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Guiding industries to produce in an effective and environmentally sustainable manner has become a key issue for governments around the world. Over the past 15 years, series of regional and industrial development policies have been introduced by the Chinese government. This has influenced the geographical distribution and energy efficiency performance of China’s industries. This paper quantifies the influence of enterprises geographical distribution on energy efficiency improvement in the paper industry and aims at providing some helpful suggestions on industrial development to policy makers. The main results show that, firstly, the paper industry in eastern China shows obvious characteristic of agglomeration. The average location quotient is 1.2278. However, following the industrial and regional development policies, the characteristic of agglomeration is weakening. Secondly, only when agglomeration reaches a certain level (location quotient is above 0.5447) will industrial agglomeration positively impact on industrial energy efficiency improvement (a 1% increase in agglomeration will increase dynamic energy efficiency by at least 0.23%). Thirdly, the regional development policies carried out by the government slow the pace of energy efficiency improvement in China’s paper industry. The empirical results indicate that the government needs to consider regional characteristics and consciously guide industrial enterprises to concentrate in the dominant area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the exogenous shock of China's formal implementation of the environmental information disclosure system in 2008 to construct a quasi-natural experiment. Based on the panel data of prefecture-level cities from 2003 to 2019, the propensity score matching and difference in difference (PSM-DID) approach was used to systematically evaluate the impact of environmental information disclosure on energy efficiency. Overcoming the difficulties in measuring environmental information disclosure and the endogenous problem, this paper investigates the energy-saving effect of environmental information disclosure and illustrates its mechanism for the first time. The results show that environmental information disclosure significantly improved energy efficiency, and public participation played an important role in energy conservation, a conclusion that remained true after a series of robustness tests. The test of the impact mechanism shows that environmental information disclosure can achieve the goal of improving energy efficiency by promoting industrial structure upgrading and technological innovation. This paper enriches the discussion on the relationship between environmental information disclosure and energy efficiency, and provides useful policy inspiration for improving the level of energy efficiency and achieving sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government's environmental protection policy can significantly contribute to alleviating resource shortages and curbing environmental pollution, but the impact of various policy instruments implemented by the government on energy efficiency is unclear. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2021, this paper analyses the impact of environmental regulation and the industrial structure on energy efficiency from the perspective of resource taxes. The U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and energy efficiency and between the optimization of industrial structure can significantly improve energy efficiency, and the optimization of industrial structure is conducive to weakening the initial inhibitory effect of environmental regulation. In addition, the analysis of regional heterogeneity showed that the impact of environmental regulation was stronger in the central and western regions, while the impact of industrial structure was stronger in the eastern and western regions. The conclusions of this study can help to expand the understanding of the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial structure on energy efficiency, provide policy enlightenment for the realization of green development and high-quality development, and provide Chinese examples and experiences for developing countries to improve energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the new development model, the digital economy has become a new engine to promote the green development of the economy and realize the goal of "double carbon". Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2020, this paper empirically investigates the impact of the development of the digital economy on energy and carbon emissions using a series of econometric models such as baseline regression, a mechanism test, and the spatial Durbin model, etc. Common prosperity plays an intermediary role between digital economy development and carbon emissions; digital economic development optimizes resource allocation, effectively solves the problem of uneven resource distribution, and reduces energy and carbon emissions while achieving common prosperity. In addition, green innovation, industrial structure, urbanization level, R&D intensity, and the degree of marketization also have different degrees of influence on energy and carbon emissions. Therefore, the government should accelerate the construction of new digital infrastructure and implement the digital economy development strategy according to local conditions, so as to promote the digital economy to produce a more significant carbon emission reduction effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the influence of the dual policies of sustainable economic development and the national dual-carbon target, the establishment of an environmental protection department for the treatment of heavily polluting industries is imminent, and the country has launched pollution control policies and regulations to restrict the emission rights of heavily polluting industries. Therefore, this paper focuses on whether the restriction of emission rights in key industries has reduced carbon emissions. To achieve this, this paper uses panel data of prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2019 and adopts a two-way fixed-effects DID model to systematically analyze the impact of the key pollution industry governance policies launched by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on CO2 emissions in 2017. And further analyze the role of variables such as green technology innovation patents and energy efficiency using this model, while parallel trend tests and placebo tests, and related policies are used to ensure the robustness of the regression results. This paper reveals that: (1) The heavy pollution industry governance policy implemented in 2017 can effectively reduce CO2 emissions in the cities of the treated group, and the effect is more significant in the year of policy implementation; (2) Green utility patents and energy-use efficiency are the effective mediating mechanisms to reduce CO2 emissions; (3) Over time, the effect of heavy pollution industry governance policy on CO2 emissions gradually decreases; (4) The reliability of the baseline regression results of this paper is proved by the use of parallel trend tests, placebo tests, and tests excluding the influence factors such as relevant policies in the same period. Therefore, the key polluting industries treatment policy launched by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2017 under the recent dual-carbon policy development goals formulated by China, can effectively reduce carbon emissions; however, in the future economic development process, the government should give more consideration to the continuity of the policy impact and its coherence on economic development when implementing the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The highlighted energy consumption of Internet data center (IDC) in China has become a pressing issue with the implementation of the Chinese dual carbon strategic goal. This paper provides a comprehensive review of cooling technologies for IDC, including air cooling, free cooling, liquid cooling, thermal energy storage cooling and building envelope. Firstly, the environmental requirements for the computer room and the main energy consumption items for IDC are analyzed. The evaluation indicators and government policies for promoting green IDC are also summarized. Next, the traditional cooling technology is compared to four new cooling technologies to find effective methods to maximize energy efficiency in IDC. The results show that traditional cooling consumes a significant amount of energy and has low energy efficiency. The application of free cooling can greatly improve the energy efficiency of IDC, but its actual implementation is highly dependent on geographical and climatic conditions. Liquid cooling, on the other hand, has higher energy efficiency and lower PUE compared to other cooling technologies, especially for high heat density servers. However, it is not yet mature and its engineering application is not widespread. In addition, thermal energy storage (TES) based cooling offers higher energy efficiency but must be coupled with other cooling technologies. Energy savings can also be achieved through building envelope improvements. Considering the investment and recovery period for IDC, it is essential to seek efficient cooling solutions that are suitable for IDC and take into account factors such as IDC scale, climate conditions, maintenance requirements, etc. This paper serves as a reference for the construction and development of green IDC in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an essential material basis and power source for economic and social development, Western China's low energy use efficiency has hindered its sustainable economic development. This study aims to evaluate the total factor energy efficiency of the region and identify its influencing factors. A three-stage DEA model was used to measure the efficiency of 11 provinces from 2006 to 2021, and the Tobit model was employed to investigate internal factors. The findings show that (i) external environmental factors and stochastic perturbations have a significant impact on TFEE in the western