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As a fundamental factor driving economic growth, natural capital plays a key role in sustainable development. This paper incorporates various economic growth proxy variables into the MRW model and uses the BMA method to tackle the uncertainty issue of the model. Based on China's provincial-level panel data, this paper examines the impact of renewable natural capital and non-renewable natural capital on the country's economic growth and then carries out multiple mechanism analysis with the CART algorithm. The main findings are: 1 Natural capital has a significant deep impact on China's economic growth in models incorporating proximate and fundamental theories, and the direction of natural capital's impact varies with proxy indicators, which shows a significant 'Curse' effect of dependence and a 'Blessing' effect of abundance. This panoramic perspective can reconcile the serious disagreement on 'Resource Curse' among the literature. 2 The effects of renewable natural capital are in line with the 'Resource neutral' hypothesis, while nonrenewable natural capital has a stronger impact on economic growth in terms of both the 'Curse' effect of dependence and the 'Blessing' effect of abundance, and the overall effect on economic growth depends on patterns of resource use. 3 Under high physical capital accumulation, natural capital has a more fundamental impact on economic growth, and the 'Blessing' effect of abundance has been significantly enhanced. Based on their resource endowments and economic development levels, all provinces should reinvest natural resource rents in national wealth to mitigate the 'Resource Curse' through effective protection of natural capital and compensation from reinvestment. This is a reasonable way to embark on a win-win sustainable development path of economic development and ecological civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientifically characterizing the intrinsic mechanism of the biased reduction targets affecting agricultural green innovation is of great practical significance for the systematic promotion of the greening transformation of China's agricultural development mode. This paper first constructed a two-sector endogenous economic growth model, theoretically deducing the intrinsic mechanism by which the bias reduction targets were adjusted through the green transformation of agricultural production input factors, which in turn affected the research and development decision-making of the agricultural innovation sector. To the end, this paper treated the strategy of zero growth in synthetic fertilizer use (ZGS) implemented in 2015 as a policy shock and empirically assessed its green innovation effect using the staggered difference-in-differences model. The results showed that ZGS significantly contributed to the increase of green patents in Chinese agriculture. The above conclusion still held after a series of robustness tests, including using terrain complexity as an instrumental variable, estimating the robust staggered difference-in-differences model, eliminating policy interference, altering the estimated model, and replacing the explanatory variables. However, the obvious regional heterogeneity of this effect was reported: the higher the level of marketization and digitalization, the fuller the release of this innovation effect; and that ZGS was more significant in inducing the green innovation activities of enterprises and individuals than of innovation bodies such as universities and research institutions. Finally, this paper also empirically tested the two paths of the theoretical model about the green innovation effect triggered by the biased reduction targets. The study confirmed that the green innovation effect of ZGS mainly resulted from two channels: the expansion of the market scale for agricultural green technologies and the green-oriented allocation of innovation resources. The above conclusions imply that it is necessary to create a sound innovation ecology by strengthening the innovation of green science and technology institutions and combining active government with an effective market. Particularly, a portfolio of policy instruments, including the fiscal, taxation, financial, investment, price policy, and standard system concerning green technology development, should be created to guarantee green technology development. In addition, ZGS can set up differentiated reduction targets considering regional endowment conditions to ensure its smooth progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

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

As a leading scholar in the field of sustainable development research, Herman Daly developed original and unique thoughts on sustainable development that have had world-class impacts on the theories, indicators, and policies in this field. Based on the frame-work of ' Ends-Means,' Daly's thoughts on sustainable development focus on the Ultimate End (well-being improvement) and the Ulti-mate Means (natural capital). Daly advocated that to use natural capital to promote human well-being in a sustainable manner, the cur-rent growth economy has to be transformed into a steady-state economy. Because economic growth has biophysical properties and is re-stricted by many factors, such as the laws of thermodynamics and planetary boundaries, unlimited growth is impossible. When its marginal ecological and social costs begin to be larger than its economic benefits, economic growth would turn into uneconomic growth. In this sense, unlimited growth is undesirable. As an alternative to the growth economy, the steady-state economy advocates promoting hu-man well-being within ecological limits and demands that stocks of material wealth be used efficiently and equitably. The steady-state economy is one of the most effective ways of achieving sustainable development. Along the main line of transforming the growth economy into the steady-state economy, as required by sustainable development, this paper reviews Daly's main thoughts on sustainable development on the following topics: ' a new perspective of economic production,' ' unlimited growth is impossible,' ' unlimited growth is undesirable,' and ' the steady-state economy is compatible with sustainable development.' Based on this review, the paper points out that, Daly's thoughts on sustainable development provide theoretical support and ideological implications for China's high-quality development from a different perspective, and broaden the theoretical horizon of China's high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

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

It is essential to adhere to the optimization of national land use development patterns and the green development policy for achieving ecological conservation and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. This paper used the undesirable output SBM model to measure the green development efficiency of 36 prefecture-level cities in the restricted development zones of the Yellow River Basin from 2010 to 2019. It also used the Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (FsQCA) method to explore the complex influence mechanism of the linkage of various influencing factors on the efficiency of green development. The results showed that: ① The green development efficiency of the restricted development zones in the whole basin showed an overall fluctuation and upward trend, and the green development efficiency of various regions in the basin varied significantly. The downstream restricted development zones had the highest green development efficiency, followed by the middle stream restricted development zones, with the upstream restricted development zones having the lowest efficiency. ② The areas with high green development efficiency in the restricted development zones of the whole basin changed from cluster distribution to contiguous distribution, the effective efficiency areas changed from being concentrated in the upper and middle reaches to the middle and lower reaches of the areas, and the green development efficiency of the restricted development zones on the southern bank of the Yellow River was significantly higher than that of the areas on the northern bank. ③ Each of these factors--the level of economic development, urbanization, environmental regulation, degree of trade openness, advanced industrial structure, and investment in science and education--could not singularly become a necessary condition for promoting the formation of high green development efficiency in the restricted development zone of the Yellow River Basin. ④ Four models were identified as those that could promote green development efficiency in the restricted development zones in the Yellow River Basin. In terms of the different types of cities, the 'environmental regulation + export-oriented economy' linkage model could promote the green development efficiency of agricultural cities in the restricted development zones of the Yellow River Basin. The linkage model of 'basic dynamic + environmental regulation + export-oriented economy + industrial upgrading' could promote the green development efficiency of resource-based cities in the restricted development zones of the Yellow River Basin. The two models of 'export-oriented economy + industrial upgrading' linkage and 'basic dynamic + industrial upgrading + science and education investment' linkage could promote the green development efficiency in the old industrial bases in the restricted development zones of the Yellow River Basin. Based on the perspective of configuration association, this paper provides policy suggestions for promoting green development in agricultural cities, resource-based cities, and old industrial base cities in the restricted development zones of the Yellow River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

