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Achieving economic development and ecological protection simultaneously is an inevitable selection for sustainable development in today's world, so it is crucial to improve eco-efficiency (EE). According to Chinese panel data at the provincial level between 2010 and 2020, this research explores the nexus between green finance (GF) and EE. The results denote that GF can significantly improve EE, and the higher the level of EE, the stronger the effect of improvement. The upgrading of industrial structure, optimization of energy structure, enterprises' concern for environmental protection and the public's attention to the environment are all favorable factors that can enhance the promotion effect of GF on EE. Additionally, this facilitation can only be played under a good external environment and mature internal conditions. Our findings can provide new insights for improving EE by developing GF., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The digital transformation of global economic and social activities brought about by advanced information and communication technology (ICT) may have a profound impact on sustainable economic development. This research measures the digitalization of the economy and society in cities of China based on Internet-related indicators and digital financial development and investigates the economic and environmental effects of their digitalization. The empirical results show that digitalization has significantly improved green economic efficiency (GEE), and this finding remains valid after a series of robust analyses. However, there is regional heterogeneity in the improvement effect of GEE. The green effect of digitalization is significant only in the cities with a high degree of economic servitization, capital-abundant cities, and eastern cities. Although digitalization has promoted the green development of the urban economy, it also has a negative spatial spillover effect on the GEE of neighboring cities. One explanation is that cities are shifting polluting industries to other areas during the process of digital transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green bonds are adopted to exclusively finance or refinance green projects and thus is an important policy instrument for sustainable development. The development of these eco-friendly projects benefits the reduction of carbon emission. What impacts do green bonds have on carbon emission intensity and how? This issue needs to be revealed, including the dynamic spatial interactive rules and regional heterogeneity. This is especially true for China, with its vast territory and a short history of green bonds. Different with existing literature, this paper collects the data of the amount of green bond issued in each province in China rather than the policy dummy variable of green bond. The spatio-temporal interactions of both the impact of green bonds and the related mechanisms are studied. A dynamic spatial Durbin model (DSDM) combined with a STIRPAT (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology) model reveals the negative impacts of green bonds on carbon emissions and the spatio-temporal interactions. On this basis, the mediation model is introduced to clarify the three impact mechanisms of green bonds and find the predominant role of technology mechanism. In addition, different characteristics in spatial interactive rules and impact mechanisms of green bonds are found in various regions of China. Finally, the study proposes some policy recommendations on how to effectively reduce carbon emissions with green bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world's largest food producer, China, is now facing increasing pressure to solve food security and is committed to forging new prospects for global food security and sustainable agricultural development. As food security is receiving greater attention, this research takes panel data from 31 provinces and cities in China from 2011–2020 to examine the spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on food security. The study conclusions are as follows. (1) Improvement of the digital economy significantly promotes the development of China's food security. (2) The digital economy has an inhibitory effect on food security in local regions and promotes food security in neighboring regions. (3) Heterogeneity exists within the spatial spillover effects of the digital economy on food security, and such differences often vary based on the status of regional economic development, natural geographical location, and land function. Therefore, policy suggestions proposed herein cover three aspects: accelerating infrastructure investment and construction, improving the empowering capability of the digital economy, and implementing different digital economy strategies to better support food security in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly argued in what is termed the degrowth strategy that economic growth cannot occur side by side with environmental protection. In this study, it is instead argued that the spread of green products through economic complexity and international trade are possible means of solving this problem. To this end, the individual and interactive environmental impacts of economic complexity and international green trade are examined in a panel of 24 European Union nations between 2000 and 2018. Panel quantile regressions (QRs) and Driscoll‐Kraay fixed effect‐OLS regressions are employed in analysing the relationships. The findings reveal that both green trade and economic complexity have beneficial individual effects on the environment. Their interaction effect further confirms that they have a complementary synergistic impact on the