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Environmental Protection and Economic Development: Research Progress of Eco-Efficiency

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 May 2023) | Viewed by 7978

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Hirofumi Fukuyama

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Guest Editor

Department of Business Management, Faculty of Commerce, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka 814-0180, Japan
Interests: efficiency and productivity in financial services industry; theory and application of data envelopment analysis; eco-efficiency

Dr. Yong Tan

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Guest Editor

School of Management, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, West Yorkshire, UK
Interests: performance evaluation; data envelopment analysis; financial economics; risk management; sustainable development; sustainability; banking; market structure; panel data analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In 1992, the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) introduced the concept called eco-efficiency based on producing more intended outputs while utilizing fewer resources with reduced production of unintended outputs. We perceive that eco-efficiency is a broad concept and can encompass combining environmental protection and economic development at various levels and/or stages of decision making. Environmental protection is the practice of maintaining, conserving or preserving the state of the environment by keeping it as safe and healthy as possible. Its main purpose is to decrease the amounts of unintended outputs or anything that yields the environmental degradation.

Economic development refers to the process toward which the quality of life and economic welfare of an individual, in a region, country, or international community at large are enhanced in accordance with targeted goals and clearly-defined objectives. The typical governmental goals and objectives of economic development are sustainable industrialization and economic growth.

Eco-efficiency analysis based upon data envelopment analysis (DEA) can be a key approach to design a sustainable development approach, taking into account the environmental impacts as well as the added value aspects of economic and non-economic activities. Eco-efficiency DEA models are based upon mathematical optimization techniques with the incorporation of unintended outputs in a production economics framework. Regarding how to treat unintended outputs in DEA, however, there are still controversies, and researchers in this field do not have the unified views. The papers dealing with this issue or some related issues are invited. We are also interested in publishing papers which consider a holistic understanding of the role of unintended outputs and the eco-efficiency measurement related to governmental and business performance. Papers can be conceptual, theoretical or empirical.

Prof. Dr. Hirofumi Fukuyama
Dr. Yong Tan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

cleaner production
well-being
environmental economics
economic performance
technical efficiency performance
business performance
corporate social responsibility (CSR)
sustainable development goals (SDGs)
Better Life Initiative indicators
social welfare
sustainable consumption and production
data envelopment analysis

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

3 pages, 183 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Environmental Protection and Economic Development: Research Progress of Eco-Efficiency

by Hirofumi Fukuyama and Yong Tan

Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14309; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914309 - 28 Sep 2023

Viewed by 925

Abstract

This Special Issue (Environmental Protection and Economic Development: Research Progress of Eco-Efficiency) explores environmental conservation and the ongoing progress in economic research, particularly productive efficiency, commonly referred to as eco-efficiency or environmental efficiency [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Protection and Economic Development: Research Progress of Eco-Efficiency)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

17 pages, 628 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does Stronger Environmental Regulation Promote Firms’ Export Sophistication? A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on Sewage Charges Standard Reform in China

by Weihao Zhang, Helian Xu and Yuanyuan Xu

Sustainability 2023, 15(11), 9023; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15119023 - 2 Jun 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 786

Abstract

Based on the quasi-natural experiment of sewage charges standard reform, this paper adopts a staggered difference-in-difference model to empirically investigate the effect of environmental regulation on firms’ export sophistication and the mechanism of the effect, using the matched data from the Chinese Annual Survey of Industrial Firms and Chinese Custom Trade databases from 2004 to 2013. The results show that (1) the environmental regulation policy of sewage charges standard reform significantly promotes the upgrading of firms’ export sophistication; (2) the impact of sewage charges standard reform on firms’ export sophistication is heterogeneous, in that the promotion effect of sewage charges standard reform on firms’ export sophistication is mainly manifested in simultaneous import and export firms, large-sized firms, and local firms; and (3) the sewage charges standard reform mainly through the mechanisms of innovation compensation effect and product switching effect to promote firms’ export sophistication. This paper provides empirical evidence and policy insights for governments to formulate and implement environmental protection policies appropriately. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Protection and Economic Development: Research Progress of Eco-Efficiency)

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23 pages, 563 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Influence of Environmental Investment on Multinational Enterprises’ Performance from the Sustainability and Marketability Efficiency Perspectives

by Hsiao-Yen Mao, Wen-Min Lu and Hsin-Yen Shieh

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 7779; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107779 - 9 May 2023

Viewed by 1572

Abstract

Sustainable development strategies are necessary to ensure sustainable performance even though resources are scarce in a firm. In this study, a two-stage production process is designed to analyze a firm’s performance, including sustainability and marketability, using a two-stage network data envelopment analysis. This process will help managers of a firm understand how to improve sustainability and marketability efficiency. The relationship between environmental investment and firm performance is also investigated using truncated regression. The results show that the environmental innovation score (EIS) and resource use score (RUS) have significant negative relationships with firm performance in the short term due to the fact of additional expenses incurred during the innovative research and development of new products and services. Moreover, the study reveals that the emission score positively affects both sustainability efficiency and marketability efficiency, while EIS and RUS have no effects on the efficiencies. These empirical findings are meant to assist managers in better comprehending the characteristics of business sustainability across industries with varying scales and performance levels, offer better business strategies for resource allocation, and enhance a firm’s performance in the post-pandemic era. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Protection and Economic Development: Research Progress of Eco-Efficiency)

