Environmental Protection In China Research Articles

Establishment and Optimization of Marine Resource Protection Legal System from a Global Perspective

Liu, Y.F., 2020. Establishment and optimization of marine resource protection legal system from a global perspective. In: Al-Tarawneh, O. and Megahed, A. (eds.), Recent Developments of Port, Marine, and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 110, pp. 5–9. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.China has a vast sea area and abundant marine resources. The establishment and optimization of a protection mechanism and a law enforcement system for marine resource protection are necessary conditions for realizing sustainable development of marine resources in China. Based on an introduction of related concepts and economic theories of marine resources, this paper analyzed the current status of China's marine resource protection, legal protection mechanism and marine law enforcement system, and summarized the defects in current legal protection system. By investigating, referencing, and comparatively analyzing the marine resource protection laws of the United States, Japan, Canada and other countries, this paper gave a classification of the responsibilities of various behavioral actors in the protection of marine resources in China from a global perspective, and established a new law enforcement system from multiple aspects such as marine sovereignty, legal system, regulatory mechanism, and illegal development, etc. Targeting at the defects existing in the current legal system, the proposed system could achieve the optimization of the marine resource protection system. This paper innovatively studied the environmental protection of marine resources from the perspective of administrative law, and provided legal advices for instructing China's administrative agencies and environmental protection organizations at all levels to protect the marine resources of our country.

Developing the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in colleges and universities to boost the development of low-carbon economy

Abstract In this work, the network data envelopment analysis (DEA) model was used to divide the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in colleges and universities into two stages, which makes up for the lack of process measurement in a single DEA model. Also, the relationship between the transformation efficiency of scientific and technological achievements in universities and the development of a low-carbon economy was quantitatively analyzed. The research results show that: (1) the transformation efficiency of scientific and technological achievements of universities in China is increasing year by year and which is significantly higher in the eastern region than that in the central and western regions. (2) The efficiency of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of the university promotes the reduction of carbon emission intensity and the development of a low-carbon economy, indicating that the improvement of the transformation efficiency of scientific and technological achievements of the university has a good role in promoting the ecological environment protection. However, compared with the developed countries, the quantity and quality of science and technology supply and ecological environment protection in China’s universities are still insufficient. In this regard, the development suggestions are put forward from the aspects of government policy guidance, professional talent cooperation and strengthening the docking between universities and industrial low-carbon economic development. The purpose of this paper is to promote the development of a low-carbon economy by improving the efficiency of scientific and technological achievements transformation in universities, to achieve the goal of ecological environment protection.

Environmental Effect of Free Trade between China and ASEAN and Impact Analysis of Key Socio-Economic Factors

In order to identify and quantify the environmental effects of international trade and promote the construction of the Green Belt and Road,we calculated the environmental costs of the trade between China and ASEAN based on the input-output model of environmental economics,trade and pollutant emission intensity data from China-ASEAN yearbook,China statistical yearbook,World Bank and ASEAN yearbook.Moreover,we also identified the impact of socio-economic trade factors on environmental costs through redundancy analysis(RDA).The results showed that:(1)In 2010,the trade between China and ASEAN resulted in a pollution deficit in the discharge of industrial waste gas,fumes,sulfur dioxide,and solid waste,which decreased by 3600×10^8 m 3,3.8×10^4 t,19.7×10^4 t,9.8×10^4 t,respectively.However,there was a surplus in the discharge of industrial wastewater and dust,which was 5400×10^4 and 1.1×10^4 t,respectively.(2)The environmental effect of trade in heavily polluting industries was positive for China and the manufactured goods were the largest contributors.However,most severe environmental costs appeared in the trade in moderately polluting industries,and moderately environmental costs were observed in trade related to lightly polluting industries.(3)China′s trade with the low-income countries in ASEAN had negative effects on environment protection in China;on the contrary,trade with the middle-and high-income countries was beneficial to China′s environment.(3)The main factor affecting the environmental cost of China′s import trade was the urbanization rate and the share of industrial output value in GDP,and China′s export trade was export volume.It was suggested that China imported industrial products with large environmental costs from the developed countries in ASEAN,while exported a large number of primary industrial products to underdeveloped countries.This research shows that China should strengthen technological innovation and improve pollution emission standards,reduce the intensity of pollution emissions in heavily polluting industries,and optimize export structure to avoid becoming a‘pollution haven’.

