Search

China has always tried to maintain multilateralism and advocated working together to deal with global climate change through multilateral mechanisms. Although China’s announcement to peak its carbon emissions by 2030 comes as no surprise, its commitment to carbon neutrality does. As the period between its carbon peaking and carbon neutrality is far shorter than that in the developed countries, China’s economic and energy structures need to be adjusted toward the low-carbon and carbon-free end with unprecedented efforts. To that end, China should define the responsibilities of local authorities and industrial entities to promote the orderly accomplishment of carbon peaking in all regions and industries. To supply the huge investments needed to achieve the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, China has an urgent need to accelerate the development of green finance and a national carbon emissions trading market, guide the rational allocation of resources, and channel resources to eco-friendly projects for green and low-carbon development. At the same time, China and the international community should strengthen dialogue and coordination, promote international cooperation on the way to carbon neutrality, formulate widely acceptable policy guidelines as soon as possible, and avoid unilateral measures that may cause conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing global warming trend has resulted in the mass loss of most glaciers. The Urumqi Vally, located in the dry and cold zone of China, and its widely dispersed glaciers are significant to the regional ecological environment, oasis economic development, and industrial and agricultural production. This is representative of glaciers in Middle Asia and represents one of the world's longest observed time series of glaciers, beginning in 1959. The Urumqi Headwater Glacier No. 1 (UHG-1) has a dominant presence in the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS). This paper supplies a comprehensive analysis of past studies and future modeling of glacier changes in the Urumqi Valley. It has received insufficient attention in the past, and the mass balance of UHG-1 was used to verify that the geodetic results and the OGGM model simulation results are convincing. The main conclusions are: The area of 48.68 ± 4.59 km2 delineated by 150 glaciers in 1958 decreased to 21.61 ± 0.27 km2 delineated by 108 glaciers in 2022, with a reduction of 0.47 ± 0.04 km2·a−1 (0.96% a−1 in 1958–2022). The glacier mass balance by geodesy is −0.69 ± 0.11 m w.e.a−1 in 2000–2022, which is just deviating from the measured result (−0.66 m w.e.a−1), but the geodetic result in this paper can be enough to reflect the glacier changes (−0.65 ± 0.11 m w.e.a−1) of the URB in 2000–2022. The future loss rate of area and volume will undergo a rapid and then decelerating process, with the fastest and slowest inflection points occurring around 2035 and 2070, respectively. High temperatures and large precipitation in summer accelerate glacier loss, and the corresponding lag period of glacier change to climate is about 2–3 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions are critical to climate change, and land-use change is an essential source of growth in carbon emissions. Research on land-use carbon emissions has become one of the hotspots in academic research. To explore the research hotspots and development trends of land-use carbon emissions in the last 20 years, CiteSpace software was used to conduct a quantitative analysis of relevant literature. This paper was based on the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Web of Science (WoS) database literature on land-use carbon emissions from 2001 to 2020. The scientific research cooperation network CiteSpace software, with keyword co-occurrence, clustering, and burst word detection, was used to systematically analyze the main research strengths, hotspots and frontiers and clarify the research progress. The research results are as follows: (1) the amount of literature and the depth of research on land-use carbon emissions have increased yearly. However, there is little cooperation between research institutions and scholars, and there is still a lack of large-scale and stable research teams. (2) At the research hotspot level, the English literature focuses on building models and theoretical frameworks to study the internal mechanisms and driving factors of carbon emissions and climate change. The Chinese literature focuses on achieving regional carbon emissions reductions and carbon cycle goals and optimizing a low-carbon economy, transportation and land-use structure. (3) Research frontiers and trends show that the English literature first explored carbon sequestration, organic carbon, and carbon accounting. In China, the research frontiers are gradually becoming focused on influencing factors, decoupling analysis, and the built environment. The study will strengthen the intensity and depth of global carbon emission research and provide a reference for improving global climate change, protecting ecology and balancing economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blue Carbon is increasingly popular worldwide, and it also belongs to circular economy field which would last a long period in academy. To further understand the development and characteristics of Blue Carbon, this study uses CiteSpace software to perform quantitative analysis on literature published on Web of Science and Chinese CNKI database with the main topic of "Blue Carbon." The results show that: (1) Since 2009, increasing attention has been paid to Blue Carbon research, among which the United States, Australia and China are the leading countries. (2) Keywords such as "Blue Carbon," "mangrove," "carbon sequestration" and "carbon neutrality" are the high-frequency keywords appearing both in China and the World in recent years. (3) Spartina alterniflora, soil organic carbon, livestock, trophic cascade, biodiversity and seagrass ecosystem clustering are hot topics related to international Blue Carbon research, while organic carbon, seagrass-conservation, methodology, sustainable development, climate change, carbon neutralization, coastal zone and carbon storage are hot topics related to Chinese Blue Carbon research. In addition, based on the research trends of Blue Carbon, this paper attempts to sort out the research framework from three levels: core characteristics, theoretical basis and research methods, respectively. Facing a series of challenges brought by climate change, Blue Carbon research should strengthen the accurate estimations of Blue Carbon sink and its market potential, and explore the reasonable market mechanism and protection mechanism, to respond to realistic demands, solve major concerns and promote new progress in Blue Carbon theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has become a critical global issue and challenge, with significant implications for financial enterprises as an integral part of economic activities. A thorough analysis of the impact of climate change on the high-quality development of financial enterprises is of great importance for financial sustainability. This paper first conducts an indepth mathematical analysis of the intrinsic mechanisms through which climate change affects the high-quality development of financial enterprises by establishing a game theory model. Secondly, using data from listed companies for the years 2000-2020, an econometric model is constructed to empirically examine the relationship between climate change and the high-quality development of financial enterprises. The research findings demonstrate that climate change significantly inhibits the highquality development of financial enterprises, as evidenced by robust results obtained through various methods such as data truncation, variable substitution, and changes in sample periods. Furthermore, this study addresses the endogeneity of the regression model using propensity score matching (PSM), instrumental variable methods, and system generalized method of moments (GMM). Additionally, climate change impacts the high-quality development of financial enterprises through technological innovation. Given the backdrop of climate change, understanding the relationship and logic between climate change and the high-quality development of financial enterprises and discerning the channels and mechanisms through which climate change affects their development are crucial. This research provides a new perspective and expands the research frontier on the high-quality development of financial enterprises, enriching the theoretical foundations in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increase in global temperature, the global change situation dominated by climate warming is becoming more and more serious. Climate change will cause differences in the suitable areas of species in different periods. Ginkgo biloba L., a rare and endangered wild plant protected at the national level in China, is the oldest relict plant in the world. Because of severe climate change, only China's wild Ginkgo biloba has been preserved, yet China's wild Ginkgo biloba population is facing extinction risk. Ginkgo biloba has rich ornamental value, application value, economic value, medicinal value and ecological value. Not only can it produce economic and ecological benefits, but it can also produce huge social benefits. Based on the data of Ginkgo biloba sample distribution, bioclimatic variables and soil variables, this paper uses the MaxEnt model to simulate Ginkgo biloba suitable area under current and future different climate scenarios, and analyzes the changes in the potential suitable area of Ginkgo biloba in the future through ArcGIS 10.6. The results are as follows: (1) the results simulated by the MaxEnt model are AUC > 0.9, showing that the simulation results have a high accuracy; (2) the min temperature of the coldest month, precipitation of the wettest month, elevation, and temperature seasonality are the main environmental variables affecting the change in the Ginkgo biloba suitable area; (3) under future climate scenarios, the suitable area of Ginkgo biloba is predicted to expand in the future, covering most of the south and some northeast regions, and moderate temperature and precipitation changes under climate change are conducive for the growth of Ginkgo biloba; and (4) in the future, the distribution center of the suitable area will move to the northeast. According to the conclusions in this paper, it is expected to provide theoretical reference for cultivation and management, sustainable utilization and solution of ecological environment problems of Ginkgo biloba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural wetlands are among the most important sources of methane; thus, these areas are important for better understanding long-term temporal variations in atmospheric methane concentration. During the last 60 years, wetlands have experienced extensive conversion and global impacts from climate warming, which makes the estimation of methane emission from wetlands highly uncertain. In this paper, we present a modeling framework, integrating CH4MODWETLAND, TOPMODEL and TEM models, to analyze the temporal and spatial variations in CH4 emissions from