Nowadays, the wine sector’s entrepreneurs are increasingly aware of the relevance of sustainability representing a crucial point for society, economy and the environment. This paper aims to describe Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG (Controlled and Guaranteed Denomination of Origin) firms’ behaviour focusing on how strategic incorporation of environmentally sustainable practices and social actions contribute to strengthen their competitiveness and deliver shared value for the community. Using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), survey data from 128 sparkling wine firms are analysed. The results highlight the roles of carbon footprint and employment as drivers in the creation of shared values (SVs), considering the major export markets of Prosecco Superiore DOCG. This empirical evidence may be of interest to firms in the wine sector when considering, in their business decisions, the added commercial value that is derived for the adoption of environmental practices and sustainable social actions. Hence, following this logic, they can manage more inclusive and virtuous paths towards positive social entrepreneurship and an environmental externality to the community. Full article

China aims to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) intensity by 40–45% compared to its level in 2005 by 2020. The underground economy accounts for a significant proportion of China’s economy, but is not included in official statistics. Therefore, the nexus of CO₂ and the underground economy in China is worthy of exploration. To this end, this paper identifies the extent to which the underground economy affects CO₂ emissions through the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 1998 to 2016. Many studies have focused on the quantification of the relationship between CO₂ emissions and economic development. However, the insights provided by those studies have generally ignored the underground economy. With full consideration of the scale of the underground economy, this research concludes that similar to previous studies, the inversely N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) still holds for the income-CO₂ nexus in China. Furthermore, a threshold regression analysis shows that the structural and technological effects are environment-beneficial and drive the EKC downward by their threshold effects. The empirical techniques in this paper can also be applied for similar research on other emerging economies that are confronted with the difficulties of achieving sustainable development. Full article

Agri-environmental schemes (AESs) constitute one of the main agricultural policy instruments that address environmental objectives in the Common Agricultural Policy. However, in spite of a 20-year application window and large budgetary shares allocated by EU member states, several studies demonstrate lower-than-expected environmental impacts. The reasons for poor environmental outcomes are the lack of targeting, low participation rates, spatial heterogeneity, and information asymmetry between farmers and public administrators. This study comprehensively analyses the determinants of AES adoption while highlighting patterns of the spatial agglomeration of participation in organic and integrated production. For this, we combine the results of farm-level adoption analysis with a spatial analysis of the participation rate. The results show that both micro- and meso-level characteristics strongly impact AES participation. In fact, farm and household structure, quality of extension services, and territorial conditions all significantly affect AES adoption. Full article

Many researchers have studied the relationships among heterogeneous foreign direct investment (FDI), environmental regulation, and green total factor productivity. However, no research has been done on how different types of FDI can result in green technology spillover under different levels of environmental regulation intensity. To address this research gap, in this paper, we build a static linear panel model, a static panel threshold model, and a dynamic panel threshold model to investigate the environmental regulatory threshold effect of labor-based FDI and capital-based FDI in terms of their green technology spillover. Based on the measurement of green total factor productivity (GTFP) of 36 industry sectors in China from 2003 to 2015, we first compare the threshold effects of environmental regulation on green technology spillover between labor-based FDI and capital-based FDI with a static linear model and a static threshold model. The results show that environmental regulation is unable to significantly promote the green technology spillover of labor-based FDI. However, intensifying environmental regulation can reduce the negative impact of labor-based FDI on GTFP. The effect of environmental regulation on green technology spillover of capital-based FDI is more complex. In the static linear model, environmental regulation can significantly promote the green technology spillover of capital-based FDI. In the static threshold model, the green technology spillover of capital-based FDI exists only when the environmental regulation intensity is sufficiently low or sufficiently high. Finally, the dynamic threshold model is adopted for robustness check. The results show when the environmental regulation intensity is higher than a threshold, both types of FDI can indeed result in green technology spillover. In short, our results prove that to ensure that FDI results in green technology spillover, it is necessary to continue to strengthen environmental regulation. Full article

