Environmental Governance Research Articles

Can big data reduce urban environmental pollution? Evidence from China's digital technology experimental zone.

This paper investigates the impact of the digital economy on urban environmental pollution by analyzing panel data from 283 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2019 and using the digital technology comprehensive pilot zone of China as a natural experiment. The results demonstrate that digital technology has a significant effect in reducing pollutant emissions and empowering urban environmental governance. The findings are proven to be robust based on various tests, including parallel trend, PSM-DID, and placebo tests. Our analysis further shows that digital technology is particularly effective in controlling pollution in old industrial areas, high digital areas, and low energy efficiency areas. We also find that the national digital technology integrated pilot zone can mitigate environmental pollution in prefecture-level cities by increasing public environmental awareness and encouraging green technology innovation. Moreover, our research indicates that digital technology-enabled urban pollution control can contribute to the formation of a new urbanization pattern in China. These findings provide valuable insights for promoting the digital economy and achieving the goal of carbon reduction in China.

Study on the Comprehensive Assessment and its Application of Environmental Pollution Governance Effect of Low-carbon Tourism Emissions from Energy Consumption in Jiangsu Province

Jiangsu Province is the first largest province in China for low-carbon tourism, set to explore the comprehensive assessment method of the effect of low-carbon tourism environmental pollution governance in Jiangsu Province and to promote the effective way of continuous improvement of low-carbon tourism in Jiangsu. This paper takes the effect of low-carbon tourism environmental pollution governance in Jiangsu Province as an overall comprehensive assessment object and utilizes the spatial ecological niche model as well as the basic statistical data of Jiangsu Province to carry out a comprehensive assessment study on the effect of low-carbon tourism environmental pollution governance in Jiangsu Province from 2013 to 2021. It is found that the comprehensive assessment coefficient of low-carbon tourism in Jiangsu Province rises from 0.8770 in 2013, with the environmental pollution governance effect of low-carbon tourism ranked at level II, to 0.9401 in 2021, with the corresponding environmental pollution governance effect of low-carbon tourism ranked at level I, which fully reflects the good trend of continuous growth of the environmental pollution governance effect of low-carbon tourism in Jiangsu Province. According to the specific assessment results, this paper further puts forward policy recommendations to promote the continuous improvement of the environmental pollution governance effect of low-carbon tourism in Jiangsu Province.

Physical climate change exposure and firms' adaptation strategy

AbstractResearch SummaryThis article examines whether and how firms adapt to physical exposures to climate change. I build a novel dataset that compiles information on the adaptation strategies of publicly traded companies around the globe and merge it with climate science data. I find that firms are sensitive to the nature and level of forecasted climate change exposures, and that they adapt more often and more completely to those most salient to their business. Increased physical climate exposure heightens the perceived impact of climate change, leading to a higher degree of adaptation. Furthermore, the positive relationship between firms' climate change exposure and their adaptation is stronger for firms with greater environmental, social, and corporate governance capabilities and those with longer time horizons.Managerial SummaryCompanies are increasingly exposed to the physical impacts of climate change, yet little is known about how they adapt to these long‐term, systemic, and uncertain changes. This study investigates corporate adaptation strategies in response to climate change. By analyzing climate science data and climate change disclosure information from publicly traded companies worldwide, I find that most firms do not adapt to different physical climate change exposures. They adapt more often and more completely when facing higher forecasted climate exposures. Furthermore, firms' environmental, social, and corporate governance capabilities and their time horizons influence their adaptation to greater climate exposures. These findings suggest that targeted interventions may be necessary to improve corporate adaptation to climate change.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG): Roles and Strategies to Improve the Performance of the Indonesian Insurance Industry

The objective of this research is to understand the role of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) in improving the financial performance of insurance companies in Indonesia. A qualitative, library study method was employed, Research results show (1) the role of ESG as definers of competitive advantage, in improving performance, and guaranteeing the sustainability of the company in the future; and (2) the strategy of insurance companies in Indonesia with respect to ESG is to run business with sustainable financial principles and create environmental-based service products. The implications of this study are that the application of ESG principles to insurance companies in Indonesia is expected to drive government programs to implement sustainable development governance (SDGs) in sustainable finance. The novelty of this research is its emphasis on environmentally-based sustainable financial principles. Keywords: social and environmental governance, roles, strategies, performance, insurance

