem to have an opposite reaction, as the prices of the excluded stocks increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upper authorities have tightly controlled local budgets, especially at the administrative township level. Taiwan has been facing this particular phenomenon for a long period. This article explains how a township, before general elections, sees the choice of an improved environmental administrative work plan as a political advantage and uses simple and easy-to-use collective decision-making to assist. Then, survey residents' perceptions of implementing the new environmental policy. The research results are discussed not only as suggestions to improve the effectiveness of township public environmental policies and to respond to the needs of civilians appropriately but also to lead future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of Hofstede's dimensions of national culture on environmental sustainability across 57 countries. Hofstede's national culture construct reflects and gauges the extent of the inclination of a particular national person toward either economic development or environmental preservation. Climate change and pollution have continuously devastated the environment in recent decades. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals aim to achieve a more sustainable future and prevent further environmental destruction. This study aims to explore whether national culture significantly influences national environmental sustainability. We use national environmental performance as the proxy for national environmental sustainability and adopt the ordinary least squares regression model to explore the possible relationship with two datasets of international indices; one is proposed by Hofstede, and the other is proposed by Germanwatch. Our results show that the power distance index has a strong negative impact on the climate change performance index (CCPI), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, renewable energy, and energy use. Further, the masculinity index is negatively related to CCPI and GHG emissions. The individual index is also negatively related to renewable energy. Furthermore, indulgence is positively associated with climate policy. These findings support the notion that nations should consider their cultural characteristics to improve environmental sustainability. Thus, conducting a national environmental policy that aligns with national culture is suggested to achieve environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although addressing environmental pollution and unprecedented societal aging are concurrent public health challenges, rarely is the relationship between the two considered. Current approaches to valuing the public health benefits conferred by environmental policy may be ill‐suited to aging populations. We describe the limitations of the age‐invariant approach used by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to estimate the public health benefits corresponding to environmental regulation. These include the poor age‐representativeness of the samples informing the valuation of mortality risk reduction, the exclusion of age‐related outcomes from valuation, and the omission of age‐related third‐party expenditures. We offer an empirical framework that could address these limitations. Our recommendations could improve the calibration of environmental regulatory analysis to the changing age distribution of the United States population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Environmental justice, which seeks to achieve equity in the process and outcomes of environmental policy and decision-making, is a broadly recognized policy objective. As a foundational environmental regulation and opportunity for public engagement with federal decision-making, the United States' National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is frequently considered a promising venue for addressing environmental justice. While environmental justice has been a recognized consideration within the NEPA process since the 1990s, it is by no means a streamlined process. Understanding the barriers and opportunities to better incorporation of EJ principles in NEPA review processes is critical for understanding how to move from EJ as a concept to actual implementation. Drawing on interviews with federal agencies, project developers, nongovernmental organizations, and other organizations who contributed to NEPA reviews for projects across the US, this paper explores how environmental justice–specifically procedural, distributive, and recognition justice–is currently addressed in the preparation of Environmental Impact Statements and identifies barriers and opportunities for better inclusion. We find that many NEPA practitioners see NEPA as a valuable tool for achieving procedural and distributive justice. However, a number of institutional and organizational barriers exist, most prominently a structure that hinders opportunities for meaningful public engagement, ambiguity in how distributive justice is defined and implemented, and a lack of substantive requirements for potential distributional inequities to be addressed. • Procedural justice is considered a more primary goal of NEPA relative to distributive justice. • NEPA's design limits opportunities for meaningful public engagement. • Distributive justice is considered hard to define and subjective to implement. • NEPA's procedural focus limits requirements to mitigate identified EJ impacts. • Recognition justice is almost entirely absent from considerations around EJ in NEPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article summarizes the book "Green Public Policies: Design, Analysis, and Implementation" coordinated by Rafael Aguilera and Rogelio López, which addresses the topic of environmental public policies and their importance in the academic field. It highlights the increasing relevance of these policies since 2010 and mentions research