Environmental Pollution Governance Research Articles

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.

Does environmental pollution governance contribute to carbon emission reduction under heterogeneous green technological innovation? Empirical evidence from China’s provincial panel data

Does environmental pollution governance contribute to carbon emission reduction under heterogeneous green technological innovation? Empirical evidence from China’s provincial panel data

Adsorption and Degradation of Zinc Metal-Organic Framework Materials in Environmental Pollution

Zinc metal-organic framework materials exhibit outstanding adsorption and degradation performance in the field of environmental pollution governance. Their porous structure and high surface area make them effective adsorbents capable of removing heavy metal ions and organic pollutants from water. Additionally, these materials possess photocatalytic and biodegradation functionalities, facilitating the degradation of organic pollutants and reducing environmental pollution. Therefore, zinc metal-organic framework materials hold significant promise for broad applications in the field of environmental protection.

The driving factors and spatial evolution of industrial water pollution governance efficiency in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration in China.

In order to explore the effective path to improve the efficiency of industrial water pollution governance efficiency (WGE), this study takes 27 prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration in China as the research object, measures WGE through the improved SBM model, and tests the impact of WGE drivers using the spatial Durbin model (SDM). The study found that environmental pollution governance investment (EPGI) is positively correlated with WGE, and industrial agglomeration status (IAS) has inhibitory effects on the improvement of WGE. By testing IAS2, it was determined that the impact of IAS on WGE has a "U"-shaped relationship. The direct impact of EPGI on WGE is 0.5016, and the indirect impact on WGE is 0.6428; the direct impact of IAS on WGE is -0.3036, and the indirect impact on WGE is -0.5158. Among the other tested impact drivers, per capita GDP (PCG), industrial structure (IS), and level of technological innovation (TIL) are positively correlated with the dependent variable WGE, while energy consumption intensity (ECI), environmental regulation intensity (ERI), and degree of openness to foreign investment (FIR) are negatively correlated with the dependent variable WGE. In addition to the impact of the aforementioned main drivers, IAS and EPGI, these six drivers also largely influence and determine the final impact on WGE.

How does environmental legislation guide urban green transition development? Evidence from China

Based on the unique perspective of local environmental regulations promulgated in Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2000 to 2018, this paper examines the impact of urban environmental legislation on green total factor energy efficiency (GTFEE). The results show that implementing environmental legislation significantly improves local GTFEE, with comprehensive protection regulations contributing to local energy efficiency improvements, while the impact of pollution prevention regulations is insignificant. This conclusion remains robust to multiple scenarios. Potential mechanisms through which environmental legislation can guide urban green transition include the industrial upgrading effect represented by “clean industry development” and “polluting industry exit”, as well as the technical innovation effect achieved through “new technology generation” and “old technology upgrading”. Furthermore, environmental legislation with a higher degree of regulatory effectiveness has a greater potential for energy saving. Environmental legislation has a more significant impact on improving GTFEE in cities in non-old industrial bases, with less frequent turnover of officials, and in central and western regions in China. This study evaluates the positive impact of urban environmental legislation on GTFEE, aiming to advancing the rule of law in local environmental pollution governance and thereby promote urban green transition.

Examining the impacts of implicit economic policy on urban environmental pollution: Unveiling pathways for sustainable recovery

Local governments face challenges in achieving environmental control amidst economic policy uncertainty, particularly in the context of the mining, non-fuel minerals, energy minerals, fossil fuels, or metals industries. This study examines the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on environmental pollution using data from Chinese prefecture-level cities, focusing on these industries. The findings reveal a positive correlation between EPU and pollution, with each unit increase in EPU associated with a 0.1% decrease in wastewater emissions and a 0.2% decrease in exhaust emissions. To examine the mechanism, the study analyzes local government behavior, enterprise behavior, and local economy performance in these industries. Results indicate that EPU reduces investment but encourages innovation, particularly in green technologies, in these industries. Furthermore, EPU promotes innovation, the growth of the tertiary sector, and the entry of high-tech firms while reducing investment. The mechanism analysis confirms that EPU mitigates regional environmental pollution through technological and compositional effects while curbing the scale effect, particularly in the mining, non-fuel minerals, energy minerals, fossil fuels, or metals industries. These findings provide insights for local governments and stakeholders in these industries to address environmental pollution governance amidst economic policy uncertainty.