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

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

Strong sustainable development sticks to the irreplaceability and uniqueness of natural capital and maintains that the essential stock of natural capital should be passed on from one generation to another. It achieves environmental equity and intergenerational equity by maximizing the intertemporal utility of environmental benefits. This paper analyzes the dimensions of the strong sustainable development paradigm in identifying ecological space. The ecological space can be divided into two categories: strong sustainable development space and weak sustainable development space. The former refers to the critical ecological space where ecological security is maintained and the priority is to maintain the status quo of the ecosystem, or at least keep it from sinking into degeneration. In contrast, the latter belongs to the non-critical ecological space, where proper development and construction can be carried out within the ecological security threshold. Based on the case study of the Tarim River Basin and the concept of strong sustainable development, this paper keeps to the method of combining ecological service function and ecological sensitivity in assessment and conducts research on the classification of the ecological space and the patterns of strong and weak sustainability. According to the research, the sensitive and extremely sensitive areas of the Tarim River Basin take up the lion ’s share of the total area, or 55.01% and 29.23%, respectively. The strong sustainable development ecological space incorporates the urgent ecological space and the crisis ecological space, which stand at 305 257.84 km² and 573 281.16 km², respectively, accounting for 29.28% and 54.98% of the researched area, respectively. The re‑ search reveals a high degree of conflict over the ecological security of land use in the Tarim River Basin and a desperate adjustment ca‑ pability for the strong sustainable development of ecological space. Ecological space of strong sustainable development is an important ecological functional space. Accurate identification of ecological space can provide a scientific basis for the delineation of ecological protection red lines and the management of ecological space. Ecological space evaluation based on the paradigm of strong sustainable development can provide green development planning ideas under ecological priority for the subsequent development strategies of respective regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

In order to meet the practical needs of the people to equitably share the fruits of economic development, urban economic construction should be based on the coordinated development of the environment and the economy, which means that high-quality urban development should be realized through a greener and more inclusive path. Under the wave of the fourth industrial revolution, industrial intelligence, characterized by the application of industrial robots, provides an opportunity to promote the green and inclusive development of Chinese cities. Based on the construction of the Malmquist-Luenberger index to scientifically measure the level of inclusive green growth in cities, this study empirically examined the impact of industrial intelligence development on inclusive green growth and its internal mechanisms based on industrial robot application data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) from 2007 to 2020 and city-level data in China using various models. The study found that: (1) Industrial intelligence significantly contributed to inclusive green growth in cities, and the effect was more obvious in cities with lower financial support, a higher level of information infrastructure construction, and greater innovation and entrepreneurial dynamics, demonstrating significant heterogeneity in geographical location characteristics. (2) As far as the channels of action were concerned, industrial intelligence was mainly realized through the channels of promoting digital technology innovation and industrial structure upgrading. (3) The development of industrial intelligence had a positive spatial spillover effect on the enhancement of the inclusive green level of cities. Furthermore, if the driving effect could be effectively realized, the regional sustainable development capacity would be effectively enhanced. This paper seeks to enrich the empirical evidence and empirical research on the benefits of industrial intelligence development in promoting inclusive green growth in cities and to provide policy references for the development of smart manufacturing and inclusive green economic growth in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial development has greatly promoted China's economic growth. Under the dual pressure of resources and the environment, high-quality economic development has become an inevitable requirement of China's new era. Under the new development pattern of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which is 'to step up conservation of the Yangtze River and stop its over-development,' it is of great significance to explore the transmission mechanism of the impact of environmental regulations on the economic belt's high-quality economic development. Based on the panel data of 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2005 to 2019, this paper constructed an index system of high-quality economic development and verified the mediation effect of environmental regulations on its high-quality economic development by using the mediation effect model. Intermediate variables, including technological input and industrial structure, were used. In addition, the dynamic threshold model was used to verify the impact of environmental regulations on high-quality economic development under different threshold variable levels. The results found that: (1) The results of the mediation effect test showed that both technological input and industrial structure had a partial mediation effect in the impact of environmental regulations on high quality economic development. Environmental regulations helped to improve the level of technological input and optimize the adjustment of industrial structure, which in turn had a positive impact on the quality of economic development. (2) The results of the threshold model showed that when technological input and industrial structure were the threshold variables of environmental regulations, environmental regulations had a threshold effect on high quality economic development. In regions with high technology input and a backward industrial structure, environmental regulations could better promote high quality economic development. (3) The results of the heterogeneity of the threshold effects showed that a temporal heterogeneity existed in the threshold effects of technology input and industrial structure variables and that factors such as the policy orientation of technological inputs and the rigidity of industrial structure affected the implementation effect of environmental regulation policies. Based on the above conclusions, the following policy recommendations are put forward: (1) Formulate differentiated environmental regulation policies and promote the effective implementation of environmental regulation policies. (2) Improve the level of technological input and provide new impetus for high-quality economic development. (3) Optimize industrial structure, and accelerate the green development and transformation of industries. (4) Clarify the mechanism of environmental compensation and special governance, and promote the synergistic development of regional economy and environmental regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the effects of expected economic growth targets and environmental constraint targets set by Chinese local governments at the beginning of the year on high-quality development can provide empirical evidence for optimizing expected target management, improving macro-control, and fulfilling governance efficiency in the new development stage to some extent. Therefore, based on the theory of economic growth accounting and