An economic impact evaluation of environmental policy

Given the global focus on green and low-carbon development and the increasing prominence of digital finance, it is particularly important to explore how to leverage digital finance to achieve these environmental goals. This study, through mechanism analysis, deeply examines how China’s digital finance promotes green and low-carbon development and elucidates the positive interaction between digital finance and the green industry. The study found that digital finance, through more flexible and efficient financial functions, alters the cost structure of carbon emissions, and reduces the risks and costs of green investments, thereby creating a cooperative green mechanism benefiting all parties, and guiding social groups toward a green and low-carbon transformation. Additionally, the rapid development of digital finance has strengthened the implementation of environmental protection policies, effectively promoted the expansion of the environmental protection industry, and established the green ethos as a mainstream concept in financial development. This study aims to provide reference perspectives and suggestions, assist policymakers in promoting the green and low-carbon development of digital finance, and offer insights into the integrated development of digital finance and the green environmental protection industry.

This paper aims to study the development path of green, low-carbon and environmental protection industries under the new situation. Currently, the green, low-carbon and environmental protection industry has become an important field for economic and social development. This paper proposes two key development paths, namely strengthening policy guidance and promoting technological innovation, by outlining the current status of the green, low-carbon and environmental protection industry. In terms of policy guidance, it is recommended that the government develop supportive policies and regulatory measures to guide and promote industry development. In terms of technological innovation, it is recommended that enterprises strengthen independent innovation and technological cooperation to promote the innovation and application of green, low-carbon and environmental protection technologies. Through comprehensive analysis and empirical research, new ideas and references can be provided for the development of the green, low-carbon and environmental protection industry.

The term green industry derives from the Green Plan introduced in 1989 by the then Canadian Minister of the Environment. The plan intended coordination between economic development and environmental protection and integration of eco-friendly values into socioeconomic development by injecting the green idea the macroscopic socioeconomic development plan. The Green Plan was adopted by 12 industrialized countries in the early 1990s and developing green industries became an important strategy in countries that wanted to achieve socioeconomic sustainability because of their important in implementing the Green Plan. A series of sustainability oriented concepts emerged later on, including green industry, environmental industry, environmental protection industry, cleaner production, green product, and green marketing. The definition of green industry has continued evolving throughout this process. The breadth, stratification, and changing nature of the green industry concept has prevented a unified definition, leaving it ambiguous in both intension and extension. It is further ambiguous because it overlaps with many similar concepts and ideas. Different countries and international organizations and bodies understand the concept differently based on their individual needs and characteristics.

In response to China's aims of becoming "carbon-neutral," the development of green industries such as renewable energy and recycling has flourished. Based on 2015 and 2019 data, this study uses spatial autocorrelation to analyze the evolution of land use by the green industries in Jiangsu Province. The Geodetector model was also applied to identify the driving factors underlying these spatial patterns. The spatial variability of green industrial land use in Jiangsu Province is significant, with the land-use area gradually decreasing from Southern to Northern Jiangsu. In terms of spatial-temporal changes, there is an increase in land use and a trend of expansion in the central and northern regions of Jiangsu. Land use by green industries in the province exhibits a more significant spatial clustering pattern but with a weakened clustering effect. The clustering types are mainly H-H and L-L, with the H-H type distributed mainly in the Su-Xi-Chang region and the L-L type distributed mainly in the Northern Jiangsu region. The levels of technology, economic development, industrialization, and industrial diversification are important individual driving factors, and the interaction among the different factors enhances their driving forces. This study suggests that spatial spillover effects should be focused to promote the coordinated development of regional energy-saving and environmental protection industries. At the same time, joint efforts should be made from the aspects of resources, government, economy, and related industries to promote the agglomeration of land for energy-saving and environmental protection industries.