environment of the 24 EU countries. It thus implies that both green trade and economic complexity act better together than separately. Countries interested in achieving sustainable environment can do so by raising local productive capabilities, such that they are able to quickly transition into the production of technology‐intensive, eco‐friendly items. Alternatively, they can also explore the unique benefits provided by international trade in green products in cases where they do not have the ability to locally produce certain green goods. Better still, they can pursue both objectives simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing carbon crisis threatens sustainable development. This paper verifies that the rise of green finance contributes to overcoming this challenge. The benchmark results show that green finance can directly drive decarbonization of the economy. High-level openness, government support, human capital and urbanization are prerequisites of this effect, and green finance is more effective in promoting decarbonization in areas with high carbon intensity. Moreover, green finance drives economic decarbonization by promoting economic growth, technical innovation, industrial upgrading, and renewable energy transition. Internet availability, financial level and higher education have moderating roles in boosting this effect. Furthermore, the implementation of green finance policy also contributes to decarbonization. The robustness of the basic result is proven with several methods, thus strengthening the reliability of the basic conclusion in this paper. Based on the above main findings, targeted policy recommendations concerning how to further develop green finance are proposed in this paper. • Green finance can directly drive economic decarbonization. • Some high-level external circumstances are the prerequisite of that effect. • Green finance can drive economic decarbonization through mediating paths. • Moderating paths are Internet availability, financial level and education. • Green finance policy makes contributions to the economic decarbonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital financial inclusion (DIFI) exerts vital influence on poverty alleviation in China, thus developing digital financial inclusion may provide new approaches to inclusive growth and create more possibilities for the sustainable development with extending the coverage and usage concerning financial services. This research explores how poverty alleviation is impacted by digital financial inclusion derived from the provincial data of China from 2011 to 2019. The results show that digital financial inclusion can make considerable contributions to poverty alleviation significantly. We conduct heterogeneity analysis with quantile regression conjointly, which reveals that digital financial inclusion has divergent effects on users with diverse poverty levels. The results of mediation regression demonstrate that the income level and income distribution play a vital role in poverty alleviation. Moreover, based on spatial Dubin model, digital financial inclusion enhances poverty alleviation with a spillover effect, which correlates with a "U" non-linear relation, laying a hidden danger of increasing poverty. Finally, we carry out IV regression to enhance the robust results, proving the reliability of this research's basic conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the unique contribution it makes to both environmental and financial performances, green innovation has become a key factor driving organizations to achieve sustainable development. Policy change presents a good opportunity to discover the drivers of corporate behavior. Considering the way in which anti-corruption policy can affect firms' innovation environment and innovation decisions, this research takes China's anti-corruption policy as a shock condition and conducts a quasi-experiment to discuss the impact of anti-corruption policy on the sensitivity of green innovation to executive incentives in China. The main findings reveal that anti-corruption policy significantly improves the sensitivity of green innovation to equity incentives and decreases the sensitivity to control rights incentives, but does not influence the sensitivity to reputation incentives. These findings show the integrated impact of an exogenous environment and endogenous governance upon green innovation. We also reveal the difference of this integrated impact in the context of various natures of ownership. Specifically, in private enterprises, anti-corruption policy can optimize the sensitivity of green innovation to equity incentives, while in state-owned enterprises the sensitivity of green innovation to reputation incentives combined with equity incentives or with control rights incentives significantly improves. The findings presented in this paper reveal the micro-economic effects of anti-corruption policy on green innovation and instruct firms to optimize executive incentive arrangements to green development under the background of China's anti-corruption campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission is a global issue, and China is facing many problems to resolve it, especially in emission‐generating companies (EGCs). To maintain sustainable development, it is necessary to reduce carbon emissions for the well‐being of society, and carbon neutrality can play an important role. With China targeting the goal of carbon neutrality to reduce carbon emissions, this research aims to bridge the gap in the literature by considering carbon neutrality instruments in a duopoly market. The study sets up a mathematical model of the duopoly game to achieve desired objectives and then applies a simulation‐based optimization technique to