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The joint participation of multiple subjects is crucial for environmental governance. Using panel data for 273 Chinese cities during 2013–2019, this study investigates the impact and mechanism of public demands on environmental pollution. The results demonstrate that public demands measured by the number of environmental complaints placed on government leaders significantly reduce environmental pollution. Furthermore, increases in the rate and speed of government responses improve the effect of public demands on environmental governance. Public demands placed on provincial leaders reduce local environmental pollution to a greater extent than public demands placed on prefectural and county leaders. Province-level governments are more willing to consider public opinions and attach more importance to environmental governance; Prefecture-level governments prioritize province-level governments' attention to the environment when implementing environmental governance. Moreover, strong political ties between provincial and prefectural leaders and long tenures among prefectural leaders strengthen the pollution reduction effect of public demands placed on provincial leaders. The reduction effect of environmental complaints on pollution emission is more significant in cities with high level of Internet construction and environmental disclosure. Our results illustrate the role of public demands in environmental governance, offering a reference for developing effective environmental policies. • Public demands placed on government leaders reduce environmental pollution. • Effects are strengthened under effective government response. • Demands to provincial leaders are more effective than those to prefectural leaders. • Strong political ties and long tenures of prefectural leaders enhance the effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accompanying China's accession to the World Trade Organization, the rapid development of the Chinese economy has led to increasingly serious environmental issues. However, the inherent mechanisms underlying the impact of Environmental Information Disclosure (EID) policy and trade on the environmental effects of Chinese paper enterprises remain unclear in the context of the era's requirement for a resource-conserving and environmentally-friendly society. The pollution problem in the papermaking industry has received attention worldwide, and how to balance the environmental and development issues of papermaking enterprises is an urgent issue that needs to be solved in the academic community. This study explores the impact mechanisms of EID policy and trade on the environmental effects of enterprises from the perspective of financial constraints. Utilizing the PSM-DID model, the study investigates the moderating effects of financial constraints on the EID policy and import-export trade. The findings reveal that both external and internal financial constraints have negative, detrimental effects on the environmental effects of the EID policy and trade. These constraints impede research and development investment and technological upgrades, hinder productivity improvement, and hamper the realization of "regulatory and trade innovation effects". This study enriches our understanding of the mechanisms by which trade affects the environmental effects of Chinese paper enterprises and further identifies the impacts of Chinese EID policy and trade on pollution emissions by enterprises, providing a theoretical basis and practical foundation for the government in formulating financial, environmental, and trade policies. • Analyzing the environmental effects of Chinese paper enterprises from the perspective of financing constraints. • This study validated the research hypothesis using three micro databases. • This study decomposes the impact mechanism into three aspects: scale effects, technical effects, and structural effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transboundary air pollution is a global environmental and public health problem including in the U.S., where pollution emissions from China, the largest emitter of anthropogenic air pollution in the world, can travel across the Pacific Ocean and reach places like California and Oregon. We examine the effects of transboundary air pollution following major events in China, specifically sandstorms, a natural-occurring source of air pollution, and Chinese New Year, a major 7-day holiday, on background air quality in the U.S. We focus on high elevation sites on the west coast between 2000 and 2013. We use regression analysis and a natural experiment to exploit the variation in the timing of these events in China, which are plausibly uncorrelated to other factors that affect air quality in China and the U.S. We find that sandstorms are associated with statistically significant increases in background coarse and fine particulate matter (PM) in the U.S., representing between 16 and 39% of average weekly PM levels. We also find Chinese New Year is associated with modest reductions in background air quality in the U.S., representing between 0.4 and 2.5% of PM levels. Findings are robust to different models and falsification tests. These results suggest that regression analysis could be a powerful tool to complement other, more widely used techniques in the environmental sciences that study this problem. This also has important implications for policymakers, who could track major sandstorms in China and prepare for possible increased foreign pollution emissions in the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the downscaling and integration of zonal management and control of various environmental pollution sources is an effective way to systematically deal with the current high-intensity and complex environmental problems. Through single-factor and comprehensive pollutant emission intensity evaluation and cluster analysis, we built a full-coverage and cross-scale environmental spatial management and control system for pollution sources, then proposed environmental zoning patterns and pollution control strategies at three scales in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China. At the grid scale, the reclassified 7 types of pollution source spaces can be divided into 5 levels based on pollution emission intensity, and the most urgent environmental control subjects can be determined accordingly. Up to the county scale, combined with emission intensity and regional functions, 305 counties can be divided into 5 control intensity zones, which directly correspond to different environmental control intensity, requirements and policies. Finally, at the city scale, 41 cities can be clustered into 7 pollution control zones, which are classified and named as the three-level form of geographic location, development orientation and pollution source characteristics. Fully using the zoning units at different scales of cities, counties and grids can break the limitation of inherent administrative boundaries and allow environmental integration policies to be implemented across departments and regions, also let differentiated policies be more accurately implemented to different administrative levels and pollution source, and then truly improve the efficiency of environmental management. • Geographical spatial structure affects environmental function benefit. • Downscale control system improves environmental management efficiency. • Controlling pollution source spaces through multi-scale zoning. • Inter-city integration zoning breaks the limitation of administrative powers. • Differentiated zoning within county improves the matching of environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resolving the negative externality of environmental pollution has always been a concern in both the theoretical and practical space. To stimulate enterprises to participate in environmental governance actively, China has implemented a series of environmental regulation policies. The Emission Trading Pilot Scheme (ETPS) is an example of such policies implemented to ensure the gradual transition toward marketization. From a micro-enterprise perspective, the study examines how this policy achieves the dual effects of reducing emissions and promoting energy efficiency. We further explore potential channels through which this policy influences the dual effects. We empirically find ETPS to reduce the pollution emissions of enterprises significantly. However, the pollution reduction effect is mainly achieved by encouraging enterprises to strengthen cleaner production rather than through end governance. In addition to bringing environmental dividends, we observe ETPS to improve fossil energy efficiency by about 7.5% indirectly. We conclude by urging policy makers and participants to optimize energy structures and adjust intermediate input as they serve as significant pathways through which ETPS can affect fossil energy efficiency. The ETPS can encourage enterprises to actively step out of their "comfort zone" of environmental governance to be viewed as an effective environmental regulation policy. • The micro impact of Emission Trading Pilot Scheme (ETPS) is assessed. • The ETPS achieves environmental dividends by promoting cleaner production. • The ETPS significantly improves fossil energy efficiency by about 7.5%. • Energy structure and intermediate input are channels to boost energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]