journals where studies on the subject have been published. The need for plural and participatory governance is emphasized, considering the rights of individuals and vulnerable populations. The importance of scientific research and academic activity in this field is also mentioned. Additionally, countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico are mentioned for their environmental policies and research in this area. The book "Green Public Policies: Design, Analysis, and Implementation" published by the Nuevo León Editorial Fund aims to analyze public policies from a green and environmental perspective, addressing the challenges and difficulties of designing and implementing these policies, as well as their historical background and contemporary theoretical debates. The water crisis is highlighted, and the importance of a legal and philosophical perspective in the analysis of these policies is emphasized. The book also suggests that citizen participation and shared decision-making are fundamental in the formulation of socio-environmental public policies. [Extracted from the article]

Currently, the environmental approach is included in the legal regulations of countries to achieve sustainable development. The development of public policies that demand the care and preservation of the environment is an urgency for the territories. In Ecuador, social and legal transformations led to the inclusion of the environmental perspective in the Constitution of the Republic, and subsequently to the development of the Organic Code of the Environment (CODA). Environmental principles are considered in the various legislations; however, no priority is established among them. The objective of this work is to determine the priority established in the environmental principles of CODA. For this, it was necessary to consult experts and, based on their criteria, the Pareto Diagram technique was applied, the fundamental principles were selected, and a hierarchical order was determined based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process, AHP Saaty, with a neutrosophic approach, for the decision making. The most relevant principles were Comprehensive Responsibility, Best Available Technology and Best Environmental Practices, and Comprehensive Repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental policy integration is needed to ensure environmental policy goals are being realized, given their cross‐sectoral nature. Most of the published research has focused on integration and coherence of (inter)national policies, plans, and programs. The implementation practices for these policies, however, are at least as important. This paper therefore looks at policy implementation for the case of artisanal gold mining in Liberia. This is studied through a lens of frontline staff (street‐level bureaucrats) who operate in networks of local government agencies, civil society organizations, and communities. Results of interviews and field observations in Grand Gedeh county show how the policy context and local realities create specific dilemmas, resulting from the combination of limited resources of local frontline staff, low‐income security for local communities and traditional local practices around protected forest areas. In response local frontline bureaucrats use their discretionary power and network to mobilize support, pool resources, combine mandates, and find creative solutions to both regulate and support community residents. Although these implementation strategies are neither necessarily sufficient to realize the official policy goals, nor are guaranteed to have the desired effects, they do show how local frontline staff act as de facto policymakers. Recognizing frontline staff as environmental policy integrators therefore is a crucial element toward more successful policies for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeszyty Naukowe SGGW: Ekonomika i Organizacja Logistyki is the property of Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), Faculty of Economic Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Environmental policy sustainability as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda has appeared as one of the challenges to most developing nations such as Nigeria. This inadvertently has affected (SDG) agenda in Nigeria. Although many scholars have given attention to other dimensions of socio-economic policies/natural environment, the case of environmental policy sustainability has received virtually no attention in some regions such as southeast Nigeria. The study aptly captured the context of human behavioural disposition towards environmental knowledge and policy sustainability among the rural population in southeast Nigeria in the framework of Symbolic Interactionism/Environmental Responsible Behaviour, with the support of survey data. The study involved 1200 respondents from rural communities, while data collected through questionnaire instrument were analyzed using inferential statistics. The findings show strong positive correlation between familiarity with ecological harmony and support to pro public environmental policy (rho= .84, n= 1200, p<0.01), knowledge of the natural environment and support to pro public environmental policy (rho= .87, n= 1200, p<0.01), while environmental policy sustainability can be predicted by some crucial socio-demographic factors (p<.000). By implication, knowledge of the operation of the natural environment and government policy approaches and dimensions should be encouraged among the rural communities in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary explores the critical issue of air pollution policies and public engagement in Pakistan, a nation consistently ranked among the world's most polluted. Prolonged exposure to diverse pollution sources leads to severe health consequences, making public education and engagement pivotal for successful environmental policy implementation. By using the National Clean Air