Green industrial policies (GIPs) aim to promote the adoption ofgreen technology within a sustainability framework. While previous evaluations of GIP have focused more on the policy itself and the impacts within the policy boundaries, this paper further introduces the geographical factor to analyze the impact of different spatial geographic distances on implementing GIP. By integrating geographic distances into a spatial difference-in-differences analysis to assess the effects of municipal green industry policies (referred to as green industry pilot policies in this paper) enacted in 11 cities in China from 2006 to 2010, we find that these policies not only improve environmental and economic outcomes in targeted regions but also have spillover effects that may affect neighboring areas negatively, highlighting the importance of geographic considerations. The effectiveness of green industrial policies varies across cities, influenced by local socio-technical systems and regional characteristics such as infrastructure and information technology. These findings suggest that policy impacts are complex and multifaceted, requiring a comprehensive understanding of geographic interdependencies. By incorporating geographic factors, this research contributes to sustainability transition theory by offering insights into the spatial and temporal dynamics of socio-technical systems. The results underscore the need for policymakers to consider spatial-temporal aspects and potential secondary effects on adjacent regions when designing and implementing green industrial policies.

PurposeAs the world began to witness an unprecedented rate of environmental destruction, economists and international institutions have been toiling away for decades, making every effort to dissect the dynamics of the relationship between the environment and the economy. Many claims have preached that there is a trade-off between environmental wellbeing and economic prosperity, where economic growth would be hindered by environmental protection. As we continue to neglect nature, will the world be capable of maintaining infinitely growing economies without falling into a deficit of natural resources? The foundation of all forms of economic growth springs from nature. Therefore, this study aims to explore the true impact of environmental protection policies on economic performance, and claims that well-designated environmental policies would only strengthen economies.Design/methodology/approachThis study aims to investigate the impact of environmental protection policies on gross domestic product (GDP) growth utilizing a selected sample of 18 OECD countries. Fixed effects panel regression was conducted for the sample from 1998 to 2015.FindingsFindings suggest that an increase in the environmental protection stringency is associated with an increase in GDP in the long-run. Whereas in the short run, more stringent environmental policies have been shown to have a questionable impact on GDP, brought to light by the mixed results portrayed in the short-run data.Research limitations/implicationsWhile it is true that this study has utilized data from the The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the findings could be applicable to countries of the MENA region. This is due to the fact that GDP levels of OECD countries and Middle East and North African (MENA) countries have been converging over the past few decades. The convergence suggests that both regions seem to be following similar trends since the year 1990, with an increasing similarity in trend over the years.Originality/valueThis paper empirically proves that the protection of nature is necessary for the sustenance of long-term economic growth. This study also provides an approximate time range of when the economic gains of environmental protection would be realized, specifically in the beginning of a green growth transition. This makes the study findings accurately relevant to Arab countries, where providing a time range is necessary to alleviate some the uncertainty of policymakers in the MENA region towards environmental policies.

As the concept of carbon neutralization is valued, attention is paid to how environmental protection policies affect enterprises. However, little is known about how environmental policies affect enterprise energy utilization efficiency and green innovation. Based on Porter’s effectuation and deterrence theory, this paper proposes that an incentive environmental protection policy (environmental protection incentive) and punitive environmental protection policy (environmental protection regulation) have different impact mechanisms on enterprise green innovation and energy utilization efficiency. The following conclusions are drawn by using the data of listed enterprises since implementing the new environmental protection law in China and using the PSM-DID method to construct a quasi-natural experiment. 1) Environmental protection incentives are not conducive to improving energy utilization efficiency; 2) Environmental protection regulation can improve enterprise energy utilization efficiency; 3) Environmental protection incentives are not conducive to green innovation; 4) Environmental protection regulation is conducive to the green innovation of enterprises; 5) Green innovation plays a complete intermediary role in the relationship between environmental protection policies and enterprise energy utilization efficiency; 6) Different policies have heterogeneity on Enterprises: environmental protection incentives are conducive to the improvement of energy utilization efficiency of state-owned enterprises but not conducive to non-state-owned enterprises; The effect of environmental protection regulation on non-state-owned enterprises is more potent than that of state-owned enterprises. This study compares the impact of different environmental protection policies on enterprise green innovation and energy utilization efficiency and puts forward more effective and realistic targeted policy suggestions. This paper tries to understand the policy mechanism through comparison; The government has promoted green innovation and efficient and clean production by implementing policies for enterprises.

