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In this study, we assess the sustainability of the electricity sector and explore the correlation between government environmental policies and the sector's sustainability. We find that at the national level, the sustainability of the electricity sector has exhibited a notable upward trend in recent years. However, this trend has not been evenly distributed across different regions of the country. Second, government environmental policies have a significant positive impact on promoting the sustainability of the electricity sector. Third, the impact of government environmental policies on the sustainability of the electricity sector is more pronounced in the western region of China. • We explore the impact of government environmental policy on the sustainability of China's electricity sector. • Government environmental policies can significantly promote the sustainability of China's electricity sector. • Technological progress is an effective channel between government environmental policies and the sustainability of the electricity sector. • The sustainability of the electricity sector is most significantly impacted by the environmental policies of the government in western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, China enacted its "most stringent command-and-control" directive for regulating air pollution in major Chinese cities as part of the initiative to achieve the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan established by the government. This study explored the directive's effects on the public's risk perceptions of haze in the country. Specifically, we identified public views regarding haze-related risks, the factors that influence their perceptions, and the changes in such perceptions by administering questionnaires to residents of implementation and non-implementation areas in Tianjin City before and after six months–regulation application in the metropolis. The panel data obtained from the survey were then subjected to difference-in-differences analysis. Surprisingly, the analysis showed that the directive significantly reduced the public's perceptions of risk, even when we controlled for factors related to knowledge, attitudes, health conditions, and expectations from government governance of air pollution. This finding suggested that the evaluation of other control measures that prohibit all construction-related activities during winter and the subsequent formulation of optimal solution and clarification as to what constitutes sustainable energy usage. The external costs of such use should be considered in policy making. • Haze persists in the Beijing–Tianjing–Hebei region. • Urban and rural areas had nearly parallel risk perceptions before regulations. • The public prioritizes the short-term effects of regulation over its sustainability. • The regulation significantly reduced the public's risk perceptions of haze. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In recent years, there has been heightened interest in creating more environmentally sustainable forms of urban development in China. Central in these greening initiatives has been increased attention on promoting public participation in community-based environmental activities. Focusing on China’s green community initiatives, we examine the production and effects of participation in a state-led development program. Our analysis considers how incentives for program organizers and participants are structured by broader political and economic imperatives facing Chinese cities. We also consider what influence China’s history of neighborhood-based mobilization campaigns had on the meanings and methods of participation in green communities. To understand how urban development processes and memories of mobilization influence participation at the local level, we present two examples of the community greening process from the city of Guangzhou, comparing policy outcomes between a new and older neighborhood. This article seeks to demonstrate that the participatory processes associated with such an urban environmental initiative cannot be adequately understood without reference to earlier participatory practices and broader policy priorities guiding development in Chinese cities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The importance of improving the effectiveness of Plan EIA and SEA-type evaluations in China cannot be overstated: at a time when the country''s economy is being boosted by a stimulus package worth over RMB 400trillion – largely for infrastructure – the pressure on China''s already strained environment and resource base is bound to increase. The aim is to propose the criteria for plan EIA''s effectiveness to raise the awareness of the need to strengthen the performance of the assessment and maximize its potential benefits. The authors first review critically the discourse on the effectiveness of the impact assessment, identifying three dimensions: substantive, procedural and incremental. The resulting conceptual framework allows them to interpret the weaknesses of the Chinese discourse on the effectiveness and of the practice of the Plan EIA to date. The result is the identification of a clear gap, both in terms of the breadth of the concept, and in terms of the quality of the existing criteria, which tend to be very generic to the point of inapplicability. The analysis also reveals a need for transitioning from formal models of the Plan EIA to more strategic approaches, in a gradual manner that is consistent with context-specificities. The proposal of a set of preliminary criteria for effectiveness is therefore structured on three levels. This framework is meant to input into the ongoing debate on how to improve the practice of PEIA and the SEA-type evaluations in China, and provide ideas for a government strategy aimed at maximizing the positive impact of PEIAs on planning, as well as on the context of application. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]