Policy (NCAP) as a case, we identified key barriers to public engagement in Pakistan and emphasizes the need for collaborative efforts through an integrated approach among civil society organizations (CSOs), news media, research institutions, and the public. In addition, we introduced the term communities of care to encourage more inclusive, participatory policy making approaches aimed at addressing air pollution crisis in the country. Finally, we argue that the elitist model of policy making, which historically dominated, should give way to a more participatory and inclusive approach to enhance policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alongside production and consumption, bio-waste management is central to the food systems debate. To achieve sustainable food systems—an essential component of the Sustainable Development Goals and the world they envision—public authorities must address the shortage of current bio-waste-management policies and strive towards a new paradigm of bio-waste management, where environmental justice primarily informs policy design and decision making. In order to achieve fair environmental policies, particularly in the context of food systems and bio-waste management, it is essential to understand what drives public policy in these matters. In the present review, we seek to contribute by closing a gap in the literature by proposing a set of bio-waste-management drivers in the European context. Moreover, we focus on the "policy and legislation" driver, hoping to examine its main components and understand both their limitations and the opportunities they provide. Finally, we explore the role that co-creation can play as a facilitator of a public-governance paradigm that promotes sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is little knowledge of how policymakers manage governance networks ("metagovern") within climate policy and especially at non-executive levels of public management. One strategy to metagovern is through using intermediary actors such as funding bodies. However, as novel actors within climate governance, such "climate intermediaries" are under-researched. We address these gaps by exploring the metagovernance through an intermediary actor, namely the Norwegian "Klimasats" Fund. We find that the logic of funding bodies lends itself to "carrots" as opposed to "sticks", weakening the potential for transformation. Funding bodies can also increase existing differences in climate action between larger and smaller local authorities. However, funding bodies have a beneficial bi-directional functionality, incentivising local innovation whilst feeding lessons both up to and across government. Funding bodies also have the power to make local actors into intermediaries in their own right and can influence policy discourses. Thus, in assessing metagovernance at the non-executive level and using intermediary actors such as funding bodies, we reveal significant challenges, but also surprising opportunities, for the low-carbon transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fleischman et al. (2020a) article on US Forest Service (FS) implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) correctly identified a decline in the number of NEPA analyses, but several conclusions were not supported by the data used. After analyzing their and other relevant data, we reached substantially different conclusions. Using FS budget data, we found budgets supporting NEPA analyses to be flat to increasing. Likewise, using FS accomplishment data, we found several FS land-management activities increased as others remained flat or decreased. The three types of NEPA analyses took statistically significant different times to complete, and time to complete analyses declined little over 15 years. We also found that litigation rates varied substantially by NEPA analysis type, resource purpose, and FS region. Conducting NEPA analyses is a necessary step in federal land management. However, resources invested in NEPA analyses represent an opportunity cost, and the success of the FS is better measured by on-the-ground accomplishments rather than number of NEPA analyses produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the island of Guåhan (Guam) native and endemic species are an integral part of the CHamoru language, rituals, and practices. They are interconnected with their culture and honored together with the ocean, the land, and their ancestors. Presently, this spiritual connection is being jeopardized as military expansion threatens the sacred lands of Tailalo' and Litekyan. Phylogenetic and ethnographic research, connected to the principles of environmental justice, has brought attention to the social movement to protect the last håyun lågu tree (Serianthes nelsonii) at Tailalo'. This opinion piece is a rallying cry to safeguard the last håyun lågu and to confront the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act and the U.S. Endangered Species Act, as its regulations do not mirror the island's social and cultural system and fail to incorporate Indigenous and scientific perspectives to protect Indigenous biocultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study builds a theoretical framework on how subnational governments use promotion schemes to motivate local bureaucrats to address conflicting tasks of economic development and environmental protection. We argue that subnational (province) governments can strategically allocate polluting industries to border areas to make neighbors bear the social cost of pollution and use promotion incentives to make their subordinates (city leaders) comply. Hence, when the central government imposes a stricter environmental regulation policy on provincial governments, border-city leaders obtain a higher probability of promotion. Based on a panel dataset of leaders' career information and administrations across cities in China, we find an increase in promotion probability for border-city leaders