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The Green Belt and Road Initiative was proposed by the Chinese government to address the environmental challenges related to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI International Green Development Coalition (BRIGC), a flagship initiative of the Green BRI, aims to promote the BRI's environmental performance through transnational governance measures. In this study, we analyzed the BRIGC from the perspective of orchestration theory. We developed a model of causal pathways to understand the micro-steps linking orchestrators, intermediaries, and targets. Furthermore, drawing on first-hand evidence collected through participatory observation, interviews, and focus groups, we identified four key pathways of green orchestration: green consumerism, green infrastructure, green finance, and green governance. We found that the orchestration processes were hampered by the lack of substantial input from the BRIGC, which undermined the intermediary-target relationship. We concluded with recommendations for the BRIGC to strengthen its orchestration capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a political perspective of just transition by linking the just transition concept with the concept of policy implementation, thereby drawing attention to the role of local policy implementers in the process and outcome of just transition. Focusing on the Chinese political context, it examines the degree of implementation flexibility in a broader context of authoritarian environmentalism. Implementation flexibility at the local level has been an enduring feature of Chinese environmental governance and can be considered as a key political process through which just transition can be achieved. However, recent studies suggest that the strengthening of top-down control over the environment means that the implementation process has become less flexible. Drawing on a case study of a logging town in the Greater Khingan Range transitioning under the National Forest Conservation Program, we found that while the strengthening of top-down control has resulted in an elevated level of compliance, flexibility remains an important dynamic in policy implementation. As such, local policy implementers still play an important role in just transition. This persistence of implementation flexibility is driven by a combination of local priorities, implementation difficulties, and top-down control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Low-Carbon Pilot (LCP) program in China is an important national initiative aiming to facilitate climate experimentation. Thus far, 87 local governments have become climate pilots and are tasked with developing innovative climate solutions with the hope that these innovations can be applied nationally. The LCP adopts a uniquely Chinese approach to policymaking that is characterized by both bottom-up experimentation and top-down control and has been described as a success in the official discourse. However, using two case studies from Guangdong and Jilin, we show that there could be significant variation in performance and willingness to conduct experimentation among the climate pilots. The presence of variation suggests that the top-down steering mechanisms of the LCP are not conducive to climate experimentation and have the unintended consequences of encouraging risk-averse behaviors. We further show that local factors – leadership support, communities of practice, and alignment of interests – are important factors enabling success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary resettlement, typically framed by the principle of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), has emerged as a preferred alternative to the heavily criticized forced resettlement approach, but there are growing concerns over whether those “voluntary” programs are genuinely voluntary. In China, the government maintains that its poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) program is a successful example of voluntary resettlement. Under this national anti-poverty initiative, millions of people living in the poorest parts of the country have been resettled “voluntarily”. However, few studies have critically examined this claim. In this study, we collected empirical evidence through a survey of PAR resettlers. Drawing on a large and representative household survey (1723 resettlers from 30 different PAR projects) and 142 qualitative interviews, we report inconclusive and conflicting findings. On the one hand, the respondents strongly expressed that they willingly participated in resettlement. The perception of willingness was especially high among those who were younger, wealthier, and had off-farm employment. Furthermore, the consent to relocate was mostly free and driven by a desire to improve the quality of life. On the other hand, we observed that consent was not fully informed due to inadequate consultation. The villagers were not given detailed information about the resettlement or time to consider the implications. To ensure genuinely voluntary resettlement and to enhance the effectiveness of the program in poverty alleviation, the government needs to improve the consultation process, offer more targeted assistance to poor households, and provide better post-resettlement support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting active travel behavior and decreasing transport-related carbon dioxide (CO) emissions have become a priority in many Chinese cities experiencing rapid urban sprawl and greater automobile dependence. However, there are few studies that holistically examine the physical and social factors associated with travel CO emissions. Using a survey of 1525 shoppers conducted in Shenyang, China, this study estimated shopping-related travel CO emissions and examined how the built environment and individual socioeconomic characteristics contribute to shopping travel behavior and associated CO emissions. We found that, firstly, private car trips generate nearly eight times more carbon emissions than shopping trips using public transport, on average. Second, there was significant spatial autocorrelation with CO emissions per trip, and the highest carbon emissions were clustered in the inner suburbs and between the first and second circumferential roads. Third, shopping travel CO emissions per trip were negatively correlated with several built environment features including population density, the quantity of public transport stations, road density, and shop density. They were also found to be significantly related to the individual socio-economic characteristics of car ownership, employment status, and education level using a multinomial logistic regression model. These empirical findings have