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The trading of carbon emissions is a crucial regulatory method to address environmental pollution issues. This study takes China's carbon emission trading pilot policy established in 2013 as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the DID model to empirically test the urban panel data from 2006 to 2019. The results show that the carbon emission trading pilot policy can effectively reduce urban environmental pollution, and this effect is more noticeable in mid-western cities, northern cities, cities with fewer resources, and large-scale cities. In addition, to address the urban environmental pollution problem through this policy, the government is encouraged to raise its environmental protection awareness and put more effort into the innovation of technology. In general, this study uses carbon emission trading policies from China to confirm that market-based incentive environmental regulation tools can effectively reduce environmental pollution in urban areas. These findings can provide more theoretical support and empirical evidence for the government to use mechanisms of the market to effectively solve pollution problems, improve ecological environment quality, and accelerate the realization of green economy. • The DID model is used to track pilot policy impact on urban environmental pollution. • Carbon emission trading pilot policy can reduce urban environmental pollution. • The government's environmental awareness is the channel of action. • The government's technological innovation efforts are the channel of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental protection and sustainable development are now profoundly ingrained in the public consciousness in the modern era of the global green revolution. First, this paper uses an evolutionary game model to theoretically analyse the impact of environmental regulation and green finance on enterprises by dissecting the game behaviour between local governments, banks and enterprises. Then, we incorporate entrepreneurial spirit into the model to determine whether entrepreneurial spirit accelerates the achievement of green sustainability objectives. Environmental regulation and green finance are found to contribute substantially to the innovation of green technologies by local enterprises, while entrepreneurial spirit accelerates this process. Finally, we empirically test the findings based on a prefecture-level panel dataset from 2007 to 2020. We find that green finance has a positive impact in Central and Western cities of China, while Eastern cities are in greater need for government environmental regulation controls. For entrepreneurial spirit, the incentive effect of entrepreneurial spirit on the level of green technology innovation is more significant in Central and Western regions of China. This paper enriches the field of research on entrepreneurial spirit and regional green sustainable development by providing empirical evidence for the evaluation of environmental regulatory and green financing policy impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite China's stringent environmental regulations, there has been a persistent policy implementation gap at local level, specifically due to local protectionism and inadequate enforcement measures. To address this issue, the Central Environmental Protection Inspection (CEPI) initiative was launched in 2016, replacing the Regional Environmental Protection Inspection (REPI) system. This study examines why the REPI failed to tackle the implementation gap and how the CEPI works. This is achieved by constructing a tripartite evolutionary game (EG) model consisting of the central government, local governments, and polluting enterprises. Using system dynamics (SD), the study simulates and analyzes the behavior and strategies of the three game players in two scenarios, namely weak and strong negative incentives. Then, this study analyzes the evolutionary process of environmental protection inspection (EPI) by means of a case study. The results show that: (1) the strategy adopted by polluting enterprises depends on the actual signal conveyed by the local governments. In addition, whether the strong regulatory signal of the central government can be effectively transmitted to polluting enterprises mainly depends on the attitude of the local governments. (2) The CEPI conveys a reliable commitment and provides effective external stimuli that adjust the incentive structure of local governments. Meanwhile, the REPI lacked significant punishment measures, which made it difficult for the central government's environmental regulatory signals to reach polluting enterprises in an effective manner. This study contributes to a better understanding of the evolutionary process and causes of the EPI system, as well as how the Chinese government tackles the local environmental policy implementation gap. • The strategy adopted by polluting enterprises depends on the actual signal conveyed by the local governments. • The CEPI conveys a reliable commitment and provides effective external stimuli for local governments. • The key to effective environmental regulation is to break through the obstacle of local protectionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The size and number of firms in a region represent key characteristics of that regional economic ecosystem, but few studies have linked such characteristics with the stringency of local environmental regulation. In this study, we discuss the effects of local firm scale on environmental regulation and its mechanism, and the optimal strategic choices theoretically and empirically for environmental regulation in regions with different firm scale. We find that when government capacity is insufficient, regional environmental regulation will be relatively more stringent when dealing with fewer but larger firms because of the government scale effect. When government capacity is sufficient, firm size has no influence on environmental regulation. Our results are robust and offer insights for government decision makers to improve local environmental regulation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the degradation of the environment, balancing economic development with environmental protection is key to a green China. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the impacts of different environmental policies on China's pollution-intensive industries (PIIs). We look at the main types of environmental policies tools of China in areas of legal, economic and informal regulations, and select typical policies of each type for research. Based on the theoretical model about how environmental regulations affect the transfer decision of polluting enterprises, quantitative empirical tests are conducted in this paper to study the influences of environmental regulations on the transfer of PIIs by using provincial panel data from 2003 to 2016. It is found that: (1) All three types of environmental regulations have significant yet heterogeneous impacts on the transfer of PIIs. (2) With an emphasis on the nonlinear impact of environmental regulations on PIIs' transfer, we find that all the three types of environmental regulations exert inverted-N shaped nonlinear influences. The findings indicate that regions with ultra-stringent or excessively loose regulations are not attractive to polluting industries. However, appropriate environmental regulations stimulate enterprises to innovate, enhance market competitiveness, and increase production. (3) Between regions, spatially heterogeneous influences on PII's transfer are also found. Currently, levels of all types of environmental regulations are relatively low in China, which induce an initial negative correlation between policies and polluting enterprises. As a result, governments should continue to improve environmental regulations to promote a state of positive correlation, realizing a win-win result for environmental protection and economic development. ● Environmental regulations (ERs) affect pollution-intensive industries' (PIIs). ● The impact of ERs on PIIs' transfer is nonlinearly inverted-N shape. ● Multiple ERs have heterogeneous impacts on PIIs' transfer. ● Spatially heterogeneous influences of ERs on PIIs' transfer exist. ● Currently, the levels of all types of ERs are relatively low in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of foreign investment is a double-edged sword, which not only drives China's rapid economic development, but also aggravates China's energy shortage and environmental pollution. Chinese government has strengthened environmental regulations with the intention of restricting the entry of foreign investment, improving the quality of foreign direct investment (FDI). However, the effect of environmental regulation on the quality of FDI has not been carefully examined yet. This study constructs a panel model and uses the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2009 to 2018 to scrutinize the effect of different types of environmental regulation policies on the quality of FDI. The results show that the strengthening of environmental regulation policies can improve the quality of FDI and avoid making China a "pollution paradise" for FDI. There are significant differences in the effects of different types of such policies on the quality of FDI; the type of administrative supervision and social participation policies play positive roles in improving the quality of FDI. There are also significant differences in the strategies for attracting foreign investment among different regions, as well as in the focuses of their environmental regulation objectives. Therefore, for environmental regulation policies to play a more positive role in promoting the quality of FDI and the high-quality development of the national economy, this study suggests that it is necessary to further implement the policy of opening up to the outside world, optimise foreign investment structures, deepen opening up to the outside world, optimise the structure of foreign investment, deepen the reform of the environmental supervision structure, tighten the law enforcement of environmental protection, seek accurate environmental regulation based on the realities of regional foreign investment development, take multiple measures to improve the business environment to promote the quality and efficiency of foreign investment, and so on. Image 1 • Strict environmental regulation policy can improve the unit scale and unit benefit of FDI. • Distinguish and test the potential effects of different types of environmental policy tools on the quality of FDI. • Administrative supervision policy and social participation policy can improve the quality of FDI more effectively. • Sustained improvement of FDI quality depends on coordinated advances in economic, political, and environmental reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]