compared with their non-border counterparts after 2011 when the environmental protection task became more important. A potential channel is that border-city leaders accept the migration of polluting industries as a signal of compliance. In addition, this effect is more prominent for newly appointed leaders who have stronger political motivations and rely more on their superiors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry is supported by smart and green manufacturing, which have great potential to empower the nation's green development. This study examines the impact of the Made in China 2025 industrial policy on urban green economic growth. This study applies the super-slacks-based measure model to measure cities' green economic growth, using the double machine learning model, which overcomes the limitations of the linear setting of traditional causal inference models and maintains estimation accuracy under high-dimensional control variables, to conduct an empirical analysis based on panel data of 281 Chinese cities from 2006 to 2021. The results reveal that the Made in China 2025 strategy significantly drives urban green economic growth, and this finding holds after a series of robustness tests. A mechanism analysis indicates that the Made in China 2025 strategy promotes green economic growth through green technology progress, optimizing energy consumption structure, upgrading industrial structure, and strengthening environmental supervision. In addition, the policy has a stronger driving effect for cities with high manufacturing concentration, industrial intelligence, and digital finance development. This study provides valuable theoretical insights and policy implications for government planning to promote high-quality development through industrial policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to analyze the implementation of green banking and the policies implemented in it. The macro approach is carried out through literature studies by collecting secondary data such as scientific articles, planning documents, government policies, and the mass media as well as data related to this research. Data analysis was carried out qualitatively by implementing green banking in several aspects, namely, in the internal bank, in customer service, and during financing. And in its implementation, it has fulfilled the principles of the green banking concept which includes 4 elements of life, namely nature, well-being, economy, and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of the digital economy, digital technology can help enterprises achieve digital, intelligent, and green transformation. However, the cost of enterprise transformation is high, and government subsidies can help reduce enterprise risks. In this study, based on the Stackelberg game model, a three-stage game model was established for government, manufacturer, and retail. Through theoretical proof and numerical simulation, the effects of cost subsidies, research and development subsidies, and sales subsidies policies were analyzed. The research shows that these three subsidy methods can promote the greening of products, increase market sales, and increase the profits of manufacturers and retailers, and the effect of R&D subsidies is more obvious. Excessive R&D subsidies will cause the social welfare function to decline. As consumers' green preferences increase, the profits and social welfare of manufacturers and retailers also increase. Consumers' green preferences can effectively improve the green level of products, increase product sales, and promote the development of green products. Under the optimal subsidy strategy, cost and sales subsidies are superior to R&D subsidies. By studying the effects of different subsidy policies, this study provides reasonable policies and suggestions for the government and the manufacturing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the partisan theory has already rendered initial insight on whether political parties can make a difference in environmental policy, only little is known about their influence on forest policy. This article attempts to reveal the role of green, left‐wing and right‐wing parties in the case of German Natura 2000 policy. By testing whether nature conservation or forest interests are strongly supported by the government policy outputs, we test the influence of the different parties that were part of 62 governments from 2004 to 2018 in 16 German Bundesländer. The results show that the German left‐wing parties take up the ideas of the nature conservation sector, while right‐wing parties foster typical forest interests. Furthermore, right‐wing parties very often maintain the policy status quo instead of making policy changes so that the implementation of the biodiversity goal of Natura 2000 often is postponed. The German Green party does not foster nature conservation interests more strongly than the SPD. Coalitions between right‐wing parties increase the chance for policy outputs that tend to favour forest interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Brazil, as the instrument of the National Environmental Policy is an essential tool for the environmental license, Law 6938/81, in its article 2, item III, instituted the evaluation of environmental impacts. With the development of the license studies, it was found that the environmental agencies, no matter how better equipped they were, would not have the conditions to proceed with the environmental impact assessment studies of certain activities and large-scale projects. Thus arose the need for these studies to be synthesized in a special document. The synthesis document was called, in the licensing system for polluting activities of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Deliberation CECA 3, of 12/28/1977), the "Environmental Influence Report" (RIMA), currently called "Environmental Impact Report". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In the current background of global economic slowdown, the traditional reliance on one regulatory instrument or the unilateral consideration of the effectiveness of one regulatory policy in policy formulation is no longer sufficient to cope with the increasingly complex contradictions between environmental protection and economic development. In the construction of a modernized environmental governance system, it has become an inevitable choice to achieve synergy between various environmental regulations. In China, the citizens' environmental supervision campaign that gradually emerged in 2006 and the local carbon trading pilots that started in 2013, as typical representatives of informal and formal environmental regulation respectively, provide vivid and realistic materials for our study. Methods: Using econometric models and microdata from listed Chinese firms from 2009 to 2020, we analyze the profound logic and internal mechanism by which this synergistic governance effect of environmental regulation affects the economic society and the development pattern of firms. Results and discussion: The study found that: (1) the synergistic effect of the carbon trading policy and citizens' environmental supervision can significantly promote the transition of enterprises to a sustainable development model, especially paying attention to the role of citizens' environmental supervision in this process. (2) The regional development level, cost transfer capability, and political connection can make the synergy of the two environmental regulations vary across firms. (3) The synergistic effect of environmental regulation promotes the behavior of enterprises in line with the requirements of sustainable development by influencing enterprises' R&D and innovation investment, resource allocation efficiency, and sustainable development awareness. (4) A favorable regional rule of law environment and moderate media attention can effectively increase the intensity of citizens' environmental supervision, and at the same time strengthen the effectiveness of synergistic governance of environmental regulation in the transformation and development of enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the literature on environmental policy controversies. We utilize an Argumentative Discourse Analysis (ADA)-based approachto analyze the struggle for discursive hegemony that took place between competing story-lines in the context of the acid mine drainage (AMD) environmental policy problem, located in the gold mining areas of greater Johannesburg, South Africa. With this article we make a theoretical contribution by presenting and applying an adapted ADA framework strongly focused on the operationalization of key ADA concepts. Our empirical contribution lies in providing a rich and deep analysis of an environmental policy controversy that has not yet been studied from an ADA perspective. In particular, we demonstrate and discuss the complex path to discourse institutionalization followed by the dominant emergent AMD story-line. In conclusion , we recommend steps for updating the ADA approach and developing an accompanying set of guidelines to further enable the operationalization of its concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The promotion of modern industrialization has caused heavy environmental pollution. Environmental protection is a basic national policy of China. In 2011, China began to implement the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Environmental Protection" (12th FYP_NEP). Using the survey data of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Shandong Province of China, this paper empirically explores the impact of 12th FYP_NEP on the energy utilization and operating efficiencies of SMEs. It is found that the environmental policy "12th FYP_NEP" has a significant incentive effect on both efficiency performance of Chinese SMEs, and has a greater positive impact on operating efficiency. Our heterogeneity analysis showed the following results. The incentive effect is different in different industries and enterprises of different sizes. The policy "12th FYP_NEP" has a greater positive impact on the energy utilization efficiency of SMEs in China's first and second tier cities, but it has no significant impact on their operation efficiency. This shows that SMEs in first and second tier cities are more effective in coping with the national environmental policy reform strategy. It can be seen that the promulgation of China's environmental policies can significantly improve the energy utilization awareness of these SMEs. The incentive effect of the policy on the two efficiency performances of SMEs in cities with "heavy air pollution" is greater, indicating that the implementation effect of "12th FYP_NEP" on SMEs in such cities is better. The enlightenments are as follows: the current situation of Chinese SMEs is that the energy utilization efficiency is low, while the operating efficiency is high. Most enterprises attach great importance to their own operating profits and economic development, and the awareness of energy utilization needs to be greatly strengthened. "12th FYP_NEP" has obvious positive effect on the energy utilization and operating efficiencies of SMEs, but there are slight differences among different types of enterprises. It is suggested that governments can refine their own environmental regulation standards and implement different environmental regulations for different types of enterprises, so as to enhance the performance of domestic enterprises most effectively. • This paper used the China survey data on SMEs over the period 2010–2013. • It is found that the Chinese "12th FYP_NEP" has a significant incentive effect on efficiency performance of Chinese SMEs. • The incentive effect is different in different industries and enterprises of different sizes. • The policy makes for improving the energy efficiency of SMEs in first and second-tier cities and heavy-polluted cities. • Chinese SMEs should attach great importance to energy utilization rather than operating profits only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