region, overestimating integrated efficiency and scale efficiency and underestimating pure technical efficiency. (ii) the study of external influencing factors finds that the level of economic development increases input redundancy; the industrial structure increases capital input and labor input redundancy while decreasing energy input redundancy; and the energy consumption structure increases capital input and energy input redundancy while decreasing labor input redundancy. (iii) the study of internal influencing factors finds that the level of scientific and technological innovation, the level of openness to the outside world, and the TFEE have a positive correlation. In contrast, the intensity of environmental regulation has a negative correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice production is the agricultural activity with the highest energy consumption and carbon emission intensity. Water and fertilizer management constitutes an important part of energy input for rice production and a key factor affecting greenhouse gas emissions from paddy fields. Water–fertilizer integration management (AIM) is an automated water and fertilizer management system for large-scale rice production, which can effectively save water and fertilizer resources. At present, the energy utilization and environmental impact of AIM in rice production are not clear. To clarify whether AIM is a water and fertilizer management measure that combines energy conservation and carbon emission reduction, a comparative study between the widely used farmers' enhanced water and fertilizer management (FEM) in China and AIM was conducted in this paper. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the rice yield, carbon emission, energy utilization, and economic benefits of the two management methods. The results showed that AIM reduced water and fertilizer inputs, energy inputs, and economic costs by 12.18–28.57%, compared to FEM. The energy utilization efficiency, energy profitability, and energy productivity under AIM were improved by 11.30–12.61%. CH4 and N2O emissions and carbon footprint were reduced by 20.79%, 6.51%, and 16.39%, respectively. Compared with FEM, AIM can effectively improve the utilization efficiency of water and fertilizer resources and reduce carbon emissions. This study presents a mechanized water and fertilizer management approach suitable for large-scale rice production systems in China. By analyzing rice yield, resource utilization efficiency, and environmental benefits, AIM can serve as a crucial management strategy for enhancing productivity, economic returns, and environmental conservation within profitable rice production systems. In the future, further investigation into the impact of AIM on the microbial mechanisms underlying rice yield formation and greenhouse gas emissions is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: The decoupling of energy consumption from economic growth in the construction industry is crucial to the sustainable development of the global construction industry. The existing studies focus on the advancements in energy efficiency by designers for building monoliths or construction techniques, involving no exploration of energy efficiency management from a regional perspective, which is unfavorable for the formulation of energy efficiency policies and systematic control of the construction industry by local governments. (2) Methods: From the perspective of regional management, this paper constructs an integrated analysis and application framework of "spatio-temporal characteristics + matching evaluation + policy design" based on the decoupling model and GIS tools. It studies the spatio-temporal characteristics of energy consumption in the construction industry in 30 provinces of China from 2010 to 2019, and its decoupling relationship with the economic development of the construction industry, and proposes an optimal zoning and recommendations for energy consumption in the construction industry, providing a reference for energy conservation management in the construction industry in China. (3) Results: First, the change of energy consumption amount (ECA) in the construction industry in the provinces was dominated by ascent, while the energy consumption intensity (ECI) predominantly decreased, and most provinces are still in a period of growth or plateau in energy consumption. Second, ECA and ECI had prominent spatial heterogeneity and aggregation. High-energy-consuming regions are concentrated along the coast and along the Yangtze River, while low-energy-consuming regions are mainly clustered in remote areas, such as the northeast, northwest, and southwest of China. Energy consumption shows a clear north-south difference in intensity, with high-intensity regions clustered in the north compared to low-intensity regions in the south. Third, most of the provinces were in strong negative decoupling, expansive coupling, and weak decoupling, and better decoupling regions were mainly gathered in south and central China. Nearly one half of these provinces showed decoupling degradation and only a few achieved evolution, with evolutionary regions clustered mainly in central and southern China. The northeast and northwest were the key problem areas of energy-saving transformation in China's construction industry. (4) Conclusion: The 30 provinces were divided into three types: leader, intermediate, and laggard, and the development goals and suggestions on low energy consumption in the construction industry for three zones were put forward, significantly improving the precision of policy design and implementation. The study in this paper expands the research perspective on energy saving management in the construction industry and provides a methodology and basis for developing energy efficiency policies and plans for the construction industry in China and similar developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy and environmental policies are important methods for the government to restrain carbon emissions growth. Identifying the potential dynamic trends of China's carbon emissions under different scenarios has important reference significance for the government's policy implementation. This paper firstly predicted China's carbon emissions from 2017 to 2040 based on three energy transition scenarios at the industrial level. Then, Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index decomposition model was applied to evaluate the driving forces of emissions changes during 1997–2040. Finally, the Spatial–Temporal Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index model was used to explore the emissions reduction potential and the potential reduction path at provincial level. The results showed that (1) as the reduction in energy intensity cannot offset the growth of industrial scale, the carbon emissions of all industries have shown an increasing trend from 1997 to 2017; (2) In the current policies scenario, China's carbon emissions cannot reach the peak before 2040. And only in the sustainable development scenario, the carbon emissions of the three industries will all reach the peaks before 2030. And the development of non-fossil energy will reduce carbon emissions by more than 30%; (3) Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Heilongjiang are key provinces and improving energy efficiency of the secondary industry is a potential way to promote carbon emissions reduction. The framework and main content of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current period of rapid industrialization has not only brought about rapid economic growth but also caused serious energy shortages and environmental pollution, which have affected the sustainable development of the economy. Therefore, it is of great significance to analyse the changes in regional economic, energy, and environmental carrying capacity (3ECC); analyse the interaction among them; and propose corresponding optimization strategies for promoting regional sustainable development. In this study, a 3ECC simulation system is constructed from the pressure and support levels of load-bearing capacity. A system dynamics model is used to simulate the evolution path and action relationship of the 3ECC system, and an empirical test is completed in the Yangtze River Economic Belt region in China. A coupling coordination model and Bayesian vector autoregressive model are used to further explore the degree and action mode of the 3ECC system support and pressure indices. The results show that the model can truly reflect the characteristics of regional development and is suitable for prediction in this study. From 2015 to 2035, driven by technological progress, China's economic aggregate will grow by 223%, oil consumption by 33%, coal consumption by 23%, soil pollution by 197%, water pollution by 134%, and air pollution by 80.9%. Moreover, the coordination degree of the 3ECC supporting indicators gradually increases, while that of the pressure indicators gradually decreases, indicating that economic growth has a synergistic effect on environmental protection and energy conservation, thus further expanding the differences between environmental pollution and energy consumption. Finally, the supporting index of the economic carrying capacity and supporting index of the environmental carrying capacity have the widest influence range, and the optimization of economic and environmental development status is beneficial to the overall improvement of the 3ECC system. The influence range of the energy carrying capacity support index is small, indicating that coal and oil are being gradually replaced by other energy sources. Therefore, the research results of this paper can provide a reference for the sustainable development of other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of green campus is related to the global sustainable development. Under the guidance of campus energy-saving policy, China's green campus mainly focuses on campus' energy saving. In contrast, the green campus in the USA pays more attention to environmental problems. This study focuses on the impact of "energy saving" on the sustainable development of green campus. On the one hand, it puts forward targeted optimization suggestions for the Chinese