The depth and breadth of China’s participation in global value chains have an important impact on the emissions of air pollutants from the production side, consumption side, and trade implications in China’s industries. Based on the global value chain accounting framework, this paper examines the path of China’s major air pollutant emissions in production and consumption during 1995–2009 and structurally decomposes the factors affecting air pollutant emissions. The results show that, firstly, both the air pollutant emissions on the production side and the air pollution emissions on the consumption side have increased significantly, and the production-side emissions have been higher than the consumption-side emissions. Secondly, the export of intermediate products shows a trend of “high pollution”, and this trend was more obvious after China’s accession to the world trade organization (WTO). Thirdly, the expansion of economic growth was the most important factor in the rapid emission of air pollutants in China and the reduction of pollution efficiency in Chinese industries depends on the increase in service inputs. Full article

This study is to investigate whether the multifaceted roles of democracy have a positive relationship with environmental quality. Using a panel data of 132 high- and low-income countries from 2014 to 2016, a random effect (RE) model is analyzed in comparison with cross-sectional analysis. To pursue the current research thoroughly, five elements of democracy that encompass the aspects of democratic institutions (election system, civil liberties, and government function) and the aspects of democratic culture (political participation and political culture) are selected. We find that elements of democracy are positively correlated with the environment in high-income countries. In low-income countries, on the other hand, it is found that the role of democracy in explaining the environmental quality appears to be very weak; only the effect of government function positively relates with the environment. Full article

The impact of collective forestland tenure reform on farmers’ economic efficiency in the collective forest areas was assessed. Both technical efficiency and scale efficiency of farmer households were calculated using the output-oriented bootstrapped data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach along with a household efficiency model that incorporates the survey data from 243 farmer households. The DEA results show that a substantial economic inefficiency for farmers exists, which renders a high prospect of improving economic efficiency. The findings from the empirical regression of the data also show that the collective forestland tenure reform is quite beneficial for the farmer households, particularly for those with distinguished commercial forest types. The tenure reform has a very influential impact on the efficiency of the farmers managing timber forests and bamboo forests, and so do the policies of reform for forestland circulation, forest-cutting quotas, forestland loan, and technical training. However, the cooperation arrangement currently is still not strong enough to influence economic efficiency. Based on the regression findings, together with the survey, a number of policy suggestions are put forward to the policy makers for improving economic efficiencies for international communities in the process of forestland tenure devolution. Full article

The rapid expansion of agricultural areas in semi-arid China over the past decades has aggravated the imbalance of the agroeconomy and agroecological environment. To further understand the coupling relationship between the two, this paper, taking Yulin as a case, develops an integrated index system for evaluation of the agricultural economy and the agroecological environment, and a model of the coupling coordination degree for evaluation of the dynamic coupling relationship between the two. Based on that, we have investigated the coupling coordination by comparing the differences of the development index of the two sub-systems at different periods. Subsequently, we further clarified the internal interaction and coupling relationship between the two sub-systems with a cross-impact analysis. The results suggested that the weights of ecological environmental conditions and agricultural development input are respectively0.5908 and 0.3570. From 1997 to 2016, a high-level interactive coupling existed between the agroecological environment and agricultural economy, and the coupling coordination degree of the two sub-systems grew slowly. Overall, the degradation of the agroecological environment impeded the coordinated development of the agricultural economy and the level of coupling coordination improved from basic coordination in the beginning to superior coordination in the end. The agricultural economy grew rapidly, at the expense of the degradation of the agroecological environment. Furthermore, more attention should be paid to improving agricultural development input for promoting economic and ecological benefits, and coupling coordination degree of the two sub-systems. These findings are important for boosting sustainable development of the agricultural economy in semi-arid areas. Full article

Renewable energy investments require a substantial amount of capital to provide affordable and accessible energy for everyone in the world, and finding the required capital is one of the greatest challenges faced by governments and private entities. In a macroeconomic perspective, national budget deficits and inadequate policy designs hinder public and private investments in renewable projects. These problems lead governments to borrow a considerable amount of money for sustainable development, although such excessive debt-based financing pushes them to unsustainable economic development. This substantial amount of borrowing makes a negative contribution to the high global debt concentration, putting countries’ economic and social development at risk. In line with this, excessive debt-based financing causes an increase in wealth inequality, and when wealth inequality reaches a dramatic level, wars and many other social problems are triggered to correct the course of wealth inequality. In this regard, the motivation behind the study is to develop a set of policy guidelines for sustainable financing models as a solution for these intertwined problems, which are: (1) a financial gap in energy investments; (2) an excessive global debt concentration; and (3) a dramatic increase in wealth inequality. To this end, this study presents a quantitative and comparative proof of concept analysis of alternative financing models in a solar farm investment simulation to investigate the change in wealth inequality and social welfare by reducing debt-based financing and increasing public participation. There are many studies in the literature investigating the evolution of wealth inequality throughout history. However, there is a gap in the literature, and investigating the effects of various policy rules on the evolution of wealth inequality in a future time frame needs to be explored in order to discuss possible policy implications beforehand. In this respect, this paper contributes to the literature by developing simulation models for conventional and alternative financing systems. This enables investigating the changes in wealth inequality and social welfare as a result of various policy implications throughout the simulation time. Full article