Between 1964 and 2017, the United States adopted the concept of environmental policy as a new focus for a broad range of previously disparate policy issues affecting human interactions with the natural environment. These policies ranged from environmental health, pollution, and toxic exposure to management of ecosystems, resources, and use of the public lands, environmental aspects of urbanization, agricultural practices, and energy use, and negotiation of international agreements to address global environmental problems. In doing so, it nationalized many responsibilities that had previously been considered primarily state or local matters. It changed the United States’ approach to federalism by authorizing new powers for the federal government to set national minimum environmental standards and regulatory frameworks with the states mandated to participate in their implementation and compliance. Finally, it explicitly formalized administrative procedures for federal environmental decision-making with stricter requirements for scientific and economic justification rather than merely administrative discretion. In addition, it greatly increased public access to information and opportunities for input, as well as for judicial review, thus allowing citizen advocates for environmental protection and appreciative uses equal legitimacy with commodity producers to voice their preferences for use of public environmental resources. These policies initially reflected widespread public demand and broad bipartisan support. Over several decades, however, they became flashpoints, first, between business interests and environmental advocacy groups and, subsequently, between increasingly ideological and partisan agendas concerning the role of the federal government. Beginning in the 1980s, the long-standing Progressive ideal of the “public interest” was increasingly supplanted by a narrative of “government overreach,” and the 1990s witnessed campaigns to delegitimize the underlying evidence justifying environmental policies by labeling it “junk science” or a “hoax.” From the 1980s forward, the stated priorities of environmental policy vacillated repeatedly between presidential administrations and Congresses supporting continuation and expansion of environmental protection and preservation policies versus those seeking to weaken or even reverse protections in favor of private-property rights and more damaging uses of resources. Yet despite these apparent shifts, the basic environmental laws and policies enacted during the 1970s remained largely in place: political gridlock, in effect, maintained the status quo, with the addition of a very few innovations such as “cap and trade” policies. One reason was that environmental policies retained considerable latent public support: in electoral campaigns, they were often overshadowed by economic and other issues, but they still aroused widespread support in their defense when threatened. Another reason was that decisions by the courts also continued to reaffirm many existing policies and to reject attempts to dismantle them. With the election of Donald Trump in 2016, along with conservative majorities in both houses of Congress, US environmental policy came under the most hostile and wide-ranging attack since its origins. More than almost any other issue, the incoming president targeted environmental policy for rhetorical attacks and budget cuts, and sought to eradicate the executive policies of his predecessor, weaken or rescind protective regulations, and undermine the regulatory and even the scientific capacity of the federal environmental agencies. In the early 21st century, it is as yet unclear how much of his agenda will actually be accomplished, or whether, as in past attempts, much of it will ultimately be blocked by Congress, the courts, public backlash, and business and state government interests seeking stable policy expectations rather than disruptive deregulation.

Review: Environmental Politics and Policy in Industrialized Countries By Uday Desai (Ed.) Reviewed by M. Tayyeb Javed Islamabad, Pakistan Uday Desai (Ed.). Environmental Politics and Policy in Industralialized Countries. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002. 403 pp. ISBN 0-262-54137-8 (paperback, alk. paper). US$25.00 To protect the scenic beauty of our global village from environmental degradation by high-production and high-consumption lifestyle (mostly in developed and partially in developing countries) for ourselves and for future generations, it is the duty of every human and nation to take an active role in environmental protection. Environmental Politics and Policy in Industrialized Countries, edited by Uday Desai, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and the editor-in-chief of Policy Studies Journal, presents the environmental policies and their causes, consequences, and effectiveness in seven major industrialized nations: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Australia and Japan. Comprised of contributions by eminent social and political scientists (Uday Desai, Michael E. Kraft, Glen Toner, John McCormick, Helmut Weidner, Rudolf Lewanski, Angela Liberatore, K. J. Walker, and Jeffrey Broadbent), this work is an excellent collection for sociologists, political scientists, public administrators, engineers, and doctors (indeed, anyone who is engaged in fighting environmental pollution) to understand the environmental policy and politics in these seven major industrialized countries. The book is divided into nine chapters, The first is an introduction to the book's content and the last is a summary and conclusion on three basic concerns: when and how the state has intervened to protect the environment, the role of the institutions, and the effectiveness of intervention in the examined countries. The remaining seven chapters deal with each of the seven individual countries. The contents of these chapters are presented with a common framework. Each chapter describes the history of environmental problems and policies, discusses the environmental policy process, and concludes with a discussion of policy performance. Environmental Politics and Policy in Industrialized Countries is an excellent guide for developing countries to monitor environmental problems and to formulate policies and assess their effectiveness. Of great importance to research is the solidly referenced statistical profile that includes land,