examine the mathematical model under different experiments. After manipulating various scenarios to find the optimal values of carbon neutrality instruments, the results indicate that green bond provision, emission tax, and emission quota play a vital role in carbon neutrality. Different combinations of carbon neutrality instruments reduce various levels of carbon emissions. We further show that a combination of emission tax upon EGCs plays a key role in reducing carbon emissions during the fifth scenario. In the second scenario, a combination of green bond provision and emission tax reduces carbon emissions, but is lower than the fifth scenario. This research offers a reference for policymakers to move towards carbon neutrality, and it is beneficial for the government to decide the optimal values of carbon neutrality instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building a stronger modern socialist country is China's second centenary goal, and ecological beauty is the innovation of the connotation of modernization. How to realize the drive toward modernization with green development is an urgent topic. Based on the municipal panel data of the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2009–2019 in China and selecting the air circulation coefficient and river network density as instrumental variables, this research examines the impact mechanism of green development on modernization. The results show the following: (1) green development significantly promotes modernization; (2) green development indirectly promotes the improvement of modernization through technological innovation, foreign capital flow, and talent attraction; and (3) the promotion of green development to modernization is affected by the urban size, and medium-sized cities benefit most. The study results provide empirical support and a decision-making basis for promoting the win-win situation of green development and modernization construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the influence of geopolitical conflicts, extreme weather, and other factors, global food security has been severely impacted. Cultivated land ecological security in China is vital for guaranteeing local food security and sustainable development. Therefore, using provincial data from 2003 to 2020, this research establishes an index system based on the pressure-state-response (PSR) model and assesses its cultivated land ecological security via the entropy weight method. A series of measurements such as Dagum's Gini coefficient and spatial Markov chain are then adopted to reveal changes in regional differences and spatial-temporal characteristics of cultivated land ecological security in China. The findings indicate that this ecological security has risen from insecure to critically secure, but the overall gap has gradually widened, mainly stemming from interregional differences. Cultivated land ecological security exhibits positive spatial clustering characteristics and the phenomenon of club convergence. The amount of water resources, the degree of soil erosion control, and the strength of local financial expenditure on agriculture are the main factors hindering its cultivated land ecological security, and the threats mainly come from the response criterion layer. Therefore, it is essential to strengthen measures for cropland ecological protection, to formulate targeted strategies by combining the regional characteristics, to narrow the intra-regional gap, and to bring into play the spatial radiation effect of high-level provinces. • This paper probes the overall status of China's cultivated land ecological security. • The overall gap of cultivated land ecological security stems from inter-regional gap. • The cultivated land ecological security in China shows a club convergence phenomenon. • The factors affecting China's cultivated land ecological security mainly come from the response criterion layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the domain of global socio-economic dynamics, the pivotal role of food production (FP) cannot be overstated. It constitutes the bedrock of fundamental human necessities while being inexorably linked with critical aspects such as economic expansion, societal equilibrium, and geopolitical interplays. The multifaceted nature of FP appears through its direct impact on macroeconomic indicators and its latent influence on international relations and policy-making. This critical nexus underscores the imperative for a comprehensive understanding and strategic management of food production processes to sustain and enhance global socio-economic stability and growth. Investigating the nexus between green finance (GF) and FP is pivotal for ensuring national security and promoting sustainable economic development. This research thus paper examines GF's impact on FP in China as outlined in the 2017 green finance policies. It employs the difference-in-differences (DID) method and analyzes a balanced panel dataset comprising 282 cities in China from 2009 to 2020. The results show that GF has an inhibitory effect on FP, and this remains valid after a range of reliability checks, including parallel trend assessments and placebo tests. Further findings of transmission mechanism analysis indicate that non-agricultural factors and financial exclusion are critical for GF's inhibitory effect on FP. Heterogeneity analyses show that GF's inhibitory effect on FP is more pronounced in the main food-producing areas, the main food-marketing areas, and cities with better infrastructure. The empirical results of this paper comprehensively illustrate GF's impact on FP and how it contributes to the achievement of food security objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the impact of Hofstede's six