important policy implications, assisting in the development of measures that contribute to the sustainability of urban transportation and meet carbon mitigation targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the Economic Advisory Center of the State Information Center (SIC), we examined the spatial patterns of car sales in China at the prefectural level in 2012. We first analyzed the spatial distributions of car sales of different kinds of automakers (foreign automakers, Sino-foreign joint automakers, and Chinese automakers), and then identified spatial clusters using the local Moran's indexes. Location quotient analysis was applied to examine the relative advantage of each type of automaker in the local markets. To explain the variations of car sales across cities, we collected several socioeconomic variables and conducted regression analyses. Further, factor analysis was used to extract independent variables to avoid the problem of multicollinearity. By incorporating a spatial lag or spatial error in the models, we calibrated our spatial regression models to address the spatial dependence problem. The analytical results show that car sales varied significantly across cities in China, and most of the cities with higher car sales were the developed cities. Different automakers exhibit diverse spatial patterns in terms of car sales volume, spatial clusters, and location quotients. The scale and incomes factor were extracted and verified as the two most significant and positive factors that shape the spatial distributions of car sales, and together with the spatial effect, explained most of the variations of car sales across cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental justice is a key concept for understanding the contested relationship between pastoralism and conservation. Our study adopted a political approach to examine conservation, pastoralism, and justice in the context of the grazing ban policy in China. Employing a qualitative, in-depth case study, we investigated the local political actors and processes that lead to environmental (in)justice. The evidence shows how injustice is perpetuated by both centralized and decentralized political processes and how herders use their knowledge and strategies in resistance to the injustice. In addition, the study contributed to a pluralistic understanding of justice by examining the different notions of justice held by the herders. We found that herders perceive injustices through different lenses, namely economic, ecological, and cultural aspects. Further, the similarities and differences between Han and Mongolian herders are discussed in terms of their notions of environmental justice and counteractions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microgrid is a new concept in China and may potentially play an important role in enhancing the resilience and sustainability of electricity generation and distribution. However, the development of microgrids faces many challenges. This study examines the barriers to microgrid development using a case study of a pilot zone in Qingdao. Drawing on the theories of multi-level perspective and multi-actor perspective, we presented new empirical evidence on how the pilot microgrid projects were rendered difficult by the resistance from the existing industrial regime and the challenging economic and socio-political environments. The monopoly of state-owned grid operators in electricity transmission and distribution is difficult to break at a local level. The findings deepen our understanding of the challenges encountered by innovators in China's microgrid development and hold implications for policymakers in making more targeted policy mixes to support energy transition activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban expansion is a controversial process where territorial conflicts of differing interests and objectives become manifest. The existing interpretations of urban expansion pay insufficient attention to the strategies deployed by municipal governments to resolve the territorial conflicts arising out of urban expansion. This paper identifies two key bargaining arenas through which municipal governments mitigate the territorial complications of urban expansion. First, administrative annexation not only involves municipal governments to gain control over more territory, but also entails strategies adopted to reconcile conflicts created by administrative restructuration, such as offering preferential fiscal and job arrangements. Second, land acquisition is not only about livelihood restoration of landless farmers but is also about converting them into citizens constituting new urban communities and integrating them into the urban mode of production. These bargaining arenas are the sites where the benefits and concessions of urban expansion are negotiated, and they play a key role in ensuring the smooth operation of urban expansion by resolving potential conflicts among stakeholders. • Territorial conflicts are common in urban expansion projects. • Territorial conflicts arising from administrative annexation and land acquisition • Territorial conflicts can be resolved through bargaining and compromises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rumors are an important yet poorly understood dynamic in environmental politics, particularly regarding their role in environmental activism. Drawing on theories of rumors, environmental information governance, and environmental activism, we analyzed the eco-politics of rumors in a Chinese village that experienced rumor-fueled protests against the construction and operation of a limestone quarry. We make three arguments regarding the condition, control, and content of rumors. First, poor environmental information governance, driven by a development-first and prejudice-rich official narrative and the strategic behaviors of blame and accountability avoidance, provides an important condition for rumor formulation and circulation. Second, the generation and circulation of rumors can be understood as a collective sense-making process driven by the informal communication between external and internal sources of information. The ephemeral nature of communication and group sanctions on government supporters make it difficult for authorities to control rumors. Third, by conceptualizing rumors as information warfare against official narratives, we show that rumors can foster a sense of collective urgency, reframe a land-right protest into an environmental protest that is politically more likely to succeed, and undermine public trust in local authorities. The findings suggest that rumors are an important part of environmental politics in China because of their role in environmental activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to