Based on the development history of environmental regulation in China and the corresponding economic situation, this paper discusses whether environmental regulation policies in northeast, southwest and central China are conducive to local economic development. The purpose of this paper is to derive appropriate environmental regulatory policies for regions with different economic conditions. The restoration of ecology and the goal of green production in Northeast China have prompted strict environmental protection policies. However, considering the relatively backward level of local economic development, environmental regulation policies should be relaxed appropriately to give way to economic development. However, Southwest China has a serious ecological destruction problem. The implementation of environmental policies can help Southwest China achieve technological innovation, scientific and technological development and economic growth. Therefore, relatively strict environmental regulation policies should be adopted. Central China has a relatively high level of economic development, but there are also problems such as low resource utilization rate. Therefore, strict environmental policies should be adopted accordingly to promote Central China to improve resource utilization rate, production efficiency and technological innovation, so as to promote economic growth.

Purpose. To develop a systematic approach to implementation of effective state environmental and economic policy of Ukraine and develop regulatory measures to implement environmental protection policy. Methodology. The methods used are: scientific observation to form topic, purpose, objectives of the study; systematic approach to analyze EUs environmental principles and structure of environmental management bodies; analysis/synthesis to compare effectiveness of environmental policy structures; scientific abstraction to develop the structural implementation of the state environmental policy; logical analysis to predict consequences of management actions; induction/deduction for the analysis of intensity energy supply/consumption, development of management actions increasing energy efficiency; quantitative/qualitative comparison for the analysis of regulatory/legislative support for regulation of man-made environmental impact. Findings. The analysis of the state and supranational ecological policy is carried out, the efficiency of the ways of implementation of environmental protection principles is determined. The structure of the state ecological policy, which will allow increasing efficiency of decision-making on environmental protection, is developed. It is established that the state environmental policy should be comprehensive because its emergence will affect its effectiveness. Regulatory measures of ecological and economic policy in the legislative, normative and legal spheres are offered. Originality. A structural approach to environmental policy implementation is proposed, which is used for analysis in relation to the energy sector. An ecological and economic indicator of efficiency of ecological policy expenses of primary energy on unit of GDP is offered. The forecast of energy intensity of GDP for 2022 is developed. It is established that slowing down the rate of energy reduction requires strengthening regulatory measures. Practical value. The structure of environmental policy implementation can be used for systemic public administration reform. Forecasting the energy intensity of GDP and slowing down the rate of energy reduction can be used to develop regulatory measures, as energy largely determines the environmental/economic indicators in related industries.

The in-depth promotion of environmental pollution prevention and control is a must for China to move towards green development, and the effectiveness of urban environmental pollution control largely depends on the selection of these environmental policies and the synergistic application of these policies. This paper empirically tests three environmental policies’ mixed and synergistic effects using Chinese urban data from 2000 to 2017. This study found that (1) the three environmental policies significantly curb urban environmental pollution and show synergistic effects. (2) The three types of environmental policies can have a superimposing effect by strengthening financial inputs and increasing environmental concern, as well as a complementary effect by improving the efficiency of environmental protection enforcement and the institutional environment. The synergy between the central environmental protection inspection policy and the environmental information disclosure policy is more of a superposition effect than a complementary effect due to the similarity of the policy objectives. (3) The synergistic effect of environmental policies is affected by factors such as the age of the principal officials and financial pressure. The younger the age of the principal officials and the cities with less financial pressure are more capable of utilizing the synergistic effect of environmental policies to form a situation where the market, the government, the public, and the enterprises work together to govern the city. This paper provides new ideas for exploring the synergies and mechanisms of environmental policies and theoretical references for the design, implementation, and effects of environmental policy portfolios in the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