cultural dimensions on 122 countries' green economy and finds strong evidence that individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation positively influences this special economy. By contrast, power distance, masculinity, and indulgence have negative and robust impact on all measures of a green economy. Legislating environmental regulations or focusing on green technologies can be harmful for a green economy in countries with high levels of individualism, power distance, and indulgence. In more masculine countries, green economies can be promoted through technology rather than regulation. Finally, we note that the level of economic and financial development influences the relationship between national culture and the green economy. The empirical evidence offers implications for governments, policy makers, and future researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As climate warming intensifies, reducing greenhouse gas emissions has become a national consensus for many countries. Green finance plays an important role in promoting energy efficiency and lowering such emissions, but there is scant literature that analyzes the impacts and mechanisms of green finance on energy efficiency. Based on China's provincial panel data from 2010 to 2018, this research measures the green finance index using the panel entropy weighting method and systematically evaluates the relationship between green finance and energy efficiency using the fixed-effects model. The results show the following. (1) Green finance significantly contributes to energy efficiency and remains the same after a series of robustness tests such as endogeneity treatment, replacement of explanatory and interpreted variables, and replacement of regression models. (2) Green technology innovation and energy structure optimization are the transmission mechanism of green finance for energy efficiency, which means that green finance improves energy efficiency by promoting green technology innovation and energy structure optimization. (3) There is regional heterogeneity, temporal heterogeneity, and industry heterogeneity in the impact of green finance on energy efficiency. The positive effects of green finance on energy efficiency are more pronounced in resource-dependent regions, regions with irrational industrial structure, north regions, industrial sectors, and after 2013. The conclusions of this paper offer some policy recommendations, including promoting the development of green finance, building a cooperation platform for green finance and technological innovation, enhancing the depth and breadth of renewable energy utilization, and building differentiated green finance strategies according to local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since China's "housing reform" in 1998, the level of real estate investment in its cities has continued to rise, leading to the occupation of green space, rapid population concentration, and a severe mismatching of financial resources. At the same time, urban air quality has changed drastically for the worse, with PM2.5 becoming the primary air indicator of concern for many cities in recent years. The existing literature has obtained sufficient results on the influence factors of air pollution, but rarely presents the relationship between real estate investment and air pollution, especially using multiple cities as the sample. This paper thus examines the impact of real estate investment on air quality using a sample of 261 prefecture-level cities in China over the period 1999–2016 through several econometric models. First, the two-way fixed-effect model shows an inverted U-shaped relationship between PM2.5 concentration and real estate investment, but most cities have not yet crossed the turning point, and that real estate investment negatively impacts air quality. Second, the indirect effect of real estate investment on PM2.5 concentration comes from its non-linear impact on urban green coverage, population density, and industrial structure, which has been verified by Hayes and Preacher's (Behav Res 45:627–660, 2010) mediation effect with non-linear forms. Third, heterogeneity analysis indicates that an inverted U-shaped relationship also exists in the subsamples, and that real estate investment in cities with more people, higher GDP, and greater development level is more likely to increase rather than mitigate air pollution. Therefore, cities should promote the green development of real estate and related industries by enhancing environmental awareness, guide the population flow toward the coordinated development between real estate investment and population distribution, and encourage environmentally friendly technological progress via a better rational allocation of financial resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The achievement of sustainable development in energy-intensive sectors is crucial for promoting long-term economic growth and stability. Utilizing the National Sustainable Development Plan for Resource-based Cities (2013–2020) (SDP) in China as a quasi-experiment, we examine the effect of sustainable development policy on the productivity performance of energy-intensive firms. Our analysis of data from Chinese listed companies between 2006 and 2020 reveals that the SDP significantly enhances the productivity performance of treated firms. Our investigation into the pathways towards sustainability reveals that these firms rely on both resource reallocation and technological innovation to cope with the impact of the SDP. Specifically, firms with stronger environmental regulations and more human capital tend to accumulate total factor productivity growth through technological innovation, while firms with greater resource dependence and