An energy-intensive industrial cluster is a combination and integration of energy-intensive industries formed by ecological industry chains. Eco-efficiency may reflect the effect of ecological industry chains in an energy-intensive industrial cluster. To evaluate the eco-efficiency of energy-intensive industries, industry chains, and industrial clusters with different level of eco-industry chains, the eco-efficiency is decomposed into two dimensions of resource efficiency and environment efficiency. The eco-efficiency evaluation index system and models of energy-intensive industries are constructed to analyze the eco-efficiency using a two-dimensional three-layer matrix framework, including energy-intensive industries, ecological industry chains, and industrial clusters. This paper presents an empirical and comparative analysis based on data from the chemical industry, building materials industry, metallurgy industry, and thermal power industry from 2004 to 2015. The results show that the eco-efficiency of energy-intensive industry, energy-intensive industry chains, and energy-intensive industrial clusters are all on the rise. The eco-efficiency of energy-intensive industrial clusters and energy-intensive industry chains are obviously higher than that of any single energy-intensive industry. This finding indicates that the ecological industry chains of an energy-intensive industrial cluster have improved the eco-efficiency. In recent years, the effect of ecological industry chains and network construction has been significant, but not tight enough. Full article

The negative effects of global warming are becoming more and more serious. The fundamental way to prevent global warming is by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Achieving this has become a key concern for all countries. The logarithmic mean divisia index model was constructed to decompose the total carbon emission increment. Carbon finance effect was divided into green credit effect and carbon trading effect to analyze the impact of carbon finance on carbon emissions. The results showed that the total carbon emission reduction value caused by green credit effect from 2010 to 2016 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was 66193.96 million tons, and the added value of carbon emission caused by carbon trading effect was 80266.68 million tons. There are regional differences in the effects of carbon finance on carbon emissions in these regions. It can be concluded that to a certain extent, green credit can reduce carbon emissions, and carbon trading can increase carbon emissions. Using the gradual expansion of carbon finance trading and market mechanism of carbon finance to solve the problem of carbon emission can improve the efficiency of carbon emission reduction. Full article

This paper aimed to construct an improved economic value estimation model (EVIW model) to assess the economic value of water, which plays an important role in the sustainable development of crop planting and irrigation design, especially in arid areas lacking water resources. Firstly, the current EVIW model was based upon improvements and adjustments to the cost-benefit analysis models of previous researchers. Then, to elaborate the whole process of estimation, an empirical study based on the data of Yanqi Basin was conducted. Subsequently, in order to verify the accuracy of the EVIW model, the economic value of irrigation water in this study area was estimated for a second time using the benefit sharing coefficient method. It was concluded that the estimated results of the current EVIW model are in good agreement with those of the traditional benefit sharing coefficient model. The estimation results of the economic value of irrigation water were found to be highly acceptable in terms of accuracy and scientific rigor. Full article

This paper develops a theoretical model to analyze whether a rentier state can diversify its economy away from the rent revenue and hence sustain the economic development and preserve the status-quo. Considering the decarbonization process of the global economy and rapidly fall in economic value of hydrocarbons in the face of the supply glut, rentier states depending on oil and gas revenues urgently need to diversify their economies to avoid social backlash and political upheaval. There are three intertwining factors that determine an effective economic diversification away from the rent revenue: The profitability of non-rentier sectors, the size of the domestic economy to induce a “Big Push” for industrialization to non-rentier sectors, and the level of economic inclusivity. For an optimal level of economic diversification in a rentier state: (1) Non-rentier sectors should be attractive to private agents without the entry barriers; (2) domestic economy should be large enough to induce investment into non-rentier sectors; (3) the ruler(s) should have sufficient tolerance (inclusivity) for private agents investing into non-rentier sectors. Our findings indicate that a rentier state can achieve an optimal level of economic diversification provided that the conditions above are met even without any political change. Full article