the stochastic frontier model, this paper calculated the level of high-quality development at the urban level, extracted the economic growth targets and environmental constraint targets from the Report on the Work of the Government with text analysis, constructed instrumental variables based on the spatial weight matrix, and then discussed the effects of the expected development targets formulated by local governments on high-quality development, conditional heterogeneity, and mechanisms. The results showed that: ① Excessive economic growth targets were not conducive to high-quality development, while environmental constraints targets had a significant role in promoting it and could slow down the erosion effect of excessive economic growth targets on high-quality development. This conclusion still held after solving a series of robustness tests, such as the endogenous bias. ② Heterogeneity analysis found that, with the implementation of the ecological civilization concept, China' s economy could achieve a win-win situation of quantity increase and quality improvement. To better promote high-quality development, the target positioning of cities with good economic foundations should weaken economic increment and strengthen environmental constraints, and the growth targets and environmental constraints set by local governments should be endogenous to their own regional resource endowments and leave appropriate elastic spaces. ③ The mechanism test showed that improving the economic growth targets reduced the level of innovation and raised the amount of new investment in the region, which was not conducive to high-quality development. Environmental constraints could promote technological innovation and limit the blind expansion of new investment, thus promoting high-quality development. Based on the above research conclusions, this paper summarizes policy implications from the aspects of political performance evaluation, formulation of expected development targets, technological innovation, and green development to promote the synergy between economic growth and green development in China and the synchronization of expected target management and high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy conservation and low carbon action plan in the Top-10 000 Energy-Consuming Enterprises Program (T10000P) was an important policy underpinning for achieving the constrained targets of energy consumption and carbon emission reduction during the 12th Five Year Plan period, and is a representative large-scale national energy saving and emission reduction policy with Chinese characteristics. Green technology innovation (GTI) is an important driving force for green development and enterprises are the main participants of GTI. In view of the fact that T10000P is an exogenous shock and based on the green patent panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2004 to 2018, this paper employed the difference-in-differences (DID) method and the count data model to examine the impact of T10000P on GTI at the micro level. Moreover, this paper designed an intermediary effect model to study the mediating role of local governments in the process of T10000P affecting corporate GTI and conducted the triple difference model to study the heterogeneity of T10000P on corporate GTI. The study showed that: ① T10000P significantly promoted corporate GTI. ②Considering the excessive discretization and zero inflation of the data, the regression results of the count data model further supported the conclusion.③The conclusion was still robust after a series of robustness tests such as variable index change, placebo test, and post-matching regression. ④ The assessment constraint of T10000P on local governments affected the subsidies to the top-10 000 enterprises, which promoted their GTI level. ⑤ The GTI effect of T10000P had dynamic characteristics in time, marginal characteristics in innovation level, and heterogeneous characteristics in cooperate property rights: the effects were significant during the policy implementation period, but not significant when the policy phased out. Compared with the regions with low urban innovation index, the promotion effect of T10000P on cooperate GTI was more significant in the regions with high urban innovation index. Compared with private enterprises, the promotion effect of T10000P policy on cooperate GTI was more significant in state-owned enterprises. Based on these conclusions, policy design should be optimized to actively guide enterprises to improve the level of GTI. The green-oriented assessment system for local government should be improved. The environmental regulation and innovation incentive policies should be implemented according to enterprises' conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

As a typical means of transportation for residents to travel with low carbon in the new era, it is of grea t significance to explore how to achieve sustainable development throughout its life cycle. Based on t he challenges of the development of shared bicycles in China's cities, this paper innovatively proposes a governance framework for the sustainable development of shared bicycles oriented to the circular e conomy and a governance path based on the 3R principle, and constructs a complex system dynamics model that integrates three sub-modules of faulty vehicle reduction, faulty vehicle reuse and end-of-lif e vehicle resource. On this basis, based on the practical case of Shanghai, a multi-scenario simulation of the sustainable development path of shared bicycles from the perspective of circular economy is ca rried out. The study found that: (1) the five strategies of user use behavior governance, recycling parti cipation behavior governance, urban total delivery control, faulty vehicle recycling monitoring and pro ducer responsibility extension system all play a significant role in the sustainable development of the s hared bicycle industry; (2) In terms of a single strategy, the extended producer responsibility system a nd the monitoring of faulty vehicle recycling are the two best governance measures for the governme nt to control faulty and scrapped vehicles, operators to reduce production and recycling disposal cost s, and thus improve the efficiency of resource utilization in the industry, followed by urban total invest ment control; (3) In terms of combination strategies, the comprehensive integration and implementati on of the five strategies is the optimal governance path to promote the sustainable development of sh ared bicycles in China, after full implementation, the total number of scrapped bicycles in Shanghai wil l be reduced by 71.15% from 2021 to 2031, the production and recycling costs of operators will be sav ed by 73.77%, and the carbon emissions will be reduced by 87,800 tons. Based on the above research results, this paper proposes to implement the extended producer responsibility system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a world consensus and a necessity for China. In the process of achieving a sustainable future, evaluating a country's sustainable development progress, understanding China's position in global sustainable development, and identifying the advantages and challenges of China's sustainable development are of great signif-icance for the world to understand China and for China to optimize its sustainable development system. Based on this, this paper took the Sustainable Development Reports issued by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network from 2015 to 2022 as the main carrier to explore the assessment and progress of global SDGs, and analyzed the effects of China's implementation of SDGs and the gap be-tween China and other countries in the world from the perspective of how China was viewed by the world in order to provide a possible path for improving China's sustainable development and to drive the sustainable development of the world. The results showed that, on a global scale, sustainable development had obvious regional and economic agglomeration characteristics, and the progress in realizing the SDGs was homogeneous to a certain extent. From a global perspective, China's sustainable development progress was relatively sta-ble and ranked at the uppermiddle level of the world. In 2022, China's SDG score was 72.4, ranking 56th among 163 countries. In particular, China made remarkable progress in achieving the ' No Poverty,' ' Quality Education,' and ' Responsible Consumption and Produc-tion' goals, and provided basic experience for the sustainable development of the world. The sustainable development goals of ' Life Be-low Water' and 'Life on Land' were prominent weaknesses in China's sustainable development, and there was a certain gap between China and other countries in the world. Further optimizing the assessment system for sustainable development, clarifying priorities for sustainable development, focusing on key regions and groups, and building global partnerships are inherent requirements for