natural wetlands (including inland wetlands, coastal wetlands, lakes and rivers) in China. Our analysis revealed an increase of 25.5 %, averaging 0.52g m-2 per decade, in national CH4 fluxes from 1950 to 2010, which was mainly induced by climate warming. Higher rates of increasing CH4 fluxes occurred in northeastern, northern and northwestern China, associated with large temperature increases. However, decreases in precipitation due to climate warming o_set the increase in CH4 fluxes in these regions. The CH4 fluxes from the wetland on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau exhibited a lower rate of increase, which was approximately 25% of that simulated in northeastern China. Although climate warming has accelerated CH4 fluxes, the total amount of national CH4 emissions decreased by approximately 2.35 Tg (1.91-2.81 Tg), i.e., from 4.50 Tg in the early 1950s to 2.15 Tg in the late 2000s, due to a large wetland loss of 17.0 million ha. Of this reduction, 0.26 Tg 0.24-0.28 Tg) was derived from lakes and rivers, 0.16 Tg (0.13-0.20 Tg) from coastal wetlands, and 1.92 Tg (1.54-2.33 Tg) from inland wetlands. Northeastern China had the largest contribution to this reduction, with a loss of 1.68 Tg. The CH4 emissions were reduced by more than half in most regions in China except for the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau, where only a 23.3% decrease in CH4 was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon seven field surveys conducted between May 2011 and January 2012, we investigated pH, carbonate saturation state of aragonite (Ωarag), and ancillary parameters on the Chinese side of the North Yellow Sea, a western North Pacific continental margin of major economic importance. Subsurface waters were nearly in equilibrium with air in May and June. From July to October, the fugacity of CO2 (fCO2) of bottom water gradually increased to 697±103 µatm and pH decreased to 7.83±0.07 due to respiration/remineralization processes of primary production induced biogenic particles. In November and January, bottom water fCO2 decreased and pH gradually returned to an air-equilibrated level due to cooling enhanced vertical mixing. The corresponding bottom water Ωarag was 1.74±0.17 (May), 1.77±0.26 (June), 1.70±0.26 (July), 1.72±0.33 (August), 1.32±0.31 (October), 1.50±0.28 (November), and 1.41±0.12 (January). Critically low Ωarag values of 1.0 to 1.2 were mainly observed in subsurface waters in a salinity range of 31.5-32.5 psu in October and November, accounting for ~10% of the North Yellow Sea area. Water mass derived from the adjacent Bohai Sea had a typical water salinity of 30.5-31.5 psu, and bottom water Ωarag values ranged mostly between 1.6 and 2.4. This study showed that the carbonate system in the North Yellow Sea was substantially influenced by global atmospheric CO2 increase. The community respiration/remineralization rates in typical North Yellow Sea bottom water mass were estimated at 0.55-1.0 µmol O2 kg-1 d-1 in warm seasons, leading to seasonal drops in subsurface pH and Ωarag. Outflow of the Bohai Sea water mass counteracted the subsurface Ωarag reduction in the North Yellow Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-standing development pattern dominated by international circulation makes China face the risk of "low-end lock-in" and "being decoupling". In addition, the current global climate change and environmental crisis are becoming increasingly severe, coupled with the COVID-19 impact. Chinese enterprises must actively build a green development system for domestic industries in a mutually reinforcing manner in the context of the domestic general circulation, in order to adapt to the new dual circulation environment as soon as possible. This paper analyzes the specific coupling and coordination relationship between the two systems based on the relevant data of China's three major industries from 2008–2014 using Index DEA, entropy value method, gray correlation analysis and coupling coordination model. The results of the study show that: the two systems of dual circulation pattern and industrial green development have a strong correlation and basically present a coupling relationship, but within the industry, there is a problem of the collapse of the tertiary industry. In terms of the type of coupling, the domestic and international circulation in general gradually present the green development leading state, except for the primary industrial segment of the international circulation. On the whole, the coupling quality of the two systems needs to be further improved. Based on this, this paper puts forward the following suggestions: (1) coordinate the internal and external development of the industry; (2) take innovation as the driving force to promote the green transformation of industries; (3) take green sharing as the goal to strengthen the policy orientation of green development; (4) take the opportunity of mutual promotion of dual circulation to stabilize the steady state of green development coupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To effectively shift from economic growth based on high levels of energy expenditure and pollution and to actively address global climate change, the purpose of this paper is to explore whether environmental regulation in developing countries helps promote TFP from a credit resource allocation perspective. This paper examines the impact of environmental regulation on firm TFP and the underlying mechanism of TFP using data on Chinese listed A-share companies from 2011 to 2018. The relationship between ERS and enterprise TFP is found to exhibit a clear U shape, that is, it shows the characteristics of inhibition followed by promotion. The mechanism analysis indicates that credit allocation is a significant mediator between environmental regulation and its effect on firm TFP through such allocation, while the heterogeneity analysis shows that in the central and western regions and in highly competitive industries, environmental regulation significantly affects firm TFP through credit allocation. The empirical results, which indicate that ERS in China is still at the left-hand side of the U-shaped curve inhibition area, suggest that government regulation should be strengthened, differentiated regional environmental regulation should be implemented, the bank credit system should be improved, and the U-shaped inflection point must be crossed if high-quality economic development is to be achieved in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese Communist Party and its supporters are increasingly using social media platforms to shape China's public image. This online image is a means of strengthening domestic nationalism and of projecting "soft power" abroad. This paper examines various forms of anti-Westernism that are central to this image-making. It analyzes several recent topics—the Belt and Road Initiative, climate change, the COVID-19 vaccine, the Beijing Olympics, and the conflict in Ukraine—on the r/Sino subreddit page of Reddit and compares them with two online news outlets, the South China Morning Post and China Daily. The paper focuses on how these media frame the contest between a rising China and a failing West, so creating a discourse that competes with the negative portrayals of China outside the country. The paper contrasts the aggressive strengthening of China's image against the West on social media with more sober accounts of the same topics in China's official media and in commercial news outlets. The contribution of the paper is to document an emerging online anti-Westernism that is playing an increasing role in the changing geopolitical landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To depict the wet (April with a soil water content, SWC, of 37 %) and dry (October with a SWC of 24.8 %) seasonal changes in the water use and physiological response of a Eucalyptus urophylla plantation in subtropical South China characterized by monsoon climate, the whole-year (June 2012 to May 2013) transpiration of E. urophylla was monitored using the TDP method. Daily transpiration (ET) in October averaged 5.7 ± 2.9 kg d-1 and was 58.0 % higher than that in April (3.6 ± 2.3 kg d-1). The difference is consistent with that of the radiation and evaporative demand of the two months, while the nocturnal transpiration (ET-NOC) in the wet season (0.18 ± 0.021 kg d-1) was almost twice that in the dry season (0.11 ± 0.01 kg d-1). Trees displayed a higher stomatal conductance (GS) (53.4-144.5 mmol m-2 s-1) in the wet season and a lower GS (45.7-89.5 mmol m-2 s-1) in the dry season. The leaf-soil water potentials (ΨL) of the two months (April and October) were -0.62 ± 0.66 and -1.22 ± 0.10 MPa, respectively. A boundary line analysis demonstrated that the slight improvement in the GS by SWC in wet season was offset by a significant decrease in D, and the slope of GS sensitivity to D (dGS/dlnD) in response to GSref (references GS at D = 1 kPa) was affected by the variance of radiation instead of SWC. Specific hydraulic conductivity (ks) of trees of different sizes decreased by 45.3-65.6 % from the wet to the dry season. Combining the decreased maximum reference GS at D = 1 kPa (GSref-max) by 22.4 % with the constant max GS (GSmax) when ΨL < -1.2 MPa, we shed some light on the mechanism underlying the high water-use efficiency (WUE) of this Eucalyptus specie. With a slight change in GSref-max and high sensitivity of ks to decreasing ΨL, large trees used water more efficiently than small ones did. In addition, the -m in the dry season (0.53 ± 0.007) was lower than that in the wet season (0.58 ± 0.01) due to the difference in the ratio of GS to the boundary layer conductance (gb) in the two months. The negative relationship between -m (except when light is limited) and Q proved to be a plastic response to environmental changes for E. urophylla but did not change with decreased ks as expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The serious consequences of climate warming have increasingly become a globe agenda in recent decades. China has been actively participating in various initiatives to address global climate change and has made commitments to reduce carbon emissions. Although the logistics industry is regarded as the "new driving force of national economic development", its carbon intensity is relatively high. Therefore, whether the logistics industry can develop in a green and low-carbon way is very crucial. This paper takes the green logistics efficiency of China's provincial logistics industry as the research object. The Super-SBM model is used to measure the China's green logistics efficiency, then the general dynamic characteristics is depicted by kernel density analysis. With the GML (Global Malmquist-Luenberger) index model, the reasons for the changes in green logistics efficiency are explained. Finally, Moran's I index is used to analyze the spatial correlation of green logistics efficiency in each province. The results show that the green logistics efficiency in China is at a low level, but with an upward trend. China's green logistics efficiency has a significant positive spatial correlation, showing a zonal pattern of high in the east and low in the west, and a polarization phenomenon. In addition, the bottleneck of the overall development