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China has become the world largest paper and paperboard producer. However, pulp and paper industry has involved high resource consumption and severe pollution especially for water. This research has assessed the eco-efficiency of China's pulp and paper industry at the national level and provincial level. An overview regarding the cleaner production of China's pulp and paper industry was presented to reveal the measures for reducing environmental impact in the last two decades. Slacks-based measure was used to analyze the efficiency levels of 16 provinces' pulp and paper industries. To uncover the underlying causes of eco-efficiency performance, Malmquist–Luenberger index was calculated to discover the drivers of productivity growth of pulp and paper industries. Our results showed that the pollution treatment of China's pulp and paper industry has made progress in terms of water consumption and water pollution, although the absolute amount of pollution discharge is still large. Chemical oxygen demand emissions are still the first critical influencing factor of pulp and paper industry's inefficiency. Furthermore, efficiency progress was the dominating contribution of the industry's productivity growth between 2010 and 2013. The policies for adjusting the industrial structure of pulp and paper industry have resulted in the scale effects through eliminating backward production capacity and accelerating merger and acquisitions. Moreover, the productivity of pulp and paper industry was underestimated when the undesirable outputs were ignored. It indicates that the stricter environmental regulations have positive effects on paper companies to internalize environmental pressures in the production activities through environmental management. In the future, pulp and paper companies should further internalize the cost of pollution treatment through scale effects and technology improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There has been much debate on the topic of whether stricter environmental regulations can promote environmental performance and economic performance at the same time. Different researchers have used different indicators to measure environmental performance and economic performance in their empirical studies. However, it is a surprise that few studies have checked the relationship between environmental regulation and eco-efficiency, as the latter is widely regarded as a quite powerful tool of considering ecology and economy together. In this study the background is the implementation in 2003 of the Stricter Discharge Standard (SDS) in Shandong Province’s Pulp and Paper Industry (SPPI), compared to the national standards of China. The stricter regulations were intended to promote corporate change from passive management to active control and from end-of-pipe treatment to cleaner production. This study investigated the eco-efficiency trends of SPPI from 2001 to 2008 in three fields: water efficiency, energy efficiency and environment efficiency. A “de-linking” and “re-linking” tool was used to attain a further evaluation. The study showed that with the implementation of stricter regulation most of the efficiency indicators (except CO2 emission and energy consumption) had achieved significant improvements, and the overall environmental performance trends of SPPI showed it to be more sustainable. However, the study also found that it was not enough to address a single indicator in the environmental regulation of the pulp and paper industry. More holistic eco-efficiency indicators need to be further considered and introduced to the industry as the next step to create true sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the backdrop of the "double-carbon" target, the primary grain-producing regions in China are confronted with the tasks of mitigating pollution and carbon emissions and ensuring food security. This paper explores the eco-efficiency of cropland utilization and the factors influencing the primary grain-producing regions in China, utilizing panel data from 13 provinces spanning the period from 2000 to 2019. The analysis employs three models: the super-efficiency SBM model, the Malmquist index model, and the random-effect panel Tobit model. The findings suggest the following: (1) Although the eco-efficiency of cropland utilization in China's primary grain-producing regions did not reach the production frontier during the period of 2000–2019, it exhibited a high level with an overall upward trend. The limiting factor inhibiting the growth of total factor productivity is lower technical efficiency. (2) There is evident spatial variation in the eco-efficiency of cropland utilization across China, displaying a dynamic evolution from northeast > western > central > eastern to northeast > western > eastern > central. Total factor productivity in each province demonstrates an upward trend, with the east > northeast > west > central ranking. (3) Regarding the influencing factors, the utilization of agricultural production chemicals exerts a negative influence, while the proportion of government financial input, labor input, and irrigation index have a positive impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of significant importance to conduct research on the relationship between urbanization and eco-efficiency (EE), for it can aid policy making for urban and regional sustainable development. This paper studied the effects of urbanization on the EE in 30 provinces of China from 2008 to 2019. Using the epsilon-based measure (EBM) model with undesirable outputs, this study measured the EE of China's provinces before empirically analyzing the effects of urbanization on EE. Conclusions could be drawn: the annual mean EE of the eastern region was the highest (0.837), followed by those of the central region (0.653) and western region (0.570), and that of the northeast region remained the lowest (0.438). Zooming into the provinces and cities, the EEs of Beijing, Shanghai, and Fujian were at the production frontier surface, with a high level of EE during the study period, while those of Gansu, Ningxia, and Xinjiang were generally at a lower level. Empirical analysis showed that the effects of urbanization on EE in China presented a U-shaped relationship, having a negative correlation first and then reversing to a positive one. At present, China is in the early negative stage, and the turning point has yet to come. Considering the control variables, the economic development level, technological progress, and foreign direct investment have positively influenced eco-efficiency. Overall, the paper may shed light on related studies and provide relevant policy suggestions to promote EE through a new urbanization strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency is a key indicator to measure the level of regional sustainable development. The county is the basic spatial unit of socio-economic activities and sustainable policy implementation in China. Hence, this paper conducts eco-efficiency analysis at the county scale in order to provide reference for the central and local governments to formulate differentiated eco-efficiency enhancement policies, further promote Chinese ecological sustainable development, and advance the construction of ecological civilization with high quality. Based on the Super-Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) model and the Malmquist index, the paper constructed an eco-efficiency measurement method and analyzed the variation characteristics, influencing factors, spatial pattern of eco-efficiency in Chinese counties from 2000 to 2020. The results showed that: (1) The eco-efficiency of the county unit was generally low in China and was roughly distributed in a pyramid. The county-level eco-efficiency had a spatial distribution pattern of being high in the west and low in the east, and high in the south and low in the north, with significant non-equilibrium. There was a positive correlation between eco-efficiency of neighboring counties in China. (2) The per-capita GDP has a significant positive correlation with eco-efficiency, while energy consumption, arable land area and eco-efficiency have a negative correlation. The redundancy rate of input indicators was high in Chinese counties. (3) During the study period, the eco-efficiency of most counties displayed a fluctuating growth trend. The growth was mainly driven by technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adopts the super-efficient DEA (data envelopment analysis) model to measure the forestry eco-efficiency (FECO) of 30 Chinese provinces and cities from 2008 to 2021, and then introduces the Tobit model to explore the influencing factors of FECO to better understand the sustainable development level of forestry. It draws the following conclusions: (1) The average value of FECO in China is 0.504, which is still at a low level, and the FECO of each region has significant regional heterogeneity; the provinces with higher FECO are mainly concentrated in the eastern region, while the FECO of the central and western regions is lower; (2) In terms of the main factors affecting FECO in China, the regression coefficients of market-based environmental regulations are significantly positive in the national, eastern and central regions, while they are significantly negative in the western region. The coefficient of impact of scientific research funding investment on forestry industry eco-efficiency is negative and shows a significant promotion effect in the eastern region, but the elasticity coefficient in the central and western regions is negative but not significant. Economic