The objective of this paper was to identify how extreme events can indicate periods of economic instability in variables from the economic and environmental context (per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), per capita electric energy consumption, and per capita carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission). The research is limited to the population of the country (Brazil) and five cities of Paraná (Curitiba, Londrina, Maringá, Ponta Grossa, and Cascavel). Therefore, the major research interest was focused on finding information related to extreme events and other techniques that are used for interpretation of complex systems currently. The development was based on data collection. The results indicated that extreme events have influence in periods of economic instability. They also evidenced that there is greater correlation in GDP data/electric energy consumption than in GDP data/CO₂ emissions or electric energy consumption/CO₂ emissions. Full article

Public infrastructure not only promotes economic growth, but also influences energy intensity, which plays an important role in the strategies related to energy. Therefore, infrastructure policy can be used as an important instrument to reconcile the dilemma of energy, economy, and environment in China. However, few studies have been made to assess the effect of public infrastructure on energy intensity in China. This paper presents an analysis of how three typical types of public infrastructure (i.e., transportation, energy, and information infrastructure) affect energy intensity for 30 Chinese provinces, from 2001 to 2016. To account for nonlinearities, we adopt the panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) approach. The results show that transportation infrastructure has a significantly negative effect on energy intensity, and this negative effect gradually strengthens when the transportation infrastructure stock exceeds the threshold value. Adversely, energy infrastructure has a significantly positive effect on energy intensity, and this positive effect gradually strengthens with the development of energy infrastructure. Our results also suggest that the development of information infrastructure could not only strengthen its own significantly negative effect on energy intensity, but also could promote the negative effect of transportation infrastructure on energy intensity. Moreover, the positive impact of energy infrastructure on energy intensity gradually decreases when the stock of information infrastructure surpasses the larger threshold value. Our findings suggest that policy makers could reduce energy intensity by accelerating the development of transportation and information infrastructure. Furthermore, they could strengthen the negative effects of transportation and information infrastructure on energy intensity and weaken energy infrastructure’s positive effect on energy intensity by increasing their information infrastructure investment. Full article

It is essential to explore the relationship between China’s urbanization, outward foreign direct investment, and carbon emissions, in order to better understand China’s carbon emissions reduction target. To this end, the nonlinear Granger causality test and Markov-switching model are applied to analyze the structural effects of urbanization and outward foreign direct investment on domestic emissions, on the basis of time series data from 1984–2016. The results show that the promotion effect of outward foreign direct investment on carbon emissions is increased from low-carbon regime to high-emission regime. Specifically, 1% increase in OFDI leads to a rise in carbon emissions by 0.064% and 0.112% under the former and latter regime respectively. Unlike the effect trend of outward foreign direct investment, the effect of urbanization on carbon emissions is decreased from a high-emission regime (5.221% rise in carbon emissions with 1% increase in the level of urbanization) to a low-carbon regime (3.133% rise in carbon emissions with 1% increase in the level of urbanization). Full article

This research is employed to examine the environmental issues embedded in Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), to be more specific: testify which of these hypotheses: Pollution Havens Hypothesis, Pollution Halo Hypothesis, Environmental Kuznets Curve is in accordance with the current development condition of BRI counties; whether there exists a bidirectional relationship among Ecological Footprint, Gross Domestic Production, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Belt & Road Initiative countries. In this paper, Panel Vector Autoregression is utilized to analyze a dataset of 44-member countries in this initiative, ranges from 1990 to 2016, to empirically testify the environmental evaluation of this project. Results are analyzed on both long-run and short-run cases through Orthogonalized Impulse-Response Functions (IRF). This research displays a great heterogeneity among different target variables, FDI as a main variable of interest does not expose a bidirectional relationship with Ecological Footprint, only Ecological Footprint demonstrates robust influence on FDI. In addition, Pollution Havens Hypothesis is certified to be true for FDI and GDP among Belt & Road Initiative member countries. Full article