examine the focuses, motivations and challenges of achieving campus sustainability in Chinese higher education institutions (HEIs). Design/methodology/approach -- A multisite case study was conducted in Changchun City, Jilin, where eight HEIs of various types were examined. Structured interviews with school managers, students and government officials were accompanied with analysis of relevant documents. Findings -- The focuses of sustainability among the studied HEIs were on water and energy conservation and on non-technical initiatives. The focuses can be explained by motivations and challenges. The HEIs are motivated by government and financial pressures and face challenges in limited accessibility to funding. The reliance of non-technical initiatives has negatively impacted student welfare and has become unpopular among students. Practical implications -- The government is advised to increase funding to HEIs in relation to sustainability and to make the funding more equitable. The HEIs are advised to modify sustainability practices that severely affect the daily lives of students, to share the benefits of water and energy conservation with their students and to involve students in sustainability governance. Originality/value -- This paper adds to the existing literature in two ways. First, it expands the geographical reach of the literature to developing countries, in general, and to China, in particular. Second, it adopts the multisite case study research approach to study the whole spectrum of Chinese HEIs and highlights the differences among these HEIs when it comes to sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State-owned forestry enterprises (SOFEs) in China, established during the Maoist era for forest exploitation, have undergone significant reorganization under the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP). In this study, drawing on the perspectives of political ecology and a case study from a SOFE in the Greater Khingan Range in northeast China, we develop an eco-socialist perspective to understand this particular approach to forest conservation. The concept of eco-socialism is mobilized to describe how, as a form of all-encompassing social organization with overwhelming political, social, and economic power in the forestry regions, the eco-restructuring of SOFEs is key to the success of forest conservation. Four eco-restructuring processes have been identified: (1) declining timber sales and increasing central subsidies; (2) restructuring of work-units; (3) creating redundancies; and (4) developing new sustainable economic activities. Furthermore, these eco-restructuring processes, both mandated and supported by the central government, have a significant impact on state-society relationship. While the resources given by the central government allow SOFEs to maintain a stable relationship with some workers by providing them a relatively stable livelihood, the laid-off workers are the major victims of the process, as they suffer from loss of income, economic stability, and social self-esteem. This study enriches the literature by incorporating eco-socialist governmentality into the political ecology of forest conservation and illustrating how the political ecology perspective can be a powerful tool in the collective effort to craft sustainable and socially just futures in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Chinese government has promulgated a wide variety of low-carbon initiatives to control the rapid growth of energy consumption and carbon emissions in the cities. Past records, however, show that the central government's policies are often poorly implemented or distorted by local officials. Using a case study from the city of Changchun, this paper examines how and why the issue of poor implementation persists despite the establishment of the Energy Conservation Target Responsibility System (ECTRS). As a key institutional mechanism providing local officials with political incentives to implement low-carbon policies, the ECTRS has been constrained by a number of problems, including a poorly designed scoring system, weak targets, the use of energy intensity instead of absolute energy consumption as a policy objective, and the lack of reliable local energy statistics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Renewable energy and energy efficiency (REEE) policies have far-reaching implications for energy security, climate change, economic competitiveness, pollution, and human livelihood. For these reasons, REEE has become a national priority for the Chinese government, particularly since 2005. This paper aims to critically review China's REEE policies in six sectors: electricity, industry, transportation, buildings, and local government. In addition to examining the progress China has made in the development and implementation of REEE policies, this review also identifies limitations and room for improvement. Finally, five policy recommendations are presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Efforts to commercialize green vehicles by the Chinese government have been met with surprisingly subdued consumer responses and with sales targets that fall far short to targets. This paper examines the barriers to the adoption of green vehicles in China from a consumer perspective, focusing on battery-only vehicles (BEVs). A web-based survey was conducted to solicit views from Chinese residents in November 2012. The results indicated that although the majority of respondents expressed interests in BEVs and agreed that BEVs were good for the environment and were cheaper to run, many respondents expressed concerns over them being inconvenient to charge, long charging times, limited battery longevity, limited vehicle range and high price. The greatest barrier was inconvenience to charge. The results also show that the level of interest, perception, and demands are significantly influenced by gender, age, income, education, and car ownership status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The release of the Twelfth Five-Year Guideline for National Economic and Social Development in March 2011 marked the beginning of China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan (12th FYP) period (2011–2015). Energy conservation continues to be a national priority. Since the release, new energy conservation policies and programs have been announced by many central ministries in accordance with the 12th FYP. Is this the beginning of a new paradigm or merely a continuation of the 11th FYP model? This paper describes and analyzes key changes in energy conservation since 2011, including a more conservative national energy conservation target, a more logical way of breaking down the target, new sectoral targets, the