of green logistics efficiency in China depends on the level of green technology. Furthermore, the results also imply that green technology advancement is an inherent key factor for green logistics efficiency to achieve growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bioeconomy model provides an alternative view of global economic systems by putting sustainable practices combined with digital approaches at the forefront to tackle issues such as climate change. To address this new business trends, financial institutions began to set up the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) business units to evaluate their business strategies. This paper is aimed at examining the nonfinancial effect created by the digital transformation (DT) activities, highlighting the role of enterprise heterogeneity after the implementation of Environmental Protection Law (EPL) in China. We employ the panel data of A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2020, selecting DT and ESG indicators as the important representations of "Industry 5.0." Our empirical results demonstrate a positive impact of EPL on the ESG performance in sight of resource enterprises (REs), environmental enterprises (EEs), and polluting enterprises (PEs), but a negative impact of EPL on the DT indicators among those environmental related industries. Additional causal relationship regression reveals that enterprise DT has an intrinsic promoting effect on the ESG performance, emphasizing on the high risk of digitization process being the shock transmitters to enterprise nonfinancial indices. Notably, the connectedness of environmental policy illustrates dynamic patterns by parallel trend test and propensity score matching (PSM) DID regression. This paper is prone to benefit lawmakers, regulators, and firm executives responsible for analyzing and assessing enterprise digitization behavior by exploring the influence of macrolevel environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affected by global warming, the frequency of crop pests and diseases have increased, causing huge losses to agricultural production. To better grasp the development and trends of research on the effects of climate change on crop pests and diseases, the literature on the impact of climate change on crop pests and diseases published from 1990 to 2021 in the Web of Science (WOS) core collection database was used. This study explores the literature characteristics and hotspot evolution through the bibliometric visualization analysis software COOC, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace, with a view to identifying the changing characteristics and trends of research changes in this field. The results showed that the number of literature on the impact of climate change on crop pests and diseases increased rapidly. The main fields involved include environmental sciences, ecology, and agronomy. Papers in these fields mainly published in journals, such as PLos One, Forest Ecology and Management, and Frontiers in Plant Science. The country with the highest number of publications was the United States, followed by China and Australia. The most prolific authors in the top 20 are research scholars from China. The first author of the top 20 highly cited papers was from the United States. It was found that that current research on the impact of climate change on crop pests and diseases mainly focuses on agricultural production and food safety. Modelling and crop growth has maintained steady development. At present, research in this field mainly focuses on pest management strategies under the impact of climate change, the response of single species, and the complex ecological mechanisms behind the response. This study provides unique insights into the research field of the impact of climate change on crop pests and diseases and provides a reference direction for future research development in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentrations of leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are key leaf traits in ecosystem functioning and dynamics. Foliar stoichiometry varies remarkably among life forms. However, previous studies have focused on trees and grasses, leaving the knowledge gap for the stoichiometric patterns of shrubs. In this study, we explored the intra- and interspecific variations of leaf N and P concentration in relation to climate, soil property and evolutionary history based on 1486 samples composed of 163 shrub species from 361 shrubland sites in northern China expanding 46.1° (86.7-132.8° E) in longitude and 19.8° (32.6-52.4° N) in latitude. The results showed that leaf N concentration decreased with precipitation, leaf P concentration decreased with temperature and increased with precipitation and soil P concentration. Both leaf N and P concentrations were phylogenetically conserved, but leaf P concentration was less conserved than leaf N concentration. At community level, climates explained more interspecific, while soil nutrient explained more intraspecific, variation of leaf nutrient concentrations. These results suggested that leaf N and P concentrations responded to climate, soil, and phylogeny in different ways. Climate influenced the community chemical traits through the shift in species composition, whereas soil directly influenced the community chemical traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO2 is one of the primary greenhouse gases impacting global climate change, making it crucial to understand the spatiotemporal variations of CO2. Currently, commonly used satellites serve as the primary means of CO2 observation, but they often suffer from striping issues and fail to achieve complete coverage. This paper proposes a method for constructing a comprehensive high-spatiotemporal-resolution XCO2 dataset based on multiple auxiliary data sources and satellite observations, utilizing multiple simple deep neural network (DNN) models. Global validation results against ground-based TCCON data demonstrate the excellent accuracy of the constructed XCO2 dataset (R is 0.94, RMSE is 0.98 ppm). Using this method, we analyze the spatiotemporal variations of CO2 in China and its surroundings (region: 0°–60° N, 70°–140° E) from 2019 to 2020. The gapless and fine-scale CO2 generation method enhances people's understanding of CO2 spatiotemporal variations, supporting carbon-related research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pseudopoda Jäger, 2000 is currently the largest genus in the family Sparassidae Bertkau, 1872, comprising 255 species. Of these, 154 species have been recorded in China, representing 60.4% of the global species. In October 2023, a spider survey was conducted in Shennongjia National Nature Reserve, Hubei Province, China. After examination and morphological comparison, one new species of the genus Pseudopoda was identified and is described here. New information: In this paper, a new species of Pseudopoda collected in Hubei Province, China, is proposed and named Pseudopoda guanmenshan sp. nov. A detailed description, diagnosis, photographs and distribution map of the new species are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite, operational from its launch in 2002 until October 2017, documented critical changes in global terrestrial water storage, significantly advancing the fields of gravity field analysis, hydrological variations, and environmental monitoring. This study investigates the thematic evolution of 2,966 SCIE-indexed publications on GRACE satellite applications from 2002 to 2022, utilizing co-occurrence network mapping and complex network analysis. Our results indicate a steady growth in GRACE satellite application research, with early publications (2002-2004) achieving an average citation rate exceeding 100, underscoring their substantial impact. Keyword clustering identified four primary research themes: Hydrology and Water Resources, Atmospheric and Environmental Science, Geophysical and Temporal Analysis, and Polar and Glaciological Studies. Over time, these themes have expanded and deepened, transitioning from initial focuses on gravity field computations to hydrological applications, sea level studies, and more specific investigations into water resources, climate change, and advancements in satellite geodesy. Recent research has particularly concentrated on groundwater and water storage issues. Geographically, the United States leads in publication output, impact, and international collaborations, with China following in publication count and network centrality, albeit with potential for improved impact. European countries demonstrate significant influence and centrality within the cooperation network. The evolution index of the international cooperation network shows a significant increase in connectivity from 2002 to 2022, with closer cooperation between countries. There is notable growth in both the number and intensity of collaborations, as evidenced by the rising average degree and average weighted degree. Overall, these indices underscore the evolution towards a more connected and globally integrated research network in GRACE satellite research. Looking forward, technological advancements, enhanced international collaboration, and integration with other data sources will drive future research in GRACE satellite application research, with important implications for addressing global environmental and climate challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study of the features, problems, and prospects of implementing knowledge and information systems in the fight against climate change, which are based on the digital management of knowledge and information systems. We demonstrate practices that are applied in Norway and China and determine the key directions for implementing these technologies. We confirm the offered research hypothesis on the effect of such components as finances, infrastructure, and digital readiness of the workforce for the implementation of new ICT. We also establish the prospects for an increase in the effectiveness of the realisation of the consideration process in the conditions of mass implementation of sectorial technologies and the focus on global climate integration in China and Norway. The objective of this research is to identify the directions for tackling climate change in the digital economy that are focused on green management of knowledge and information systems. The methods used in this work include the method of scientific abstraction, comparison, statistical analysis, and factor analysis. The scientific novelty of this research consists in the establishment of the directions for digitalization of environmental growth in the conditions of climate change and the quick emergence of innovative ICT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Dual Carbon" initiative is a two-stage carbon reduction goal proposed by China, with significant implications for global climate change mitigation. This article examines the impact of the "Dual Carbon" strategy on China's forestry development and explores how to leverage this strategy to facilitate the transformation and advancement of the forestry sector. Current review indicated that forestry has the advantage of achieving higher emission reduction targets at a low cost. Starting with an