universities. On the other hand, it provides the experience reference and new development ideas for the global campus sustainability. Based on the characteristics of the development mode of green campus in China and the USA, this paper studies the motivation of "energy saving" to "sustainability" in the construction of green campus in China. In terms of research methods, this paper selects Zhejiang University a typical representative of China's green campus that combined with the comparative group of four American universities and conducts a quantitative analysis of G-value and S-value that represented energy consumption and sustainability, respectively. Zhejiang University's G-value (0.019) in 2016 is one-sixth of that of the comparative group in the same period, indicating that the implementation effect of the energy-saving monitoring platform is remarkable. From 2014 to 2017, the G-values are basically stable at 0.02, indicating that its future development potential is insufficient. Zhejiang University's scores in the four categories of S-value are significantly lower than those in the comparative group, showing that there are great differences in the construction achievements of the five universities. According to the score rate of 17 sub-items of S-value, the five universities have different advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the green campus construction of China's case university is too one-sided and only stays at the level of energy conservation. The diversification of construction and the balanced development of all aspects should be paid more attention in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's economic growth has reached a new plateau. It is no longer appropriate to use the old economic growth model, which relied on labor, land resources, mineral resources, and other economic considerations. Under the background of artificial intelligence, high-quality economic development is an inevitable trend. A new financial paradigm called "digital finance" integrates financial services with information technologies. Digital financial technology is thought to be a crucial foundation for fostering high-quality and sustainable economic and social development since it may offer more economic entities reduced cost of capital and more realistic financial service skills than in traditional financial models. In the era of artificial intelligence, how to reasonably release the momentum of digital finance for China's sustained economic growth has become a hot topic of discussion at this stage. This paper studies the impact of digital finance on the economic efficiency of the energy industry in the context of artificial intelligence. Relevant metrics were also calculated. The findings revealed that: The benchmark regression result of digital finance on the efficiency of the green economy was 0.4685 before adding the main restrictions; the benchmark regression result of digital finance on the efficiency of the green economy was 0.2243 after adding the main constraints. As a result, data finance had a favorable impact on the effectiveness of the green economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving agricultural energy efficiency is essential in reducing energy consumption and achieving agricultural sustainable development. This paper aims to measure the agricultural total-factor energy efficiency in China rather than the partial-factor energy efficiency while taking full account of regional heterogeneity and to investigate the driving factors of agricultural total-factor energy efficiency. The empirical results showed that the average value of agricultural total-factor energy efficiency is 0.814 in China, and the technological gap ratio is 0.853. The regional difference in agricultural total-factor energy efficiency was quite obvious. Higher agricultural energy inputs are associated with higher agricultural total-factor productivity. The total value of potential agricultural energy savings in 30 provinces of China reached 1704.41 billion tons of standard coal. In terms of the absolute amount of agricultural energy saving, the amount was largest in the low-energy-input area, which was 113.87 million tons of standard coal, accounting for 66.81% of the total potential saving amount. Furthermore, we used the Tobit model to analyze the influencing factors of agricultural total-factor energy efficiency. We found that the proportion of agriculture to GDP has a positive impact on agricultural total-factor energy efficiency, while the per capita income of farmers, fiscal support for agriculture, the illiteracy rate of farmers, agricultural labor input, and agricultural capital stock have a negative impact on agricultural total-factor energy efficiency. Finally, we proposed policy implications in terms of agricultural technological progress, agricultural infrastructure, technical training, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unavoidable option for socially sustainable development is a low-carbon economy. One of the essential steps for China to attain high-quality development is reducing carbon emissions. It is necessary to realize low-carbon development in Sichuan, as it is not only an important economic zone but also an ecological protected area. The concurrent relationship among energy consumption, carbon emissions, and economic growth was examined in this study using the Tapio decoupling indicator, and the factors affecting energy consumption and carbon emissions in Sichuan were broken down using the logarithmic mean Divisia indicator (LMDI). The findings demonstrate a fundamental relative decoupling relationship between Sichuan's energy use and carbon emissions. Analysis of energy consumption and carbon emissions in Sichuan Province from 2005 to 2020 shows distinct patterns. From 2005 to 2012, in 2014, and from 2016 to 2020, the relationship between energy use and carbon emissions was relatively decoupled, with decoupling values ranging between 0 and 1. Absolute decoupling occurred in specific years: 2010, from 2013 to 2018, and in 2020. These periods are characterized by economic growth alongside reductions in carbon emissions. Factors affecting energy consumption and carbon emissions were consistently analyzed, showing similar impacts throughout the study periods. We find that population and economic growth are the main driving forces of these effects. The effects of energy intensity and industrial structure mainly play restraining roles, and the latter has a slightly weaker effect than the former. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation possesses dual externalities of "innovation" and "environmental protection", and enhancing energy efficiency serves as a crucial means to promote high-quality economic development. Building upon the energy rebound effect, we use the balanced panel data of cities at prefecture level and above in China from 2008 to 2018 to explore the impact of urban green innovation on total factor energy efficiency (TFEE). The findings of this study indicate that, firstly, the impact of green innovation on TFEE exhibits a positive U-shaped pattern, characterized by initial suppression followed by subsequent promotion. This conclusion remains robust after undergoing a series of rigorous robustness tests. Second, high-quality green innovation is found to reach the turning point more quickly, implying that substantial green innovation can cross the turning point in smaller quantities. Thirdly, on the whole, in comparison to non-resource-based cities, resource-based cities are capable of reaching the turning point at an earlier stage. Finally, the new energy demonstration cities have not yet reached the turning point, while the non-new energy demonstration cities have crossed the turning point. This study contributes novel insights into the relationship between green innovation and TFEE, which holds significant implications for the formulation and implementation of sustainable development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China agricultural development has been facing the problem of resource constraints because its resources per capita such as land and energy are relatively lower than the global average. By applying the provincial agricultural panel data from 2000 to 2015 and fixed effect model based on the translog production function, this paper estimates both output elasticities and substitution elasticities of agricultural inputs, which may provide insights into sustainable agricultural development. The results show that, except for capital, the output elasticities of other production factors are all positive. Energy has always played an important role in agricultural production, whose elasticity in agriculture increased from 0.0203 in 2000 to 0.1694 in 2015. We also find a severe scarcity of land, and the high intensity of energy in the field of agriculture. Moreover, there exists a substitute relationship between all factors, which means that in the short term, one production factor can be employed to replace another to maintain agricultural development. From the empirical results of this paper, some policy suggestions are proposed as follows: it is crucial that more attention should be placed on land and to plan energy use wisely. In addition, on account of the current situation in China, the input of labor force should be stepped up and energy should be used more efficiently to make up for the shortage of land resources. The empirical results and policy suggestions in this paper may benefit the sustainable development of China's agricultural economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yellow River Basin (YRB) is China's substantial energy consumption base. The issue of carbon emission efficiency directly affects the ecological protection and high-quality development of the YRB. It is the key to achieving carbon peak in 2030 and carbon neutralization in 2060 ("30.60") double carbon emission reduction targets. Therefore, taking YRB as the research object, this paper first calculates the carbon emission and the decoupling state in the YRB. Secondly, the super-efficiency slacks-based measurement (SE-SBM) model is combined with the Malmquist index to analyze the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of