Model research on NOX emission of an ultra-supercritical circulating fluidized bed boiler

It requires that coal-fired generator units to meet ultra-low emission standards by 2020 in policy of environmental protection in China. Compared with pulverized coal boiler, circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler technology has the natural advantage of low NOX emission, which has the ability to directly realize ultra-low NOX emission inside the furnace. To accurately obtain NOX emission characteristics in an ultra-supercritical CFB boiler under construction, model research and experimental verification of NOX emission prediction were carried out in this paper. The results indicate that three models could all predict NOX emission in the CFB boiler, and the deviation among the predicted values calculated by these models can be controlled within 15%. When an ultra-supercritical CFB boiler burns existing engineering coal, NOX emission would be higher than 50 mg/Nm3, which requires structural improvement and operation parameters optimization to ensure that NOX emission inside the furnace of the CFB boiler could directly reach the ultra-low emission standard.

Willingness to pay for environmental protection in China: Air pollution, perception, and government involvement

The deteriorating environment has become an urgent global problem. As developing country, China is no exception. Demand for clean air is increasing in response to health and social problems. We use China's micro household survey data to explore individual residents' willingness to pay for environmental protection (WTP). Results show that air pollution improves WTP. A 100 ​μg/m³ increase in PM2.5 leads to approximately 84.1% WTP on a given day, but local residents are habituated to local pollution. We further study air pollution affects individual perceptions. We discuss the belief that local governments take pollution seriously can promote WTP. In addition, respondents who own smartphones, demonstrate environmental awareness, are happier, and enjoy higher household assets and income are willing to pay more.

Assessing impacts and determinants of China's environmental protection tax on improving air quality at provincial level based on Bayesian statistics

Facing severe PM2.5 pollution, China has adopted a series of clean air policies since 2013, but PM2.5 concentrations in China remain serious. Weighing both sustainable development and environmental protection, the Environmental Protection Tax Law was implemented in 2018 in China. This research employed a Bayesian space-time model to identify the impacts of the environmental protection tax on PM2.5 pollution (IEPTPM2.5P) at the provincial level in 2018 in China, combining remotely sensed and in-situ monitoring data. Then the influence factors of the IEPTPM2.5P was investigated using a Bayesian LASSO regression model. Results indicate that the IEPTPM2.5P resulted in a decreasing trend of annual PM2.5 concentrations in 31 provinces. The spatial pattern of the IEPTPM2.5P presented a distinct geographical feature. The highest five IEPTPM2.5P occurred in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shandong, and Hebei, and the corresponding values were −1.81, −1.79, −1.52, −1.51, and −1.47 μg/m3 per year, respectively. Tourism output value associated negatively with the IEPTPM2.5P, and the other five variables associated positively with the IEPTPM2.5P. The urbanisation rate and relief amplitude were the top two influencing factors, with contributions of 36.3% and 19.3%, respectively. The IEPTPM2.5P increased 0.0141 μg/m3 per year (95% credibility interval (CI): 0.0013, 0.0259) if the urbanisation rate increased one percentage point. The influencing contributions and magnitudes of the tax rate for air pollutants and the environmental tax revenue are 9.6% and 12.1%, 0.0016 (95% CI:−0.0038, 0.0076) and 0.0108 (95% CI:−0.0188, 0.0412) μg/m3 per year, respectively.

The effect of expected financial performance on corporate environmental responsibility disclosure: evidence from China.