overview of the "Dual Carbon" strategy, this paper analyzes the carbon sequestration potential of plants and soil, and the challenges and opportunities faced by forestry development under this framework. Furthermore, we outline implementation pathways for forestry development, aiming to provide insights for the progress of China's forestry sector. Overall, it should be noted that the priority is to vigorously develop timber resources, and we also need to vigorously develop and protect forestry talent with the support of China's policies. By trapping into the carbon storage capabilities and leveraging carbon trading mechanisms of forests, a favorable ecological environment can be created, thus achieving the goal of carbon neutrality. Highlights: • Forest development and its carbon sinks, attributed to plant and soil have the potential in carbon sequestration process, thus helping China achieve carbon neutrality. • The supply of forest products and the balance of economic growth and environmental protection are the key difficulties under the "Dual Carbon" strategy. • Trading forest carbon sinks can boost China's sequestration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well documented that people have misperceptions about energy costs. However, there is mixed empirical evidence about the effectiveness of information provision and its persistence over time. Understanding the interplay between information regarding the private and social benefits of low-carbon technologies and identifying mechanisms through which information treatments affect people's long-term behaviors can help reconcile the mixed findings in the literature. In this paper, we measured the long-term effects of information provision through online experiments involving more than 3,000 households in China. We provided people with information on low-carbon light bulbs' monetary and climate benefits and observed their purchasing decisions over 10 months. We find that information on private or social benefits leads to a temporary effect on most households and a persistent one on the uninformed. This evidence suggests that information provision works through two different mechanisms: increasing saliency and filling the information gap. This paper was accepted by Yan Chen, behavioral economics and decision analysis. Funding: Y. Gao received financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 71903006]. M. Tavoni received financial support from the FP7 Ideas: European Research Council [Grant ERC-336155–COBHAM]. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4910. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2015 Paris Agreement has set out the climate change target of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, which poses a serious challenge to countries to reduce emissions. As the world's largest carbon emitter, promoting the realization of the "dual-carbon" goal is the key to realizing China's green transformation and high-quality development. Chinese asset managers play active roles in the capital market as an important channel of asset allocation. Currently, the vast majority of Chinese asset managers hold high percentages of high-carbon industries in their portfolios, and lack quantitative data of their carbon footprints embodied in equity investments, which faces huge carbon-related risks. Therefore, it's an urgent need to comprehensively and scientifically measure financed emissions of Chinese asset managers, which is of great significance for asset managers' carbon risk management and sustainable investment. This paper develops a detailed inventory of carbon emissions for equity portfolios managed by Chinese asset managers from 2010 to 2020, which stands as a pivotal reference for in-depth analysis of emission characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought intensity and frequency have increased in recent years, which poses significant threats to forest ecosystems, especially in the context of global climate change. This paper is aimed at summarizing the current state of research and global development trends regarding drought-induced tree mortality mechanisms in tree physiology. Developing a robust literature foundation will facilitate in-depth research and foster the exchange of knowledge related to this subject. A literature review was conducted using tools such as VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and the Bibliometrix R-package to review the literature from the Web of Science's core database from 1985 to 2023. We intend to determine the current state and evolution of global research on drought-induced tree mortality mechanisms. The results reveal that research on drought-induced tree mortality mechanisms gained momentum predominantly in the last two decades, with a marked surge post-2012. The United States is the epicenter of research, leading the global scientific community with its preeminence in publication volume, citation rates, and the scope of collaborative networks, with China in close pursuit. Tree Physiology stands out as the leading journal in this domain, boasting 129 articles. McDowell NG emerges as the most prolific author, with an H-index of 41, underscoring his influence in the field. There is a clear upward trend in collaborations spanning authors, journals, research institutions, and countries. The analysis of frequently cited keywords and topic evolution suggests that drought and tree mortality will likely remain key research areas for the foreseeable future. The future of research on drought-induced tree mortality mechanisms in physiology is promising, as it emphasizes multidisciplinary approaches and global collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystems are undergoing continuous degradation due to the dual perturbation of global climate change and human activities, posing unprecedented threats and challenges to the ecosystem services they provide. To gain a deeper understanding of the spatio-temporal evolution of ecosystem service value (ESV), it is essential to accurately capture the characteristics of its spatial and temporal changes and its influencing factors. However, traditional spatio-temporal statistical methods are limited to analyzing the heterogeneity of ESV in a single temporal or spatial dimension, which fails to meet the comprehensive analysis needs for spatio-temporal heterogeneity over an extended continuum. Therefore, this paper constructs a Bayesian spatio-temporal hierarchical model to analyze the ESV heterogeneity in both temporal and spatial dimensions in Northeast China from 2000 to 2020 to accurately identify the regions with unstable fluctuations in ESV and analyze the influencing factors behind them. It aims to comprehensively and systematically reveal the intrinsic laws of spatio-temporal evolution of ESV, and provide a scientific basis for relevant decision-making. The study found a continuous fluctuating downward trend of ESV in Northeast China from 2000 to 2020, with significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity. Notably, the distribution of hot and cold spots is regularly concentrated, especially in the transition zone from low hills to plains, which forms an "unstable zone" of spatial and temporal fluctuations of ESV. Natural factors such as NDVI and NPP exhibit a significant positive correlation with ESV, while social factors like population density and GDP show a strong negative correlation. Compared to traditional statistical methods, the Bayesian spatio-temporal hierarchical model, with its outstanding flexibility and accuracy, provides a new perspective and way of thinking for analyzing classical spatio-temporal problems. Firstly, the model examines time and space as a whole and fully accounts for the influence of spatio-temporal interactions on ESV. Secondly, the Bayesian spatio-temporal hierarchical model meets the needs of long-term continuous ESV outcome detection, which provides us with solid support for a deeper understanding of the evolution of ESV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A process-oriented niche specification (PONS) model was constructed to quantify climatic controls on the distribution of ecosystems, based on the vegetation map of China. PONS uses general hypotheses about bioclimatic controls to provide a "bridge" between statistical niche models and more complex process-based models. Canonical correspondence analysis provided an overview of relationships between the abundances of 55 plant communities in 0.1° grid cells and associated mean values of 20 predictor variables. Of these, GDD (accumulated degree days above 0 ° C) Cramer--Prentice α (an estimate of the ratio of actual to equilibrium evapotranspiration) and mGDD5 (mean temperature during the period above 5 ° C) showed the greatest predictive power. These three variables were used to develop generalized linear models for the probability of occurrence of 16 vegetation classes, aggregated from the original 55 types by k-means clustering according to bioclimatic similarity. Each class was hypothesized to possess a unimodal relationship to each bioclimate variable, independently of the other variables. A simple calibration was used to generate vegetation maps from the predicted probabilities of the classes. Modelled and observed vegetation maps showed good to excellent agreement (κ = 0.745). A sensitivity study examined modelled responses of vegetation distribution to spatially uniform changes in temperature, precipitation and [CO2], the latter included via an offset to α (based on an independent, data-based light use efficiency model for forest net primary production). Warming shifted the boundaries of most vegetation classes northward and westward while temperate steppe and desert replaced alpine tundra and steppe in the southeast of the Tibetan Plateau. Increased precipitation expanded mesic vegetation at the expense of xeric vegetation. The effect of [CO2] doubling was roughly equivalent to increasing precipitation by ~ 30%, favouring woody vegetation types, particularly in northern China. Agricultural zones in northern China responded most strongly to warming, but also benefited from increases in precipitation and [CO2]. These results broadly conform to previously published findings made with the process-based model BIOME4, but they add regional detail and realism and extend the earlier results to include cropping systems. They provide a potential basis for a broad-scale assessment of global change impacts on natural and managed ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on four field investigations during 2003 and 2009 along the Yellow River mainstream, we examined the distributions, seasonal variations and transport features of organic carbon, with a focus on the impacts of human activities (reservoir construction and regulation scheme). The results showed that organic carbon transport processes in the Yellow River were different from other major rivers. Particulate organic carbon (POC) dominated in the Yellow River and it mainly originated from the Loess Plateau. POC levels in suspended sediment (POC %) ranged between 0.25% and 2.20% and more than 80%of POC concentrated in the particles with grain size smaller than 16 µm. On time scale, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) correlated negatively with