Managing a Sustainable and Low-Carbon Society

Carrying out environmental protection and governance in the process of using foreign capital to develop the economy is a realistic problem that China needs to solve urgently. In order to reduce environmental pollution, all enterprises are called upon by the local government to fulfil CSR and improve the quality of FDI use. However, previous studies have rarely explored the threshold effect of FDI and CSR on haze pollution. This paper employs the threshold effect model to explore the above problem based on panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2009 to 2018. The empirical study found the following: (1) FDI has a significantly positive double-threshold effect on haze pollution. Meanwhile, the promotion effect of FDI on haze pollution is the strongest in the two threshold ranges. (2) CSR has a significantly negative single-threshold effect on haze pollution; that is, the increase in CSR intensity inhibits haze pollution. Such a negative effect shows the characteristics of increasing marginal efficiency. (3) In addition, the provinces in different thresholds display obvious geographical distribution characteristics. Through the above analysis, it can be observed that FDI and CSR have distinct impacts on haze pollution. Thus, the country and the government can reduce haze pollution by improving the investment structure, using environmentally friendly technology, guiding enterprises to abide by business ethics and promoting social responsibilities fulfilment. Full article

Net zero emission scenarios are aligned with the criteria for the Paris Agreement to keep global warming below 1.5 °C. By soft-linking an energy model with a macroeconomic model, we create a similar pathway to the net zero emission scenario from the International Energy Agency (IEA) to 2050 both of demand for fossil fuels and total CO₂ emissions. Soft-linking entails that we insert endogenous variables from one model into the other model. We implement measures such as CO₂ taxes, improved energy efficiency, more renewables in electricity production and other sectors, easier substitution between electricity and fossil fuels for final users, and drastically limiting future production of oil, gas and coal. Our conclusion is that net zero is possible by introducing very strict measures, e.g., a high rate of energy efficiency improvement, far above what has been achieved in the past. While our partial equilibrium energy model, similar to the IEA model, overlooks the potential rebound effects, i.e., more energy used by consumers due to lower prices caused by energy efficiency improvement, our macroeconomic model does capture the rebound effects and has to implement stricter supply-side measures to reduce fossil fuel use to achieve the 1.5 °C scenario. Full article

The development of China’s manufacturing industry is constrained by factors such as energy and resources, and low-carbon development is arduous. Digitalization is an important method to transform and upgrade traditional industries. Based on the panel data of 13 manufacturing industries in China from 2007 to 2019, a regression model and a threshold model were used to empirically test the impact of digitalization and electricity consumption on carbon emissions. The research results were as follows: (1) The digitalization level of China’s manufacturing industry was steadily increasing; (2) The proportion of electricity consumption in China’s manufacturing industries in the total electricity consumption hardly changed from 2007 to 2019, basically maintaining at about 6.8%. The total power consumption increased by about 2.1 times. (3) From 2007 to 2019, the total carbon emissions of China’s manufacturing industry increased, but the carbon emissions of some manufacturing industries decreased. (4) There was an inverted U-shaped relationship between digitalization and carbon emissions, the higher the level of digitalization input, the greater the carbon emissions of the manufacturing industry. However, when digitalization develops to a certain extent, it will also suppress carbon emissions to a certain extent. (5) There was a significant positive correlation between electricity consumption and carbon emissions in the manufacturing industry. (6) There were double energy thresholds for the impact of labor-intensive and technology-intensive manufacturing digitalization on carbon emissions, but only a single economic threshold and scale threshold. There was a single scale threshold for capital-intensive manufacturing, and the value was −0.5352. This research provides possible countermeasures and policy recommendations for digitalization to empower the low-carbon development of China’s manufacturing industry. Full article

In the context of the “double cycle,” promoting the development of a green economy is an important goal for China’s high-quality economic development in the digital age. This paper uses data from 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in China during the 2006–2019 period using the Compiled Green Finance Index ($GF$) and Digital Economy Index ($DE$). The interrelationship between green finance, digital economy and green total factor productivity ($GTFP$) is empirically tested by conducting multiple regressions on panel data from 2006–2019 to perform an empirical analysis. Based on this, further analysis was performed with the threshold model. This study found that green finance and digital economy can contribute well to green total factor productivity, but the combination of the two does not have a good effect on green total factor productivity. Further study found that the green finance and digital economy’s contribution to green total factor productivity is mainly derived from technological progress. The regression results based on the panel threshold model show that the more underdeveloped the digital economy is in certain regions, the stronger the role of green finance in promoting efficiency improvement. Therefore, policymakers should formulate differentiated green financial policies according to the level of development of the digital economy and give play to the role of green finance and the digital economy in promoting green total factor productivity. Full article