implement-ing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and building a more inclusive and sustainable development pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of climate warming on world agricultural production and food security has become increasingly obvious. As an important source of carbon emissions and the carbon sink system, the green development of agriculture is one of the important ways to alleviate the crisis and achieve China' s goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. Exploiting the potential of agricultural carbon sinks and accurately calculating agricultural net carbon emissions are of great significance to promoting the green development of agriculture meeting the ' dual carbon' goals. Based on the dual characteristics of the agricultural carbon cycle, this paper sorted out the logical relationship between agricultural green development and the agricultural carbon cycle, incorporated the role of agricultural carbon sinks into the calculation framework of agricultural carbon emissions, and measured China' s agricultural net carbon emissions from 2000 to 2019 by time and region. The decoupling model of agricultural net carbon emissions from agricultural economic growth was constructed. The results of the study found that the total amount of carbon emissions from agricultural sources increased from 277.899 million t in 2000 to 308.383 1 million t in 2019, with an average annual growth rate of 0.52%, but the agricultural carbon emission intensity showed a trend of continuous decline; the agricultural carbon sink increased from 99.539 9 million t in 2000 to 133.039 million t in 2019, with an average annual growth rate of 1.46%, and the agricultural carbon sink resources were considerable. The intensity of agricultural carbon source emissions was higher in the west than in other regions and there was a clear gap with the eastern region. The total amount of agricultural carbon source emissions, carbon sinks, and net carbon emissions all showed a medium-high pattern. The decoupling relationship between agricultural economic growth and agricultural net carbon emissions was mainly manifested in two decoupling states: strong decoupling and weak decoupling. Nearly 50% of the provinces achieved the ideal strong decoupling state in terms of agricultural green development, while the remaining provinces were in a weak decoupling state, and the decoupling state was generally ideal. Finally, this paper puts forward targeted countermeasures and suggestions to promote the green development of agriculture and help achieve the ' dual carbon' goals: we should accurately locate the carbon source; ensure the ' double bottom line' of food security and pig production capacity under low-carbon agriculture; resolve the resource endowment differences between regions; explore the potential of the agricultural carbon trading market; create a new path for farmers to increase their income, maintain the strong and improve the weak; and strive to achieve the ' package' of strong decoupling in agriculture to help achieve the ' dual carbon' goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Cities and human settlements play an important role in addressing the social and environmental challenges in global devel⁃ opment. As such, the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development clearly puts forward the strategic goal of achiev⁃ ing the sustainable development of cities and human settlements (SDG11), indicating that there is a model shift in the global develop⁃ ment strategy which takes cities as the main actor and object of governance. From the historical perspective, this paper reviews the pro⁃ cess of international policy⁃making regarding sustainable development, and analyzes the normative positions of human settlements and urban issues in the UN development discourse on sustainable development, which helps to clarify the ideological and paradigm changes regarding the cities and human settlements development in the global governance regime. This paper chronologically reviews the evolu⁃ tion of SDG11 in international negotiations within the UN system. Based on the UN Sustainable Development Report, this paper pres⁃ ents the progress of the implementation of SDG11, and analyzes the possible challenges during its achievement. The results show that: a historical view of the policy⁃making process regarding sustainable development reveals that the SDGs are systematic and dynamic. The emergence of a stand⁃alone urban SDG reflects the evolving conceptions of societal development and the shifting normative positions on human settlements and cities, emphasizing the central role of cities and human settlements in global development governance. Although the world has made some progress in advancing the 2030 Agenda to a certain extent, the COVID⁃19 pandemic negatively affects the progress, and the world still faces challenges in terms of data platforms, technological pathways and governance mechanisms to achieve the SDG11. This study also demonstrates the adaptability and imperative role of urban communities in adjusting to new norms. The re⁃ sults also reveal that global governance has shifted from focusing on urban development to the role of cities in global development, rec⁃ ognizing that the cities and human settlements are cross⁃cutting areas that are imperative drivers, hubs and pathways in the implementa⁃ tion of all of the SDGs and in addressing the global challenges. Establishing and improving the availability of data and statistics, promot⁃ ing the demonstration of new practices at different levels, and developing inclusive and participatory governance capabilities are all crit⁃ ical for achieving the SDG11. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of theoretical and practical significance to study the impact of mixed-ownership reform, the core measure of stateowned enterprise (SOE) reform, on the green innovation of SOEs. Using the data of SOEs listed in the China A-share stock market from 2010 to 2019, this study empirically tested the impact, mechanisms, and heterogeneous impact of mixed-ownership reform on the green innovation of SOEs through a Propensity Score Matching+Difference-in-Differences (PSM-DID) model based on the shareholding ratio of non-state-owned shareholders among the top ten shareholders of state-owned enterprises. On this basis, this paper further explored the spillover effect of mixed-ownership reform on the green innovation of SOEs. The results showed that: ① Mixed-ownership reform could effectively promote the green innovation of SOEs. After using the placebo test and instrumental variable method to alleviate the endogenous problem and replacing the matching basis for the robustness test, the conclusion was still valid. ② The mechanism test showed that the improvement of corporate governance level and the knowledge spillover effect were important channels for mixed ownership reform to promote the green innovation of SOEs. The profit-seeking nature of non-state-owned shareholders might have a dampening effect on the green innovation of SOEs in mixed-ownership reform. ③ The heterogeneity analysis of industry characteristics showed that in competitive industries and environmental protection industries, mixed-ownership reform had a more obvious impact on promoting the green innovation of SOEs. ④ Although the mixed-ownership reform promoted the green innovation of SOEs, it was not the higher the better in terms of the proportion of non-state-owned shareholders. When non-state-owned shareholders accounted for 15% to 30%, the promotion effect on the green innovation of SOEs was most obvious. ⑤ The mixed-ownership reform had a spillover effect on the green innovation of unreformed SOEs, effectively promoting the substantive green innovation of these SOEs in the same industry. Therefore, the study proposes that the important role of mixed-ownership reform in green development should be fully recognized and the mixed-ownership reform of SOEs should be further promoted. We should promote the formation of a mutually balanced equity structure and rationally allocate the proportion of non-state-owned capital. At the same time, we should avoid the ‘one-size-fits-all’ mixed-ownership reform and adhere to the classification and stratification of orderly progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big data, a vital driving force of high-quality economic development in China, improves both the speed and efficiency of information exchange and knowledge dissemination. Existing studies have conducted a series of discussions on the dividend effect of big data development, but few have analyzed it from the perspective of corporate green development. Based on the theoretical analysis of the impact of big data development on the internal mechanisms of corporate green technology innovation and on the regulatory role of intellectual property protection, in light of the exogenous policy shock from the ‘National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zones,’ this paper studied