discharges, indicating the influence of dilution effect. Along the river on spatial scales, DOC in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was closely related with temperature while DOC in the Loess Plateau showed the concentration effect, due to the abundant human input and the high ratio of evaporation to precipitation. Organic carbon in the Yellow River was very refractory and about 90% of POC and 70% of DOC cannot be degraded. Due to the high turbidity, the Yellow River suffers more impacts from the reservoirs in the transport of total suspended solids (TSS) and organic carbon. Ratios of DOC/POC ranged between 2.0 and 12 in the reservoirs and organic carbon was mainly in the dissolved from. POC deposited in the reservoirs of the Yellow River achieved 0.0033 Gta-1, about 8 times its annual POC flux discharged to the ocean. During the 2008 Water and Sediment Regulation (WSR) period, DOC and POC fluxes was as high as 1.1x1010 g and 2.2x1011 g respectively, accounting for 35% of annual DOC flux and 56% of the annual POC flux to the ocean. Discharges and material fluxes to the ocean decline sharply due to the reservoir construction while large amounts of water and sediment are transported to the ocean in such a short WSR period. These two human disturbances totally altered the processes of substance transport in the Yellow River, and may change the water chemical characteristics in the coastal zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil carbon sequestration plays an essential role in mitigating CO2 increases and the subsequently global greenhouse effect. The storages and dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) of 0-30 cm soil depth in different landscape types including beaches, reservoir and pond, reed wetland, forest wetland, bush wetland, farmland, building land, bare land (severe saline land) and salt field in the modern Yellow River Delta (YRD), were studied based on the data of the regional survey and laboratory analysis. The landscape types were classified by the interpretation of remote sensing images of 2000 and 2009, which was calibrated by field survey results. The results revealed an increase of 10.59km² in the modem YRD area from 2000 to 2009. The SOC density varied ranging from 0.73 kgm-2 to 21.60 kgm-2 at depth of 30 cm. There were ∼3.97 x 106 t and 3.98 x 106 t SOC stored in the YRD in 2000 and 2009, respectively. The SOC storages changed greatly in beaches, bush wetland, farm land and salt field which were affected dominantly by anthropogenic activities. The area of the YRD increased greatly within 10 yr, however, the small increase of SOC storage in the region was observed due to landscape changes, indicating that the modern YRD was a potential carbon sink and anthropogenic activity was a key factor for SOC change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tarim Basin is a large inland arid basin in the arid region of northwest China and has been experiencing significant "warming and wetting" since 1987. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to determine whether the climate transition phenomenon occurred in the Tarim Basin as well as the role of atmospheric circulation in this process. We use meteorological data and atmospheric circulation indexes to study the seasonal trends of climate change in this region from 1987 to 2020 to understand how they are affected by atmospheric circulation. The findings show that, from 1987 to 2020, the Tarim Basin experienced significant warming and wetting; with the exception of the winter scale, all other seasonal scales exhibited a clear warming and wetting trend. From the perspective of spatial distribution, most of the areas showed a significant warming trend, and the warming amplitude around the basin is greater than that in the central area of the basin. However, there are significant regional differences in precipitation change rates. Meanwhile, wavelet analysis shows that there is a significant oscillation period of 17–20 years between climate change and the atmospheric circulation index during 1987–2020. The correlation analysis shows that the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) are the main influencing factors of climate change in the Tarim Basin at different seasonal scales, while the teleconnection of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is low and the PDO dominates the summer and autumn temperature changes in the Tarim Basin. The research results of this paper show that, despite the warming and wetting trends since 1987 in the Tarim Basin, the climate type did not change. From 1987 to 2020, the main teleconnection factors of climate change in the Tarim Basin were PDO and ENSO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 20 July 2021, an extreme rainstorm battered Zhengzhou in China's Henan Province, killing 302 people, including 14 individuals who drowned in a subway tunnel and 6 who drowned in a road tunnel. As the global climate warms, extreme weather events similar to the Zhengzhou flood will become more frequent, with increasingly catastrophic consequences for society. Taking a case study-based approach by focusing on the record-breaking Zhengzhou flood, this paper examines the governance capacity of inland cities in North China for managing extreme precipitation and flooding events from the perspective of the flood risk management process. Based on in-depth case analysis, our paper hypothesizes that inland cities in North China still have low risk perceptions of extreme weather events, which was manifested in insufficient pre-disaster preparation and prevention, poor risk communication, and slow emergency response. Accordingly, it is recommended that inland cities update their risk perceptions of extreme rainfall and flooding events, which are no longer low-probability, high-impact "black swans", but turning into high-probability, high-impact "gray rhinos." In particular, cities must make sufficient preparation for extreme weather events by revising contingency plans and strengthening their implementation, improving risk communication of meteorological warnings, and synchronizing emergency response with meteorological warnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientifically evaluating the influence of ecological restoration projects on the water conservation function (WCF) of regional ecosystems is the foundation for formulating regional ecological restoration policies and optimizing and adjusting ecological restoration projects. In this paper, we considered fully the runoff generation and confluence process in the Qilian Mountains with the actual situation of the basin and re-rated the parameter Z to improve the simulation accuracy of InVEST model. On this basis, the impact of ecological restoration project on the WCF in the upper reaches of Shiyang River Basin (SRB) in the eastern part of Qilian Mountains was quantified. The results showed that, on the whole, the water conservation depth (WCD) of forest land was the largest (138.5 mm) and that of cultivated land was the smallest (24.78 mm), while the water conservation coefficient of forest land was also the largest (93.36%) and that of unused land was the smallest (16.67%). From 1986 to 2018, the WCD showed an increasing trend in the upper reaches of SRB, among them, the WCD in the western tributaries increased faster than that in the eastern tributaries from 1986 to 2000. The significantly increased areas were mainly distributed in the middle reaches of the western tributaries and the river source areas of the eastern tributaries, while the significantly decreased areas were mainly distributed in the river source areas of the western tributaries and the cultivated land expansion area in the middle reaches of the eastern tributaries. From 2000 to 2018, the WCD of the eastern tributaries increased more than that of the western tributaries. The significantly increased areas were mainly distributed in the four eastern tributaries, and the significantly decreased areas were scattered in the middle and lower reaches of each tributary. From 1986 to 2000, the overall influence of land use change on the increase in WCD was negative, while the influence of climate and land use change on the increase in water conservation were both positive from 2000 to 2018. The influence of land use change on WCD was different in different tributaries. Among them, that of the western tributaries (except the Dongda River) was positive in two different periods, while that of the eastern tributaries (except the Xiying River) was changed from negative to positive. The implementation of ecological restoration project was one of the main reasons for the improvement of WCF in Qilian Mountains from 2000 to 2018, with a contribution of 9.04%. In the future, the protection and restoration of decreased areas of WCF should be strengthened, and the Z value determined in this paper is expected to be applied in the arid inland river basins of northwest China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the annual average climate data and economic and social data from 262 prefecture-level cities in China from 2001 to 2019, this paper explores the impact of climate change on urban–rural income inequality and its mechanisms using fixed-effects (FEs) and mediated-effects (MEs) models. This study finds that (1) climate change has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the urban–rural income disparity; (2) climate change can affect the urban–rural income disparity by influencing urban and rural income levels, the regional degree of urbanization, and the labor force employment structure; (3) the impact of climate change on the urban–rural income gap is heterogeneous in East, Center, and West China; and (4) extreme heat can widen the urban–rural income gap, and extreme drought can narrow the urban–rural income gap. Climate change has a significant impact on the urban–rural income gap, and there is a need to continue to promote urbanization and the optimization of the employment structure of the workforce, reduce the vulnerability of rural residents to climate change, and narrow the urban–rural income gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a raw material for clean energy supply for the new generation, the soybean is conducive to the realization of global energy transition and sustainable development in the context of "carbon neutrality". However, global warming has been affecting soybean yields in recent years. How to clarify the correlation between meteorological factors and soybean yields, so as to ensure the security of soybean growth and development and the stability of renewable energy development, is a key concern of the government and academia. Based on the data of temperature, precipitation, sunshine duration and active accumulated temperature during the soybean growing season in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from 1951 to 2019, and soybean yield data of the city from 1985 to 2019, this paper adopted statistical methods such as the Trend Analysis Method, the Rescaled Range Analysis Method and so on to analyze the trends of yield changes, characteristics of abrupt changes and periodic patterns of climate factors and soybean yields in Hulunbuir. A Pearson Correlation Analysis and a Grey Relation Analysis were