development has a positive but insignificant effect on FECO, with the eastern region showing a positive correlation, while the central and western regions are insignificant. Industrial structure has a significant negative effect on FECO in the national, eastern and central regions, but the effect of industrial structure on FECO in the western region is not significant. The effect of foreign direct investment on FECO was negative for the national, central and western regions, but the central region did not pass the significance test, while the eastern region reflected a significant promotion effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordination and coupling of new urbanization and the ecological environment is of great significance for the high-quality development of the Yellow River basin, China. In this paper, the urbanization efficiency and ecological efficiency of seven urban agglomerations in the Yellow River basin, China, from 2006 to 2019 are calculated at the city level. Spatial correlation analysis between urbanization efficiency and ecological efficiency is carried out by applying the spatial association model. Then, the spatio-temporal coupling relationship is estimated based on the relative development and spatial coupling models. The results show that urbanization efficiency has been rising, from 0.83 in 2006 to 0.91 in 2019. Ecological efficiency first stabilized and then rose from 1.03 in 2006 to 1.23 in 2019. Spatially, cities with high urbanization efficiency development are increasing from west to east. Cities with high eco-efficient developments are increasing from northwest to southeast. The coupling relationship between the two is an N-type relationship, with the trend of first rising, then falling, and then rising. Spatially, the coupling degree of the upper and lower reaches of the Yellow River basin, China, is higher than that of the middle reaches of the Yellow River basin, China. Finally, this paper puts forward policy recommendations on the coordinated and coupling development of urban agglomerations in the Yellow River basin, China, from the perspective of the future differentiated development of different urban agglomerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trend of market-oriented land transaction scheme and the optimal allocation of land resources have become two important components of ecological sustainable development. However, the relevance of analyzing effects of land marketization on ecological and environmental development cannot be overemphasized. The ecological and environmental effects of land marketization are the focus of this paper. We begin by developing a theoretical framework to investigate how land marketization affects eco-efficiency. Moreover, we develop a data envelopment analysis model to measure eco-efficiency. We empirically investigate the effect of land marketization on eco-efficiency using a data set of 251 cities in China over the period of 2003 to 2018. Both theoretical and empirical results show that the land marketization exerts positive effects on eco-efficiency. Specifically, a 100% increase in land marketization level leads to a 2.4 percent increase in eco-efficiency. The heterogeneous effects and spatial effects of the land marketization on eco-efficiency are also examined. Besides, the endogeneity issues are also discussed using instrumental variable approach. Finally, the mechanism analysis shows that land marketization improves eco-efficiency primarily through improving efficiency change, best practice change and technology gap change, respectively. The main conclusions are confirmed by several robustness checks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency, as one of the evaluation tools for sustainable development performance, has been a widely discussed topic in academia for the past several decades. However, the existing research on eco-efficiency is rather homogeneous. Most of it is based on the construction of a system of indicators that includes ecological constraints to evaluate its overall eco-efficiency, but it treats the eco-economic system as a 'black box', ignoring the fact that it is actually composed of several sub-systems. In this paper, based on a two-stage resource-environment system perspective, we construct a Super-NEBM model considering undesirable outputs to measure urban ecological efficiency; a spatial Durbin model is then used to analyse its influencing factors. The results indicate that (1) China's urban eco-efficiency levels are fluctuating, with a decreasing "east-central/northeast-west" trend. (2) The spatial heterogeneity of ecological efficiency levels in Chinese cities is obvious, with significant spatial agglomeration effects. (3) There are positive spatial spillover effects on the ecological efficiency of Chinese cities; economic development, industrial structure, financial development, population density, innovation capacity, infrastructure, marketisation and informatisation all have important direct effects on urban ecological efficiency; in addition, economic development, financial development, population density, marketisation, informatisation and foreign investment all have significant indirect effects of varying degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rapid economic development in recent decades has come at a considerable environmental cost. This paper explores whether atmospheric quality monitoring policy (AQMP) improves eco-efficiency by using AQMP as a natural experimental group. We assessed the eco-efficiency of 285 cities in China from 2009 to 2019 using the super-efficient SBM model and estimated the impact of AQMP using the propensity score method Difference-in-Difference (PSM-DID) model. The key findings of this paper are as follows: First, AQMP can enhance eco-efficiency, promoting sustainable urban development. Second, governmental and non-governmental organizations play contrasting roles in either fostering or reversing the positive effects of AQMP. Factors like innovation, clean energy adoption, and industrial structure have a positive mediating influence. Finally, the impact of AQMP on eco-efficiency varies across cities, displaying heterogeneity. Specifically, AQMP has a positive effect on eco-efficiency in resource-rich cities, small and medium-sized urban centers, smart cities, and coastal areas. These findings carry significant implications for the establishment of dynamic monitoring networks and the advancement of eco-efficiency in emerging countries, including China. • Impact of atmospheric quality monitoring policy on eco-efficiency is discussed. • Governmental organizations promote the positive impacts of AQMP. • Non-governmental organizations reverse the positive impacts of AQMP. • Innovation, clean energy, and industrial structure have a positive mediating role. • The impact of AQMP on eco-efficiency has city heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study intends to build a theoretical mechanism of agricultural socialization services for the eco-efficiency of agricultural land use from two paths, namely the agricultural division of labor and technological progress, and empirically calibrate the Tobit model based on the data of the China Family Tracking Survey (CFPS) for 4453 farming households in 23 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) across China. The results of the study show the following: (1) Agricultural socialization services can significantly improve the eco-efficiency of agricultural land use. (2) Hired labor services are more likely to promote eco-efficiency in agricultural land use than farm machinery leasing, especially in major food-producing areas; however, in non-major food-producing areas, the effectiveness of farm machinery leasing services is limited or affected by regional policy differences. (3) In the analysis of the mechanism of agricultural socialization services on the eco-efficiency of agricultural land use, the division of labor in agriculture plays an intermediary role, and the intermediary effect accounts for about 11.4%; however, there is a masking effect of technological progress. This means that China should further develop the role of agricultural socialized services in promoting the ecological efficiency of agricultural land use by developing agricultural socialized service organizations, accelerating the integration of farmers into the modern agricultural division of labor, and promoting the application of green agricultural machinery, among other measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • An energy saving and emission reduction policy is analyzed in this paper. • This policy has a significant and positive effect on sustainable development. • Policy effect emerges three years later after the implementation of this policy. • Long-term mechanism for energy saving and emissions reduction should be established. Abstract " National Comprehensive Demonstration of Energy Saving and Emission Reduction Fiscal Policy" (ESER policy) is an important measure for urban pollution control and energy conservation in China. A reasonable evaluation of this policy can provide a reference to further promote energy saving and emissions reduction work. Using the panel data of 114 Chinese cities, this paper explores the effect of ESER policy on urban sustainable development. We first construct a sustainable indicator, which is defined as eco-efficiency, by using the non-directional distance function method. Then we evaluate the effect of ESER policy on eco-efficiency by adopting the Difference-in-differences method. The conclusions based on the findings include: (1) The eco-efficiency of Chinese cities