Assessing environmental, social, and governance performance and natural resource management policies in China's dual carbon era for a green economy

Abstract

As the globe faces urgent environmental concerns and the need to move toward a greener and more sustainable economy, the idea of sustainability has received a lot of attention recently. Evaluation of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and natural resource management (NRM) policy options are crucial given the urgent environmental issues the world is facing and the requirement for sustainable development. The objective of this study is to assess China's ESG performance and NRM policy options in the dual carbon era for developing green economy. The dual carbon places a focus on the need of lessening carbon emissions and encouraging low-carbon activities and technologies. A hybrid multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods i.e. Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS)-GREY are used to evaluate and prioritize the criteria, sub-criteria, and alternatives. The FAHP method is used to assess the criteria and sub-criteria of ESG performance. Moreover, the TOPSIS-Grey method is employed to prioritize the NRM policy options. The findings of FAHP analysis reveal that environment is the most crucial criteria, followed by governance and social performance. While the TOPSIS-Grey analysis show that green finance and investment, policy and regulatory reforms, and circular economy practices are the most suitable NRM policy options. China can significantly advance toward a more ecologically and socially responsible future while fostering economic growth and prosperity in the dual carbon era by implementing the recommended sustainable practices and policies.