YRB's carbon emission efficiency from static and dynamic perspectives. Thirdly, the dynamic evolution characteristics of carbon emission efficiency are analyzed with the help of the Kernel density function. Finally, the Tobit model analyzes the influencing factors of YRB's and China's carbon emission efficiency. The results show that: (1) Among the nine provinces of YRB, the decoupling state between carbon emissions and economic growth in most provinces changes from weak decoupling to strong decoupling, and the decoupling elasticity index shows a fluctuating downward trend. (2) There are significant differences in carbon emission efficiency among provinces, but on the whole, it shows a stable growth trend. The high-value area of carbon emission efficiency is increasing, and the phenomenon of two-level differentiation is improving. The decline of the technological progress index causes the Malmquist index in Qinghai and Ningxia. On the contrary, the rise of the Malmquist index in the other seven provinces is caused by improving the technical efficiency index. (3) Industrial structure, economic development, and industrialization are the main positive factors affecting YRB's carbon emission efficiency. Urbanization level, green development level, and energy consumption level are the leading negative indicators hindering YRB's improvement of carbon emission efficiency. Therefore, targeted emission reduction suggestions should be formulated according to YRB's resource endowment and development stage characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy consumption is closely related to industrial structure, economic prosperity, and population. Because of the Granger causal relationship between GDP and energy consumption, many researchers consider the regression method to predict energy consumption using economic variables. However, some other researchers regard the time series method (forecast) to estimate for energy consumption. To address the advantages and disadvantages of two methods in energy consumption prediction, we performed the deep learning (DL) based on the case of China. The experiment results show that the accuracy of time series forecast is much higher than regression methods. In addition, we also explored the relationship between industry, economy, population, and energy consumption. We found that GDP, population, secondary sector, and tertiary sector were significant to energy consumption. A tertiary sector can help to reduce energy consumption to some extent. This could give suggestions about changing industry structure. More and more attention has been paid to energy intensity. The strategic approach to sustainable development requires reducing energy intensity while developing the economy. Since China is committed to achieving carbon emission peak by 2030, this paper predicts the energy intensity of China in the next decade based on a DL algorithm. The prediction results show that energy intensity would slightly decrease in the next decade. Different types of energy represent the industrial structure behind economic growth. Therefore, this paper was conducted using ridge regression (RR) to explore the relationship between different types of energy and energy intensity. In addition, the effect (positive or negative) of different energy sources in reducing energy intensity has also been explored. We found that the best way of developing the economy and reducing energy consumption is to use natural gas and hydroelectric instead of coal. This can guide policy development about changing energy source structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of the development of green finance on China's energy consumption structure. 17 basic indexes and the improved entropy weight method are used to construct the green finance index (GFI). Multiple regression, panel regression, and spatial regression are used to study the impact of green finance on China's traditional energy and renewable energy consumption. The results show that there is a positive spatial spillover effect in the development of green finance among provinces in China. The development of green finance contributes to the conversion of traditional to renewable energy consumption. The effect of green finance on the transformation of energy consumption structure is mainly reflected in the direct effect. The green finance in each province not only helps the local development of green energy but also plays a good role in the production and utilization of clean energy consumption in surrounding provinces. Therefore, the government should support the green finance, reduce traditional energy consumption, and increase renewable energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzed the current situation and development trends of energy consumption and carbon emissions, and the current situation and development trend of coal consumption in China. In the context of recently established carbon peak and carbon neutralization targets, this paper put forward the main problems associated with the green and low-carbon development and utilization of coal. Five key technological innovation directions in mining were proposed, including green coal development, intelligent and efficient mining, low-carbon utilization and conversion of coal, energy conservation and emission reduction, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). Focusing on the above technological innovation directions, it is suggested to carry out three basic theories, including the theory of green efficient intelligent mining, clean and low-carbon utilization and transformation of coal, and CCUS. Meanwhile, it is proposed to develop 12 key technologies, including green coal mining and ecological environment protection, efficient coal mining and intelligent mine construction, key technologies and equipment for efficient coal processing, underground coal gasification and mining, ultra-high parameter and ultra-supercritical power generation technology, intelligent and flexible coal-fired power generation technology, new power cycle coal-fired power generation technology, the development of coal-based special fuels, coal-based bulk and specialty chemicals, energy conservation and consumption reduction, large-scale and low-cost carbon capture, CO2 utilization and storage. Finally, necessary measures from the governmental perspective were also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has pledged that it will strive to achieve peak carbon emission by 2030 and realize carbon neutrality by 2060, which has spurred renewed interest in hydrogen for widespread decarbonization of the economy. Hydrogen energy is an important secondary clean energy with the advantage of high density, high calorific value, rich reserves, extensive sources and high conversion efficiency that can be widely used in power generation, transportation, fuel and other fields. In recent years, with the guidance of policies and the progress of technology, China's hydrogen energy industry has developed rapidly. About 42% of China's carbon emissions comes from the power system and Shenzhen has the largest urban power grid in China. Bringing the utilization of hydrogen energy into Shenzhen's power system is an important method to achieve industry transformation, achieve the "double carbon" goal and promote sustainable development. This paper outlines the domestic and international development status of hydrogen energy, introduces the characteristics of Shenzhen new power system, the industrial utilization of hydrogen energy and the challenges of further integrating hydrogen energy into Shenzhen new power system and, finally, suggests on the integration of hydrogen energy into Shenzhen new power system in different dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the global potential energy crisis and aggravating regional environmental pollution, Chinese photovoltaic power generation still faces the key problems of sustainable development, even given its favorable background in large-scale exploitation. Scientific evaluation of the comprehensive efficiency of photovoltaic power generation is of great significance because it will improve investment decision-making and enhance management level, evaluate the development conditions of photovoltaic power generation and then promote sustainable development capability. The concept of “comprehensive efficiency” is proposed in this paper on the basis of the resource development of solar energy and exploitation of photovoltaic power generation. A system dynamics model is used to study the conduction mechanism of the comprehensive efficiency of photovoltaic power generation. This paper collects data from 2005 to 2015 as research models, establishes the evaluation model of the comprehensive efficiency of photovoltaic power generation and conducts empirical analysis based on a super-efficient data envelopment analysis (SE-DEA) model. With the evaluation results, this paper puts forward political suggestions as to the optimization of the comprehensive efficiency of photovoltaic power generation. The research results may provide policy-oriented references on the sustainable development of photovoltaic power generation and give theoretical guidance on the scientific evaluation and diagnosis of photovoltaic power generation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's extensive economic growth has been accompanied with high levels of pollution, and excessive energy consumption has brought serious pollution problems. The use of financial resources to regulate green production modes and encourage high‐quality economic development has become a major focus in academia. At the same time, growth enterprise market (GEM) enterprises, which mainly operate in technology‐intensive industries, are assumed to have a simulating effect on regional innovation. Therefore, this paper utilizes the capital return differences of 4437 listed companies and 920 GEM companies based in 30 provinces of China from 2008 to 2018 to quantitatively analyze the levels of financial misallocation. With two‐stage regression method, the direct effect of financial misallocation on regional green total factor energy efficiency (GTFEE) and the indirect impact observed when taking regional innovation as an