used to explore the correlation between climatic factors and soybean yields, followed by a comprehensive impact model of the combined effect of temperature and precipitation on soybean yields established by the Method of Integral Regression. The results showed that temperature and active accumulated temperature are the dominant factors affecting soybean yields in Hulunbuir, while the decrease in precipitation is unfavorable to the improvement of soybean yields. Meanwhile, temperature and precipitation have different effects on the growth and development of the soybean at different stages. The conclusion of this paper is of great practical significance for Hulunbuir to promote the sustainable development of clean energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf wax molecular and isotopic ratios are generally considered robust isotopic pale-ohydrologic proxies. Here we evaluate the proxy value of the molecular distributions and hydrogen isotopic compositions of long chain n-alkanes (δDalk ) in surface peats collected from peatlands across a range of annual air temperatures from 1 to 15°C and a range of annual mean precipitation from 720 to 2070 mm in the monsoonal region of China. The alkane ratios (ACL and CPI) and δDalk values show relatively large variations in multiple samples from a single site, highlighting the complexity of these ratios at a small spatial scale. In the montane Zoigê peatland, the apparent fractiona-tion between precipitation and δDalk is more positive than in the other six sites, which is possibly an effect of the higher conductivity of the water in this high elevation site (3500 m a.s.l.). At a larger spatial scale, the site-averaged CPI ratios and the δDalk values of n-C29 and n-C31 alkanes show significant correlation with the air temperature and precipitation. These results support the application of the CPI ratio and the δDalk ratios of n-C29 and n-C31 alkanes as sensitive paleohydrologic proxies on millennial and larger timescales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The response of dryland vegetation to climate change is particularly sensitive in the context of global climate change. This paper analyzes the characteristics of spatial and temporal dynamics of vegetation cover in the Tarim River Basin, China, and its driving factors in order to investigate the response of vegetation growth to water storage changes in the basin. The Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), the GRACE gravity satellite, and meteorological data from 2002 to 2022 are used to decipher the characteristics of the response of water storage changes to vegetation changes, which is of great significance to the realization of regional ecological development and sustainable development. The results of the study show the following: (1) The vegetation in the Tarim River Basin has an overall increasing trend, which is mainly distributed in the Aksu Basin and the Weigangkuche River Basin and is spatially distributed in the form of a ring. (2) Vegetation distribution greatly improved during the 20-year study period, dominated by high-cover vegetation, with a change rate of 200.36%. Additionally, vegetation changes are centered on the watersheds and expand to the surrounding area, with a clear increase in vegetation in the Kumukuri Basin. Areas with a vegetation Hurst index of <0.5 account for 63.27% of the study area, and the areas with a continuous decrease were mainly located in the outer contour area of the Tarim River and Kumu Kuri Basins. (3) There are obvious spatial differences in the correlation between EVI and temperature and precipitation elements. The proportion of areas with positive correlation with temperature within the study area is 64.67%. EVI tends to be consistent with the direction of migration of the center of gravity of the population and GDP, and the areas with positive correlation between vegetation and terrestrial water reserves are mainly distributed in the northern slopes of the Kunlun Mountains, with an area proportion of about 50.513%. The Kumukuli Basin also shows significantly positive correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encouraging the use of conservation tillage technology is a highly effective approach to safeguarding soil health, improving the environment, and promoting sustainable agricultural development. With the mounting concerns surrounding climate change, developing conservation tillage methods that facilitate sustainable agricultural growth has become an imperative both in China and around the world. While it is widely recognized that adapting to climate change is crucial in agriculture, there is limited research on evaluating the risks, discovering resilience, measuring farmers' perceptions on climate change, and exploring how tillage technology can be adjusted in the context of small-scale farming in China to foster sustainable development. Using research data from smallholder farmers in the Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces of China, this paper aims to explore the impact of climate change perceptions on farmers' adoption of conservation tillage technologies based on an ordered Probit model. We found that farmers tend to refrain from embracing conservation tillage technology due to the presence of unclear and conflicting perceptions regarding climate change. Focus on short-term profitability and inadequate preparation hinder them from prioritizing adaptation. We recognized several measures that could help farmers adapt and thrive within the agricultural sector. Furthermore, we have validated the need for self-system moderation in promoting farmers' adoption of conservation tillage technology. By utilizing such tools and resources, farmers can comprehend the gravity of climate change's impact on agricultural productivity and, more importantly, channel their efforts towards fortifying resilience to extreme weather conditions and long-term climate risks, thus fortifying agricultural sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The upper reaches of the Yellow River in China, influenced by erosion of the Yellow River and tectonic activities, are prone to landslides. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the existing landslide traces. Based on visual interpretation on high-resolution satellite images and terrain data, supplemented and validated by existing landslide records, this paper prepared the most complete and detailed landslide traces inventory in Jianzha County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, to date. The results indicate that within the study area of 1714 km², there are at least 713 landslide traces, ranging in scale from 3,556 m2 to 11.13 km², with a total area of 134.46 km². The total landslide area excluding the overlap area is 126.30 km². The overall landslide point density and area density in the study area are 0.42 km[sup -2] and 7.37% respectively. The maximum point density and maximum area density of landslide traces in the area are as high as 5.69 km-2 and 98.0% respectively. The landslides are primarily distributed in the relatively low-elevation northeastern part of Jianzha County, characterized mainly by large-scale loess landslides, with 14 landslides exceeding 1x10[sup 6] m². This inventory not only supplements the landslide trace data in the transition zone between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Loess Plateau, but also provides an important basis for subsequent landslide risk zoning, response to climate change, and landscape evolution. Additionally, it holds significant reference value for compiling landslide inventories in similar geological environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pearl River is one of China's large rivers, the second-largest river and the fourth-longest river in China. Its unique geography, landform, and climate conditions create unique fluvial geomorphological processes. Affected by human activities and climate change, the fluvial geomorphological processes in the Pearl River Basin have undergone significant changes in recent decades, seriously affecting the river's sustainable development. This paper critically reviews changes in fluvial geomorphological processes and analyzes influencing factors in the Pearl River Basin with a focus on possibilities for policy overhaul and strategic adjustments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and human activities exert significant influence on the water–sediment relationship in arid and semi-arid regions. Therefore, comprehending the underlying mechanisms is crucial for the effective management of water and soil resources, as well as integrated watershed management. This research focuses on the Kuye River watershed (KYH_W) in the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China, along with its sub-watersheds Wangdaohengtazi (WDHT_SW) and Xinmiaosi (XM_SW). This paper utilizes the Mann–Kendall non-parametric test and the double cumulative curve method to examine the interannual trends of runoff, sediment transport, precipitation, temperature, and NDVI factors. Furthermore, the method of the slope change ratio of cumulative quantity (SCRCQ) is utilized to quantitatively evaluate the impacts and contribution rates of climate change and human activities on water–sediment changes within each watershed. The results are as follows: (1) From 1969 to 2019, the entire watershed experienced a significant decrease in both runoff and sediment transport, with 1997 marking the year of abrupt change. However, following 2012, the KYH_W and WDHT_SW exhibited a noticeable rebound in runoff. (2) Human activities predominantly contribute to the reduction in water and sediment in the watershed. (3) After the abrupt change, between 1998 and 2011, the contribution rates of climate change and human activities to the annual runoff reduction in the entire KYH_W reached 33% and 64%, respectively. Moreover, these rates for sediment transport reduction reached 26% and 74%, respectively. Subsequently, after 2012, the contribution rates of both factors to the increase in watershed runoff reached 29% and 71%, respectively. Factors other than the NDVI, within human activities, played a dominant role in augmenting the watershed's runoff. (4) Prior to 2011, changes in vegetation cover resulting from the Grain for Green Program, as measured by the NDVI, emerged as the primary factor responsible for reduced runoff in the watershed. Conversely, factors other than the NDVI assumed dominance in reducing sediment transport. The SCRCQ method offers a quantitative approach to assessing water–sediment changes. Based on this method, the study further underscores the substantial impacts of climate change and human activities on variations in runoff and sediment transport within the KYH_W in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Notably, the water–sediment changes in the KYH_W exhibit distinct stage-wise and spatial discrepancies, which warrant increased attention in future research endeavors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the complex relationship between population change and surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect has important practical significance for the ecological transformation development of shrinking cities in the context of the prevalence