A review of the knowledge structure and trends in research on the interlinkages between the rule of law and environmental sustainability

AbstractThe interplay between nature and human activities is important for both human well‐being and the health of our planet. The rule of law is central to maintaining harmony between environmental needs and human endeavors. Since the early 1990s, particularly after the Earth Summit in 1992, there has been an increased interest in the relationship between environmental sustainability and legal frameworks. This has led to a significant expansion in the field, encompassing a wide array of research. Despite the field's growth, there is still a lack of review papers that explore its knowledge structure and evolution. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the literature by employing the Visualization of Similarities (VOS) viewer software. We identify key thematic areas within the field, highlight influential authors and journals, and specify major contributing countries and institutions. The findings show that the initial focus was on limited themes, which later gave way to an acknowledgment of the multidimensional nature of the subject. Certain themes, such as environmental emissions and governance, retain prominence. Among the focal themes, sustainability, climate change, and democracy are particularly influential in shaping the field's trajectory. Despite this evolution, certain aspects of both concepts, such as waste and water management, fundamental rights and justice system, and the importance of socio‐economic factors, remain underrepresented. This study offers valuable insights into the linkage between the rule of law and environmental sustainability themes and the associated themes.

유아기 자녀를 둔 부모의 제품구매 태도가 ESG 교육 및 홍보 필요도에 미치는 영향: ESG 중요성의 매개효과

Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of parents with young children's product purchasing attitudes on the need for ESG (environmental, social, and governance) education and promotion. Additionally, the study aims to explore the mediating effect of ESG importance in this relationship Methods The study participants consisted of 254 parents with young children residing in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, and Gyeongsang. The trends and normality of the research variables, as well as their reliability coefficients, were examined using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 23.0. The relationships among the research variables were analyzed using Pearson's correlation analysis. Additionally, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the structural relationships. Furthermore, the mediating effect was investigated using the bootstrapping method. Results The research findings are as follows. First, the mean of the research variables was above 4.0, indicating high levels. Additionally, the data met the assumption of normality. Second, the findings indicate a positive correlation between the need for ESG education and promotion and product purchasing attitudes, as well as the importance of ESG and its subfactors, which include environmental importance, social importance and governance importance. Third, the results revealed that attitudes towards product purchasing had a statistically significant impact on the importance of ESG and the need for ESG education. However, attitudes towards product purchasing did not have a statistically significant impact on the necessity of promoting ESG. Additionally, the importance of ESG was found to influence both the need for ESG education and the need for ESG promotion. Fourth, in the process where attitudes towards product purchasing influence the need for ESG education, the importance of ESG partially mediates the relationship. However, in the case of the need for promoting ESG(environmental, social, governance) practices, the importance of ESG fully mediates the relationship. Conclusions The research findings suggest the importance of promoting early awareness of the concept of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) through play.Additionally, the study aims to propose practical approaches to promoteESGpractices, distinguishing between initiatives focused on thehomeenvironment and collaboration in early childhood education.

Does the Imbalance of ESG Activities Affect Company Performance? -- Evidence from Chinese A-share Listed Companies from 2018-2022

In recent years, the concept of sustainable development has progressively gained traction among the populace, with the performance of enterprises in environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) aspects attracting widespread attention from various sectors of society. The weighting of E, S, and G components varies across domestic and international ESG rating agencies, often resulting in significantly divergent weighted ESG scores. Leveraging the theory of organizational ambidexterity, this paper empirically investigates the impact of discrepancies between institutional ESG scores and equally weighted ESG scores on company performance, utilizing a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies spanning the years 2018 to 2022. Our findings reveal that equally weighted ESG scores exhibit a correlation with company performance, and a higher positive percentage difference between a company's rating agency ESG scores and its equally weighted ESG scores is associated with lower performance. This suggests that the rating agency weighting method may inadvertently encourage companies to engage in "greenwashing." This conclusion remains consistent after conducting robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis further indicates that the negative impact of this difference on company performance is more pronounced among non-state-owned companies, manufacturing companies, and small companies. The mechanism of action test reveals that this difference negatively affects company performance by exacerbating financing constraints and reducing operating efficiency.