Mediating and spatial spillover effects of public participation in environmental pollution governance mediated via traditional and new media

A systematic study of public participation (Pub) in environmental pollution control can facilitate collaborative governance based on multiple factors, and promote the modernization of national governance. Based on the data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2020, this study empirically analyzed the mechanism of Pub in environmental pollution governance. Based on multiple channels, a dynamic spatial panel Durbin model and an intermediary effect model were constructed. The main results are as follows: (1) Pub based on environmental letters and visits have no significant impact on local pollution reduction, while the Baidu search index of environmental pollution has the greatest effect on emission reduction, followed by environmental protection strategies based on the National People's Congress (NPC) and microblogging. (2) Pub not only has a direct positive impact on environmental control through its positive externality but also indirectly reduces environmental treatment by enhancing the intensity of environmental regulation. (3) Pub has a significant spatial spillover effect on environmental control based on geographical attenuation. Excluding environmental legislation, the direct spatial spillover effects of Pub under the networked platform and traditional channels are only significant within 1200 km and 1000 km, respectively, which decrease with increasing geographic distance within this range. When the environmental regulations are considered, the spatial spillover effects of suggestions proposed by NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are significant within 800 km, while the attenuation boundary of Internet complaints, Baidu index, and microblogging public opinion is 1000 km. (4) The impact of Pub on environmental governance varies significantly among regions. Compared with central and western regions, the eastern region showed more effective pollution reduction based on Pub.

Study on measurement and drivers of low-carbon tourism eco-efficiency: evidence from Jiangsu Province

In order to explore practical ways to test the eco-efficiency of low-carbon tourism and its drivers in Jiangsu Province, this paper empirically tests the effects of selected driving variables on the eco-efficiency of low-carbon tourism using a spatial lag model. It measures the eco-efficiency of low-carbon tourism in 13 prefecture-level cities in Jiangsu Province based on a modified two-stage network SBM model. According to the direct effect test results, per capita tourism income (PTI) had the most significant effect on the eco-efficiency of low-carbon tourism, with an impact coefficient of 0.5437, environmental pollution governance (EPG) had the second most significant effect, energy consumption intensity (ECI) and carbon emission intensity (CEI) had adverse effects with effect coefficients of - 0.3815 and - 0.4415, respectively, and R&D input intensity (RDII) had the slightest effect on the eco-efficiency of low-carbon tourism, with an impact coefficient of - 0.0836. According to indirect effect test results, RDII has the most significant positive effect with a coefficient of 0.3848, PTI has the second most significant adverse effect on the eco-efficiency of low-carbon tourism with a coefficient of - 0.3245, ECI has the third most significant adverse effect with a coefficient of - 0.2567, EPG has the fourth largest positive effect with a coefficient of 0.2162, and CEI has the slightest adverse effect with an impact coefficient of - 0.2147.

Performance management and environmental governance in China

The national environmental quality has maintained a momentum of improvement, while the tension between the performance evaluation system and local officials’ behavior has been a significant concern. Based on panel data from 224 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2018, this paper examined the impact of the characteristics of officials on environmental pollution governance using a fixed-effect model. The empirical results demonstrate an incentive for officials to reduce pollution emissions and improve environmental protection when their native place coincides with the province where they work. The reverse incentive occurs when their native place coincides with the prefecture-level city where they work. Given the fact that eco-policy is the transmission mechanism, a more reasonable assessment system should pay more attention to officials’ characteristics, such as younger female officials are more likely to implement environmental policies, party school education may not be helpful for pollution governance, education level, professional background and working experience has little correlation with environment. Besides, a significant mediating effect shows that officials with hometown identity are encouraged to do more in environmental protection. An official incentive framework on ‘working effort’ should be employed to enhance the effectiveness of environmental governance.

Extrusion Effect or Promotion Effect? The Effect of Environmental Regulation on Enterprise Green Innovation.

This paper took the policy of China' Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan as an exogenous shock to reflect the change in environmental regulation intensity. By matching environmental policies with micro data of listed companies in China, this paper explored the effect and mechanisms of environmental regulation on enterprise green innovation. Through constructing difference-in-difference (DID) and difference-in-difference-in-difference (DDD) models, we found the following to be the case: (1) Environmental regulation had a significant positive effect with the green innovation level of Chinese listed companies. (2) Compared with non-regulated industries, this policy has led to a significant increase (5.4%) in the amount of firms' green patent applications in regulated industries, and the promoting effect was more obvious in key areas that are strictly controlled by this policy. (3) Compared with non-state-owned enterprises, it had a stronger impact on the green innovation of state-owned enterprises. (4) Mechanistic analysis showed that China's environmental regulation can play a resource compensation effect by increasing environmental protection subsidies for enterprises' green innovation behaviors. Additionally, it can force firms to increase investment in environmental pollution governance by raising pollution penalties, thus exerting the forcing effect. This paper provides new evidence for Porter's hypothesis and can provide a reference for developing countries promoting green innovation through environmental policies and regulations.