has been effectively improved during the study period. (2) The baseline estimate reveals that the ESER policy has a positive and statistically significant effect on eco-efficiency, while the event study corroborates that ESER policy is ineffective in the short term, but the policy effect emerges three years later after the implementation of ESER policy. (3) A series of identification tests prove that the results are robust and credible. Our findings contribute to the understanding of energy saving and emissions reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interconnection of traffic infrastructure and the logistics industry's efficient operation is a basis for the reconstruction of industrial spatial structure and economic optimization of the urban cluster. In this paper, the Undesirable-SBM DEA model was used to calculate the logistics eco-efficiency (LEE) of the five coastal urban clusters for 2009–2017, and the panel fixed-effect Tobit model was used to analyze the LEE evolution mechanism. Findings show that the overall score for LEE in China's five coastal urban clusters is in a downward trend, and the gap in LEE between the cities is increasing. The temporal and spatial distribution of the LEE score has evolved from the pyramid structure of "the number of high-efficiency cities is the largest, followed by medium-efficiency in-between, and the least being low-efficiency cities" to the inverted triangle structure of "the number of low-efficiency cities is the largest, followed by medium-efficiency in-between, and the least being high-efficiency cities". The evolution of the spatial distribution of LEE in various urban clusters shows heterogeneous characteristics. The cities with middle- and high-investment volumes of logistics resources are mainly the core and sub-core cities, but most of them have low LEE scores. The employee excess rate is the main reason for the loss of LEE. Energy prices and government intervention significantly and negatively affect LEE, while environmental regulations positively and significantly affect the excess of capital stock and employees. The impact of influencing factors, such as economic development and environmental regulations, on LEE and input excesses is different among the five coastal urban clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's industrial parks have been playing a crucial role on driving regional economy development, but also been posing threats to local environment due to intensive resource consumption and waste emission. Chinese government facilitated eco-industrial development of industrial park, aiming to output more with less environmental burden. In our study, the eco-efficiency levels of 40 Chinese industrial parks in 2012 were assessed and ranked by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). This paper applied indicators relevant to resource, economy, and environment from industrial parks which can well reflect the characteristics of eco-efficiency conforming to the concept of sustainability. This paper introduced how to adjust less sustainable parks to be more sustainable according to the DEA results. The roles of industrial added value per capita, industrial structure, environmental policy and development scale as influence factors of eco-efficiency were discussed. The results show that large differences exist in the eco-efficiency of different industrial parks. It is shown that 20% of the parks are relatively efficient. 47% of the study parks being inefficient in terms of scale efficiency show decreasing returns to scale. Policy implementations for the management of industrial parks were also discussed based on the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining the most economic benefits while using the least resources and causing the least environmental damage is an urgent and key problem in achieving sustainable development. The concept of eco-efficiency provides a comprehensive perspective for observing and solving this problem. This paper proposes an extended data envelopment analysis model, named the WIN-US-SBM, as a comprehensive eco-efficiency evaluation method that can accommodate undesirable outputs, all the identification problems of decision-making units (DMUs), possible slacks of variables, and the problems of an insufficient number of available DMUs and intertemporal comparability. China's Western Taiwan Straits Economic Zone (WTS Economic Zone) is an important regional economic growth center. By applying WIN-US-SBM and ArcGIS software, we investigated data on the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of eco-efficiency in the WTS Economic Zone for the years 2009–2016. Later, the global Malmquist–Luenberger index was used to decompose the sources of growth in eco-efficiency. Finally, the main driving factors of eco-efficiency were explored through a Tobit regression analysis. The empirical results show that: (1) The overall eco-efficiency of the WTS Economic Zone had greatly improved, increasing by 11.46% annually, and the cumulative growth rate of eco-efficiency was 110.84% from 2009 to 2016. (2) The eastern area had the highest average eco-efficiency, followed by the western area and the middle area in that order. Also, the growth rate of the middle area ranked first (16.68%), whereas the eastern area had the slowest growth in eco-efficiency (7.22%). (3) On the whole, the growth of eco-efficiency was driven mainly by technological progress and was restricted by the decrease in management level, which implies that policy makers should focus on improving management and technical levels. (4) High levels of economic development, population density, market openness, and industrial structure had positive effects on the eco-efficiency of the WTS Economic Zone, whereas energy intensity and expenditure on science and technology had negative impacts. • An extended DEA model is proposed to measure eco-efficiency more comprehensively. • The proposed model can be widely applied to input-output efficiency evaluations. • The eco-efficiency of the WTS Economic Zone was evaluated based on a novel model. • The growth of eco-efficiency was driven mainly by technological progress. • The eco-efficiency level is negatively related to energy intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because the industrial process always results in pollutant emissions, pollution treatment has become necessary for the sustainable development of industry. This paper aims to evaluate the eco-efficiency of China's industrial sectors between 2007 and 2015 by using the directional distance function (DDF) of network data envelopment analysis (DEA), which contains a two-stage structure that divides industrial processes into three linked subprocesses, i.e., the production, wastewater and waste gas treatment processes. The results show that (1) from 2007 to 2015, the eco-efficiency and all process efficiencies of China's industries achieved considerable improvement. This finding indicates that China's industries have already achieved a win-win situation in the development of environmental protection and economic growth over the past few years. (2) During the sampling period, the highest performance was observed during the waste gas treatment process, followed by the wastewater treatment and production processes. During the same period, the performance of wastewater treatment exhibited the fastest growth, followed by the performance of production and waste gas treatment. (3) The eco-efficiencies of China's industrial subsectors exhibited significant industrial differences: the eco-efficiency of the mining industry was the lowest due to a decline in its performance during the waste gas treatment process, while due to the excellent performance during the production wastewater treatment process, the eco-efficiencies of the electricity, gas production and supply industries were the highest. • A two-stage network DEA framework for eco-efficiencies estimation proposed in this study. • The industrial process was divided into three linked sub-stages, i.e., the production, waste water and waste gas treatment stages. • The eco-efficiency of China's industrial sectors during 2007–2015 was analyzed in this study. • Results show that the eco-efficiency and all sub-stage efficiencies of China's industries achieved considerable improvement during the sample period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of growing environmental challenges and the push for sustainable agriculture, this study delves into the eco-efficiency of three-season indica rice across 16 key provinces in China from 2004 to 2021. Utilizing the super-efficiency Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) model coupled with the Malmquist index, our approach uniquely incorporates undesirable outputs, focusing on carbon emissions from chemical and plastic inputs. Findings indicate that while the overall efficiency hinged around a modest mean, periods like 2005–2006 and 2017–2018 spotlighted the pivotal role of technological advancements and judicious resource use. The Malmquist Index revealed an intricate interplay between technological change and efficiency, notably when accounting for environmental impact. Diverse provincial efficiencies spotlighted the need for bespoke strategies harmonizing efficiency objectives with ecological sustainability. This study emphasizes the indispensable role of technological innovation in advancing eco-efficiency and fostering sustainable agricultural practices, urging for policy changes that prioritize both technology adoption and ecological awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: It is widely acknowledged that China’s economic