Job destruction or job creation?: Evidence from carbon emission trading policies

Based on the panel data of 285 cities in China from 2007 to 2019, this paper constructs a theoretical framework to analyze the employment effect of carbon emission trading policy, and quantitatively evaluates the effectiveness, decomposition effect and influence mechanism of carbon emission trading policy on employment based on PSM-DID method. The study shows that the carbon emissions trading policy has a positive impact on the level of urban employment while producing significant environmental governance effects, and that its positive impact on employment in the pilot cities stems from the negative effect of reducing employment destruction rather than from the positive effect of increasing the job-creating effect. Carbon emissions trading policy promotes employment in the pilot cities through structural transformation effects, specifically through the three paths of green technology innovation, energy structure optimization and industrial structure upgrading. At the same time, the impact of the policy on employment varies significantly across cities of different locations, sizes and resource endowments. The study proposes that the construction of the national carbon market should be accelerated, a market-oriented green technology innovation system should be constructed, the optimization of the energy structure and the upgrading of the industrial structure should be promoted, and training in employment skills should be strengthened. The theoretical analysis of this study provides a theoretical basis for the micro-mechanism of carbon emissions trading policy, and the empirical results provide practical reference for the change of employment structure and the high-quality development of employment.

Influential Mechanism Research of Environmental Control on Chinese Textile Export Trade

This study constructs a regression model of textile industry export trade. The panel data of nine importing countries or regions from 2006 to 2022 are used to verify whether environmental control has short-term cost effects and long-term technical effects on Chinese textile industry export trade. First of all, the panel data from 2006 to 2022 are empirically analyzed for the short-term effects. The results show that the cost effect of environmental control makes environmental control inhibit the export of textile industry in the short term. Then, the same panel data is used to empirically analyze the impact of environmental governance input on textile export trade, that is, the long-term effects. The result shows that the technical effect of environmental control is greater than the cost effect in the long run. It means environmental control has a role in promoting the export of textile industry. Finally, combining the influence factors of textile export trade, two suggestions are put forward from the enterprise level. This study constructs a regression model of textile industry export trade. The panel data of nine importing countries or regions from 2006 to 2022 are used to verify whether environmental control has short-term cost effects and long-term technical effects on Chinese textile industry export trade. First of all, the panel data from 2006 to 2022 are empirically analyzed for the short-term effects. The results show that the cost effect of environmental control makes environmental control inhibit the export of textile industry in the short term. Then, the same panel data is used to empirically analyze the impact of environmental governance input on textile export trade, that is, the long-term effects. The result shows that the technical effect of environmental control is greater than the cost effect in the long run. It means environmental control has a role in promoting the export of textile industry. Finally, combining the influence factors of textile export trade, two suggestions are put forward from the enterprise level.

Theoretical and Legal Foundations for the Protection of Environmental Rights as Part of Political Rights in Kyrgyzstan

This article examines the theoretical and legal foundations for the protection of environmental rights as integral components of political rights in the Kyrgyz Republic. It explores the evolution of environmental rights within the broader framework of human rights and political freedoms, highlighting their significance in the context of sustainable development and democratic governance. The study analyzes the existing legal frameworks, including constitutional provisions and international agreements, that support the recognition and enforcement of environmental rights in Kyrgyzstan. It also addresses the challenges and opportunities in integrating environmental rights into the political rights discourse, emphasizing the role of civic engagement, public policy, and legal reforms. The findings underscore the importance of strengthening legal mechanisms to ensure the effective protection of environmental rights as fundamental political rights, contributing to the overall enhancement of environmental governance in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Impact of Carbon Emissions Trading on Corporate Environmental Performance--A Hybrid Study Based on PSM-DID and Dual Machine Learning

In the context of "dual carbon", the green economy has gradually become the mainstream trend of economic development. As the main force of social production, the environmental governance behaviour of enterprises is crucial to China's economic transformation. Based on the panel data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2021, this study empirically examines, analyses the mechanism of action, and analyses the heterogeneity of enterprises using the PSM-DID model and the dual machine learning DML model. It is found that the carbon trading pilot policy significantly and positively affects firms' environmental performance, especially for non-state-owned enterprises, non-high-tech and manufacturing industries. In terms of spatial distribution, enterprises in the eastern and central regions are more significantly affected by the carbon trading pilot policy. In addition, the study also finds that executives' green awareness plays a partial mediating role in carbon trading's influence on firms' environmental performance through mediation effect analysis. Finally, the article puts forward recommendations for the government, enterprises and executives to promote the further application and effect of the carbon trading pilot policy in the enhancement of corporate environmental performance.