China’s carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) is an institutional arrangement that China intends to explore as a means of energy conservation and emission reduction. It is the core of China’s goal of achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. This paper regards the introduction of pilot carbon emission trading policies as a quasi-natural experiment. Propensity Score Matching (PSM), Differences-in-Differences (DID), and spatial Durbin methods were used to evaluate the policy effects of pilot carbon emission trading policies on the carbon intensity of Chinese cities. We empirically tested the impact mechanism using the panel data of 281 cities at the prefecture level and above in China from 2006 to 2019. The results show that (1) the pilot policy of carbon emission trading has significantly reduced the carbon intensity of Chinese cities and shows characteristics of heterogeneity; (2) the dynamic effect test shows that the mitigation effect of the pilot carbon emission trading policy has increased gradually with time; (3) the mediation effect shows that the pilot carbon emission trading policy alleviates urban pollution in the region by improving the level of environmental governance and jointly reduces urban carbon intensity by increasing the level of green technology innovation; (4) the Durbin test suggests that pilot carbon emissions trading policy enforcement can significantly improve the carbon intensity of the area surrounding the city. In summary, the national carbon emissions trading market appears to be a successful experiment that also can contribute to China’s sustainable development. Its promise in achieving the “double carbon” target provides important policy implications. Full article

To tackle the increasingly severe environmental challenges, including climate change, we should pay more attention to green growth (GG), a path to realize sustainability. Human capital (HC) has been considered a crucial driving factor for developing countries to move towards GG, but the impact and mechanisms for emerging economies to achieve GG need to be further discussed. To bridge this gap, this paper investigates the relation between HC and GG in theory and demonstration perspective. It constructs a systematic theoretical framework for their relationship. Then, it uses a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model based on the non-radial direction distance function (NDDF) to measure the GG performance of China’s 281 prefecture level cities from 2011 to 2019. Ultimately, it empirically tests the hypothesis by using econometric model and LightGBM machine learning (ML) algorithm. The empirical results indicate that: (1) There is a U-shaped relationship between China’s HC and GG. Green innovation and industrial upgrading are transmission channels in the process of HC affecting GG. (2) Given other factors affecting GG, HC and economic growth contribute equally to GG (17%), second only to city size (21%). (3) China’s HC’s impact on GG is regionally imbalanced and has city size heterogeneity. Full article

For the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region of China, exploring the spatio-temporal characteristics of carbon emissions from energy consumption (CEECs) and their influencing factors is crucial to achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality as soon as possible. In this study, an improved LMDI decomposition model based on the Tapio model and Kaya’s equation was proposed. Combined with the improved LMDI and k-means cluster analysis methods, the energy structure, energy intensity, unit industrial output value and population size were selected as the driving factors, and the contribution of each driving factor to the CEECs of prefecture-level cities was quantitatively analyzed. Our study found that: (1) By 2020, the total amount of CEECs in the 26 prefecture-level cities in the YRD will stabilize, while their intensity has shown a downward trend in recent years. (2) The decoupling relationship between CEECs and economic development generally showed a trend from negative decoupling to decoupling. The dominant factor in decoupling was generally the shift of DEL values towards urbanization rate and energy intensity and the open utilization of energy technologies. (3) From 2000 to 2010, the dominant factors affecting CEECs in 26 cities were energy intensity and energy structure, followed by industrial output value and urbanization rate. In general, the promotion effect of economic development on carbon emissions in the YRD region was greater than the inhibitory effect. After 2010, the restrictive effect of various factors on CEECs increased significantly, among which the role of gross industrial output was crucial. The research results can provide a scientific policy basis for the subsequent spatial management and control of carbon emission reduction and carbon neutrality in the YRD region at a finer scale. Full article

In the era of digital economy and mobile internet, many platforms or brands have built various online or offline green communities to guide customers or fans to engage in green interactions. Obviously, community green interaction can enhance brand emotional value and enhance customer stickiness, but whether community green interaction can further have a spillover effect on related or other green purchase behaviors has become an important topic for the theoretical and practical departments. This paper selects the “Little Bear Fuel Consumption Community” as the research object. Based on the theoretical framework of “Green Interaction—Environmental Emotion—Related Green Purchasing Behavior”, this paper examines the spillover effect and impact mechanism of community green interaction on consumers’ related green purchasing behavior. This paper uses a structural equation model and bootstrapping method to test the causal relationship between variables. This study lasted for 6 months, and a total of 348 valid questionnaires were collected in this study. We used SPSS 25 and AMOS 24 for data analysis. The results showed that the two dimensions of community green interaction (community green information interaction and community green interpersonal interaction) have a positive spillover effect on consumers’ related green purchase behavior; community green interaction can positively spill over to consumers’ related green purchase behavior through the psychological path of environmental emotion; community green information interaction and community green interpersonal interaction have positive effects on consumers’ positive and negative environmental emotions; positive and negative environmental emotions positively affect consumers’ related green purchase behavior; and in the two paths of community green information interaction—related green purchase behavior and community green interpersonal interaction—related green purchase behavior, both positive environmental emotion and negative environmental emotion play a role of partial mediation; product involvement has a negative moderating effect on the path of “community green interaction—environmental emotion”. This paper opens the “black box” of the diffusion mechanism of community green interaction and provides a new explanatory framework for the spillover effect of community green interaction on related green purchase behavior. Full article