miracle has been achieved at the expense of its natural capital and environment. In order to deal with this problem, the circular economy (CE) has been chosen as a national policy for sustainable development. National laws and regulations have been enacted to facilitate the implementation of CE and national CE demonstration projects have been initiated such that national benchmarking activities could be completed. China is the first country to release nationally focused CE indicators so that objective and credible information on the status of CE implementation can be recognized. These CE indicators are valuable metrics for policy and decision-makers and can help achieve CE goals and outcomes. This unique indicator system has not been communicated to international communities. This paper aims to more broadly introduce this unique national CE indicator system. China’s CE efforts are first detailed with various provisions of the national indicator system. A critical analysis of such an indicator system is presented. We show that certain benefits can be gained, but substantive revision is also needed due to the lack of a comprehensive set of sustainability indicators which should include social, business indicators, urban/industrial symbiosis, absolute material/energy reduction, and prevention-oriented indicators. Concerns related to barriers on implementation are also presented in this paper. The knowledge gained from Chinese efforts on CE indicators are valuable to both developed and developing nations seeking to implement sustainable development measures within their regulatory policies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

It is important to investigate the sustainability nexus using composite ecological efficiency (eco-efficiency) indicators from quantitative and computational modeling perspectives. To provide a more comprehensive measure of eco-efficiency, this paper develops three data envelopment analysis (DEA) models incorporating metafrontier and undesirable outputs into a slacks-based measure (SBM), an epsilon-based measure (EBM), and minimum distance to weak efficient frontier (MinDW), respectively, named Meta-U-SBM, Meta-U-EBM, and Meta-U-MinDW. We show theoretically: if a decision-making unit (DMU) is being Meta-U-SBM-efficient, it is also being Meta-U-EBM-efficient and Meta-U-MinDW-efficient, and vice versa. For each DMU, its score measured by Meta-U-MinDW is the highest, while its score measured by Meta-U-SBM is the lowest. Using the proposed models, we make a first empirical attempt at measuring the eco-efficiency of the Key Environmental Protection prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2015. The results show that: (1) the eco-efficiency of eastern cities performs the best, followed by central cities and western cities. Cities not listed as resource-based (RB) outperform RB cities; (2) eastern cities are closer to metafrontier than central and western cities; and (3) efficiency change and technological progress dominate the basic trend of the eco-efficiency growth. Results derived from the proposed methodologies can help managers and policymakers in the city to assess sustainability development quantitatively and comprehensively, they can also provide implications for the environmental management of sustainability development at city level. Policy implementations are presented based on the empirical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Emergy theory has its unique advantage in the research of regional economic system''s ecological efficiency. Namely, it can integrate ecological system and social economic system into one body so as to conduct unified statistical measurement and analysis on the real value of natural environment and human kind''s production activities, and therefore overcoming the shortcoming of only focusing on economic analysis. Based on the reference of previous researchers’ research literatures , this paper utilizes the relevent economic, social and environment statistics of Hunan province''s Agro-ecological system for the year of 2008, and carries out the computation and data processing of the input and output emergy for this system. And in the meantime, the authors also have analyzed the current situation of the input-output structure , the system''s load capacity , and the system''s operation efficiency among with other problems. This paper intents to lay a solid foundation for the future further research on the sustainable development of Hunan province''s Agro-ecological system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract This paper develops a new paradigm to analyze the eco-efficiency of Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) in China and makes a first empirical attempt at examining whether the eco-efficiency in urban agglomerations (UA-s) outperform Non-urban agglomerations (Non-UA-s), or driving the Non-UA-s in promoting eco-efficiency using a dataset of 108 prefectural-level cities during 2003–2014. The main findings are as follows. First, the eco-efficiency of YREB gradually increases during the study period. Cities in UA-s with higher eco-efficiency experience an increasing spatial agglomeration while those in Non-UA-s show a slight downward shift. Second, in terms of eco-efficiency, both statistical test and econometrical test confirm that cities in UA-s outperform those in Non-UA-s. Third, the global and club convergence of eco-efficiency in YREB is ascertained. Forth, the eco-efficiency of UA-s exerts backwash effects on those in Non-UA-s, along with decreasing the convergence speed of eco-efficiency. Special issues are briefly discussed, lastly. Highlights • A new analysis paradigm is developed to explore the YREB's eco-efficiency. • Temporal-spatial evolution and empirical tests are conducted, indicating a proof that eco-efficiency in urban agglomerations outperform that in Non-urban agglomerations. • Urban agglomerations have backwash effects and slight constraints to Non-urban agglomerations in terms of eco-efficiency. • Some special issues are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of urbanization has had a dramatic impact on the ecological environment in China. In this paper, we first measure the urban eco-efficiency of 281 prefecture-level cities in China during 2006–2013 using the super-efficiency data envelopment analysis (SEDEA) model. We then propose a new comprehensive index system to assess urbanization. Finally, we quantitatively explore the relationship between urbanization and urban eco-efficiency based on a spatial econometric analysis. The results showed that China's average urban eco-efficiency and comprehensive level of urbanization of 281 prefecture-level cities had shown increase during 2006–2013. However, distinct spatial disparities exist among different cities. China's urbanization has significant characteristics of spatial agglomeration and spatial convergence during 2006–2013, with a high-to-low spatial distribution from eastern China to western China. Spatial effects play an important role in the changes of urban eco-efficiency in China through spatial spillover effects and regional replication and competition. Evidence from spatial econometric analysis reveals that an N-shaped relationship exists between urbanization and urban eco-efficiency, indicating that with the improvement of urbanization, urban eco-efficiency first increases, then declines and then increases again. The improvement of the level of technology and the formulation of effective environmental policies will promote the increase in urban eco-efficiency. The results provide significant references for urban ecological management and sustainable urban transformation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We analysed the influencing factors of urban eco-efficiency in Western China. • The US-SBM model and spatial econometric models were used for 84 cities' data. • Urban eco-efficiency showed a fluctuating upward trend during 2004–2017. • Economic development and urbanization had U-shaped impact on urban eco-efficiency. • Four explanatory variables showed a positive impact on urban eco-efficiency. Improving eco-efficiency can promote sustainable development. This study first evaluated the urban eco-efficiency of 84 cities in Western China from 2004 to 2017 by the undesirable-super-slack-based measure (US-SBM) and analysed their spatiotemporal characteristics, and then investigated its influencing factors using spatial econometric models. The results indicated that the urban eco-efficiency in Western China was at a relatively low level and showed a fluctuating upward trend with the highest average value of 0.65; however, capital cities of Western China have improved their eco-efficiency rapidly. Furthermore, there were obvious spatial spill-over impacts of the urban eco-efficiency in Western China. This paper also found that both the economic development level and urbanization level have "U" shaped impacts on Western China's urban eco-efficiency, which decreases at first and then rises. Similarly, increasing the proportion of secondary industry promotes urban eco-efficiency, and FDI, trade activities, improved environmental regulations as well as technological innovation capabilities have a positive impact on urban eco-efficiency in Western China. This paper also put forward corresponding policy suggestions to promote Western China's urban eco-efficiency. The present study may be helpful for policy-makers to balance economic development and environmental protection in Western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The improvement of regional eco-efficiency is a significant approach to achieve coordinated