Pollution resistance and removal efficiency of mesophytic plants of polluted water bodies

With the development of cities and economic growth, the eutrophication of urban park landscape water has become a hot topic in environmental governance and research at home and abroad. Using indoor water pollution simulation experiments, the decontamination and pollution resistance performance of six aquatic plants were studied. The research results found that all six aquatic plants can reduce the pH value of eutrophic water bodies. The pH of the Lythrum salicaria L. (Q) and Iris tectorum Maxim (Y) treatment systems was the lowest which are 7.34 and 7.48, respectively. They were significantly lower than the control group (CK). The content of nitrogen and phosphorus elements were reduced by six types of plants in the wastewater. After the completion of the experiment, the total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency of Y was as high as 66.2%, and its content decreased from 9.49 to 3.21 mg/l. The removal rates of total phosphorus (TP) by six types of plants ranged from 59.1 to 81.3% and they were significantly higher than the CK. Among them, the removal rate of TP in wastewater by Y treatment exceeded 80%, which is superior to other plants and significantly different from CK. After the completion of the experiment, the content of chlorophyll a (chl a) in the water treated with Y was the lowest (6.6 mg/l). It was significantly lower than the other treatments (P<0.05). The contents of chl a in Y decreased by 37.1% compared to the initial level. Compared to CK, it is 54.1% lower and the content of chl a in CK showed an increasing trend with time delay. Overall analysis shows that the microsystems formed by the six plants all have a certain improvement effect on water quality, effectively inhibiting the proliferation of algae in eutrophic water bodies. Among them, planting iris has the best effect. Bangladesh J. Bot. 53(3): 757-763, 2024 (September) Special

Mspa-Based Collaborative Evaluation and Planning Governance of Territory and Natural Environment in Metropolitan Agglomerations—A Case Study of EGIDDZ in Yangtze River Delta

Mspa-Based Collaborative Evaluation and Planning Governance of Territory and Natural Environment in Metropolitan Agglomerations—A Case Study of EGIDDZ in Yangtze River Delta

Environmental Social Governance Integration in the Gulf Cooperation Council Capital Markets: A Catalyst for Urban Sustainability

Environmental Social Governance Integration in the Gulf Cooperation Council Capital Markets: A Catalyst for Urban Sustainability

Interview with Franz Perrez

Franz Perrez is Director-General of the Directorate of International Law at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), Switzerland. He is responsible for the development and interpretation of international law and ensuring that Switzerland's strategic rights are respected abroad. As a member of the FDFA senior management, Mr Perrez is also jointly responsible for the FDFA's strategic approach and advises the Federal Council, Switzerland's representatives abroad and other Federal Administration offices on international law issues. Prior to his new role Mr Perrez was appointed Switzerland's Ambassador for the Environment and Head of the International Affairs Division at the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) in 2010. In this capacity, he headed the Swiss delegations to international environmental and climate negotiations for thirteen years. After studying law in Bern and Paris, Mr Perrez worked at the FDFA's Directorate of International Law from 1993 to 1995. He went on to study at New York University, where he gained a master of laws focusing on international law and completed a PhD thesis on the topic of sovereignty as a principle of cooperation. On returning to Switzerland, he took up a position at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Division of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, before joining the FOEN in 2001. Mr Perrez has proven expertise in international law. He has widely published in the area of international environmental law, international environmental governance, the relationship between trade and the environment, and public international law. Since 2008, Mr Perrez has also lectured on international environmental law at the University of Bern School of Law. He served as a panellist on the newest WTO tuna–dolphin dispute between Mexico and the United States, and as Switzerland's Ambassador for the Environment and Chief Negotiator for Environmental Issues, namely climate change, biodiversity, chemicals and waste, he led the Swiss delegation to the Rio+20 conference and to the Paris Climate Change Conference in 2015. He was President of the Basel Convention (COP 11 in 2013) and President of the Rotterdam Convention (COP 8 in 2017) and facilitated the negotiations on mitigation of the Paris Agreement. Through his work within and outside of Switzerland, he has built strong networks around the world and within the Federal Administration.

Rectifying local governments’ strategic environmental enforcement: Can refined air pollution monitoring enhance local air quality in China?