the A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen by adopting the difference-in-differences model (DID) to evaluate the impact of big data development on corporate green technology innovation and the moderating effect of intellectual property protection between them. The research results showed that the development of big data significantly promoted corporate green technology innovation, and that the conclusion still held after a series of robustness tests. Heterogeneity tests showed that the promoting effect of big data development on corporate green technology innovation was more observable in large-scale enterprises, state-owned businesses, and companies with high-level access to data from local governments. The mechanism test indicated that the development of big data could promote corporate green technology innovation by improving the intensity of regional environmental regulation, easing the financing constraints of enterprises, and improving their human capital level. The moderating effect test showed that intellectual property protection played a significant positive moderating role between big data development and corporate green technology innovation. Accordingly, the government should improve the big data development policies to promote deep integration of big data and the real economy in a consistent manner, reinforce the system design concerning corporate green technology innovation guided by policies of big data development, and combine big data development with green development goals such as achieving peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. Meanwhile, policies should be refined based on different types of enterprises in different regions so that a long-term mechanism can be established to support corporate green innovation development. It is also necessary to strengthen the construction of an intellectual property protection system so as to accelerate corporate green technology innovation and green development more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with the high-quality demand for low-carbon and green development, we need to know if the construction of an intellectual property system (CIPS) can be a covert force to restrain the industrial pollution of Chinese cities. This paper regarded the establishment of intellectual property demonstration cities as a quasi-natural experiment. Based on explaining the impact mechanisms of CIPS on industrial emissions, this study adopted the panel data of 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2003 to 2019 and empirically tested the emission reduction effect of CIPS and its mechanisms by using the difference-in-differences (DID) method. The heterogeneity, dynamic effects, and spatial spillover effects were also explored. The results showed that: ① At the urban level of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the CIPS significantly reduced industrial pollution emissions, and the emission reduction effect kept in‑ creasing. This conclusion was still valid under a series of robustness tests, such as continuous DID and instrumental variable methods (IV). ② Heterogeneity analysis showed that the CIPS had good emission reduction performance in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and large and medium-sized cities, and the emission reduction effect was better in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and large cities. The CIPS had more obvious inhibitory effects on water pollution and gas pollution than on soot pollution. ③ Spatial spillover effect analysis showed that the CIPS restrained the industrial pollution of the demonstration cities and their neigh‑ boring cities, the policy effect showed spatial spillover, and the indirect effect was greater than the direct effect. ④ Mechanism analysis showed that the CIPS could lead to urban industrial upgrading and allocation optimization through technological innovation, indirectly inhibit industrial pollution emissions, and directly promote industrial pollution control through green innovation. Based on this, this pa‑ per proposes to promote the CIPS, explore and implement differentiated intellectual property governance policies, and strengthen ex‑ changes and cooperation on intellectual property among cities, in order to drive the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt through innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of a tourism-based city sustainable development evaluation technology system is a key measure to scientifically identify the development problems of tourism-oriented cities and quantit atively assess their sustainable development status. Based on the United Nations Sustainable Develop ment Goals system (SDGs) and the evaluation practice of tourism competitiveness index, this paper co nstructs a tourism-based urban sustainable development evaluation index system composed of 3 maj or systems, 14 pillars, 37 independent indicators and 6 comprehensive indicators, adopts the linear we ighted judgment method of indicators based on the coefficient of variation-entropy method, and intr oduces technical methods such as coupling degree and coupling coordination degree analysis, gray c orrelation degree analysis, and obstacle degree analysis to establish a comprehensive evaluation tech nology system. Taking Guilin City (the first batch of national sustainable development agenda innovati on demonstration zones approved by the State Council and the international tourist resort approved by the National Development and Reform Commission for the first time) as the evaluation object, the sustainable development level of Guilin City for 12 consecutive years from 2008 to 2019 was analyzed, and the results showed: (1) Guilin's sustainable development level showed a fluctuating upward trend, 2008- In 2019, the comprehensive score increased from 26.26 points to 50.10 points, of which the scor e of the social governance system increased by 34.79 points, the score of the landscape resource syste m increased by 27.41 points, and the score of the economic power system increased by 6.14 points. (2) Among the 14 pillars, the score of economic openness and scientific and technological innovation pillar has declined, and it is urgent to pay close attention to in the follow-up development plan, the sc ore of the landscape resource protection pillar has not changed significantly, and there is potential for further improvement, and the remaining 11 branches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of rural tourism can not only stimulate the growth of local economy, but also promote the effective implementation of China's rural revitalization strategy. Exploring the antecedent variables and forming mechanism of residents' support for tourism is an important factor to promote the sustainable development of tourism, which has attracted widespread attention from the academic community. Specifically, in the complex relationship between multi-stakeholders triggered by rural tourism development, residents' trust in government has played a pivotal role in ensuring the development of rural tourism, but existing studies about the influence of residents' trust in government on support for tourism lack in-depth discussion. Based on the social exchange theory, this paper takes community involvement and residents' perception of tourism impact as mediators and place attachment as the moderator. Selecting eight representative rural tourism destinations in Shandong Province as study sites, this study attempts to analyze the influencing mechanism of resident's trust in government on the support for tourism. Findings suggest that: (1) Trust in government has significant influence on community involvement, perceived benefits, support for tourism positively, and perceived costs negatively. (2) Community involvement and perceived benefits mediates partially the relationship between government trust and tourism development support. (3) Place attachment moderates the relationship between trust in government and community involvement positively. Compared with existing studies, this paper analyzes the formation mechanism of residents' support for tourism development in rural tourism destinations from the perspective of trust in government, and strengthens the role of community involvement and place attachment in the exploration of influencing mechanism. It provides a theoretical explanation and an empirical support for the deep understanding of the transmission mechanism of residents ' trust in government influencing their support for tourism and stimulating residents' support behavior for tourism development. This means that, in order to effectively improve residents' support for tourism, it is necessary to pay more attention to community residents' trust in government, enhance the interaction and communication between government and residents, encourage residents' involvement in tourism development, strengthen residents' sense of gain from rural tourism development, and cultivate residents' place attachment to their communities, so