development of China's economic development and environmental protection, and an effective environmental regulation system is a crucial driver to the improvement of regional eco-efficiency. Based on the panel data of China's 30 provinces during 2000–2013, this paper divides environmental regulation into three types: command-and-control regulation, market-based regulation and voluntary regulation. STIRPAT model is employed to test the effects of these three environmental regulations on eco-efficiency in the eastern, central and western regions of China. Research results turn out that: (1) in the eastern region, market-based and voluntary environmental regulation have a positive impact on eco-efficiency improvement while command-and-control environmental regulation has no significant impact, and (2) in the central region, command-and-control and market-based environmental regulation can promote eco-efficiency more significantly compared with voluntary environmental regulation, and (3) in the western region, command-and-control environmental regulation plays a positive role in eco-efficiency improvement whilst market-based and voluntary environmental regulation have no significant impacts. These findings indicate that the effects of different types of environmental regulation on eco-efficiency apparently differ in regions. Finally, to optimize and adjust the environmental regulation tools, policy recommendations targeting different regions are concluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between industrial structure (IS) and eco-efficiency (EE) is intricate with mutual influence and constraint. Exploring the coordinated relationship between IS and EE is beneficial to the sustainable development of ecologically fragile areas. This paper estimates and analyses the levels of EE and IS in 39 prefecture-level cities of the Loess Plateau, discussing the comprehensive and coordinated development levels between industrial structure rationalization (ISR) and EE, industrial structure advancement (ISA) and EE based on the coupling coordination degree model (CCDM). The results showed that the comprehensive development of the Loess Plateau has rough and imbalanced issues. The EE and IS are developing at a relatively low level, and the spatial distribution shows the development trend of high in the east and down in the west. The CCD of ISA and EE performs better than that of ISR and EE, but neither has reached the collaborative coupling state. The poor CCD score in the Loess Plateau is primarily attributable to its relatively backward degree of integrated EE and IS. The results are expected to provide decision-making support for EE improvement and industrial restructuring in the Loess Plateau and other ecologically fragile areas. • Industrial structure rationalization and industrial structure advancement are quantified. • ISA performs better than ISR when coupling with EE. • Comprehensive coupling of all cities is at basic coordination level and below. • The backward level of EE and IS is the main reason for the low CCD score of the Loess Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and high-quality development has become an important development path for the global response to climate change. Eco-efficiency and innovation, as important indicator and core driver of green and high-quality development respectively, have attracted wide attention. However, the research on the relationship between innovation and eco-efficiency is mostly qualitative research, and the index selection of technological innovation and eco-efficiency is single. Therefore, this paper from the perspective of quantitative research based on the industrial enterprise data of 30 provinces from 2006 to 2019 to explore the mechanism between innovation network and eco-efficiency by constructing a three-stage evaluation model. The first step is to build the network SBM model to measure the innovation network efficiency, and decomposing it to explore the internal development and change rules of the innovation. And the SBM with undesirable output model is employed to evaluate the eco-efficiency and analyze the regional heterogeneity. Second, the coupling coordination model is constructed to quantitatively study the coupling coordination degree between innovation network efficiency and eco-efficiency. Finally, the influencing factors of coupling coordinated degree are discussed. The result shows that the innovation network comprehensive efficiency is lower than that of scientific and technological innovation efficiency and transformation of scientific and technological achievement efficiency, and the eco-efficiency of eastern China develops stably and is higher than that of the other three economic zones. Scientific technological innovation and the eco-efficiency of coupling coordination degree is higher than the transformation technological achievement and eco-efficiency of coupling coordination degree. Information and communication technology plays an important role in promoting innovation network comprehensive efficiency and eco-efficiency at different systems. • Decompose the efficiency of innovation network, and make the internal evolution law of innovation "white box" • Coupling coordination model is introduced to explore the dynamic interaction mechanism between innovation and eco-efficiency • To explore the ICT impact on innovation and ecological efficiency coupling coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) is the largest ecological restoration program (ERP) in the world. Since its full implementation in China in 2002, it has achieved remarkable eco-effects worldwide. However, few researchers have paid attention to the efficiency behind the ecological achievements. Understanding the eco-efficiency of the Sloping Land Conversion Program (EEoSLCP) and its spatial and temporal evolution is necessary for the design and implementation of other ERPs. Therefore, we took the counties reflecting the basic implementation units of the SLCP as the research samples, and evaluated and analyzed the EEoSLCP on the Loess Plateau (LP) and its spatial and temporal evolution based on remote sensing data and county statistics. Our results reveal that: (1) The SLCP in LP has achieved good eco-effects, but the eco-efficiency is generally low. (2) The EEoSLCP of the LP is increasing year by year in time and the spatial distribution pattern is "high in the southeast and low in the northwest" with a gradual decrease in efficiency from southeast to northwest. (3) The EEoSLCP in each county of the LP has a positive spatial autocorrelation and this correlation increases with the passage of time. (4) The EEoSLCP in each county of the LP shows relatively stable geographical spatial agglomeration characteristics of "H-H" and "L-L" in local spatial autocorrelation, and there are spatial neighboring companion effects and spatial neighboring spillover effects in the EEoSLCP in each county of the LP. (5) Natural conditions and redundancy of input and output are important reasons that affect the level of EEoSLCP. Our study will not only provide a general approach and methodological framework for evaluating the eco-efficiency of ERPs and their spatial and temporal evolution, but also provide better guidance and inspiration for the implementation of large-scale ERPs in the background of "The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration" and the "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we comprehensively consider the environment and economic performance by employing non-radial distance function to study the regional eco-efficiency of China's Non-ferrous Metals Industry (NMI) during 2000–2016, from the perspective of total-factor through Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)-Malmquist analysis framework. The change of regional technology gap ratio and the source of regional eco-inefficiency is also explored. Moreover, this paper analyzes the evolution of regional eco-efficiency and the main factors that contribute to changes in eco-efficiency. The results indicate that: First, the eco-efficiency of China's NMI has improved and has shown a certain degree of regional heterogeneity. Second, the main source of eco-inefficiency is management inefficiency in eastern China. The central, western and northeastern China all showed an increasing trend of technology gap inefficiency and a declining trend of management inefficiency during the sample period. Third, eastern China is regarded as a technology leader. The improvement of eco-efficiency in the central and northeastern China is mainly due to the promotion of technological progress, while the western region relies on the improvement of technical efficiency. The study suggests that strengthening scientific and technological research, promoting inter-regional technical exchanges are particularly important for eco-efficiency improvement and regional coordinated development in China's NMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving eco-efficiency of China’s manufacturing industry will be conducive to break the bottleneck of resources and environment constraints of industry development and further the coordinated development of economy and environment. This paper employs the panel data of 28 sub-sectors in China’s manufacturing industry during 2003–2013, divides these sub-sectors into three groups—the high, medium and low eco-efficiency industries according to the eco-efficiency level, and explores the effects of environmental regulation on technical innovation (“weak” Porter hypothesis) and eco-efficiency (“strong” Porter hypothesis) respectively. The results show that: (1) whether environmental regulation