A Study on Inter-Provincial Environmental Pollution Movement in China Based on the Input–Output Method

In China, environmental pollution responsibilities are divided according to administrative regions. However, because of the strong externality of environmental pollution, the movement of environmental pollution undoubtedly increases the complexity of pollution governance. To divide the responsibility of environmental pollution governance in each province, we effectively quantify the unequal relationship between environmental pollution costs and economic benefits in each province to understand the mechanism and characteristics of inter-provincial environmental pollution movement. Based on the regional input–output model and an inventory we compiled of sulfur dioxide(SO2) emissions of air pollutants in 2012, we calculate the implied inter-provincial environmental pollution emissions and economic benefits from trade, based on production and consumption (supply-side and demand-side). In addition, the movement relationship is explored, and the cost and economic value-added indexes of air pollution control are further constructed to provide effective evidence for a reasonable division of responsibility for environmental pollution control. The results show that there are obvious environmental inequities in the regional trade process in each province, indicating that environmental pollution has been moved. Developed provinces have more economic benefits but pay less in the process of trading goods with less-developed provinces due to the advantages of their industrial structure, while the opposite is true for less-developed provinces. Finally, we propose corresponding policy recommendations to change this condition.

Does improvement of environmental efficiency matter in reducing carbon emission intensity? Fresh evidence from 283 prefecture-level cities in China

While promoting environmental efficiency is widely perceived as one of the panaceas for solving environmental issues in China, little effort has been made to identify whether environmental efficiency improvement helps to reduce carbon emission intensity (CEI). Therefore, the work presented in this study remedies the inadequacies in the previous literature by investigating the linkages between environmental efficiency and CEI, by explicitly considering its spatiotemporal heterogeneous effect and dynamic measurement. We first measure the environmental efficiency (EE) and its growth (environmental total factor productivity) at prefecture level in China during 2003–2016 by incorporating a recently modified epsilon-based data envelopment analysis technique in the global Malmquist–Luenberger index. A spatial panel regression approach is then applied to reveal the impact mechanism of EE and its growth on the CEI. The empirical results confirm that promoting EE and environmental technology efficiency can help mitigate the urban CEI. However, the impact of economic scale efficiency on the CEI reduction has not been verified, indicating great room for CEI mitigation by optimizing the urban production scale and reducing production redundancy. Evidence from the spatiotemporal econometric analysis shows a spatially heterogeneous effect of EE on CEI, and the strength of influence tends to decrease over time. The findings also reveal that enhancing EE matters in reducing CEI for southern and western cities. Finally, several control variables have negative direct and indirect (spillover effect) effects on CEI reduction, including urbanization, industrial structure, and foreign direct investment. Our findings suggest that strengthening the synergistic effect between environmental pollution governance and carbon emission control by enhancing EE to promote low-carbon development in Chinese cities.

The Sharing of Costs and Benefits of Rural Environmental Pollution Governance in China: A Qualitative Analysis through Guanxi Networks Perspective

Concern has been expressed in many parts of the world that community relations in rural areas are breaking down, making issues such as rural environmental degradation harder to resolve without external regulation. Guanxi is a specific Chinese idiom for characterizing social networks, as a broad term to represent existing relations among people, which can be loosely translated as ‘‘relationship’’. Based on a case study of an underdeveloped mountainous area of Southern China, this paper examined the problem from the perspective of guanxi, and explored the impacts of internal group differentiation catalyzed by pig farming pollution and the subsequent influences on the distribution of costs and benefits of different shareholders. It was found that the guanxi in the village were changed from blood relationship centered to economic interest centered. This disparity exerts a significant influence on the distribution of costs and benefits of pollution control and exacerbates environmental inequalities. This means that pig farmers dominated the narrative of pig farming pollution, while the ordinary villagers chose to suffer without protesting, which hinders the advancement of pollution control, and pig farmers took the benefits of weak pollution control and managed to transfer the external cost to others, while others became direct victims. The paper concludes that the rich become richer and the poor become poorer in both economic and environmental perspectives. It is strongly suggested that guanxi should be integrated into the consideration and decision-making process of rural environmental governance in order to guarantee the efficiency and efficacy of its implementation.