intermediary variable are discussed. Furthermore, dynamic threshold panel regression and heterogeneity analysis are used to verify the above nonlinear relationship. The empirical findings indicate that financial misallocation enhances innovation capability and further restrains GTFEE. With an improved degree of marketization and environmental regulation, the inhibitory effect of financial misallocation on GTFEE is more significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of promoting high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) of China, urgent action is needed to achieve the “Dual Carbon” goal through energy savings, emission reductions, and industrial upgrading. This study measures carbon emissions from eight types of energy consumption across 43 industries from 2000 to 2019. Using the KayaLMDI model, factors affecting carbon emissions are analyzed, and the relationship between industrial structure and carbon emissions is explored through the coefficient of variation (CV). The findings reveal that coal consumption remains significantly higher than other energy sources, and the effect of energy structure adjustment on carbon emission reduction is limited compared to the impact of energy consumption increase on carbon emission growth. Moreover, the economic output effect is identified as the primary driving factor of carbon emissions, while energy utilization rate is crucial in achieving energy savings and emission reductions. Finally, the CV of carbon emissions across 43 industries is increasing. Based on these results, we suggest several policy recommendations, including prioritizing ecological concerns, developing comprehensive and scientifically sound plans, optimizing energy consumption structure, improving energy utilization efficiency, and adjusting industrial structure to promote sustainable development in the YRB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2020, this paper employs the panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model to investigate the dynamic relationship between a green economy and energy utilization level. The results show that: (1) the green economic development level and energy utilization level of 30 provinces in China have been continuously enhancing in recent years, the increase in green economic development level is higher than energy utilization level, and the geographical characteristics of both levels are significant, decreasing from East to West; (2) the causal relationship between the green economy and the energy utilization level has passed the Granger test; the two have formed a relatively high-level balanced relationship over a long period, showing a benign and orderly development trend; (3) the green economy generates a positive pulse response on energy utilization level in the initial period, but the impulse response weakens in the period of lag 1, entailing the relationship needs to be further strengthened in the long term; (4) in the process of continuous enhancement of energy utilization level, it is difficult to drive economic benefits due to high input costs in the initial stage, but it can form a two-way interaction relationship with a green economy as time goes by. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While promoting the economic growth, energy has also brought pollution problems to the world environment, which has gradually become a bottleneck impeding sustainable economic development. In view of the rapid evolution of urbanization and industrialization, economic growth is increasingly dependent on the energy consumption, the development of the two is difficult to coordinate, and the internal contradictions are becoming increasingly serious, which hinders the sustainable development of economic growth. This study establishes the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth according to the energy Kuznets curve and studies the future trend of China's sustainable development through the comparative analysis of the energy Kuznets curve of the United States and Germany. The results show that, at the turning point of energy consumption, China's energy economic rate is higher than that of Germany and the United States. In addition, in terms of urbanization rate and industrial structure, although China's tertiary industry has made a breakthrough, it is still lower than that of the United States and Germany, but the level of urbanization rate has made significant progress. In short, China has obvious advantages in future economic development and has a late developing advantage compared with the United States and Germany. This paper makes an empirical analysis of the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in OECD countries and finds out the turning point of energy consumption, so as to provide a theoretical basis for coordinating China's energy consumption and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The foundation of the national economy is agriculture, agricultural modernization is the symbol of national modernization and agricultural mechanization is an important symbol of agricultural modernization. In this paper, the authors conducted an analysis of the agricultural mechanization levels of 31 provincial areas in China. In order to assess the agricultural mechanization levels of the provincial areas in China as accurately as possible, the authors adopted indicators in the year 2005, the year 2010 and the year 2015, and used the comparative static analysis method to observe the dynamic changes in the data over the three years. Eight items, including total agricultural mechanization power/grain output (10 million watts/10 k tons), number of large and medium-sized tractors/grain output (pcs/10 k tons), tractor plowing area/grain output (k hectares/10 k tons), total input of agricultural mechanization business operation/grain output (million yuan/10 k tons), total income of agricultural mechanization business operation/grain output (million yuan/10 k tons), and fuel consumption for agricultural production/grain output (hundred tons/10 k tons), were used as assessment indicators. With the gray weighted cluster assessment instrument, 31 provincial areas of China were classified into five gray categories at high development level, relatively high development level, medium development level, medium to low development level and low development level. An objective, scientific and comprehensive assessment of the cluster results was conducted in an effort to better provide references for the authorities to draft relevant policies and measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon neutrality is an important policy in the current global response to climate change and has been widely recognized by various industries. In the process of promoting carbon neutrality, new energy plays a pivotal role. In this study, the definition and connotation of new energy and its role and specific operation in the energy transition of carbon neutrality are firstly explained. Promoting new energy development requires significant green and low-carbon investments. Taking China as an example, this paper analyzes the opportunities brought by the carbon neutral process to the field of green finance and analyzes the main features and development trends of green finance in China at present. Then this paper proposes policy recommendations to strengthen the development of green finance in China in terms of improving the green financial policy system, enhancing the supply capacity of green financial services, and optimizing the supporting environment for green financial development. Finally, this paper analyzes the measures and experiences of the United States in promoting low-carbon development and proposes countermeasures for China's low-carbon development on the basis of the five major relationships that need attention in China's carbon-neutral process. That is, strengthen the top-level design and improve the regulatory policy system; optimize the energy structure and increase the proportion of clean energy; optimize the industrial structure and reduce energy consumption in key industries; build a complete low-carbon technology system and promote low-carbon technology research and development and demonstration applications, and encourage local conditions to explore low-carbon development paths. The development of green finance can contribute to the advancement of new energy technologies, thus contributing to the achievement of carbon neutrality goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High carbon emissions and population aging are two obstacles to China's development as an emerging economy. It is urgent to scientifically examine the impacts of population aging on carbon emissions to discover new pathways for urban carbon emission reduction. However, existing studies face challenges in terms of focusing on and methodology for accurately capturing the role of industrial production and energy consumption in the environmental effects of population aging. This paper constructs a chain mediation analytical framework and systematically examines the intrinsic linkages between population aging and carbon emissions in Chinese cities from 2000 to 2020 using a two-way fixed effects model. This paper has three main findings. (1) The positive correlation between urban population aging and carbon emissions development is generally low, with coupling coordination degree values of 0.4233, 0.4458, 0.4220, 0.4715, and 0.4665 for each yearly cross-section. (2) For every 1% increase in the population aging rate, carbon emissions decrease by 0.3478% on average. The carbon reduction effect of population aging is significantly greater in low-emissions cities and high-income cities than in other cities. (3) The industrial upgrading (IU) path, energy conservation (EC) path and chain mediation (CM) path account for 72.43%, 7.23% and 20.34%, respectively, of the indirect effects. If the causal link between IU and EC is not considered, the EC effect will be overestimated by 281.16%. The results of the study suggest that properly coping with population aging and reducing carbon emissions are not completely opposed to each other, a conclusion that passes both endogeneity exclusion and robustness check. This paper advocates replacing the