political connections tend to benefit more from resource reallocation efforts. By exploring the mechanisms through which these policies impact productivity and sustainability, we provide valuable information for policymakers and managers to embrace heterogenous technology pathways towards sustainable development. • Examine the effect of sustainable development policy (SDP) on the productivity performance of energy-intensive firms. • Utilize the National Sustainable Development Plan for Resource-based Cities (2013–2020) in China as a quasi-experiment. • The SDP significantly enhances the productivity performance of treated firms. • Energy-intensive firms rely on both resource reallocation and technological innovation to respond to SDP. • Firms with stronger environmental regulations and more human capital tend to accumulate TFP growth through innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions is critical to combating global warming and achieving sustainable global economic development. This research combines the stochastic effects regression (STIRPAT) framework and a finite mixture model (FMM) with concomitant variables to investigate the influencing factors and heterogeneity characteristics of CO 2 emissions in 96 countries between 2000 and 2020. The findings of the study are as follows. First, the full-sample regression results show that an increase of population aggravates CO 2 emissions, the impact of affluence on CO 2 emissions exhibits an inverted U-shape trend, and technology significantly improves CO 2 emissions. Second, the samples were divided into three groups based on FMMnamed group A, group B and group C. In the three groups, he impacts of affluence and technology on CO 2 affluence and technology have different effects on CO 2 emissions, but a greater population size significantly raises CO 2 emissions. Third, this study presents human capital, urbanization, and foreign direct investment (FDI) as concomitant variables to group the models objectively. The coefficient of the concomitant variable is positive, indicating that the differences among groups A, B, and C can be explained by said variables. During the period from 2000 to 2020, the group transformation of 16 countries is mainly due to the promotion of human capital, urbanization, and FDI. Reducing CO 2 emissions is a global action that requires the joint efforts of all countries. Therefore, it is important to control the rate of population growth, increase the level of economic development, and accelerate the development of technologies, depending on the characteristics of different countries. The role of human capital, urbanization transition and FDI in promoting CO 2 reduction should be fully utilized. • Population size, affluence and technology can affect CO 2 emissions. • Heterogeneity is studied using a finite mixture model. • Human capital, urbanization, and FDI are used as concomitant variables. • The groups of 16 countries have changed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has proposed ambitious carbon neutrality targets to address the challenge of climate change and promote sustainable development despite being the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide. This study constructs an index system with six dimensions: carbon source, carbon sink, electrification, low-carbon technology, the government in action, and economic decarbonization. Furthermore, it measures the low-carbon sustainable development of China's provinces as an assessment of the progress toward carbon neutrality. The comprehensive scores show that most provinces in China have progressed in their pursuit of carbon neutrality from 2007 to 2018. However, improvements can still be made. Low-carbon technology is the advantageous for low-carbon sustainable development in the eastern region and the driving force of the catch-up effect in the central region. In addition, this study finds that the overall differences in provincial carbon neutralization scores are widening. Specifically, inter-regional differences are leading, followed by intra-regional differences. Convergence analysis also shows that the carbon neutralization scores in different provinces exhibit a non-convergence trend or even an expanding trend. A large regional imbalance exists in low-carbon sustainable development. The kernel density estimation and Markov chain state analysis show that China's provinces are moving toward carbon neutrality, and the absolute difference in carbon neutrality scores is also widening. However, a phenomenon of club convergence exists. • Construct an index system with six dimensions for evaluating the low-carbon sustainable development. • The overall differences in provincial carbon neutralization scores are widening. • The overall differences are primarily composed of inter- and intra-regional differences. • Convergence analysis finds that different regions show a non-convergence or even an expanding trend. • Evolutionary trend results show that China's provinces are moving toward carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Using panel data for 241 cities at the prefecture level and above in China from 2010 to 2019. • Consider urban agglomeration planning as a quasi-natural experiment of regional integration and use a DIDs method. • Regional integration significantly improves economic resilience. • The policy effect of regional integration on economic resilience varies by time, region, and urban structure. • Urban size structure and industrial structure are critical pathways. Under the dual pressure of "slow-burn" challenges and acute shocks, increasing economic resilience is gaining attention around the world to ensure the security and stability of economic activities. With the goal of achieving sustainable development, the China is exploring an innovative, coordinated, green, open, shared and secure development path for the regional economy. Using panel data for 241 cities at the prefecture level and above in China from 2010 to 2019, this research considers urban agglomeration planning as a quasi-natural experiment of regional integration and use a difference-in-differences method to explore the effect of regional integration on economic resilience. The results show the following. 