of urban shrinkage and the global climate change. This paper compares the population change and SUHI effect between population shrinking region (Northeast Region, NR) and population growing region (Yangtze River Delta, YRD) in China, and explores their differences in driving mechanisms, using GIS spatial analysis and Geodetector model. Our results indicated that there are significant differences in population changes and SUHI intensity between these two regions. About 72.22% of the cities in the NR were shrinking, while their SUHI intensities increased by an average of 1.69°C. On the contrary, the urban population in the YRD shows a linear growth trend, while their SUHI intensities decreased by 0.11°C on average. The results of bivariate Moran's I index also indicated that the spatial correlation between the urban population changes and the SUHI intensity changes are not significant in the above regions. Furthermore, there are significant differences in the primary drivers of SUHI variations between these two regions. In the NR, underlying surface changes, including the changes of green coverage and built-up areas, are the most important driving factors. However, atmospheric environment changes, such as carbon dioxide emission and sulfur dioxide emission, are the key drivers in the YRD. Northam's theory of three-stage urbanization and environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis are powerful to explain these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerating efforts for the Sustainable Development Goals requires understanding their synergies and trade-offs at the national and sub-national levels, which will help identify the key hurdles and opportunities to prioritize them in an indivisible manner for a country. Here, we present the importance of the 17 goals through synergy and trade-off networks. Our results reveal that 19 provinces show the highest trade-offs in SDG13 (Combating Climate Change) or SDG5 (Gender Equality) consistent with the national level, with other 12 provinces varying. 24 provinces show the highest synergies in SDG1 (No Poverty) or SDG6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) consistent with the national level, with the remaining 7 provinces varying. These common but differentiated SDG priorities reflect that to ensure a coordinated national response, China should pay more attention to the provincial situation, so that provincial governments can formulate more targeted policies in line with their own priorities towards accelerating sustainable development. The paper reveals areas of common and differentiated SDG priority at the national and subnational levels in China considering synergy and trade-off. The findings suggest that provincial governments should formulate more targeted policy aligning with national priority to achieve SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sand prevention and control are the main tasks of desertification control. The MU Us Sandy Land (MUSL), one of China's four main deserts, frequently experiences droughts and has a very fragile biological environment. Climate change is the main factor leading to drought, and it may result in more serious drought situations in the future. The Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) was established using land surface temperature and normalized difference vegetation index data. In this paper, we investigate spatial and temporal change characteristics, future change trends, and the time-lag effect of TVDI on climate factors at different scales in MUSL from 2001 to 2020 using Sen + Mann–Kendall trend analysis, Hurstexponent, partial correlation analysis, and lag analysis methods. The results show that (1) the overall drought shows a spatial characteristic of gradually alleviating from west to east (TVDI = 0.6). A significant drying trend dominated 38.5% of the pixels in the fall (Z = 1.99), and a highly significant drying trend dominated the rest of the three seasons (Z average = 2.95) and the whole year (Z = 3.47). (2) In the future, dry autumn, winter, and the whole year will be dominated by continuous drying, and spring and summer will mainly change from dry to wet. The main relationships between winter TVDI and temperature (−0.06) and precipitation (−0.07) were negative, while evapotranspiration (0.18) showed a positive correlation. The six land use types in spring, summer, fall, and the whole year were primarily non-significantly positively correlated with temperature and evapotranspiration. (3) At the seasonal scale, the sensitive factors in spring and autumn were opposite, with spring TVDI responding quickly to precipitation (0.3 months) and being less sensitive to temperature (1.8 months) and evapotranspiration (2 months). At the interannual scale, desert land TVDI was most sensitive to precipitation (2.6 months) and least responsive to temperature (3 months). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2020, China put forward the goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, a move to lead global response to climate change that has attracted wide attention and hot comments at home and abroad. Therefore, it is of great practical significance and academic value to explore ways of achieving carbon peaking ahead of schedule and study the macroeconomic effect. This paper, based on Energy, Environment and Economy recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model (TECGE), a dynamic computable general equilibrium model, carries out a quantitative analysis of the effect of strengthening carbon peaking commitment on China’s future macro economy. By setting up four scenarios, namely carbon peaking of 10.8 billion tons, 10.7 billion tons, 10.58 billion tons and 10.36 billion tons in 2030, 2027, 2025, and 2023, it examines the effects of carbon peaking ahead of schedule and carbon peaking in 2030 on macro economy. The findings show that, compared with the 2030 benchmark, the more ahead of schedule carbon peaking is achieved, the higher the carbon tax prices, and that though GDP and other macroeconomic variables, such as aggregate consumption, aggregate imports and exports decline, the share of the tertiary industry increases. That is, the more ahead of schedule carbon peaking is achieved, the more macroeconomic variables decline, and the more the share of the tertiary industry rises. This paper, using computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to conduct a quantitative analysis of the macroeconomic effect, makes policy recommendations for carbon peaking ahead of schedule and high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rainfall distribution in southwest China is uneven, and the rainstorm threshold cannot use in a unified standard. This paper synthesizes a calculation method for the extremely heavy precipitation threshold and the provision of the rainstorm threshold in meteorological operation. It calculates the daily precipitation rainstorm threshold at 400 national ground stations in southwest China. The rainstorm events from 1961 to 2021 were statistically analyzed using the rainstorm threshold and analyzing the spatial-temporal variation characteristics. The results show that the number of single-station rainstorm events and the average precipitation of single-station rainstorm events in southwest China decreased from east to west. The number and frequency of single-station rainstorm events in Guizhou, Sichuan, Tibet, and Chongqing are increasing, while the number of single-station rainstorm events in Yunnan is decreasing. There is no apparent spatial distribution pattern for the continuous rainstorm events in the southwest region. From 1961 to 2021, the number and frequency of rainstorm events at a single station in southwest China followed an upward trend. The number of rainstorm events at a single station increased by 16.7 times · (10a)−1, and the frequency of rainstorms increased by 9.9% · (10a)−1. The continuous rainstorm events show an increasing trend, with an increase of 0.1 times · (10a)−1. Using the rainstorm threshold in southwest China, the early warning threshold for rainstorm disasters can be adjusted. The temporal and spatial characteristics of rainstorm events since 1961 can analyze the changes occurring in rainstorm events under global warming and provide data to support the response of southwest China to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The net primary productivity (NPP) of vegetation is an important indicator reflecting the vegetation dynamics and carbon sequestration capacity in a region. In recent years, China has implemented policies to carry out ecological protection. To understand the changes in the distribution of vegetation NPP in China and the influence of climate factors, the Carnegie–Ames–Stanford approach (CASA) model was used to estimate the NPP from 2001 to 2020. In this paper, several sets of measurement datasets and products were collected to evaluate the effectiveness of the model and suggestions were provided for the modification of the CASA model based on the evaluation results. In addition to the correlation analysis, this paper presents a statistical method for analyzing the quantitative effects in individual climatic factors on NPP changes in large regions. The comparison found that the model has a better estimation effect on grassland and needleleaf forest. The estimation error for the evergreen needleleaf forest (ENF) and deciduous broadleaf forest (DBF) decreases with the warming of the climatic zone, while the evergreen broadleaf forest (EBF) and deciduous needleleaf forest (DNF) do the opposite. The changes in total CASA NPP were consistent with the trends of other products, showing a dynamic increasing trend. In terms of the degree of correlation between the NPP changes and climatic factors, the NPP changes were significantly correlated with temperature in about 10.39% of the vegetation cover area and with precipitation in about 26.92% of the vegetation cover area. It was found that the NPP variation had a negative response to the temperature variation in Inner Mongolia grasslands, while it had a positive but small effect (±10 g C) in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau grasslands. Precipitation had a facilitative effect on the grassland NPP variation, while an increase in the annual precipitation of more than 200 mm had an inhibitory effect in arid and semi-arid regions. This study can provide data and methodological reference for the ecological assessment of large-scale regional and climate anomalous environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is the dominant factor affecting the hydrological process, it is of great significance to simulate and predict its influence on water resources management, socio-economic activities, and sustainable development in the future. In this paper, the Xiying River Basin was taken as the study area, China Atmospheric Assimilation Driven Data Set (CMADS) and observation data from the Jiutiaoling station were used to simulate runoff of the SWAT model and calibrate and verify model parameters. On this basis, runoff change of the basin under the future climate scenario of CMIP6 was predicted. Our research shows that: (1) The contribution rates of climate change and human activities to runoff increase of the Xiying River are 