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18 pages, 960 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Eco-Efficiency and Its Evolutionary Change under Regulatory Constraints: A Case Study of Chinese Transportation Industry

by Zhiqiang Zhu, Xuechi Zhang, Mengqing Xue and Yaoyao Song

Sustainability 2023, 15(9), 7381; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097381 - 28 Apr 2023

Viewed by 1023

Abstract

The transportation industry is characterized as a capital-intensive industry that plays a crucial role in economic and social development, and the rapid expansion of this industry has led to serious environmental problems, which makes the eco-efficiency analysis of the transportation industry an important issue. Previous research paid little attention to the regulatory scenarios and suffered from the incomparability problem, hence this paper aims to reasonably estimate the eco-efficiency and identify its evolutionary characteristics. We measure the eco-efficiency and the corresponding global Malmquist–Luenberger productivity index using a modified model of the data envelopment analysis framework, in which different regulatory constraints are incorporated. Based on the empirical study on the transportation industry of thirty provinces in China, we find that the eco-efficiency of Chinese transportation industry experienced a slight increase during 2015–2016, a sharp decline during 2016–2017, and a continuous rise since year 2017. The Middle Yangtze River area was the best performer among the eight regions in terms of eco-efficiency, while the Southwest area was placed last. The global Malmquist–Luenberger productivity index showed an earlier increase and later decrease trend, which was quite consistent with the reality of the variation of inputs and outputs and the emergence of COVID-19. Moreover, the best practice gap change was found to be the main driven force of productivity. The empirical results verify the practicability of our measurement models and the conclusions can be adopted in guiding the formulation of corresponding policies and regulations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Protection and Economic Development: Research Progress of Eco-Efficiency)

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18 pages, 2679 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exact Eco-Efficiency Measurement in the Yellow River Basin: A New Non-Parametric Approach

by Chuanxin Xia, Yu Zhao, Qingxia Zhao, Shuo Wang and Ning Zhang

Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13103; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013103 - 13 Oct 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1410

Abstract

Frontier-based approaches to eco-efficiency measures have long been controversial because no normative definition is provided. Previous studies have used technical efficiency, environmental efficiency, and other variables as a proxy. To standardize its definition, we propose a formal eco-efficiency indicator, the ratio of actual gross domestic product (GDP) to environmental impact to potential GDP to environmental impact. To quantify it, we develop the biennial meta-frontier non-radial directional distance function (BMNDDF), which addresses the potential threats of technology heterogeneity, the slack variable, and linear programming infeasibility. Using this new indicator, we assess the city-level eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin from 2008 to 2017 to identify the harmonious relationship between ecological protection and economic development. The empirical results show a 5.73% increase in eco-efficiency per year, with the technology leadership effect as the main contributor. Because the central region is defined by heavy emissions and many underdeveloped cities, it suffers from more severe conflicts between outputs and emissions than other regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Protection and Economic Development: Research Progress of Eco-Efficiency)

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17 pages, 617 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Carbon Emissions from Manufacturing Sector in Jiangsu Province: Regional Differences and Decomposition of Driving Factors

by Ping Zhou and Hailing Li

Sustainability 2022, 14(15), 9123; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159123 - 25 Jul 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1540

Abstract

Based on the Tapio decoupling model, this paper discusses the decoupling relationship between the economic growth and carbon emissions of the manufacturing sector in southern Jiangsu, northern Jiangsu and middle Jiangsu during the 13th Five-Year-Plan period. By using the LMDI method, the carbon emissions and influencing factors of 31 subindustries of the manufacturing sector in Jiangsu Province from 2016 to 2020 were quantitatively analyzed by region and industry. The main findings are as follows: (1) during the 13th Five-Year-Plan period, the growth rate of the energy consumption and carbon emissions of the manufacturing sectors in southern Jiangsu, northern Jiangsu and middle Jiangsu slowed down, and the industrial structure was increasingly optimized; (2) economic growth is the primary driving force behind the manufacturing carbon emissions in the three regions of Jiangsu Province, while energy intensity is the main factor that affects the carbon-emission differences among the manufacturing subsectors in the different regions; (3) improving the energy efficiency of high-emission-intensity industries, such as the ferrous metal smelting and calendering industry, chemical industry and textile industry, is the key to reducing the carbon emissions of the manufacturing sector in the different regions of Jiangsu in the future. Jiangsu Province should promote the upgrading of the manufacturing-industry structure, and it should encourage the high-energy-consumption industry to reduce its energy intensity by technological innovation to achieve the goal of emission reduction and economic growth. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Protection and Economic Development: Research Progress of Eco-Efficiency)

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