Nowadays, firms spend a great deal of effort on Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER) disclosure. From prospect theory, firms might disclose more CER information when they fail to achieve expected financial performance of the organization. We have constructed a CER disclosure index based on the "Guidelines for Environmental Information Disclosure of Listed Companies" issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China in 2010. Using content analysis, we analyze 397 Chinese manufacturing Shanghai A-share listed firms from 2011 to 2017 (2090 firm-year observations) to investigate the relationship between corporate expected financial performance and CER disclosure. Our results show that, firstly, when the firm does not achieve the expected performance that is when the actual expectation is lower than the expected performance of the organization, the disclosure of corporate environmental responsibility increases; secondly, we have explored the moderating effect of industry categories; we have found that when firms fail to achieve the expected performance of the organization, light polluting firms are more inclined towards disclosing the environmental responsibility information than heavy polluting firms. Additionally, we have also studied the behavior of corporate environmental responsibility disclosure in the case of analysts expecting performance as a point of reference and got the same results.

Combining the biennial Malmquist–Luenberger index and panel quantile regression to analyze the green total factor productivity of the industrial sector in China

Improving the green total-factor productivity (GTFP) is a key measure to coordinate industrial development and environmental protection in China. This study adopts the biennial Malmquist–Luenberger (BML) productivity index to estimate the GTFP change of China's 34 industrial subsectors covering the period 2005–2015. Subsequently, fixed-effect panel quantile regression is applied to analyze the heterogeneous effects of eight selected influencing factors on China's industrial GTFP change. The results show that China's overall industrial GTFP exhibited an increasing trend during the study period and varied greatly in different sub-sectors. Moreover, technological innovation rather than efficiency promotion was the main contributor to the improvement of industrial GTFP in China. The impact of the scale structure (SS) was significantly positive across the quantiles and maintained a slightly downward trend. The impact of the property rights structure (PTS) was significantly negative and showed an increasing trend across the quantiles. The impact of the energy intensity (EI) slightly increased and was significantly negative at most quantiles. The energy consumption structure (ECS) exhibited an increasing trend and had a significantly negative effect at the middle quantiles. Technological innovation (TI) exerted a significantly positive effect and displayed a downward trend across the quantiles, and it was the most important factor to drive industrial GTFP growth. The “pollution halo” hypothesis and the Porter hypothesis were both verified with a certain range from the analysis of foreign direct investment (FDI) and environmental regulation (ER), as well as the interaction between ER and TI. Our results stress the importance of the heterogeneous effects of these influencing factors on different quantile subsectors when formulating the related measures and policies.

The impact of the environment on economic growth: Evidence from China

Subject. China's industrial sectors are important vehicles that made China the global leader of GDP and economic growth. However, China managed to reach such results sacrificing its environment. The study discusses the coordination of actions spurring the economic growth and environmental protection in order to avoid such sacrifices for the sake of the national economic development. Objectives. We examine the mechanism of bilateral effects on the economic growth of China's industries and environmental protection to provide the empirical framework for the reasonable natural protection policy and environmental regulations. Methods. Theoretical projections stem from the analysis of economic literature and empirical research on resources, environment and sustainable economic development in the existing theories of economic growth. Results. Having analyzed how the environmental pollution and the industrial economic growth of China correlated, we found that a set of various environmental pollution indicators strongly differed from the empirical findings of the study. Therefore, it is still not found how the economic growth of China influenced the environmental pollution. Conclusions and Relevance. The improvement of the environmental quality is not an unavoidable endogenous result of the economic growth. If the Chinese industrial sectors continues growing extensively, the environment will grow even more polluted. It is necessary to determine a reasonable environmental protection policy to combine it with economic growth, and tighten the environmental regulations.

Technical efficiency estimation of China's environmental protection enterprises and its heterogeneity.

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.