89.17% and 10.83%, respectively. Climate change is the most important factor affecting runoff change of the Xiying River. (2) In these three different emission scenarios of SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 in CMIP6 climate model, the average temperature increased by 0.61, 1.09 and 1.74 °C, respectively, in the Xiying River Basin from 2017 to 2050. Average precipitation increased by 14.36, 66.88, and 142.73 mm, respectively, and runoff increased by 15, 24, and 35 million m³, respectively. The effect of climate change on runoff will continue to deepen in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vehicular emissions are one of the most important sources of pollution in China, and they can increase the ambient concentrations of air pollutants and degrade the air quality. Using data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, vehicular emissions in China in 2006 and 2010 were calculated at a high spatial resolution, by taking the emission standards into consideration. The results show that China's vehicular emissions of CO, NOx, VOCs, NH3, PM2.5, PM10, black carbon (BC), and organic carbon (OC) were 30113.9, 4593.7, 6838.0, 20.9, 400.2, 430.5, 285.6, and 105.1 Gg, respectively, in 2006 and 34175.2, 5167.5, 7029.4, 74.0, 386.4, 417.1, 270.9, and 106.2 Gg, respectively, in 2010. CO, VOCs, and NH3 emissions were mainly from motorcycles and light-duty gasoline vehicles, whereas NOx, PM2.5, PM10, and BC emissions were mainly from rural vehicles and heavy-duty diesel trucks. OC emissions were mainly from motorcycles and heavy-duty diesel trucks. Euro 0 and Euro I vehicles were the primary contributors to all of the pollutant emissions except NH3, which was mainly from Euro III and Euro IV vehicles. The spatial distribution of vehicular emissions in China in 2006 and 2010 were developed at a high resolution of 0.25° × 0.25°, by using the road traffic density to characterize the busyness of a road. This method could overcome the problem of getting traffic flow information and make the spatial allocation more closed to the actual road emissions. The results showed that vehicular emissions presented significant regional spatial distribution, and emissions in the eastern and southern parts of China were much higher than those in western and northern China in both years. The North China Plain, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta regions jointly accounted for nearly half of the emissions. NH3 emissions increased greatly in big cities from 2006 to 2010. Emissions of CO, NOx, and VOCs could increase 52%, 9%, and 68%, if the emission standard and oil quality remained in the Euro I stage, so the policies on vehicular emissions implemented in China were demonstrated to be effective. Nevertheless, greater efforts are needed to improve the oil quality so that the new emission standard can implement timely and catch the international level quickly, especially the sulfur level because NOx emission is very sensitive to it. By comparing with coal consumption and NO2 column density observed by SCIA satellite, the increase of NOx emission in China from 2006 to 2010 was mainly caused by coal consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Henan Province is the birthplace of Chinese civilization and one of the earliest human settlements, which means that the area has an important national cultural heritage. Traditional villages are an important facet of this cultural heritage, and studying their spatiotemporal characteristics in different periods has important theoretical and practical significance for the sustainable development and protection of cultural heritage in the region. This paper takes the traditional villages of the Yellow River basin in Henan Province that were formed before 1919 as the research object. Information on the ancient river was obtained through a literature search as well as via field research, and the important tributaries of the Yellow River in different periods were mapped using ArcGIS 10.0 software. The nearest neighbor index, kernel density estimation, standard deviation ellipse and other methods were adopted to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of the traditional villages. The factors that influenced the evolution of traditional villages were explored in depth by combining changes in the course of the river and water conservancy projects. The results show that the formation of traditional villages along the Yellow River in Henan Province has experienced a historical track of growth, contraction, growth and prosperity and stability. The traditional villages along the Yellow River in Henan Province generally show a clustered pattern, forming a dense concentration of traditional villages in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. The center of gravity shows a migration trend from southeast to northwest. In terms of influencing factors, the spatiotemporal evolution of the relationship between villages and their distance to water is closely related to climatic fluctuations, changes in channel, water conservancy projects and social and cultural factors. This paper deepens our understanding of the relationship between traditional village evolution and watersheds by improving the consistency between village spatial distribution and historical geography and provides a useful theoretical reference for the sustainable development of China's traditional villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate the relationship between high‐temperature exposure and land transaction using daily transaction data from 2013 to 2018 in China. Standard hedonic price method is used to perform multidimensional fixed effects regression on 458,564 transaction samples. This study shows that each additional day of the extremely high temperature increases the average bid price by 0.6%, which is equivalent to an additional annual increase of 15.018 billion yuan in land transaction costs. The effect of high temperature on land prices is considerably stronger for residential and commercial lands. We further find that high‐temperature‐induced changes of mood and cognition play a role. Extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) algorithm is used to calculate price deviation, which overcome missing eigenvalues and reduce nonlinear measurement error. Our findings indicate that heat can make investors more aggressive, which occurs when bidders continue to raise prices to win. The number of bidding behavior will not drop due to the hidden costs of land transactions. Specially, bidding experience offsets the cognitive output bias. This study contributes to the behavioral finance and decision‐making literature, helps investors make better investment management decisions, and alleviates the negative effect of land transaction premium on the real estate market. Plain Language Summary: Extreme temperatures are becoming more frequent due to climate change. Extreme temperature can affect people's cognitive performance. Using large‐scale land transaction data and a fixed‐effects model, this paper analyzes the impact of extreme temperature on decision‐making. Results show that each additional day of extremely high temperature increases the average bid price by 0.6%, which is equivalent to an additional annual increase of 15.018 billion yuan in land transaction costs. This paper analyzes the impact of extreme temperature on human cognitive performance from the perspective of e climate change and uses land transaction behavior as a measure of decision‐making to reveal the mechanism of climate change affecting cognitive performance. Key Points: Each additional day of the extremely high temperature increases the average bid price by 0.6%Heat can make investors more aggressive, which occurs when bidders continue to raise prices to winBidding experience offsets the cognitive output bias [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive and accurate estimation of water quality in lakes and reservoirs is vital for the protection of the aquatic biota. Research on the spatiotemporal variations of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations in lacustrine systems is typically plagued, however, by a lack of long‐term, spatially continuous monitoring data. This paper assembled a 30‐year (1989–2018) data set of water quality in 586 lakes and reservoirs in China, along with basin characteristics and climate conditions, forming the comprehensive data set available. These data were then used in a stacking model (based on random forest, support vector regression, and K‐nearest neighbor models) to identify the relationships between nutrient concentrations and their influencing factors, including net anthropogenic N/P inputs, geographical position, climate, land use pattern, and soil type. The stacking models were developed using data collected over multiple time scales (annual, seasonal, and monthly), which were then applied to reconstruct TN and TP concentrations during the periods of 1980–2018 and 2020s–2050s under the climate scenarios of RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. The accuracy of the stacking models was 99.1% and 98.3% for TN and TP concentrations using ensembled data, respectively. The interannual variations in TN and TP contents in the 586 lakes and reservoirs during 1980–2018 exhibited a non‐monotonic pattern with a peak of 1.12 and 0.049 mg/L in 2007, respectively. This study demonstrates that stacking machine learning models represent a new effective approach for estimating nutrient concentrations in unmonitored lakes and reservoirs across broad spatiotemporal scales. Plain Language Summary: The current research assembled a 30‐year (1989–2018) data set of 586 lake and reservoir water quality as well as watershed characteristics and climate conditions at a national scale to build the stacking models. As far as we know, this is the most comprehensive data set of Chinese lake and reservoir water quality. Our study first developed models take into account more indicators of the terrestrial ecosystem and consider the impact of spatial attributes and natural background conditions of lakes and reservoirs on TN and TP concentrations. We then applied the stacking model combined the results of various base machine learning algorithms to reduce the variations of the prediction and assimilating the advantages of the base models. Through containing precipitation and temperature variables with various time scales, the models have the ability to estimate and predict the annual, seasonal, and monthly variations in TN and TP concentrations during the period of 1980–2018 and 2020–2050s under different future climate scenarios. The primary target of this paper is to probe the potential benefits of using a stacking model approach to more accurately describe and reconstruct TN and TP concentrations in lakes and reservoirs throughout China over a range of spatiotemporal scales. Key Points: λ $\lambda $ This study provides spatiotemporal estimates of nutrient concentrations in 586 lakes and reservoirs of Chinaλ $\lambda $ Spatiotemporal differences of nutrient concentrations and associated drivers have been revealedλ $\lambda $ Future changes in TN and TP concentrations were estimated for selected climate scenarios [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]