Global warming resulting from greenhouse gas emissions has been a worldwide issue facing humanity. Simultaneously, governments have the challenging task of striking a judicious balance between increased economic growth and decreased carbon emissions. Based on the energy-environment-economy triple coupling (3E-CGE) model, we endogenously integrate climate-friendly technologies into the model’s analysis framework through logic curves and refine and modify the CGE model’s energy use and carbon emission modules. We conduct a scenario simulation and sensitivity analysis on carbon tax, carbon-trading, and climate-friendly technological progress, respectively. The results reveal that carbon tax and carbon trading contribute to reducing carbon emissions in the short-term but achieving the goals of peak carbon and carbon neutrality will cause the collapse of the economic system. In the long-term, climate-friendly technologies are key to achieving the dual carbon goal; the development of such technologies can also stimulate economic development. The best path for China to achieve its dual carbon goals and economic development in the next 40 years involves effectively combining the carbon tax, carbon trading, and a climate-friendly technological progress. Specifically, China can begin trading carbon in high-emissions industries then impose industry-wide carbon taxes. Full article

Although a firm’s exposure to air pollution-related risk has become an important factor that creditors cannot ignore in the procedure of lending decision making with the aggravation of air pollution, empirical evidence on whether and how air pollution affects the cost of debt has been relatively scarce. Employing a series of Chinese listed firms from the main board of the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges covering 2014 to 2018, our research responds to this research gap by exploring how air pollution-induced environmental violation risk affects the cost of debt by constructing an assessment system of firms’ environmental violation risk. The results shed light on an issue that firms exposed to higher concentrations of air pollution may suffer a higher environmental violation risk, resulting in a higher debt cost. In addition, a further analysis shows that environmental regulatory pressure and heavily polluting firms enhance the influence of air pollution on the cost of debt, while state-owned firms and firms’ economic contributions weaken the influence of air pollution on the cost of debt. Our research is conducive to highlighting not only the importance of environmental governance for mitigating the cost of debt to the firms exposed to air pollution, but also its importance to creditors exposed to their clients’ environmental violation risk and default risk. Full article

International trade levels can change the relationship between resource endowments and green economic growth. Therefore, this study tested the resource curse hypothesis from the perspective of green growth in China using provincial-level panel data for 2005–2017. Energy conservation and environmental improvement were considered under green growth to further analyze the regional mechanism of the resource curse. A panel threshold model was used to identify the impact of import and export threshold effects on the transformation of this mechanism. The resource curse hypothesis was found to be valid nationwide; it hindered green economic growth mainly by impeding energy conservation and curbing environmental improvement. In terms of regional differences in green growth, resource endowment had a positive impact on the eastern region, a negative impact on the central region, and no effect on the western region. When the levels of import and export trade exceeded the threshold values, the resource curse effect was enhanced by reducing energy conservation and weakened by promoting environmental improvement, respectively. Therefore, the Chinese government should establish a more reasonable import and export trade structure, promote changes to the energy structure and green technological innovation, and reduce the negative impact of resource endowment on green growth. Full article

Globalization as well as the ratio of ageing people in the group of 11 (G-11) countries has seen a rapid increase in recent years. Therefore, this study aims to provide effective policy recommendations for sustainable development goals 13, 8, and 7, for the G-11 countries. This work estimates the impact of natural resources and the ageing population on the emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in G-11 countries using panel data from 1990–2020. For empirical results, second-generation methods were applied. The Westerlund co-integration test that assesses co-integration confirms the firm association among the parameters, and the values of coefficient of the cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) approach show that a 1% increase in the ageing population will lower the emissions of CO₂ by 13.41% among G-11 countries. Moreover, the findings show that there exists an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) among natural resources, globalization, economic growth, ageing people, and the emission of CO₂. Based on the findings, this work presents some important policy implications for achieving sustainable growth in the G-11 countries. These countries need to lower the amount of energy obtained from fossil fuels to improve air quality. Full article

The carbon market is recognized as the most effective means for reducing global carbon dioxide emissions. Effective carbon price forecasting can help the carbon market to solve environmental problems at a lower economic cost. However, the existing studies focus on the carbon premium explanation from the perspective of return and volatility spillover under the framework of the mean-variance low-order moment. Specifically, the time-varying, high-order moment shock of market asymmetry and extreme policies on carbon price have been ignored. The innovation of this paper is constructing a new hybrid model, NAGARCHSK-GRU, that is consistent with the special characteristics of the carbon market. In the proposed model, the NAGARCHSK model is designed to extract the time-varying, high-order moment parameter characteristics of carbon price, and the multilayer GRU model is used to train the obtained time-varying parameter and improve the forecasting accuracy. The results conclude that the NAGARCHSK-GRU model has better accuracy and robustness for forecasting carbon price. Moreover, the long-term forecasting performance has been proved. This conclusion proves the rationality of incorporating the time-varying impact of asymmetric information and extreme factors into the forecasting model, and contributes to a powerful reference for investors to formulate investment strategies and assist a reduction in carbon emissions. Full article