In this article, we respond to a critique of our earlier work examining the USDA Forest Service's (USFS's) planning processes. We appreciate that our critics introduce new data to the discussion of USFS planning. Further data integration is a promising path to developing a deeper understanding of agency activities. Our critics' analysis largely supports our original claims. Our most important difference is in our conceptualization of the planning process's relationship to agency goals. Although our critics conceive of the USFS's legally prescribed planning processes as a barrier to land management activities, we believe that public comment periods, scientific analysis, and land management activities are tools the agency uses to achieve its goals of managing land in the public interest. Study Implications: The USDA Forest Service's current planning process has been critiqued as a barrier to accomplishing land management activities, but it is also an important tool for insuring science-based management and understanding public values and interests that the agency is legally bound to uphold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the impact of transforming resource-based cities (RBCs) through scientific evaluation is a crucial approach to gauge the efficacy of implementation of national locational policies. Drawing upon panel data encompassing 113 RBCs over the period 2006 to 2020, this study employs the difference-in-differences (DID) model to systematically evaluate the impact of location-oriented policies, represented by the "National Resource-Based Economic Transformation Comprehensive Supporting Reform Pilot Zone" (CRPZ), on the trajectory of green transition development (GTD) within RBCs. The results indicate, firstly, that the CRPZ has facilitated the GTD of RBCs, and a series of robustness tests confirm this conclusion, revealing a stimulating effect that evolves from initial suppression to subsequent promotion. Secondly, CRPZ can drive the GTD of RBCs by optimizing industrial structure and enhancing innovation capability, which shows that different marginal utilities are observed in its impact on the GTD of RBCs. Finally, the effectiveness of the CRPZ in promoting the GTD of RBCs is influenced by the degree of resource dependence, with a more pronounced impact on cities with higher levels of resource dependence. The conclusions of this study provide valuable insights for the ongoing evaluation of location-oriented policies and the promotion of GTD in RBCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is dedicated to the challenges of the fiscal policy of Bulgaria in the context of the European Union's (EU) priorities for a green, climate-neutral economy's transition. The article analyzes the fiscal aspects of the EU Green Deal and related initiatives NextGenerationEU, Fit for 55 packages, RePower Plan and Just Transition Mechanism for the EU program period 2021-2027. It examines the objectives of the EU Green Deal's implementation in the context of the EU Strategy for Financing the Transition to a Sustainable Economy. It studies the mechanisms, tools and alternative approaches in the application of EU funding and modern financial instruments to stimulate the green transformation of the EU economy. The research assesses the opportunities for the green transition in Bulgaria through the application of national and European financial instruments. The study assesses the effects of the fiscal instruments for mitigating and adaptation to climate change on the fiscal deficit of Bulgaria. The study shows that the fiscal policy with EU funding and national co-financing for green policies under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Partnership Agreement for 2021-2027 could augment the green transition and have a net positive impact on the fiscal balance. The study also outlines the possible risks and negative impacts on budgetary aggregates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental sustainability has been a key policy goal of the European Union (EU), particularly under recent EU Cohesion Policy strategic frameworks. This paper contributes to the analysis of the relevance of EU Cohesion Policy-related environmental sustainability investments, by assessing the impacts of the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Use of Resources (POSEUR 2014–2020), in the Portuguese North NUTS II. In detail, the impact scores of the following five analytical dimensions related to this programme were obtained: (i) low-emissions economy, (ii) adaptation to climate change, (iii) risk prevention and management, (iv) environmental protection and (v) resource efficiency. The analysis was supported by a territorial impact assessment methodology (TARGET_TIA) which was complemented by an online analytic geographic information system (GIS) policy evaluation platform (Impact-WEB_GIS). The results showed that the POSEUR's regional implementation efficiency fell short of the stakeholders' expectations. This can be explained by factors such as the obstacles posed by the prior underdeveloped infrastructural conditions, coupled with the panorama created by the Covid-19 outbreak. Nonetheless, the risk prevention and management dimension had a solid positive impact score that reflected the efficacy of POSEUR in tackling environmental threats, mostly in rural ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author discusses the importance of environmental policy and social work in achieving social and environmental justice in the U.S. Other topics include how the lack of effective regulation adversely affect marginalized groups, the presence of power and oppression in the physical environment, and the importance of public policy in mitigating the effects of climate change and protecting the rights of vulnerable populations.