Impact of Government Regulation on Emission Reduction of Environmental Pollutants in China

In pursuit of rapid economic growth, China ignores the carrying capacity of the natural environment and storage quantity of natural resources, resulting in waste and abuse of a large number of natural resources. With the development of industrialization, environmental and ecological problems are becoming more and more serious. Resources are being wasted seriously, and environmental endurance is faced with a great threat. Government regulation on environmental pollution governance has become a consistent problem to be solved for the further economic and social development of all countries in the world. Most governments adopt the establishment of environmental regulation agencies to regulate enterprise pollution. To explore the impact of government regulation on emission reduction of environmental pollutants, government regulation was taken as an explanatory variable and a multivariate panel regression model was established. The influencing factors of environmental pollutant emission in 30 provinces (cities) in China from 2007 to 2016 were estimated. Results show that the government regulation policy in China cannot significantly promote emission reduction of environmental pollutants. GDP and technological progress can effectively reduce the emission of environmental pollutants. The increasing proportion of the secondary industry and a large amount of foreign investment, both lead to an increase in environmental pollutants emission. Government regulation measures can effectively alleviate ecological environment damage caused by environmental pollutant emission. The policy implication of the findings is that the government of China should formulate appropriate intensity of government regulation. The intensity of environmental regulation cannot be blindly increased. Regulation means of pollution charge, pollution permits, and environmental tax should be flexibly used. According to realistic characteristics of different regions, different degrees of excess production cap

How can environment get better? A research review of pollution governance

PurposeThis study aims to build a global environmental quality protection convention to jointly address the problems of environmental pollution governance worldwide.Design/methodology/approachFrom the perspective of environmental pollution of the air, ocean, forest, water and solid waste, the authors summarize the main important measures and mechanisms of environmental pollution governance in various countries.FindingsThe results indicate that management research on biodiversity and natural resources must be strengthened, the relationship between economic development and environmental quality management needs to be balanced, the comparative study of domestic and international environmental governance theories and practices should be strengthened, empirical and applied research on environmental governance needs to be focused on, and complete system research on environmental governance and management should be explored. In the future, further strengthening environmental awareness, addressing environmental pollution and managing environmental quality are necessary.Originality/valueThe environment is the foundation of human survival and development. With the development of economy, contradictions between human and natural environment (e.g. air, ocean, forest and water) have become prominent. Environmental pollution governance cannot only help address existing environmental problems but also solve economic problems of various countries. The prerequisite for sustainable development is to lay a solid foundation for the coordinated development of economic growth and pollution management.

Does Public Interest Litigation Promote the Performance of Urban Environmental Governance? An Empirical Study Based on Micro-data of 287 Prefecture-level Cities

In the context of the“new normal”of China’s economy, serious environmental pollution is hindering the high-quality development of China’s economy. Environmental governance is inseparable from the protection of the rule of law, but in China’s traditional environmental governance, the administrative department and the judicial department perform their respective duties, which easily leads to environmental pollution governance as a mere formality. Promoting the effective linkage of environmental administration and environmental justice is the inherent requirement of improving the ecological environment and promoting the green and high-quality development of economy. Based on the data of 287 prefecture-level cities in China from 2010 to 2018, this paper uses the multi-period DID method to empirically test the pollution emission reduction effect of the public interest litigation system by procuratorate. First of all, we test the impact of the public interest litigation system by procuratorate on industrial emissions as a whole. The numbers of civil, administrative and criminal incidental civil cases are chosen as the dependent variables to test the implementation of the system. Secondly, we use the mediation effect model to explore the internal mechanism of the public interest litigation system by procuratorate to improve the performance of urban environmental governance. Thirdly, we test the heterogeneity of all prefecture-level cities. Finally, the parallel trend test and the placebo test are used to test the robustness of the results. The findings are as follows: Firstly, the public interest litigation system by procuratorate can effectively reduce the emissions of industrial pollutants and improve the performance of urban environmental governance. Secondly, its main mechanism is to promote the governance of urban environmental pollution through environmental supervision of procuratorial organs, judicial and administrative linkage, and enhancing the participation of citizens in environmental governance. Thirdly, the public interest litigation system by procuratorate has a better emission reduction effect in the central region. At the same time, the system has a good implementation effect in key environmental protection cities. Based on the above, this paper believes that we should strengthen the linkage between environmental administration and environmental justice from the construction of the ecological co-governance system of multiple administrative and judicial subjects, and the construction of the communication and cooperation mechanism between procuratorial organs, the public and environmental protection organizations.