Health Risk Assessment of Groundwater in Gaobeidian, North China: Distribution, Source, and Chemical Species of the Main Contaminants

The intensification of economic development, population growth, and energy consumption have led to the pollution of the groundwater in Gaobeidian City. This may exert great influence on human health. In the study, the chemical characteristics of the groundwater have been analyzed by Piper diagram and the possible health risks posed to the human health in Gaobeidian City has been evaluated using the model recommended by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China. Furthermore, metal-species-weighted human health risk assessment is adopted for Cr6+, which is the major contributor to the carcinogenic health risk. The results show that groundwater is weakly alkaline, and the hydrochemical types is mainly Ca-HCO3. Non-carcinogenic pollutants mainly include arsenic (As), F−, and Fe. Carcinogenic pollutants mainly include Cr6+ and As. The carcinogenic risks of Cr6+ and As in the groundwater of all sampling sites greatly exceed their maximum acceptable limits, and contribution rate of Cr6+ is higher than that of As. The most important chemical species of Cr6+ is CrO42−, followed by CaCrO4(aq) and HCrO4−. The carcinogenic risk of above species is greater than the allowable limit. Among them, CrO4− exhibits the highest carcinogenic risk, and the maximum carcinogenic risk through ingestion to children and adults is 1.27E−03 and 5.98E−04, respectively. The economy in this area has developed rapidly because of its superior geographical location, but the groundwater pollution may have a great impact on the health of local residents, which must be paid attention to by local decision makers.

Study of sustainable development in Yongkang city based on environmental capacity and pollutant control

Over the past centuries, due to the improvement of the understanding of the natural environment and social service function of rivers, many countries have started the research and practice of water environment protection. China also paid most of its attentions to the water environment in most of its cities and towns. Systematic calculation and analysis of the water environment status becomes famous in most of Chinese regions, which not only shows the current status of water environment protection in China but also indicates the methods to reduce the domestic pollution. In this study, Yongkang city is selected as a typical Chinese city, COD(Chemical Oxygen Demand) and NH3-N(Ammonia Nitrogen) are considered as two typical pollutants, both water environmental capacity and current pollution are calculated. The environmental bearing capacity coefficient is utilized to show the current status of pollution level. The comparison and analysis between the water environmental capacity and current pollution shows a good water quality status in Yongkang city. This study is also able to further improve the water quality and social development in Yongkang city in the future.

Properties Analysis and Preparation of Biochar–Graphene Composites Under a One-Step Dip Coating Method in Water Treatment

In order to improve the adsorption efficiency of biochar in water treatment, biochar–graphene (BG) composites were prepared by the one-step dip coating method and applied to remove phthalates from water. Firstly, the materials and equipment needed for the experiment are introduced. The steps of preparing graphene oxide (GO) by the improved Hummers method and BG composites by one-step dip coating are discussed. Then, the morphology characterization, adsorption performance measurement, and isothermal model of BG composites are introduced. Finally, the structure characterization, adsorption kinetics, and adsorption isotherms of BG composites are analyzed. The results show that the properties of biochar could be changed by one-step dip coating, and the biochar could form composites with graphene. Compared with biochar, biochar–graphene composites have greater surface area and porosity. When the pyrolysis temperature was 600 °C, the specific surface area of biochar was 8.4 m2g−1, and the specific surface area of the biochar–graphene composite was 221.3 m2g−1. When the temperature was 300 °C, the specific surface area of biochar was 11.01 m2g−1, and the specific surface area of biochar–graphene composite was 251.82 m2g−1. The formation of graphene on the surface of biochar can increase the stability of the composite and acts as a very high potential active site. The porous structure and surface properties of biochar–graphene composites regulate the adsorption rate of pollutant molecules, thereby improving the adsorption performance. When the adsorption equilibrium was reached, the adsorption effect of phthalate esters on the biochar/graphene composite at the pyrolysis temperature of 600 °C was the best, and the adsorption capacity of Dimethyl phthalate (DMP)was 35.2 mg/g, that of Diethyl phthalate (DEP) was 26.4 mg/g, and that of Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) was 25.1 mg/g. The adsorption effect of DMP was the best. The results of the isotherm study indicate that the adsorption of phthalates by BG composites has great potential, which provides a good theoretical basis for the application of BG composites in environmental protection in China.