introduction of new programs, and the expansion of existing programs. However, one key problem of the 11th FYP period remains unresolved, namely the inability to shift the economy away from heavy industry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Motivation: Unlike other places where resettlement is largely a by‐product of large infrastructure projects, in China resettlement is used as a tool for poverty alleviation. With the introduction of Xi Jinping's Targeted Poverty Alleviation, and the goal to end absolute poverty by 2020, resettlement has become central to China's poverty‐alleviation practice. Rather than investing in dispersed, remote villages, the Chinese government prefers to bring people to development by constructing high‐density resettlement sites in small towns and peri‐urban areas: up to 16 million people are being resettled between 2016 and 2020. Despite the scale of these interventions, the English‐language literature on poverty resettlement is limited and has yet to detail rapidly evolving policies or how these are playing out on the ground. Purpose: In this article we examine how poverty resettlement projects are working under Targeted Poverty Alleviation, with a focus on the implementation and impacts of, as well as overlapping motives for, projects in Shaanxi and Gansu. Approach and Methods: Our analysis draws on semi‐structured interviews and secondary data collected in multiple sites in two provinces. Findings: Our findings show that China's intense focus on resettlement as a tool for poverty alleviation has resulted in reduced financial burdens on those resettled, but is also engendering new conflicts at the local level. Policy implications: Our analysis highlights the contested nature of state‐driven resettlement for poverty alleviation and raises questions about the relevance of this practice for other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale rural land appropriation and displacement, driven by the unprecedented urban growth currently experienced in China, has created millions of land-lost peasants who live in the city but remain culturally, socially and institutionally rural. The situation has attracted growing attention in the literature because of its negative social impact, but relatively few studies have addressed how land-lost farmers adapt to urban ways of life and what factors influence their life satisfaction. In this paper, we investigate the predictors of livelihood adaptation and life satisfaction of land-lost farmers from a land appropriation case in the city of Changchun, Northeast China. The results show that, five years after the appropriation, livelihood adaptation remained very difficult and life satisfaction was poor among the resettlers. Furthermore, marginalised groups, such as those who were older, less educated and from smaller families, and those with lower pre-displacement income were less likely to have a higher income level after resettlement, resulting in a lower level of life satisfaction. Women also had lower life satisfaction than men. The study highlights an urgent need to improve China's unjust land appropriation policy with a particular focus on attending to the needs of marginalised groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: China has one of the fastest paces of the growing aging population, High-level policymakers have recently recognized the aging population presents significant challenges to the Chinese healthcare system. In this context, the healthcare-seeking behaviors of the elderly population have become an essential field of study. It is necessary to understand their access to health services and to improve their quality of life, as well as to help policymakers to formulate healthcare policy. The study empirically investigates the factors influencing the elderly population's healthcare-seeking behaviors in Shanghai, China, especially in choosing the quality of healthcare facilities to visit. Methods: We designed a cross-sectional study. The data of this study were derived from the "Shanghai elderly medical demand characteristics questionnaire" in the middle of November to early December 2017. A total of 625 individuals were included in the final sample. Logistic regression was adopted to investigate the differences in healthcare-seeking behaviors between elderly people when suffer from mild illness, severe illness and follow-up treatment. Next, the differences in gender were also discussed. Results: Factors affecting the healthcare-seeking behaviors of the elderly differ in mild illness and severe illness situations. For mild illness, demographic factors (gender and age) and socioeconomic factors (income and employment) play an important role in elderly healthcare choices. Female and older elderlies are more likely to choose local, lower-quality facilities, whereas those with high income and private employment are more likely to choose higher-quality facilities. For severe illness, socioeconomic factors (income and employment) are important. Furthermore, individuals with basic medical insurance are more likely to choose lower-quality facilities. Conclusion: This study has shown that the affordability of public health services should be addressed. Medical policy support may be an important way to reduce the gap in access to medical services. We should pay attention to the gender differences in the elderly's choice of medical treatment behavior, consider the differences in the needs of male and female elderly. our findings are only for elderly Chinese participants in the greater Shanghai area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land appropriation and subsequent resettlement of rural inhabitants are central to urbanisation in China. Often, the result is the impoverishment of landless farmers, who are a principal source of social unrest in the country. In the literature, landless farmers are often wrongly assumed to be a homogeneous group. In contrast, this paper presents the age-differentiated experiences of land appropriation and resettlement among farmers. Using the case study of Xinghua village in China, and by reference to data collected via surveys and interviews, we show that even within a single community, there can be significant age-related differences in terms of compensation, livelihood changes, income, living conditions, and satisfaction. Older farmers tend to receive more compensation, and the negative impact of land appropriation is felt most acutely by middle-aged farmers. Viewed from a broader theoretical perspective, this study demonstrates the importance of understanding the impact of land appropriation and resettlement and shows how this impact is distributed unevenly across the affected communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]