How Does Income Inequality Influence Environmental Regulation in the Context of Corruption? A Panel Threshold Analysis Based on Chinese Provincial Data.

The question of how the income inequality of residents affects the level of environmental regulation in the context of official corruption was the core research issue of this study. We analyzed this problem using the panel threshold regression model from 26 provinces in China from 1995 to 2017. We found that when there is no official corruption, the widening of the residents’ income inequality promotes stricter environmental regulations; when the corruption problem is serious, the expansion of the residents’ income inequality leads to the decline in environmental standards; that is, the impact of residents’ income inequality on environmental regulation has a threshold effect due to corruption. In addition, the threshold effect due to corruption of all residents’ income inequality on environmental regulation is mainly generated by the urban residents’ income inequality and the urban–rural income inequality. This paper contributes to the literature that concentrates on the relationship between income inequality and environmental regulation, and shows that corruption is a key factor that can deeply influence that relationship. The research conclusion shows that increasing anti-corruption efforts can not only maintain national political stability, social fairness, and justice, but also be a powerful measure for environmental pollution governance.

Comprehensive evaluation of ecological environment quality of mining area based on sustainable development indicators: a case study of Yanzhou Mining in China

In order to explore the effective method for the comprehensive evaluation of ecological environment quality of environmental pollution governance in China’s coal mining areas, based on the review of domestic and foreign research literature and the requirements and actual situation of environmental pollution control in China’s coal mining areas, this paper selects four categories of 20 evaluation indicators, including land resource, water resource, air, and sustainable development status. According to the land, surface water, air quality standards, and China’s sustainable development strategy issued by the Chinese government, and drawing on the latest research results at China and the world, taking the Yanzhou Mining in China as an example, the traditional niche model is introduced to reconstruct the spatial niche model for the case evaluation. It is found that the evaluation results of the spatial niche model lie between the evaluation results of the absolute niche model and the relative niche model. According to the evaluation results, during 2010–2018, the quality of land resources, water resources, and sustainable development in Yanzhou Mining has been upgraded from level IV to II, and the air quality has been upgraded from level IV to level III, which is still the focus of improving the ecological environment quality in Yanzhou Mining. The research findings are significant for guiding the Yanzhou Mining to improve the quality of the ecological environment and promote sustainable development. The conclusion of this paper has guiding significance for the improvement of ecological environment quality of other similar coal mining areas and provides empirical support for the government to formulate environmental pollution governance and ecological environment quality policy.

Multi-dimensional influence measurement of urbanization on the quality of natural living environment in China

With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization and the continuous improvement of social productivity, people are increasingly demanding a higher quality of the living environment. Based on existing research, this study built a compiled index system to evaluate the quality of natural living environment (NLEQ). Thereafter, the spatiotemporal characteristics of NLEQ were analyzed using a panel regression analysis, to explore the mechanism of urbanization through the multi-dimensional method of system–subsystem–factors. The results show that NLEQ significantly improved from 2008 to 2017; resource-environmental quality (REQ) had a north–south difference, while environmental pollution governance (EPG) had an east–west difference due to the different influences of urbanization on NLEQ, REQ, and EPG. Industrial urbanization had a significant influence on REQ, and population urbanization and land urbanization had a significant influence on EPG. These results suggest that more attention should be paid to resource conservation and pollution treatment in the context of rapid urbanization. This article describes the evaluation of NLEQ and discusses the relationship between urbanization and NLEQ from a geographical perspective. It is of critical reference to study regional development imbalances in the natural living environment, in order to construct an ecological civilization.

Countermeasures for Marine Environmental Pollution Governance: An Ecological Civilization Perspective

Chen, X. and Zheng, J., 2020. Countermeasures for marine environmental pollution governance: An ecological civilization perspective. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 355–358. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.The smooth implementation and development of the marine strategy cannot be separated from the protection of the marine ecological environment. With the increase of marine utilization in China, the problem of marine environmental pollution is more and more serious. Therefore, it is urgent to carry out research into countermeasures for marine environmental pollution control based on the perspective of ecological civilization. This paper first introduces the theoretical basis of marine environmental pollution control based on ecological civilization, then gives the status of the marine ecological environment in China's coastal waters, and then analyzes the status of marine ecological environment control in China. Finally, this paper gives suggestions on the specific strategies for marine environmental pollution control based on ecological civilization.