as to exert the positive role of rural tourism in promoting rural revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decomposing total factor productivity growth rate into internal growth effect that mainly considers industry internal technical advancement and the effect of factor reallocation formed by the flow of capital, labor and energy between sectors, this study took 23 subsectors as the research object and adopted the multi-sector growth accounting method to verify the 'structural dividend hypothesis' of capital, labor and energy from 2005 to 2017. The study drew the following conclusions: (1) Internal growth effect represented by sectoral technical advancement was still the main contributor to total factor productivity growth of the overall economy, but the contribution rate had decreased. (2) The reallocation effect of capital changed from 'structural negative benefit' to 'structural dividend'. (3) The reallocation effect of labor showed a trend of first rising and then falling, changing from 'structural dividend' to 'structural negative benefit'. (4) The effect of energy reallocation was gradually emerging, with a shift from 'negative structural benefit' to 'structural dividend'. Based on these research results, this paper argues that more attention should be paid to the efficiency of factor reallocation in addition to the technical advancement of all sectors. The inefficiency of factor reallocation caused by imperfect market and asymmetric information would partially offset the effect of technical advancement and hinder the high-quality economic development. In view of the reallocation of capital, labor and energy factors, this paper proposes the following suggestions: (1) In the reallocation of capital, consideration should be given to both the macroeconomic regulation and the role of market mechanism, and capital allocation should be carried out in accordance with the principle of profit maximization, so as to improve the elasticity of capital output and increase the allocation efficiency of capital. (2) The reallocation of labor force should not only be limited to the level of three industries; attention should also be paid to the marginal output differences within the secondary industry in this process. (3) Attention should be paid to the elasticity of energy output between sectors to avoid inefficient allocation during energy reallocation. It is also necessary to accelerate the phase-out of industries with high energy consumption and high pollution, promote the development of low energy industries to encourage 'energy conservation and emission reduction' as well as green development by increasing the effect of energy reallocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has become a global consensus to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and cities are an essential and significant part for achieving these goals. There are more than 200 resource-dependent cities in China. With the gradual depletion of resources, cities are generally confronted with problems such as single industrial and energy structure, lagging development of alternative industries, low capacity for innovation, and destruction of the ecological environment, and are faced with various challenges of achieving sustainable development. This paper constructed a comprehensive evaluation model, clarified the multiple feedback and interactive relationship between these cities' driver-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR)' system, established a comprehensive index system of sustainability evaluation and the DPSIR model, and used the 'Taiyuan Innovation Demonstration Zone for National Sustainable Development Agenda' as a case for verification. The research conclusions could drive the comprehensive transformation and upgrading of the economy, society and environment of resource-dependent cities through innovations in development concepts, key technologies, and policy and service systems. This paper put forward the sustainable development pathway of a five-dimensional resource-dependent city, i. e., 'growth, ecology, low carbon, livability, happiness', and used the 'Taiyuan Innovation Demonstration Zone for National Sustainable Development Agenda' as a case to verify the validity of the sustainable development model for resource-based cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of China' s active construction of a multi-party environmental governance system, it is worth discussing how environmental regulation policies affect the market contractual relationship. In fact, government environmental regulation can trigger interactions between enterprises. When an enterprise gets environmental penalties such as fines and halts production, this enterprise will affect the customers, and the customers may adjust their buying strategies or replace this supplier in order to avoid risks. Given that environmental regulation will increase the risk of polluting enterprises and further affect the operation of downstream customers, this paper empirically tested the impact of environmental regulation on market contractual relationship based on the data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2019. We found that: ① The strengthening of environmental regulation on suppliers would cause the customers to reduce the purchase quantity; thus, environmental regulation could trigger a negative market response. ② Between 2015 and 2019, with the overall and long-term tightening of environmental regulation, enterprises usually increased investment and innovation in environmental protection, resulting in a weakening of the negative market response. ③ When customers had a green reputation or the suppliers belonged to a polluting industry, the customers' negative response was significantly stronger, but when the suppliers were state-owned enterprises, customers were no longer sensitive to their environmental risks. ④ Further analysis showed that environmental regulation affected customers' adjustment of purchase share through 'risk' mechanism and 'environmental governance' mechanism. This article reveals that the government environmental regulation will impact the market contractual relationship, which complements and enriches the relevant literature on environmental governance from the micro perspective, and makes a solid attempt to promote corporate environmental governance from the perspective of the supply chain. The policy implication of this article is that we should strengthen the fairness of the implementation of environmental regulation policies and encourage the development of green supply chains. The conclusion of the study has certain implications for further improving the government environmental regulation, motivating corporate environmental governance, and realizing the multi-party co-governance environmental governance system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The system as a whole is composed of various interrelated sub-systems. The effect of a system will be affected by the coordination of other systems associated with it. Only when the complementarity and coordination between systems increase can the implementation effect of the system be fully brought into play. As an informal system, social trust can affect the implementation effect of formal environmental regulations, but there are few studies on the moderating effect of social trust on the impact of environmental regulations on carbon emissions. Based on this, the panel data of 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2010 to 2019 were selected as research samples. The moderating effect model and mediated moderating effect model were used to study the moderating effect and mechanism of social trust on the impact of environmental regulations on carbon emissions. In addition, the heterogeneity of this moderating effect was tested by region. The results showed that: ① The impact of environmental regulations on carbon emissions showed an inverted Ushaped nonlinear relationship, and the promotion effect of environmental regulations on carbon emissions was dominant in the present stage. FDI, the upgrading of industrial structures, and R&D innovation were important mediating channels for environmental regulations to affect carbon emissions. ② As a moderating variable, social trust positively moderated the impact of environmental regulations on carbon emissions and accelerated the arrival of the inflection point of the inverted U-shaped curve. ③ In terms of the mediating effect, the moderating effect of social trust on the impact of environmental regulations on carbon emissions was realized through the mediating effect of FDI, the upgrading of industrial structures, and R&D innovation, and the impact of social trust on the inflection points of the three intermediary channels was heterogeneous. ④ The moderating effect of social trust had regional heterogeneity. In small cities, the impact of social trust on environmental regulations on carbon emissions was greater than that in large and medium-sized cities. The moderating