The status of technical efficiency (TE) of environmental protection enterprises is crucial to the sustainable economic development. Based on the micro-survey data of China's environmental protection enterprises from 2003 to 2013, through a systematic calculation and comparison about TE level under stochastic frontier analysis, this article investigated the distribution characteristics and heterogeneous sources of them comprehensively and found that first, there are wide-ranging technical efficiency differences among sub-sectors, ownership, and regions within China's environmental protection industry, and this type of heterogeneity was significantly interfered by the institution and policy environment. Second, there is obvious scale economy effect and no scope economy effect in the TE distribution of China's environmental protection enterprises, and their TE level has a positive response to management improvement and competition enhancement, but has a negative feedback on heavy asset expansion and debt-driven growth mode. Third, the overall TE levels of non-state-owned enterprises are higher than that of state-owned enterprises; the overall TE levels of enterprises located in the eastern provinces are higher than those of enterprises located in the central and western provinces. Fourth, reducing tax burdens of environmental protection enterprises is more effective to promote their TE level than providing governmental subsidies directly. Therefore, to promote the quality of the development for China's environmental protection industry, it is necessary to emphasize the market mechanism. Based on the market power, we should accelerate the industry integration, cultivate the market demand, and promote market competition. Furthermore, the government should also need to design a targeted support system and differentiated policy arrangements for the development of environmental protection enterprises.

IntroductionIn order to achieve the coordinated development of environmental protection and economic growth, China has implemented a series of environmental policies. However, the relationship between environmental policy and economic growth is ambiguous due to regional differences.MethodsIn this study, data of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019 is collected to establish three panel threshold models with three different threshold variables and analyze the relationship between environment policy and economic growth.ResultsThe results of this study are as follows: (1) when the R&D level is less than 9.890, environmental policy is detrimental to economic growth. When the R&D level is between 9.890 and 10.077, environmental policy has a slightly positive impact on economic growth. When the R&D level exceeds 10.077, environmental policy has a significant positive effect on economic growth. (2) When the level of economic development is less than 9.469, environmental policy is detrimental to economic growth. However, when the level of economic development exceeds 9.469, environmental policy has a positive effect on economic growth. (3) When the level of industrial dependence is less than 0.372, environmental policy promotes economic growth. When the level of industrial dependence exceeds 0.372, environmental policy is detrimental to economic growth.DiscussionThe novelty of this study is that there is a proved nonlinear relationship between environmental policy and economic growth, and it is concluded that the influence of environmental policy on economic growth is geographically different. We have made certain suggestions that will help achieve a win-win situation for both environmental protection and economic development.

The global climate problem has always been urgent. This article uses linear programming mathematical methods to establish a carbon emission control optimization model based on the theory of a low-carbon economy. Guangzhou is the most economically developed province in China, and its GDP has been the first in China for 28 consecutive years, so the secondary industry in Guangdong Province of China is the research object of the model. Take the minimum total carbon emissions as the objective function. The emission reduction targets China promised at the Copenhagen meeting, the energy emissions of various industries, and the economic growth of the industries are used as constraints. The results of the model optimization show that the carbon emissions of the secondary industry in Guangdong Province in 2020 will be significantly reduced compared with the carbon emissions in 2005 after applying the low-carbon economic optimization program of structural emission reduction. The development of a low-carbon economy can eliminate outdated production capacity with high energy consumption and high emissions, and increase investment in energy conservation, emission reduction and environmental protection technologies. It can prompt Chinese enterprises to optimize the economic structure and promote the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure, thereby changing the mode of economic development and accelerating the establishment of a resource-saving society. At the same time, the development and utilization of some new energy projects, environmental protection projects, and green energy-saving and environmental protection industries can alleviate the adverse effects of climate change, create jobs, and ease employment pressure.