can promote the coordinated development of economy and environment in the manufacturing industry is contingent upon the reasonable level of environmental regulation. However, overall, the level of current environmental regulation is not yet sufficient to promote the improvement of eco-efficiency. (2) Industry heterogeneity exists in the effects of environmental regulation on technical innovation and eco-efficiency, that is, in the high and low eco-efficiency groups, the impact of environmental regulation on technical innovation is an inverted “U” type while that on eco-efficiency is an “U” type. (3) The impacts of environmental regulation on technical innovation and eco-efficiency in the medium eco-efficiency group are both “U” type, indicating that moderately enhancing environmental regulation can achieve the win-win situation of economic and environmental performance in this group. Lastly, we provide policy implications for different industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving eco-efficiency is an important way to promote environmental decoupling. Based on the input-output model and data envelopment analysis (DEA), this paper evaluates the eco-efficiency of 44 sectors in China with a new DEA model considering inter-sectoral linkages, then explores how the industrial network would be optimized as inefficient sectors become efficient under constant resources supply and constant final demand. The empirical results indicate that 22 sectors are inefficient and deserve further improvement. Inefficient sectors becoming efficient will drive the industrial network to evolve in a more intensive direction, and allow the economy to achieve greater economic benefits with less energy consumption and pollution. Accounting under constant resources supply suggests that increasing external demand should be a key to promoting environmental decoupling in the economy. Accounting under constant final demand indicates more stringent environmental regulations should be used to drive technology upgrades. • A new eco-efficiency measurement combining the input-output model and DEA is built. • The eco-efficiency and potential deficiencies of 44 sectors in China are evaluated. • The impact of inefficient sectors becoming efficient on the economy is measured. • The industrial network presents significant potential for environmental decoupling. • Key constraints to environmental decoupling in the industrial network are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency has been considered a valuable gauge for evaluating how efficient economic activities are in regard to resource inputs and eco-environmental pressures. Even though Ecosystem services (ESs) are inseparable from sustainable eco-environment, a paucity of literature has considered ESs in eco-efficiency research lines. Therefore, this study aims to construct a novel eco-efficiency evaluation framework by integrating ESs as natural capital input and measure it utilizing the Epsilon-based measure model for the county-level cities in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration (BTHUA) during the period 2005–2015. The spatial econometric technique is further performed to acquire quantitative evidence about whether ESs and other determinants impact eco-efficiency. The results revealed that eco-efficiency increased continuously in the whole BTHUA and BTHUA's optimized development functional areas, whereas eco-efficiency of BTHUA's sub-regions showed a significant temporal diversity. The average eco-efficiency values of cities in key development functional areas and restricted development functional areas showed the V-shaped trend (declining before 2010 and then rising). Interestingly, this study found that ESV economic loss may result in eco-efficiency decline for cities located in key development functional areas. From the spatial heterogeneity perspective, the city with high EE is mainly located in eastern BTHUA, whereas cities in the northern plateau areas, southwestern, and western BTHUA have relatively low EE. Furthermore, there existed a significant spatial autocorrelation and a spatial agglomeration heterogeneity, which suggests that the low-low correlation regions gradually being the most dominant spatial pattern. The results of spatial econometric model verified that water yield has the strongest positive effect on EE while soil erosion will lead to declining EE. This paper potentially provides new insights for future policy design of urban agglomeration sustainable deployment. • Ecosystem services (ESs) were incorporated into EE evaluation framework. • The epsilon-based model was used to measure EE of county-level cities in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration. • Annual average EE increased continuously in the BTHUA. • ESV economic losses may lead to the EE decline in key development functional area counties. • Water yield has the strongest positive effect on EE while soil erosion will lead to declining EE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regional level has been recognized as a good scale for implementing actions towards sustainable development (SD). An important pathway to improve regional sustainability is to locally carry out long-term ecological planning. In order to reduce environmental impacts from fast economic growth, several eastern provinces of China began Ecological Province Construction (EPC) at the end of 1990s. This paper presented a case for analyzing the progress of EPC in China via both qualitative and quantitative methods. We studied Shandong Eco-province Construction (SEPC) and evaluated its outcomes with its pre-set indicators in 2003–2010. A further evaluation with eco-efficiency and de-linking indices was conducted. The results indicated the pre-set indicators could not effectively reflect of the ecological province construction. It was recommended to introduce an evaluated framework combined with eco-efficiency and de-linking indices to indicate ecological planning at the regional scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coal industry is an essential energy industry in China. From 2008 to 2020, the global economic crisis, the policy of de-capacity, and the decline of the coal industry all profoundly affected the development of coal mining areas. This paper combined emergy synthesis and super-efficiency Slacks-Based Measure-Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM-DEA) considering undesirable output to evaluate the eco-efficiency in the Longkou coal mining area's circular economy industrial chain from 2008 to 2020. This research finds that the eco-efficiency in the coal mining area was 0.73 in 2008 and then showed an upward trend from 2008 to 2020. The eco-efficiency was relatively effective in 2011, 2013–2016, 2018–2020. Due to the progress in mining technology and the decline in waste emission, the eco-efficiency showed an upward trend, and the peak eco-efficiency value was 1.26 in 2019. The circular industrial chain contributed a lot to the high eco-efficiency in general. The eco-efficiency in 2012, 2017 was low owing to the recession of the coal industry and the overcapacity of coal. According to the analysis results, the coal mining areas should develop circular economy, cleaner production, and extend the circular economy industrial chain. In addition, the coal mining areas ought to expand enterprise-scale, develop new energy industries (e.g., biomass energy, wind energy, photovoltaic power generation). • Evaluated eco-efficiency in the coal mining area's circular economy industrial chain. • Emergy synthesis combines undesirable super-efficiency SBM-DEA is verified. • Eco-efficiency showed an upward trend from 2008 to 2020. • The recession of coal industry and overcapacity of coal affected eco-efficiency. • Coal mining area should develop circular economy, cleaner production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Forestry Ecological Restoration Program (FERP) aims to restore the world's degraded forest landscapes to restore biodiversity and mitigate climate change. Scientific evaluation of eco-efficiency of forestry restoration programs (EEoFERPs) is the basis for developing and implementing inclusive and sustainable development policy measures. We take the world's largest FERP—China's Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP)—as an example. Using 314 county-level panel data in the Loess Plateau, the core area for the implementation of the SLCP, during 2002–2015, this study aims to evaluate the eco-efficiency of the Sloping Land Conversion Program (EEoSLCP) based on a DEA model and to measure the eco-efficiency dynamic changes through a Malmquist index model. The results show that: (1) The overall EEoSLCP of the Loess Plateau is at a low level, with an average efficiency of only 0.357 from 2002 to 2015. EEoSLCP is on an overall upward trend, mainly influenced by technical efficiency. (2) There are significant spatial differences in EEoSLCP among counties on the Loess Plateau, with an overall decreasing distribution trend from south to north and from southeast to northwest. (3) The Malmquist index of the EEoSLCP grew at an average annual rate of 17.7%, with technical efficiency changes being the most important factor driving its growth. Our results suggest that in the future, when implementing or designing FERPs, it is necessary not only to select the appropriate restoration plan precisely while respecting the laws of nature, but also to improve the management and technical level of FERPs accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper reports China''s eco-efficiency trends and the cause of their dynamic behavior during the period 1978–2010. We show three main results. First, in general, eco-efficiency indicators increased for resource utilization, energy consumption and emissions for air and water, and relative decoupling occurred in China at a high level in the global context. Second, decoupling from economic growth has been absolute for the discharge of soot, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen. Third, during the years 2001–2010, the decoupling level was very low, and resource utilization was almost coupled with GDP due to the high consumption and dramatic increase of mineral extraction. The causes of the observed dynamics of eco-efficiency and decoupling were also explored, with the conclusion drawn that the effect of technology was the predominant positive factor while structure effects were the negative factors for resource and energy efficiency; the technological effect of pipe-end treatment played a dominant role in the improving eco-efficiency of pollutant emissions and decoupling from economic growth. Furthermore, implications for further policymaking to setting proper targets for the relative decoupling of resource use, especially for mineral resource use and economic growth, are suggested. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Building manufacturing creates product value like building space, and induces severe environmental influence at the same time. The idea of eco-efficiency (EE) can link a product or service value and the corresponding environmental influence together, but there has been little research that implements such idea on building manufacturing, such as the green building rating system of the comprehensive assessment system for building environmental efficiency (CASBEE) in Japan and the EcoEffect in Sweden. This paper proposes an emergy (spelled with an “m”) analysis-based methodology for EE evaluation of building manufacturing, where the building space (in cubic size) and the emergy amount of building manufacturing are selected as the indicators of product value and the environmental influence, respectively. Six residential buildings that include multi-storeys, moderate high-rises and high rises are selected averagely from two Chinese famous cities, namely Beijing and Shanghai. The evaluation results can provide directions to assess environmental influence and thus to heighten the EE of building manufacturing. The EE evaluation result can even be used as the base of a new green building (or eco-building) rating system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With the increasing environmental issues, now cleaner production has been implemented across all the regions of China. During this process, regional governments have played a leading role for promoting cleaner production. Main measures include coordinating the various stakeholders, providing financial support, stipulating appropriate policies and conducting capacity building programs. Such an innovative initiative is quite unique and should be further studied. This paper reflects such a perspective through a case study of Liaoning province. We first introduce the main initiatives for the promotion of cleaner production in Liaoning and then identify the key barriers. Our focus is to provide suggestions for future improvements. Finally we make our conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Eco-efficiency is an instrument for sustainability analysis, indicating how efficient the economic activity is with regard to nature''s goods and services. This paper conducts an eco-efficiency analysis for regional industrial systems in China by developing data envelopment analysis (DEA) based models. Using real data of 30 provinces in China, an empirical study is employed to illustrate the pattern of regional industrial systems'' eco-efficiency. The results indicate that Tianjing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Beijing, Hainan and Qinghai are relatively eco-efficient. The results also show that, provinces with higher level GDP per capita will have higher eco-efficiency relatively with an exception of Hainan and Qinghai. The study provides deeper insights into the causes of eco-inefficiency, and gives further implications on environmental protection strategies in China. In the article, we also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using DEA in eco-efficiency analysis and areas that require further work are presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Eco-efficiency is evaluated from manufacturing and environmental protection stage. • Eco-efficiencies of two stages in most China's provinces are at a low level. • There are differences in two-stage eco-efficiency among China's provinces. • The effects of "Belt and Road" on the eco-efficiency of two stages are opposite. This paper divides the industrial eco-economic system into manufacturing stage and environmental protection stage, uses the improved metabolic GM(1,1) model and TOPSIS-DEA cross-efficiency model to evaluate the two-stage eco-efficiency of China's provinces from 2005 to 2020. On this basis, regression discontinuity is utilized to analyze the heterogeneous impact of "Belt and Road" initiative (BRI) on the eco-efficiency of industrial eco-economic system and two stages. The results show that: the eco-efficiency of industrial eco-economic system (EIES) and the eco-efficiency of manufacturing stage (EMS) have been at a relatively high level, while the eco-efficiency of environmental protection stage (EEPS) is still at a low level so far. The EIES and EMS of the provinces in eastern region are higher than those of the central, western and northeastern regions, while the EEPS of the western region is higher than that of the other three regions. The impacts of BRI on EIES and EEPS are significantly positive, while the BRI has a negative effect on EMS. In addition, there is a significant positive relationship between economic development level and EIES, EMS, and EEPS, industrial structure can promote EIES and EMS, and technological innovation has a significant positive correlation with EMS, a significant negative correlation with EEPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: With increasing environmental issues and depleting resources, the effective application of green government procurement (GGP) is urgently needed and potentially can have greater impacts in the developing world rather than in the developed world. Such an approach can help promote the general goal of sustainable development and address environmental issues through purchasing and facilitating the use of environmentally friendly services and products. This paper addresses this issue by employing a case study on China. We first trace the development of the GGP concept, its spread to Asian countries, and a number of approaches used to expand GGP adoption. We then review current practices in China on GGP, and analyze and identify some of the current barriers and problems in promoting green procurement in the Chinese governmental sector. We finally seek to identify possible appropriate capacity-building solutions, in order to facilitate the application of GGP in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• It proposes a hybrid multi-period network structure with feedback. • It provides an unbiased evaluation under the cooperation hypothesis. • A binary heuristic algorithm is proposed to obtain the optimal efficiency. • It is empirically supported by using the 5-year ecological data of China. Decision-making unit (DMU) internal structure simulation is the basis for network Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to open "black box" and evaluate system efficiency with complex internal structure. Based upon summarizing and analyzing the existing model assumptions in network DEA, this paper proposes a hybrid multi-period DEA model with feedback to open the internal structure of the DMU system, as well as to provide horizontal comparison of the efficiency change of a same DMU at different time periods. In the model construction, the global production frontier is used for multi-period evaluation, Chebyshev distance is used to construct an unbiased two-stage model. Under the cooperation hypothesis, it is considered that the two stages are equally important, which solves the defect that the current two-stage method is not unique in its optimal solution and has two-stage contribution bias. A binary heuristic algorithm is proposed to reduce the time complexity of model solving while maintaining relatively high accuracy. The correctness and feasibility of the algorithm are demonstrated through the investigation of the relevant properties. Finally, the 5-year ecological data of China is used for illustrative application, providing suggestions for future environmental governance. Several comparative experiments are conducted to demonstrate the advantages of our proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry is the largest sector for energy consumption and pollution emissions in China. Thus, improving industrial eco-efficiency is necessary for China to achieve sustainable development. Based on panel data from 31 industrial sectors from 2001 to 2015, a three-stage data envelopment analysis model was used to empirically explore industrial eco-efficiency and its influencing factors from the perspective of industrial heterogeneity. The results show that the overall level of industrial eco-efficiency in China is not high, first declining and then rising during the study period. Low eco-efficiency was mainly due to low scale efficiency. After removing the influences of external environmental factors and noise, industry profit rates, ownership structures, and foreign direct