1) Regional integration does improve economic resilience after various robustness tests. 2) The policy effect of regional integration on economic resilience varies by time, region, and urban structure. 3) Urban size structure and industrial structure are important ways in which regional integration affects economic resilience. Our findings enrich the theoretical study of the relationship between regional integration and economic resilience and provide a new path to improve regional economic resilience and achieve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies the new heterogeneous panel cointegration technique to re-investigate the long-run comovements and causal relationships between tourism development and economic growth for OECD and nonOECD countries (including those in Asia, Latin America and Sub-Sahara Africa) for the 1990–2002 period. On the global scale, after allowing for the heterogeneous country effect, a cointegrated relationship between GDP and tourism development is substantiated. It is also determined that tourism development has a greater impact on GDP in nonOECD countries than in OECD countries, and when the variable is tourism receipts, the greatest impact is in Sub-Sahara African countries. Additionally, the real effective exchange rate has significant effects on economic growth. Finally, in the long run, the panel causality test shows unidirectional causality relationships from tourism development to economic growth in OECD countries, bidirectional relationships in nonOECD countries, but only weak relationships in Asia. Our empirical findings have major policy implications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The investigation of the stationarity of renewable energy consumption has become a new branch of research in energy economics due to its importance in macroeconomics and environmental sustainability. Whether shocks to renewable energy consumption (which may be related to the implementation of energy policies) have permanent/transitory effects has yet to be explored. This study applies an extension of the quantile unit-root test with smooth breaks to examine the stochastic properties of renewable energy consumption in the US economy and the 50 states plus the District of Columbia during 1960–2017. Unlike traditional unit-root tests, which fail to reject the unit-root hypothesis, our results reveal that the unit-root hypothesis is rejected for the renewable energy consumption series of the United States and for 32 of the 51 states/district. In these cases, any policy for encouraging renewable energy will not be effective as the consumption will quickly return to its trend path. The evidence also reveals the presence of asymmetric responses to shocks for different states. Policymakers should consider these effects when they develop energy policy. For some states, where large positive/negative shocks have long-lasting effects on renewable energy consumption, the government should implement strong policies to further develop renewable energy and thus achieve economic and environmental sustainability. • We examine the stochastic properties of renewable energy consumptions. • The quantile unit-root with smooth breaks are used in the analysis. • The state-level analysis will be of direct policy relevance to the policymaker. • Results reject the unit-root for the US economy and 32 out of 51 states/district. • The presence of asymmetric responses to shocks for different states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green credit can alleviate the financing constraints of green enterprises, and thus is an important policy to encourage green development and mitigate climate change. However, how green credit affects the technological innovation of clean energy enterprise (TICEE) and the role of corporate policy catering behavior (CPCB) both need to be further explored. Therefore, the impact mechanisms of green credit and the roles of CPCB are empirically tested by the mediation model and moderation model, respectively. Compared with large, eastern and mature enterprises, green credit plays a stronger positive role in the technological innovation of small, central and western and growing enterprises. Green credit optimizes enterprises' debt financing by alleviating financing constraints, reducing debt costs and extending debt maturity structure, thus driving technological innovation. Besides, the two most typical types of CPCB — research and development (R&D) manipulation and rent-seeking — weaken the positive effect of green credit on TICEE. However, CPCB weakens less on the quality of innovation of large, mature and eastern enterprises. Accordingly, green credit should be strengthened to promote TICEE, and the supervision of corporate speculation should also be strengthened to avoid the policy's failure. [Display omitted] • Green credit promotes the technological innovation of clean energy enterprises. • Corporate financing constraints, debt cost and debt maturity mediate the effect. • Policy catering behavior inhibits the role of green credit in corporate innovation. • The effects are stronger on small, growing enterprises in developing regions. • Various policy priorities and avoiding corporate speculation should be highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]