Designing a spatial pattern to rebalance the orientation of development and protection in Wuhan

Patterns of spatial development and protection form a basic category of geoscience, and redesigning them is a popular subject of research in regional sustainable development that is important for ecological civilization construction. The authors here report a case study of Wuhan city using the circuit theory model and minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model to rebalance its spatial protection and development. The results show the following: (1) Using the density of the gross domestic product (GDP), density of population, rate of urbanization, and access to transportation as evaluation indicators, seven core areas of development in Wuhan were identified, accounting for 59% of the total number of streets, that exhibited a “circular-satellite” spatial structure. (2) According to the importance of ecosystem services, ecological sensitivity, land use type, and slope of the terrain, the resistance surface of spatial development in Wuhan had a stereoscopic spatial form of an “inverted pyramid,” with high surroundings and a low center. The area of low resistance accounted for 6.64% of the total area of Wuhan. (3) Based on coupling analysis using the MCR and spatial morphological characteristics of current, nine axes of spatial development with a total area of 427.27 km2 and eight key strategic points with a total area of 40.02 km2 were identified. Streets that were prioritized for development accounted for 9.63% of Wuhan’s total area. (4) By combining the characterization of the development axis with the structure of the three-level core area, we extracted the structure of spatial development of “one heart, two wings, and three belts” in Wuhan. The research framework and empirical results can provide scientific guidance for the urban spatial layout, the development of regional linkages, and ecological environmental protection in China.

China’s energy policies and strategies for climate change and energy security

Abstract National energy security, parallel with the ultimate goal of emissions reductions, is of utmost priority for the Chinese government. In order to comply with the requirements set by the Kyoto Protocol, the Chinese government announced, on 25 November 2009, that 2020’s CO2 emissions would be reduced by 40–45 per cent in accordance with the data collected from 2005. Said goal was met three years ahead of schedule. Even in light of such an accomplishment, however, commentators suggest that the overall nationally determined contributions (NDCs) made by the Parties belonging to the Paris agreement are not enough to reduce global warming by even 2°C. This article focuses on the concept of energy security in assessing whether, and how, the priorities related to climate change are gradually changing. After analysing climate change’s impact on China, conducted via an analysis of the study’s available literature and through the support of international data, this article mainly focuses on the concept of energy security, itself. Under the second section, based on the examination of China’s efforts to transition towards a low-carbon economy, the authors provide a holistic definition of energy security through the lens of three dimensions: energy supply security, energy economy and energy ecological security. The third section, in turn, addresses the relationship between energy security and climate change. The results presented in the conclusion insist that, in order to strengthen environmental protection in China, it is crucial to reform the highly inefficient and strictly regulated national energy market. In doing so, China’s transition to a low-carbon society and economy could prove less painful, as China’s available resources offer the potential for a strengthened ecological dimension and sustained socio-economic development.

The Experimental Research on Efficient Process of Bio-aromatics Production

The process research of biomass catalytic cracking for production of bio-aromatics was performed with a 50kg/h riser reactor designed by China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP). The catalyst was chosen on the basic of a previous study, were Zn2+ exchanged zeolite type catalyst supplied by China University of Petroleum. Via analysis of the liquid product collected in different temperatures, influence of reaction temperature on the yield of bio-aromatics is investigated in this paper, the high yield of aromatics form corn stalk is 15.5wt%, obtained at 500°C, while gas yield is 33.5wt%. The creative process described in this paper provides a new efficient and easily scaled method for bio-aromatics production, also could be available to industrial pilot plant design studies.