effect of social trust was greater in the cities without environmental protection than in the cities with environmental protection. The above conclusions were still valid after a series of robustness tests. It is hoped that this paper can enrich the relevant research on environmental regulations and social trust and be helpful for local governments to formulate relevant policies according to local conditions, improve the carbon emission reduction effect of environmental regulation, and accelerate the green development and transformation of Chinese cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the social and economic development, the contradiction between the infinity of human demand and the finitude of resources is getting worse and worse. The global view on development has also undergone a series of major changes, and the concept of sustainable development has become a global consensus. Centering on the problems of unsustainable development in different stages of human society, this paper analyzes the concept and connotations of scarcity from the dialectical perspective and puts forward a new perspective; from the perspective of sustainable development, ecological scarcity is a relative concept that represents a state of human existence, and the development elements can be mutually replaced by human intervention to a certain extent, so as to make up the weak links and ensure sustainable economic growth; scarcity is not only a regular resistance to development, but also the fundamental driving force of development, and scarcity itself cannot be eliminated or be 'scarce'. From the view of historical evolution, this paper analyzes the transition process of scarcity types based on human's cognition of nature and the demand of development in different stages. In the period of agricultural civilization, scarcity is characterized by the shortage of labor force and the lag of human ability to develop and utilize ecosystem services; the result was that the natural capital was in surplus. In the period of industrialization, scarcity is characterized by the lack of technical skills and the imbalance of spatial distribution, and the allocation of skilled labor force or the transformational power of natural capital became the decisive factor for the development of a country or a region. At present, scarcity is centered on the lack of natural capital, and the service capacity of the ecosystem is far from meeting the needs of artificial capital. The ecological deficit keeps increasing, and ecological scarcity with resource shortage and ecological degradation has become the bottleneck of global economic revitalization and sustainable development. To further explore the characterization of the ecological scarcity phenomenon, this study discusses the spatio-temporal characteristic of ecological scarcity in modern times from the global and Chinese scenarios respectively. Based on the need to maintain capital abundance, this paper further analyzes the future evolution trend of ecological scarcity and its key influences. The results show that, to maintain a rational economic development, an appropriate proportion of natural capital should be transformed into artificial capital, and the natural capital transforming ability should be enhanced through human capital, so as to reserve sufficient natural capital for sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming is evolving into a crisis affecting the future of humanity. As the world' s second largest economy, China is actively involved in global climate governance, proposing to achieve the goals of reaching peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, and has successively introduced the corresponding ' 1+N' policy system. This paper attempts to interpret and analyze 23 policy texts relevant to the achievement of the goals with over 160 000 characters from the CPC Central Committee, the State Council, and relevant ministries and provinces through two typical qualitative research methods-ground theory and institutional grammar tool, to outline the elemental structure and functional profile of the pathways of China' s carbon peak and carbon neutrality policies, and to clarify the group structure and regulation intensity of different policy pathways. Based on grounded theory, it is found that these pathways are already very comprehensive and complete. Among them, the policy pathways under the administrative mechanism include: high energy consumption and high emission industrial control; regulations and standards systems; carbon reduction governance in key industries; control over the amount and intensity of energy consumption; and carbon absorption capacity of ecosystems. The policy pathways under the market mechanism include circular economy development; energy transformation development; cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions; green finance development; and green transformation development. The results of institutional grammar tool research show that relevant policy pathways are dominated by ADIC normative condition statements (177, accounting for 52%), followed by AIC strategy statements (130, accounting for 38%), while ADICO rule-based statements are the least, with only 33, accounting for 10%. Given the pressure of time constraints and heavy tasks to achieve the goals, ADICO' s institutional grammar structure is the most desirable policy statement paradigm because it is more intense in its policy regulation, and it is easier to achieve its governance effectiveness. Undoubtedly, policy regulation is an important tool to effectively alleviate the pressure of the governance of the goals and to ensure the effectiveness of such governance. Policy regulation mainly focuses on the industrial sector with high energy consumption and high emissions, relying on top-down hierarchical organization and using political mobilization and administrative decrees as means to promote governance in the high carbon emission sector. By further constructing a theoretical framework of regulation mechanisms, relevant governance paradigms are classified as ' mandatory governance' and ' flexible governance' according to the intensity of regulation. It is found that the underlying logic behind these two paradigms is precisely the mobilization of the administrative mechanism and the allocation of resources under the market mechanism. Simultaneously, with the gradual achievement of the goals and the gradual decoupling of carbon emissions from economic development, the governance logic should gradually shift from ' mandatory governance' to ' flexible governance,' and from ' administrative hierarchical mobilization' to ' balanced allocation of market resources.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies mainly focus on exploring the ‘inclusive effect’ of digital finance in the process of technological innovation, but generally ignore the ‘network effect’ of digital finance empowerment. Based on China’s inter-provincial panel data and threshold regression technology, this paper empirically examined the nonlinear empowerment mechanism of digital finance to promote the development of green innovation. The results of this study showed that: during the study period, digital finance significantly drove China ’s green innovation and the empowerment effect of the eastern and central regions was much higher than that of the western regions, indicating that the ‘inclusive effect’ of digital finance was significant; the empowerment effect of digital finance on green innovation had a positive dynamic evolution process from weak to strong, but this kind of ‘network effect’ characteristic mainly appeared in the eastern and western regions, while the central region showed a positive ‘U’-shape nonlinear pattern; and the nonlinear empowerment effect of digital finance on green innovation had a heterogeneous and strengthened adjustment mechanism. It had positive and increasing marginal efficiency characteristics under the adjustment of urbanization, fiscal transparency, and residents’ income level. It was manifested under the constraints of urban-rural income gap and economic growth targets. Under the influence of technology introduction, it presented a positive inverted a ‘U’-shaped characteristic. At present, only by continuously improving fiscal transparency, residents’ income, and urbanization level, continuously narrowing the urban-rural income gap, and keeping the economic growth target and technology introduction at a reasonable level, can we maximize the green innovation effect empowered by digital finance. This article has discovered the coexistence of the ‘inclusive effect’ and ‘network effect’ of digital finance empowerment in the process of green innovation. The relevant conclusions may provide local governments with a ‘Digital Finance Express’ during the 14th Five-Year Plan period to accelerate the development of green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yellow River is the mother river of the Chinese nation and the great cradle for its survival and