one-size-fits-all approach in carbon emissions management and investing more in policy preferences to support carbon emission reduction in both high-emissions and low-income cities. [Display omitted] •The synergistic trends of carbon emissions and population aging are not apparent. •Population aging significantly reduces carbon emissions at the city scale. •Linkage effect of industrial upgrading and energy conservation on carbon emission reduction. •Energy conservation effect of population aging amplified by industrial upgrading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve China's carbon peaking and carbon neutrality (double carbon) targets and to advance ecological conservation and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, it is essential that China reduces its energy intensity and increases its energy efficiency. This research developed an evaluation index system for energy efficiency and green development in the Yellow River Basin based on panel data collected from 64 of its prefecture-level cities and covering the period from 2011 to 2020. Each city's energy efficiency and green development level index was calculated, and was analyzed together with the characteristics of its spatial pattern progression. The STIRPAT model was then used to investigate the influence mechanism of energy efficiency on green development. The final step in the analysis was to assess the process by which technical innovation influences the rise in energy efficiency from a green development point of view. The findings of this study indicate that: (1) There was a marked improvement in energy efficiency and green development levels across the Yellow River Basin over the study period of 2011 to 2020, but there are notable disparities among prefecture-level cities, with higher levels found in capital cities and cities in the lower reaches of the basin. (2) The improvement in energy efficiency has had a positive impact on the transition to green development, with factors such as human capital, urbanization levels, and the upgrading of industrial structures contributing significantly, while the level of foreign direct investment has had a limited impact. (3) Technological innovation plays a partial role in mediating the relationship between energy efficiency and green development in the Yellow River Basin, and passes the single-threshold test. When technological innovation surpasses the threshold value, the effect of energy efficiency on green development is significantly strengthened. This study indicates that improving energy efficiency, stimulating emerging industries, and enhancing technological innovation capabilities can significantly promote transformative green and high quality development in the Yellow River Basin of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy-consuming right trading policy (ECRTP) represents a significant initiative to promote the sustainable development of Chinese enterprises. This study employs the difference-in-differences methodology to analyze how ECRTP influences ESG performance based on data from A-share listed industrial enterprises in China from 2006 to 2020. The findings indicate that ECRTP effectively enhances corporate ESG performance, and this conclusion holds valid following a battery of robustness checks. Moreover, ECRTP improves corporate ESG performance by promoting green technological innovation and green perceptions among executives. Tests for heterogeneity show that the ECRTP exerts a more pronounced influence on ESG performance for enterprises located in regions with high public environmental awareness, heavily polluting industries, and coastal areas. This study broadens the literature on ECRTP effectiveness evaluation, providing valuable insights for refining the design of these policies, promoting their implementation, and facilitating the achievement of dual control targets for energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of China's economy has been accompanied by high levels of energy consumption and pollution. This development mode poses great challenges to the sustainable development of China's economy and environment, and it also creates contradictions in regional environmental governance. To realize healthy, harmonious and sustainable economic development, improving technology, enhancing energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions have become choices that China has to make for intensive economic growth. In this study, we first estimate energy efficiency at the provincial level in China with the super-efficiency data envelopment analysis (SE-DEA) model; we then analyze the current status of carbon emissions and estimate the reverse technology spillover effect of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). Second, Tobit regression and fixed effects models are used to test the impact of the reverse technology spillovers of OFDI and energy efficiency on carbon emissions, and the instrumental variable method is used to test for endogeneity. The regression results of various methods prove that our conclusion is robust. Finally, the mediating effect of energy efficiency is estimated, confirming that the reverse technology spillovers of OFDI not only directly affect carbon emissions but also indirectly affect carbon emissions through energy efficiency. Based on the research above, we propose policy recommendations for using the reverse technology spillovers of OFDI to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has a significant impact on human economic and social life, and climate issues have rapidly emerged as a global hot topic. Using data from prefecture-level cities in China from 2005 to 2020 as a sample, this study explores the relationship between climate policy uncertainty (CPU) and urban green total factor energy efficiency (GTFEE). The results show that, first, the CPU can significantly improve urban GTFEE, and results are reconfirmed after various robustness tests. Second, the CPU promotes urban GTFEE by improving public environmental concerns and optimizing the energy consumption structure. Third, the promotion role of CPU in urban GTFEE is particularly significant in resource-based cities and economically developed cities. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis and practical enlightenment for the government to formulate forward-looking climate policies and promote the transformation of green development in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting sustainable agricultural development is pivotal to realizing sustainable development goals. This study initially constructs a comprehensive indicator to delineate the landscape of agricultural sustainable development (ASD) across China. While ASD in China demonstrates an upward trajectory, it remains relatively low and exhibits disparities across regions. Ensuring food security with minimal energy consumption in agriculture is particularly critical for China, and fostering access to affordable and clean energy services in rural areas is essential for expediting the transition to sustainable agriculture. This study investigates the impact of rural energy poverty (REP) on ASD across 30 Chinese provinces from 2000 to 2017, revealing that the eradication of REP yields tangible benefits for ASD. Furthermore, considering regional disparities, the elimination of REP significantly enhances ASD, particularly in non-major grain-producing areas compared to major grain-producing regions. These findings underscore the imperative of integrating efforts to alleviate energy poverty with initiatives aimed at advancing ASD. Such integration is indispensable for driving the overarching transition toward sustainable agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the country's efforts to achieve green development, China implemented a mandatory energy intensity reduction target in its 11th "Five-Year Plan (FYP)" in 2006, and then began to roll out a series of relevant measures. However, existing studies have paid little attention to the actual effects of China's energy intensity constraint policy (EICP). In this paper, using panel data from China's 36 industrial sub-sectors covering the years from 2001 to 2014, we adopt the difference-in-differences (DID) method to investigate for the first time the EICP's (marginal) effect on total factor energy efficiency growth (TFEEG). We also estimate the superposition effect caused by the introduction of a carbon intensity constraint policy (CICP) on TFEEG, through the difference-in-difference-in-differences (DDD) strategy. Finally, using counterfactual, re-grouping and quasi-DID analyses, we conduct a series of robustness tests of the empirical results. The results show that the TFEEG in China's industrial sector experienced an overall declining trend between 2001 and 2014. The implementation of the EICP has had a significantly negative effect on the improvement of the TFEEG of sub-sectors with higher levels of energy intensity. After the implementation of the EICP, the TFEEG rate of these sub-sectors declined by 4.31%, compared to the rate of the other sub-sectors. The results of a series of robustness tests indicate that such a negative effect is credible. The marginal effect in the first two years after the implementation of the EICP was significantly negative, while the superposition effect of the introduction of a CICP on industrial TFEEG remained negative. Thus, the Chinese government should reinforce the implementation of energy-saving policies by introducing additional market-oriented auxiliary policies to propel the green development transformation of China's industrial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cai, L. and Wang, C., 2020. Spatial and temporal evolution of energy efficiency in coastal areas of China based on super efficiency DEA model. In: Wan, Z. (ed.), Coordinated Sustainable Development in Coastal Areas: Environment and Economy. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 109, pp. 216–222. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. This paper takes the unexpected output into the input-output index system, applies super efficiency DEA to calculate the total factor energy efficiency of 11 coastal provinces in China from 2008 to 2018. Based on the measurement and analysis of industrial structure advanced degree and industrial structure rationality degree of each province, this paper analyzes coupling coordination relationship between energy efficiency and spatial characteristics of industrial structure of the 11 provinces in China's coastal areas in 2018 with the coupling coordination degree model, and then relevant suggestions are put forward according to the calculation results. The results show that: (1) in terms of time series, the overall energy efficiency of the provinces and cities in China's coastal areas shows a slow downward trend, but the overall gap is widening. Among them, Shanghai and Guangdong have always been at a higher level of energy efficiency. (2) as for spatial differentiation, the energy efficiency of China's coastal areas is basically north-south symmetrical pattern, which to a certain extent shows that the energy utilization efficiency of each province or city is consistent with regional economic strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trade-off between economic growth and ecological improvement has always become an important and difficult issue for many countries, especially for developing countries. Due to a long-term extensive economic growth pattern, the regional resource allocation deviates from the optimal, especially the existence of energy misallocation, which hinders the maximization of economic output. Therefore, considering the characteristics and heterogeneity of resource endowments in different regions and increasing renewable energy consumption, that is, promoting energy transition, is it capable of sustainable development under China's actual conditions? The exploration of the issue is a core step in the research of the impact of renewable energy on industrial green transformation. Based on the panel data of 30 regions in China from 2009 to 2016, this paper constructs a threshold model from the perspective of regional energy misallocation and empirically tests the nonlinear mechanism of renewable energy consumption to promote industrial green transformation. The results show that China's energy allocation efficiency is low, there is a certain misallocation phenomenon, and the improvement effect in recent years is not satisfactory. Further, the relationship between renewable energy consumption and industrial green transformation is not a simple linear relationship, but a double threshold effect due to regional energy misallocation. In areas with severe energy misallocation, renewable energy consumption does not have a significant boost to industrial green transformation. Finally, this paper proposes the policy enlightenment of promoting industrial green transformation from the aspects of performance evaluation, market reform, and factor flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of regional water and energy consumption is of great significance to improving regional resource utilization. This paper analyzed the water and energy footprints in different provinces of China, considering regional economic levels. The results indicate: (1) both the largest water footprint and water footprint per capita were in Xinjiang and agriculture had the largest value; (2) Shandong was the largest energy consumer, Ningxia had the largest energy footprint per capita, and coal occupied the largest proportion for the top five energy footprint provinces; and (3) the resource input–output efficiencies in Beijing and Fujian were high, while water and energy consumption were low and gross regional product was high, compared with the average value of China. The situations in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia were opposite. The change of consumption pattern for each inhabitant, the adoption of water-saving technology, and an increase to water-saving awareness would be helpful to decrease regional water consumption. An increase of regional energy use efficiency and a change to reduced energy consumption would contribute to the decreasing of regional energy consumption. More attention should be paid to renewable and clean Energies. In addition to solution from the local perspective, the virtual water trade and the energy product trade may relieve regional resource pressure in some extent, and the possible influencing should be considered at the same time. This paper could provide suggestions for regional resource utilization and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective supply of charging infrastructure is a necessary support for the development of electric vehicle and also an important strategic measure to promote energy consumption revolution and green development. The construction and operation of charging infrastructure in China is unfortunately not smooth, lagging behind the actual demand. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) may offer a promising way forward and accelerate the development of charging infrastructure by tapping the private sectors’ financial resources and professional skills. However, PPP has not been commonly adopted in this sector yet. This paper hence studied an illustrative case of Anqing Project in China to demonstrate how governments structure a PPP deal in the electric vehicle charging infrastructures. A content analysis was conducted on the important project documents to investigate key elements including the planning, construction, risk sharing, profit distribution, and supervision during the execution stage. Based on the illustration, some key lessons and recommendations were provided to offer a reference for future charging infrastructure PPP projects in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the path of industrial eco-efficiency (IEE) needs to be re-examined from a multi-dimensional perspective, this research opens the internal "black box" of China's industrial eco-economic system driven by sustainable development goals (SDGs) and decomposes IEE into industrial production and sustainable development stages. It further divides the industrial production stage into two parallel subsystems of water use efficiency (WUE) and energy efficiency (EE) and derives SDG6 efficiency (SDG 6 E) and SDG7 efficiency (SDG 7 E) in the sustainable development stage respectively. The paper proposes a meta two-stage parallel entropy dynamic DDF-DEA model to re-measure IEE of 30 provinces in China from 2015 to 2021, discusses the relationship between overall efficiency and stage efficiency, and by using the Tobit model explores various types of influencing factors by subregion. The results show that the modified DDF-DEA model can explore China's IEE more accurately under SDGs. China's IEE is more stable from 2015 to 2021, with the efficiency value always fluctuating between 0.59 and 0.64, the overall level is low, and there is more room for improvement. There are significant inter-provincial differences in IEE and efficiency inertia. In more than 75% of the provinces SDG 7 E constrains IEE improvement, while the dynamic evolution of IEE and its subsystem efficiency varies across regions. Environmental regulation is a common factor affecting IEE across the country and in the east, central, and west regions, whereas the level of economic development, openness to the outside world, and urbanization rate are differential factors affecting IEE across the country and in the three major regions. This study offers new perspectives for exploring the path of IEE enhancement and providing empirical references for the collaborative construction of industrial ecological civilization. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether industrial agglomeration can promote an increase in energy efficiency is of great importance to not only China’s energy conservation and emissions reduction plans, but also China’s future sustainable development. This paper uses statistical data from 285 cities, from 2004 to 2013, to analyze the effect of industrial agglomeration on energy efficiency. The spatial autocorrelation tests show that there is significant spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity in urban energy efficiency. Although dynamic spatial econometric results show that industrial agglomeration can promote an increase in energy efficiency from a country level, there are significant differences at a regional level. In the east, the effect of industrial agglomeration on energy efficiency has a threshold effect, but in central and western areas, industrial agglomeration can promote the increase of energy efficiency, with the positive effect in western areas greater than that in central areas. Finally, based on the research, this paper puts forward concrete suggestions to enhance energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water-energy-food (WEF) nexus system enables to examine the implications for sustainability. Inevitably, shocks from socioeconomic subsystems would impact the stability and reliability of the WEF nexus system. This paper aims to identify the reasons for changes in water withdrawal, energy consumption, and crop consumption, and uncover differentiated effects from both the national and provincial perspectives, and finally offer the main strategies in China that balance socioeconomic development and resource-saving from the consumption perspective. Empirical results in China from 2011 to 2017 show that (1) the reduction of per capita energy consumption leads to a decrease in water withdrawal, while increased population and water withdrawal intensity in energy sectors have adverse effects on diminishing water withdrawal. (2) The decrease in energy consumption mainly results from improved energy use efficiency for the whole period. (3) Reduction in national crop consumption is mainly caused by the decline in energy consumption per person over the years, which implies a positive effect of food-energy nexus effect on the decrease in crop consumption. (4) Spatially-temporarily contribution rates of drivers offer implications to the implementation of resource-saving and sustainability in the future. Directions and magnitudes of driving forces are different from the sub-nation perspective, hence, finally takes Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region as an example, we analyze clearly the relative planning and reports and propose several pathways