The legal system for environmental protection during exploration and exploitation of marine mineral resources in China

Great achievements have been achieved in exploring mineral resources in China since recent decades, which have significantly contributed to the climate change on the other hand. Environmental laws perhaps at par values to govern and administer the ecological environment protection in the exploration of natural resource such as marine mineral resources. China has developed various laws and policies to administer its extensive economic growth coupled with the utilisation of marine mineral resources. This study adopts both qualitative and quantitative means for data collection and content analysis of current legal developments in this regards. Therefore, the study aims to discuss practices and contributions China has made concerning the exploitation of marine mineral resources and the protection of the marine environment. The focus then turns to the adaptation of Chinese laws regarding the exploitation of marine mineral resources in its continental shelf and the Area. To this end, some lessons can be learned from other State practices such as Germany and the Czech Republic. The paper concludes by suggesting that China should actively participate in the mineral resources development and ecological environmental protection works to improve laws governing the ecological environment protection obligations on Chinese and foreign enterprises, in order to provide a legal basis for the ecological environment protection of China's maritime areas.

Impacts of Potential China's Environmental Protection Tax Reforms on Provincial Air Pollution Emissions and Economy

AbstractChina's environmental protection tax (EPT) has been implemented since the beginning of 2018 to control environmental issues (e.g., air pollution). The current EPT law indicates that tax revenues are given to provincial governments without return. However, tax revenue redistribution is the key to achieving a so‐called “double dividend”; that is, an environmental tax could benefit both the environment and economic efficiency. Based on our previous analysis of the effectiveness of the current EPT, we further explore whether the double dividend could be achieved under different tax reforms based on the multiregion and multisectoral computable general equilibrium model. We find that recycling the EPT revenue to reduce household income tax (EPT_Int) is an efficient way to achieve the double dividend, and there is no double dividend if the EPT revenue is compensated by reducing enterprise income tax (EPT_Ent) or by investing in solar power (EPT_Sol). Combining EPT_Int and EPT_Sol could be a better approach if more air pollution emissions reductions are required to achieve the national reduction targets. At the provincial level, recycling the EPT revenues to reduce household income tax could offset the negative effect of environmental tax on the economy and achieve the double dividend in all provinces, especially the provinces with higher emission intensity, such as Shanxi, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, and Guizhou Provinces. This result shows that provinces with high emission intensity may further reduce air pollutant emissions during the post‐EPT era.

Environmental Regulation, Tenure Length of Officials, and Green Innovation of Enterprises.

Many developing countries including China are implementing increasingly stringent environmental regulations to achieve sustainable development. However, we have limited understanding about whether environmental regulations promote enterprise green innovation. To address this research gap, this study empirically analyzes the impact of environmental regulations, which is represented by the China Environmental Protection Law (2015), on enterprise green innovation, and it explores the moderating effects of official tenure on environmental regulations and corporate green innovation. The Super-Slacks-based Measure (Super-SBM) model and multiple nonlinear regression model are employed to analyze sample data of 3557 firms in China’s A-share market during the 2014–2017 period. Our results show that, in general, a higher intensity of environmental regulations is more beneficial to incentivize enterprises to implement green innovation. Meanwhile, there is an inverted U-type relationship between the tenure length of officials and green innovation of enterprises. Furthermore, the tenure length of officials plays an inverted U-shaped role in regulating the impact of environmental regulations on enterprise green innovation. Overall, this study can help us better understand the politics behind enterprises green innovation in countries like China.

Does an Emissions Trading Policy Improve Environmental Efficiency? Evidence from China

An emissions trading system is a market instrument for pollution control that has been used in China for many years. The Ministry of Environmental Protection of China has approved the implementation of emissions trading pilot projects in 11 provinces since 2007, yet the effectiveness of the policy has not been comprehensively estimated. With panel data from 29 provinces and cities in China between 2003 and 2012, this study uses the data envelopment model-slack based measurement (DEA-SBM) method to measure environmental efficiency indicators and a difference in difference (DID) model to examine the impact of the emissions trading system on environmental efficiency. The results indicate that the policy has significantly improved environmental efficiency in the pilot provinces. However, the effects are heterogeneous with different efficiency levels across the diverse regions. Higher impacts were found in the central and western regions. Some suggestions for the optimization of the emissions trading system are suggested in this study.