Insufficient local environmental enforcement has become a pivotal economic and political concern in China. In 2017, the Chinese central government introduced the Air Pollution Hot-Spot Grid (APHG) monitoring program. However, little is known about the consequences. This study investigates in detail how this monitoring program affects city-level air pollution by applying the difference-in-differences method. This program was responsible for a notable decrease in air pollution at the city level. This decrease was mostly the result of stronger local environmental governance, advances in green innovation, and an upgraded industrial structure. Additionally, an examination of heterogeneous treatment effects across different cities revealed that the most substantial effects were observed in large, non-resource-based, and eastern cities. Additional analysis reveals the presence of a spillover effect, whereby the adoption of this program in one city helps reduce air pollution in nearby cities. These results highlight the significance of refined air pollution monitoring for addressing imperfect local environmental enforcement.

Traditional clans and environmental governance: Evidence from China

This study combines genealogical data before 1990 and corporate pollution data in 2007 to empirically examine the impact of clan density on environmental governance. Our findings suggest that regions with strong clan power tend to suppress companies’ pollution. The use of historical wars as an instrumental variable strengthens our results. Preliminary analyses suggest that clans engage in environmental governance through organizational coordination and cultural education. Moreover, our study indicates that clans’ environmental governance effect can complement formal power in regions where it is lacking. Overall, as an informal organization, clans have a profound and important impact on environmental governance.

Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Green Logistics Practice Analysis: Case Study of Wahaha and Patagonia

In globalization and digitization, supply chains have become key for companies to gain competitive advantages and achieve sustainable development. This study provides a detailed analysis of the sustainable supply chain management practices of China's leading food and beverage company, Wahaha, and the American outdoor brand, Patagonia. It explores their successes in green production, logistics, packaging, and environmental governance. The research finds that Wahaha has achieved efficient resource utilization and cost reduction through digital and intelligent transformation, enhanced recycling, and the use of clean energy. On the other hand, Patagonia maintains a strong environmental commitment by using organic cotton and recycled materials, supporting environmental projects, and promoting a green supply chain. Despite their different strategies, both companies have achieved significant sustainable supply chain management results, offering valuable insights for other businesses. Future research should include different regions and industries, explore the challenges and solutions in sustainable development, and optimize evaluation systems through quantitative analysis and model building to enhance practical application value.

Comparing Sustainability Practices of Large US Corporations: Domestic vs. International Operations

Large US corporations are leading the way in reshaping business practices despite the absence of a national consensus regarding sustainability policies. This study highlights the commitment of some large US corporations to environmental, social, and corporate governance criteria and their widely employed sustainability practices compared with other global corporations. A survey of Fortune 500 corporations was conducted to identify their commitment to the nine major sustainability practices across domestic and international operations. Our findings indicate that several of the surveyed corporations exhibited significant adoption of these practices both domestically and internationally. Both hypotheses were rejected in favor of alternate hypotheses.

Approach Based on the Ordered Fuzzy Decision Making System Dedicated to Supplier Evaluation in Supply Chain Management.

The selection of suppliers represents a pivotal aspect of supply chain management and has a considerable impact on the success and competitiveness of the organization in question. The selection of a suitable supplier is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem based on a number of qualitative, quantitative, and even conflicting criteria. The aim of this paper is to propose a novel MCDM approach dedicated to the supplier evaluation problem using an ordered fuzzy decision making system. This study uses a fuzzy inference system based on IF-THEN rules with ordered fuzzy numbers (OFNs). The approach employs the concept of OFNs to account for potential uncertainty and subjectivity in the decision making process, and it also takes into account the trends of changes in assessment values and entropy in the final supplier evaluation. This paper's principal contribution is the development of a knowledge base and the demonstration of its application in an ordered fuzzy expert system for multi-criteria supplier evaluation in a dynamic and uncertain environment. The proposed system takes into account the dynamic changes in the value of assessment parameters in the overall supplier assessment, allowing for the differentiation of suppliers based on current and historical data. The utilization of OFNs in a fuzzy model then allows for a reduction in the complexity of the knowledge base in comparison to a classical fuzzy system and makes it more accessible to users, as it requires only basic arithmetic operations in the inference process. This paper presents a comprehensive framework for the assessment of suppliers against a range of criteria, including local hiring, completeness, and defect factors. Furthermore, the potential to integrate sustainability and ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) criteria in the assessment process adds value to the decision making framework by adapting to current trends in supply chain management.