development. Protecting the Yellow River and promoting the high‑quality development of the Yellow River Basin is a long‑term plan that concerns the great rejuvenation and sustainable development of the Chinese nation. The history of the governance of the Yellow River is also a history of state governance and a history of the development of Chinese civilization. This year marks the third anniversary of General Secretary Xi Jinping’ s September 18 speech at the Yellow River Basin Ecological Protection and High‑quality Development Symposium in Zhengzhou, Henan in 2019. It is also the first anniversary of his October 22 speech at the Symposium on the In‑depth Promotion of Ecological Protection and High‑quality Development of the Yellow River Basin in Jinan, Shandong in 2021. This paper explores how to continuously deepen the strategic understanding of promoting ecological protection and high‑quality development in the Yellow River Basin and better implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’ s series of important speeches on ecological protection and high‑quality development in the Yellow River Basin, as well as how to promote the provinces and regions in the Yellow River Basin to undertake the historical task of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the new era. The history, experience and enlightenment of the CPC (Communist Party of China)’ s century‑old Yellow River management, protection, and promotion of high‑quality development will help to open up thehistorical perspectives, continue the Party’ s spiritual characteristics, and let the Yellow River benefit the Chinese nation forever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban agglomerations are spatial combinations of cities and the main spatial carrier for China to promote new urbanization and implement the concept of green development. Does their polycentricity help to improve the efficiency of regional green development and achieve coordinated development? This paper used satellite-monitored night light data to identify the polycentricity of each urban agglomeration in China, and used three major pollution emission indicators as undesired outputs respectively to calculate the Malmquist-Luenberger dynamic decomposition index and to examine the dynamic changes of the green development efficiency of urban agglomerations and their member cities. Based on the panel data of 14 key urban agglomerations from 2004 to 2018 to study the impact of polycentricity on the green development efficiency of member cities, this research found that: ① The polycentricity of urban agglomerations had a significant threshold effect on the green development efficiency of member cities, and the improvement of polycentricity could improve the green total factor productivity of eastern urban agglomerations, but it had a negative effect on central and western urban agglomerations. ② Polycentricity had an ‘inverted U-shaped’ influence on the urban agglomerations. The transmission mechanism found that the ‘inverted U-shaped’ influence was mainly achieved through knowledge spillover, technological innovation, and human capital. ③ The improvement of polycentricity had a negative effect on the green total factor productivity of medium sized cities, but a positive effect on the green total factor productivity of cities in the lower rank, and its effect gradually decreased with the fall of the city􀆳 s economic rank. After changing the polycentricity index, using topographic relief and data of railway opening in 1933 as instrumental variables, and using the panel Tobit model and panel threshold model, the results obtained were basically the same, which confirmed the robustness of the results. Therefore, at the present stage, with China's spatial distribution of urbanization focusing on the tradeoff between the development of big cities and small cities, the heterogeneity of spatial units should be comprehensively considered, and differential urban agglomeration policies should be formulated and implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the framework of DEA, based on the directional distance function considering the unexpected output, this paper used the Global-Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index to measure the green total factor productivity of 283 cities in China from 2003 to 2017. Then, we took innovative city construction as a quasi-natural experiment, and used the gradual DID ( difference-in-differences) model to estimate the impact of innovative city construction on green total factor productivity (GTFP). The study found that the construction of innovative cities was conducive to the green transformation of China's economic development. Compared with non-pilot cities, the GTFP of innovative pilot cities increased by 4.9% on average. Specifically, the construction of innovative cities could achieve innovation-driven urban green development in three ways: innovation effect, agglomeration effect and reverse force effect. Heterogeneity analysis found that the construction of innovative cities had a greater promoting effect on GTFP of cities in the eastern region, larger cities and cities with higher levels. Quantile estimation results showed that the effect of the construction of innovative cities on urban GTFP was increasing marginally. The conclusion of this study was robust, which still held after parallel trend test, PSM-DID method estimation, counterfactual test, placebo test, other robustness tests and instrumental variable estimation. This study has the following implications: In the process of building innovative cities, we should adhere to the principle of adjusting measures to local conditions, implement the 'one policy for one place' principle, give full play to the dominant position of local governments, and explore multi-dimensional ways to promote the level of GTFP of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulation is an important way to achieve agricultural non-point source pollution reduction, and it is an institutional foundation to ensure environmental regulation effect by decentralizing the environmental management authority scientifically. Clarifying the relationship between environmental decentralization, environmental regulation and agricultural non-point source pollution has important theoretical and practical significance for optimizing the environmental management system and promoting agricultural green development. This article incorporated environmental regulations, environmental decentralization, and agricultural non-point source pollution into the same analysis framework. Based on China's provincial panel data from 2005 to 2017, this paper investigated the intrinsic connection of environmental regulation, environmental decentralization and agricultural non-point source pollution by using the dynamic panel model and panel threshold model. The research results showed that：① Environmental regulation was an important way to suppress agricultural non-point source pollution; environmental decentralization, environmental inspection decentralization and environmental monitoring decentralization had significant positive effects on agricultural non-point source pollution, while environmental administrative decentralization might have negative effects.② The decentralization of environmental affairs management authority would aggravate the environmental regulation of agricultural non-point source pollution reduction effect, triggering the 'green paradox' effect, of which the impact of environmental supervision decentralization and environmental monitoring decentralization was particularly prominent.③ From a regional perspective, 'the green paradox' effect caused by the decentralization of environmental affairs management authority in the central and western regions was significant, while the eastern region was not.④ The impact of environmental regulations on agricultural non-point source pollution would present threshold characteristics with the degree of environmental decentralization changes. With the increasing degree of environmental decentralization, the impact of environmental regulations on agricultural non-point source pollution changed from a 'helping hand' to a 'grabbing hand', Therefore, in order to solve the increasingly serious agricultural non-point source pollution, a differentiated environmental decentralization strategy should be established. On the one hand, the environmental administrative decentralization should decrease, while the environmental inspection and monitoring decentralization should increase. On the other hand, we should further reduce the discretionary space of environmental policies in the central and western regions, and strengthen agricultural environmental assessment and supervision. Apart from that, a long-term dynamic agricultural non-point source pollution monitoring system should be established to improve the joint pollution prevention and control mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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