Practicing the concept of sustainable development is the only viable solution to minimize the negative effects of economic development, aiming to preserve human health and increase the well-being of current and future generations, and simultaneously emphasizing the protection of the environment. In this context, one of the areas that should be given special attention is waste management. In order to protect human health and the environment from pollution and destruction, waste should be properly handled or managed. The term 'waste management' refers to the process of collecting, transporting, processing, recycling or depositing and monitoring waste materials. In order to protect people and the environment, waste management must meet sustainability criteria. When analyzing the situation in Kosovo from this aspect, it can be said that although efforts are being made to manage waste in Kosovo, the management is not sustainable at all. Therefore, numerous measures should be taken both by the central government and by the local authorities in order to introduce sustainable measures for waste management to achieve sustainable development in this sphere, preserve human health and protect the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: To achieve the targets for carbon peak and air quality improvement, local governments should propose environmental targets and develop realization paths that are tailored to their unique local conditions. They then promote low-carbon development through the implementation of multiple measures. Purpose of the article: As the government performance appraisal system im-proves, the question arises as to whether governments take the initiative to com-bine environmental policies with government target constraints to reduce carbon emissions. Methods: The announcement of environmental target constraints by local governments in government work reports is considered a quasi-natural experiment. This study examines the effect of government environmental target constraints (GETC) on carbon emissions (CEs) using differences-in-differences (DID), propensity score matching-DID (PSM-DID), and spatial- DID (SDID) with data from 241 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2019. Findings & value added: The results demonstrate that GETC can effectively reduce local CEs, with the inhibitory effect being most effective in the first two years after setting environmental targets, but diminishing in the third year. GETC can reduce local CEs through three paths: reducing energy consumption, promoting industrial structure optimization, and encouraging green technology innovation. Spatial spillover effects show that GETC reduces local CEs while exacerbating CEs in neighboring cities, indicating a beggar-thy-neighbor effect in conventional environmental regulation policy. This effect is observed mainly in the geographic matrix and the economic-geographic matrix, but not in the economic matrix. According to heterogeneity analysis, GETC in the eastern and central cities can significantly reduce CEs. The inhibitory effect of GETC on local CEs is stronger in cities where secretaries and mayors have longer tenures and higher levels of education. The paper's theoretical value lies in exploring the reduction of CEs through the combination of government self-restraint and environmental policies, providing a new solution for local governments to achieve CEs reduction. Furthermore, it offers practical insights into the improvement of the Chinese government assessment system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective conservation and promotion of biodiversity requires its integration into a wide range of sectoral policies. For this to happen, the issue must receive attention across policy sectors. Yet, we know little about how attention to the issue evolves over time and across sectors. Drawing from the literature on environmental policy integration/mainstreaming and policy process theories, we develop competing hypotheses, expecting either increasing or fluctuating attention to the biodiversity issue. We tested the hypotheses using the case of Swiss politics between 1999 and 2018. Applying a combination of computational methods, we analyze the content of a comprehensive collection of policy documents (n ≈ 440,000) attributed to 20 policy sectors. Comparing the sectors, we find that (1) a persistent increase in attention is the exception, (2) if there is an increase in attention, it is likely to be temporary, and (3) the most common pattern is that of invariant attention over time. Biodiversity integration—if it does happen at all—tends to occur in cycles rather than in steady long-term shifts. This implies that the conservation of biodiversity does not follow the cross-sectoral nature of the problem, but is subject to the dynamics of "politics," where actors, because of limited resources, engage with (aspects of) an issue only for a certain amount of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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