to accelerate the sustainable development in the BTH region. • Comprehensively understanding demands for water-energy-food and their drivers. • Uncovering drivers' contributions dynamically from national & provincial perspectives. • Discovering distinguishable characteristics of WEF consumption variation regionally. • Assessing sustainability by coupling socioeconomic dev. with resources saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a city's green infrastructure is increasingly being driven by low-carbon innovation (LCI). However, knowledge of how LCI affects green economic efficiency (GEE) in China is largely unknown. This study investigates the spatial effects of LCI on GEE in 285 Chinese prefecture-level cities. The empirical findings show that LCI exerts significant beneficial effects on its GEE but negative effects on its neighbors. The positive direct effects on GEE are offset by negative indirect effects due to the lack of spatial linkage effect and the existence of the siphon and crowding-out effects among cities. Using a mediating effect model, we have identified three channels of LCI that affect GEE: industrial structure, energy consumption structure, and human capital. A further heterogeneity analysis indicates that the impacts of LCI on GEE differ by region and city development level. Furthermore, LCI in the building, greenhouse gas treatment, transportation, and sewage and pollutant treatment categories could greatly enhance local GEE. The findings herein provide an empirical experience for accurately accessing the spatial effect of LCI on GEE, and offer a critical decision-making reference for implementing a cross-city green linkage development mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable consumption (SC) is key for sustainable development, but only limited studies have examined how to motivate SC among consumers in developing countries. Younger consumers tend to more sustainable consumption while whether they really understand the SC concept is not clear. To explore the role of SC understanding for motivating SC behaviors, this paper develops a concept model with hypotheses to propose that SC understanding mediates relationships between influencing factors and SC behaviors. Based on 623 usable questionnaires collected from junior high schools and senior high schools in three eastern cities of China, five influencing factors for SC behaviors are identified, they are, education, awareness & attitude, social influence, effectiveness of energy saving and emission reduction for sustainable products, and differentiation of sustainable products from regular products. Statistic results through hierarchical regression analysis demonstrate that SC understanding is necessary to motivate SC behaviors with certain influencing factors. Chinese adolescents can understand the SC concept through education and then purchase sustainable products. Only if sustainable products can show benefits of energy saving and emission reduction, Chinese adolescent would like to use these products. Environmental awareness and attitude can bring environmental treatment and disposal of products, but SC understanding is necessary. This paper contributes to extend the TPB to develop a conceptual model including education as one influencing factor for SC behaviors. It also develops three factors for SC behaviors from the product life cycle perspective. Besides, it also contributes to extend the previous studies about motivation of SC consumption to adolescents in an emergent economy of China to examine the role of SC understanding. Statistic results reveal the low implementation level of SC behaviors, and the government should highlight sustainable education to improve sustainable awareness and SC understanding. It is also shown that adolescents would like to purchase sustainable products if environmental performance of such products can be demonstrated, which also provide insights for enterprises to achieve win-win opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the spatial and temporal distribution of CO2 emissions intensity and energy intensity in China by using spatial measuring method from 2000 to 2013 and estimates the potential for CO2 emissions reduction. The results obtained in this study include: (1) Both CO2 emissions intensity and energy intensity are declining; (2) the spatial distribution of carbon emission intensity and energy intensity in China shows the characteristics of lower from north to south; (3) China's total growth of energy consumption and carbon emissions is clearly slowing, which will peak before 2030; the carbon emission reduction potential in China is great with 167,316.91 million tons, and Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Hebei have the greatest potential to reduce CO2 emissions with 29,885.8 Mt, 32,704.49 Mt and 34,222.1 Mt, respectively; (4) the differences of CO2 emissions intensity and energy intensity among provinces are distinctive. This study can provide a reference for the sustainable development of China's energy and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

• Carbon emissions from energy consumption of 282 prefecture-level cities in China were calculated. • A new method for calculating carbon emission factors for electricity is proposed. • Extending the Atkinson Index to the application of Carbon Fairness. • Measured the inequality and fairness indicators of carbon emissions from energy consumption at the prefecture-level city level in China. This paper focuses on the conceptualization and quantification of carbon emission inequality and fairness from energy consumption. In order to more accurately measure the carbon emissions generated by electricity consumption in each city, we firstly propose a new method for calculating the carbon emission factor for electricity, and calculates the carbon emissions from energy consumption in 282 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2019. Through the application of the Theil-Kaya decomposition mechanism and the improved Atkinson index, we conducted an in-depth study of the carbon emission inequality and fairness indicators from energy consumption. The results show that (1) Although China's overall inequality has declined, it remains significant in the western region, with its inequality indicator fluctuating from 0.548 in 2003 to 0.683 in 2019.(2) The decomposition of the drivers of inequality indicators shows that the contribution of GDP per capita to inequality is increasingly being replaced by energy intensity and the energy carbon emission factor, with energy intensity emerging as the main driver, contributing more than 40% to inequality in 2019, both overall and in the three regions.(3) The results for the fairness indicator, on the other hand, show a certain degree of divergence. Further Dynamic Time Warping fitting analysis shows that regardless of how the public's sensitivity to carbon emissions varies, the change trends of the fairness and inequality indicators for carbon emissions in the eastern region show a high degree of convergence, even in the two most extreme cases. The fit is poorest in the western region, but improves significantly if public's sensitivity to carbon emissions increases. (4)To sum up, some policies that are consistent with the context of the times, such as the East-West regional counterparts and the construction of a new type of power system, are worthy of priority consideration by the Government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growth of global population and economic development, people are facing the problem of increasing scarcity of renewable energy and unsustainable energy use. To achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations, research on energy consumption efficiency has become particularly important. This research evaluates the energy consumption efficiency of 270 cities in China through an improved EBM model and finds a common phenomenon of low energy consumption efficiency in the cities, with the highest efficiency in northeast China and the lowest efficiency in eastern China. In addition, the efficiency of industrial exhaust emissions most significantly positively correlates with the efficiency of employed population and total energy consumption efficiency, while the efficiency of regional GDP does not significantly correlate with the efficiency of the two input variables. Using the LMDI method to decompose the driving factors of energy consumption efficiency in the cities, we find that the most important factor affecting energy consumption efficiency is their own energy endowment. Therefore, to improve the energy consumption efficiency of its cities, the China government should comprehensively consider factors such as regional economic development level, industrial structure, and technological level differences, formulate relevant energy-saving and emission-reduction policies, focus on optimizing the energy consumption structure, encourage technological progress and innovation, and help increase investment in science and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDG) is the requirement of the entire globe and needs the attention of recent researchers and regulators. Thus, the current research also investigates the impact of human capital and environmental protection on the SDG of the developed economy like China. The researchers have explored the secondary data sources and collected the data from 1986 to 2019, and used the world development indicators (WDI) for this purpose. The current article also used the augmented dickey-fuller test (ADF) to check the stationarity and autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) to test the nexus among variables. The results indicated that all the predictors such as human capital index (human capital), renewable energy consumption and renewable energy production (environmental protection) have a negative association with carbon emission and a positive association with SDG. The outcomes also indicated that control variables such as economic growth and population growth have a positive association with carbon emission. These outcomes provide the guidelines to the regulators while developing policies related to sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]