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This study investigates an innovative approach to enhance urban green space access by adding new park entrances rather than expanding the green space itself, aiming for sustainable urban development. Taking Shenzhen as a case study, we first developed a universal framework to identify potential locations for new entrances and used network analysis in ArcGIS to quantify green service improvements. Then, under the 15-min city concept, the impact on green accessibility and equity was assessed using the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method and Gini coefficient analysis. Results indicate that (1) new entrances enabled 21.10% of residents to access parks with an average reduced travel distance of 214.71 m, and increased the population within a 15-min walk to parks by 7.34%. (2) This strategy proved cost-effective, serving 27.66% of residents at 1/38 the cost of creating new green spaces. (3) Furthermore, the accessible green area within a 15-min walking or cycling increased by 0.18 km2 and 1.42 km2, respectively, without affecting green equity. Our findings support the policy of adding park entrances as a feasible and efficient urban strategy, supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 11, and the policy can be implemented across almost cities. • A proposed framework identifies 203 new park entrances from a pool of 2,237 candidates. • New entrances reduce the average travel distance to parks by 214.71 m for 21.10% of residents. • Adding green space costs 37.85 times more than new entrances for serving an equivalent population. • The policy of adding park entrances is suitable for most cities and contributes to sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

This study aimed to reveal how China's green finance reform and innovation demonstration zone policy affects ecologically sustainable development under the constraints of government environmental attention. Employing multi-period DID (Difference-in-Difference) and DDD (Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference) as the base model, the study tested the mechanism of the policy's effect on ecologically sustainable development, using panel data from 277 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2020. Endogeneity tests including Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS), counterfactual tests, and other robustness checks, were employed to enhance the study's validity. The research findings are as follows: (1) The policy effectively promotes ecologically sustainable development, and this conclusion remained valid even after conducting several robustness tests. (2) The more pronounced the government's emphasis on environmental preservation, the greater its efficacy in fostering ecologically sustainable development. (3) The stimulating effect of the policy on ecologically sustainable development is more pronounced in cities with higher ecological quality and a larger population. This study not only offers new analytical perspectives for comprehensively investigating the green finance policy but also emphasizes that enhanced policy outcomes hinge on the implementation of green financial reforms and innovations tailored to local conditions. Additionally, it provides valuable policy insights for optimizing the government's role in fostering ecologically sustainable development. (e.g., optimizing the governmental role in fostering ecologically sustainable development, enhancing both the scope and intensity of green finance policy, and harnessing the synergies between green finance policy and environmental protection policy). [Display omitted] • Green finance policy can improve ecologically sustainable development. • Government environmental attention can promote the effectiveness of green finance policy. • Focuses on 277 prefecture-level cities in China between 2006 and 2020. • Uses multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) as the base model. • China should give high priority to green finance policy to improve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental protection and sustainable development are now profoundly ingrained in the public consciousness in the modern era of the global green revolution. First, this paper uses an evolutionary game model to theoretically analyse the impact of environmental regulation and green finance on enterprises by dissecting the game behaviour between local governments, banks and enterprises. Then, we incorporate entrepreneurial spirit into the model to determine whether entrepreneurial spirit accelerates the achievement of green sustainability objectives. Environmental regulation and green finance are found to contribute substantially to the innovation of green technologies by local enterprises, while entrepreneurial spirit accelerates this process. Finally, we empirically test the findings based on a prefecture-level panel dataset from 2007 to 2020. We find that green finance has a positive impact in Central and Western cities of China, while Eastern cities are in greater need for government environmental regulation controls. For entrepreneurial spirit, the incentive effect of entrepreneurial spirit on the level of green technology innovation is more significant in Central and Western regions of China. This paper enriches the field of research on entrepreneurial spirit and regional green sustainable development by providing empirical evidence for the evaluation of environmental regulatory and green financing policy impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the current ecologicalization of social policies, the National Marine Ecological Civilization Construction Demonstration Zone led by the Chinese government is not only a carrier of marine ecological civilization construction, but also a test field for building a maritime power and promoting the sustainable development of the marine economy and society. This paper considers the establishment of the demonstration zones as a "quasi-natural experiment". Utilizing panel data from 53 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2006 to 2020, a time‑varying difference‑in‑difference model is applied to examine whether this ecological policy can promote the elevation of green development levels of the marine economy, aiming to achieve a harmonious balance between "clear waters and green mountains" and "mountains of gold and silver". The results indicate that the establishment of the demonstration zones significantly enhances the level of green development of the marine economy. Technological innovation and industrial structure are identified as two crucial mechanisms influencing green development of the marine economy, both exhibiting positive mediating effects. The impact of the establishment of the demonstration zones on the promotion of green development of the marine economy is more pronounced in the East China coastal region and the Central-south coastal region compared to the North China and Northeast coastal regions. Additionally, this policy effectively stimulates green development of the marine economy in medium and small cities and non-resource-based cities. Finally, corresponding policy recommendations are proposed from the perspectives of differentiated strategies, industrial structure adjustments, and technological innovation mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper explores the effect of green finance on SDGs. • GFPZ significantly promotes SDGs. • Green finance indirectly affects SDGs through technological innovation. • The impact of green finance on SDGs exhibits heterogeneity. In pursuit of actively advancing energy transformation, ensuring the attainment of carbon peak and carbon neutrality objectives, and fostering sustainable development, China has dedicated substantial efforts. This article treats the Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zones (GFPZ) as a quasi-natural experiment, thereby constructing an analytical framework for evaluating the impact of green finance on achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We empirically investigate this impact by analyzing data from 316 cities in China spanning the period from 2011 to 2020, employing a difference-in-differences (DID) model. The study suggests a gradual improvement in the level of sustainable development in China. Moreover, green finance contributes to SDGs, and the conclusion is robust. Further investigation reveals that green finance improves sustainable development by fostering technological innovation. Heterogeneity results indicate that the influence is notably more pronounced in western regions and locales characterized by stringent environmental regulations. This article offers fresh perspectives on achieving SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper chooses 98 mining cities in China from 2007 to 2021 as research samples. It investigates the policy practice of green development in mining cities according to the point of view of policy combination. We establish a super-efficiency model considering undesirable output to measure the green development level of mining cities and further construct a dynamic panel model based on the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to test the transmission mechanism and heterogeneous effect of different types of environmental regulation to promote the green development of mining cities. The findings demonstrate that environmental regulations about command control, market incentives, and public participation can all help mining cities develop more sustainably. Additionally, there is a nonlinear relationship of an inverted "U" shape between the degree of green development in mining cities and environmental regulations related to command control. Combining policies can encourage the green development of mining cities, but there are crowding-out and substitution effects when environmental regulations are combined with market forces. Environmental regulation promotes urban green development by improving the energy consumption structure of mining cities. In this process, the level of digital development positively regulates the impact of environmental regulation on urban green development. Therefore, the government should choose environmental regulation tools and combinations according to local needs to achieve a multi-pronged effect of energy structure improvement and urban green development and use digital technology to support the green development of mining cities. • Command-controlled, market-motivated, and public-participating environmental regulations can significantly promote urban green development by promoting the improvement of energy structure. • There is an inverted' U' -shaped nonlinear relationship between the intensity of command and control environmental regulation and the green level of mining cities. • The level of digitization can positively regulate the relationship between environmental regulation and urban green development. • The combination of environmental regulations have a significant positive impact on urban green development. • The combination of environmental regulations has heterogeneity in urban green development due to factors such as regional resource endowment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]