investments were all significantly and positively correlated with eco-efficiency. Environmental regulations were significantly and negatively correlated, while the intensity of research and development exhibited no linear relationship. Industrial heterogeneity significantly affects eco-efficiency. Capital-intensive industries had the highest eco-efficiencies, followed by resource-intensive industries and labor-intensive industries, respectively. Comparison of technical efficiency (TE) before and after adjustment on a panel of 31 industries in China from 2001 to 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency can effectively measure the relationship between economy, resources, environment, and development. Understanding eco-efficiency is of great practical significance for decision makers tasked with addressing and delivering sustainable socioeconomic development. Based on an "undesirable output Slacks-Based Measure models," this study evaluated the eco-efficiency of 285 Chinese cities during the period 2004–2014, analyzing spatiotemporal dynamics and influencing factors using a Spatial Autocorrelation Panel Data Model. The main results are as follows: From the spatial perspective, eco-efficiency in Chinese cities generally evidenced an M-shaped trend (increasing-decreasing-increasing-decreasing), and imbalanced spatiotemporal dynamics. Furthermore, the urban eco-efficiency generally presented a distinct convergence of HH cluster and LL cluster clubs, with the latter being the most dominant. From the regional point of view, there existed a decreasing trend in the efficiencies of cities, from eastern China to central and western China. In addition, we identified significant differences in the eco-efficiency of different cities in China, and the coefficient of variation of eco-efficiency showed a general decrease. The results of our estimation of the factors affecting urban eco-efficiency showed that the economic development level, the industrial structure, import and export trade, and the information level all had significant positive influence, and local government expenditure, social retail sales of consumer goods, and infrastructure all had a negative effect on urban eco-efficiency. This paper puts forward numbers of suggestions for ways to promote social, ecological, and economic development in Chinese cities, based on our findings. • China's city-level eco-efficiency were estimated using undesirable output SBM model. • Eco-efficiency in China presents significant spatial and temporal distribution characteristics. • Effects of socioeconomic development were explored using spatial autocorrelation panel data model. • Economic development, industrial structure, import and export trade had significant positive impact. • Local government expenditure, social retail sales of consumer goods, and infrastructure had a negative effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yu, W.; Chen, T.; Yu, S., and Wang, H., 2020. Study on spatial-temporal distribution and dynamic evolution of eco-efficiency in China's coastal provinces. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 454–458. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The dynamic trends and convergence of eco-efficiency were analyzed using the super-efficiency data envelopment analysis model (US-DEA) with undesirable output and the σ convergence model based on the panel data of 11 coastal provinces in China from 2008 to 2017 in accordance with the eco-efficiency evaluation characteristics of coastal areas. A Markov transition probability model was introduced to analyze the transition probability of eco-efficiency in the time domain and predict the future eco-efficiency evolution of coastal areas in China. The results show that: (1) The eco-efficiency of each province in coastal areas is increasing year after year, presenting a convergence trend. (2) The eco-efficiency of coastal areas is transitioning gradually rather than suddenly. The upward transition probability is greater than the downward transition probability, indicating that the positive probability of eco-efficiency is greater than the negative probability. (3) The eco-efficiency of coastal areas in China will increase year after year in the future based on the prediction of the eco-efficiency transition probability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What influences Chinese agricultural eco-efficiency (AEE)? Taking the underlying technology heterogeneity into account, we proposed an analytical framework which combines meta-frontier analysis and a non-separable hybrid model with undesirable output (Meta-Hybrid-U). The general aim of this study is to apply the proposed framework to measure the AEE in 30 provinces in China from 1997 to 2015 under the group-frontier and meta-frontier. The dimensions of management and technology were used for the deconstruction of the agricultural eco-inefficiency (AEI) of various provinces. The Dagum Gini coefficient method was used for decomposition of regional differences in the AEE in China. Three main results were found. First, the mean AEE of all Chinese provinces under the meta-frontier is low, and there is much room for improvement. Secondly, at the national level, the AEI is caused by both the management inefficiency (MI) and technology gap inefficiency (TGI). At the regional level, the AEI in eastern China is wholly caused by the MI, while the AEI in the central and western regions is caused by both the MI and TGI. Finally, during the studied period, there is an increasing trend for the overall Gini coefficient of the AEE in China. The regional differences in the AEE in China are mainly due to the inter-regional differences and the intensity of transvariation. The paper also includes some suggestions for policies to improve China's AEE and to reduce the inter-regional differences in China's AEE. • We employed Meta-Hybrid-U model to measure China's AEE. • We examined the source of China's AEE loss from the dimensions of management and technology. • The Dagum Gini coefficient was used for measurement and decomposition of regional differences in China's AEE. • The AEE under the meta-frontier was not greater than the AEE under the group-frontier. • There was an overall increasing trend for the overall Gini coefficient of the AEE in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By-production (BP) technologies, modeled as an intersection of intended production technologies (production efficiency) and nature's residual-generation technologies (environmental efficiency), was applied in this paper to estimate the regional eco-efficiency in China during 2008–2017. This model is firstly formulated by directional-distance-function (DDF) and Färe-Grosskopf-Lovell (FGL), and then modified by bootstrap sensitivity analysis. The empirical results demonstrate that: (i) BP technologies based on the multiple production relations tend to produce lower efficiency scores than conventional model based on a single production relation. Moreover, BP-FGL can be a better choice for the measurement of efficiency index; (ii) The low economic development level is not necessarily associated with low environmental efficiency. Most of the eastern provinces had superior production efficiencies while inferior environmental efficiencies compared with inland provinces; (iii) At the regional level, a greater improvement in environmental efficiency than in production efficiency can be observed, and the gaps on the latter had widened over time among these regions; (iv) The great efficiency gaps between production efficiency and environmental efficiency appeared in the North Coast and Northwest, which are disadvantage to the inter-regional coordinated development. The results indicate that promoting production performance is crucial to improve the eco-efficiency for sustainable development in China. Image 10492 • BP technologies based on multiple production relation is applied. • Most of the eastern provinces have superior production efficiency. • Some western provinces perform well in environmental efficiency. • A greater improvement in environmental efficiency than in production efficiency. • Great efficiency gaps appeared in North Coast and Northwest regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We explore the eco-efficiency by combining emergy indicators and DEA Malmquist approach. • We reveal the relationship between regional metabolism, environment and economy. • We analyze the technical change and efficiency change of 26 regions respectively. Economic development is generally accompanied by the consumption of ecosystems, so it is particularly essential to evaluate the operation of the economy-ecosystem quantitatively. In this paper, we explore the emergy evaluation indicators system with 23 indicators and measure the change of eco-efficiency in China from 2009 to 2015 by employing a new DEA Malmquist productivity approach. The results show that the economic-ecosystem operation from 2012 to 2015 is getting worse than that from 2009 to 2012. The Malmquist index is then decomposed into efficiency change (EC) and technology change (TC). The annual average value of EC in the first three years is less than 1, and the annual average value of EC in the last three years is more than 1, which indicates that the relative technical efficiency is increasing year by year. From the perspective of technical change, the growth rates of the first three years and three years after are greater than 1, which shows that technology is not the main factor that restricts the operation of the economy and ecosystem in 26 provincial administrative regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]