Environmental Protection Authority Research Articles

Impact of China’s Energy-Consuming Right Trading on Urban Land Green Utilization Efficiency

China is facing development challenges, such as the red line of arable land, resource shortage, and tightening ecological and environmental constraints. In this context, improving land green utilization efficiency (LGUE) is not only an important undertaking to optimize the spatial layout of the country and improve resource carrying capacity but also an inevitable choice for the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. China’s energy-consuming right trading (ECRT) is an important energy transition demonstration policy; however, its effect on LGUE has yet to be scientifically evaluated in academic research. Using panel data of 260 prefecture-level cities in China from 2009 to 2021, this study first uses a difference-in-difference model to test the effect of ECRT on LGUE, analyze its transmission mechanism, and further examine the impact of urban characteristic heterogeneity on policy effects from multiple perspectives. Results show the following: (1) The pilot policy of ECRT significantly improves urban LGUE, as confirmed by robustness tests. (2) The ECRT pilot policy enhances urban technological innovation, promotes the upgrading of industrial structure, and thereby improves LGUE. (3) The ECRT has a more significant enhancement effect on the central and western cities, large-scale cities, and resource-based cities. (4) Government environmental protection assessment can have a positive moderating effect, that is, further amplifying the effect of ECRT on improving urban LGUE. In conclusion, we should solidly promote the construction of a unified national ECRT market, formulate policy implementation plans tailored to local conditions, and steadily improve LGUE. To a certain extent, this paper reveals the inherent logic of how ECRT affects LGUE, which provides opportunities for cities to improve LGUE through ECRT, and provides reference for promoting the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.

Environmental regulation, industrial structure and energy efficiency: Evidence from 30 provinces in China.

The government's environmental protection policy can significantly contribute to alleviating resource shortages and curbing environmental pollution, but the impact of various policy instruments implemented by the government on energy efficiency is unclear. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2021, this paper analyses the impact of environmental regulation and the industrial structure on energy efficiency from the perspective of resource taxes. The U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and energy efficiency and between the optimization of industrial structure can significantly improve energy efficiency, and the optimization of industrial structure is conducive to weakening the initial inhibitory effect of environmental regulation. In addition, the analysis of regional heterogeneity showed that the impact of environmental regulation was stronger in the central and western regions, while the impact of industrial structure was stronger in the eastern and western regions. The conclusions of this study can help to expand the understanding of the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial structure on energy efficiency, provide policy enlightenment for the realization of green development and high-quality development, and provide Chinese examples and experiences for developing countries to improve energy efficiency.

Impact of Environmental Regulation on Corporate Green Technological Innovation: The Moderating Role of Corporate Governance and Environmental Information Disclosure

Environmental degradation is an important issue facing the world today. Microcosmically, green technical innovation is needed to decrease environmental pollution. Therefore, exploring the relationship between the two is of great significance for promoting environmental protection and sustainable development. Thus, this research elucidates the interaction between green innovation (GI) and environmental regulations (ERs). This study utilizes the fixed effects model to examine how government environmental protection subsidies (EPSs) in market-incentive ER and environmental management system certification (EMSC) in voluntary participatory ER affect GI among listed companies in China. The sample observation period is from 2012 to 2021. Additionally, the impact of corporate governance (CGL) and environmental information disclosure (EID) on the relationship between ERs and GI within businesses is investigated. The empirical results show that both government environmental protection subsidies and environmental management system certification positively affect green innovation, and both corporate governance and environmental information disclosure positively moderate the impact of government environmental protection subsidies and environmental management system certification on green innovation. The above empirical results are still valid after a robustness test and can guide the formulation of government ERs, as well as corporate strategies for environmental management and GI.

Corrigendum to: Compliance is not necessarily good science. The Environmental Protection Authority’s vertebrate fauna survey guidelines should be revised

Corrigendum to: Compliance is not necessarily good science. The Environmental Protection Authority’s vertebrate fauna survey guidelines should be revised

Fiscal Decentralization and Green Innovation - Evidence from Listed Firms in China

This paper takes the reform of "Province-Managing-County(PMC)" as a natural experiment, utilizes the data of listed enterprises and green patent data from 2007 to 2019, and applies the method of the difference-in-differences(DID) to investigate the impact of fiscal decentralization on enterprises' green innovation. The study finds that the PMC reform makes the green innovation of enterprises decrease by 27.34%, and this phenomenon is more significant in state-owned enterprises and non-heavy pollution industries. The main mechanism lies in the fact that local governments, in pursuit of economic development, reduce the amount of sewage charges paid by enterprises and lower the entry threshold of enterprises, and at the same time, this behavior influences the decision makers of enterprises to reduce the amount of environmental protection investment of enterprises. Additionally, the study found that government environmental protection subsidies can ease financial constraints on enterprise green innovation, mitigating the inhibitory impact of PMC reform. The paper advocates shifting from a traditional rapid economic development model to embracing green development, integrating it into core government management, and methodically advancing fiscal decentralization reform.

The short and long-term effects of cross-border M&A network on Chinese enterprises’ green innovation

How does cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) network affect green innovation? To achieve pollution management and circular economy development, green innovation is the key path. However, little literature investigated the influence of cross-border M&A on green innovation from a network perspective. Using Chinese listed companies and an original database sourced from Zephyr of cross-border M&A deals from 2009 to 2019, this paper examines the short and long-term impact of the network on green innovation of Chinese corporations. It is suggested that the network plays a positive role in green innovation, which is not pronounced in the short term, but obvious in the long run. We further demonstrate that the long-term facilitating role is more evident for large enterprises, heavily polluting enterprises, non-high-tech enterprises, enterprises with deep knowledge base, and enterprises without myopic managers. Moreover, the long-term positive impact of cross-border M&A network on green innovation is augmented by corporate environmental responsibility and mitigated by government environmental protection subsidies.

Cutting ties with local bureaucrats: How does the environmental vertical management reform affect firm pollution in China?

China's local environmental protection agencies are the basic government units that implement the country's environmental regulations. Initiated decades ago, the vertical environmental management reform was gradually rolled out throughout the country with the aim of enhancing the independence of local environmental enforcement by shifting the control of the agencies' resources from local governments to higher-level environmental protection authorities. This research investigates the effects and influencing channels of this reform on firm pollution behavior in China. Combining manually collected data on the timing of the reform at the county level with a unique firm-level emission dataset, we use a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the effect of the reform. Our results suggest that the reform leads to a significant reduction in firms' pollution, and this reduction is achieved mainly through a scaled-back production and a cleaner production process. A further analysis shows that the reform weakens local bureaucrats' political and economic incentives that could distort environmental enforcement. Our findings highlight the importance of minimizing political interventions in environmental governance in a large country like China to achieve environmental targets.

Influencing Factors and Their Spatial–Temporal Heterogeneity of Urban Transport Carbon Emissions in China

Based on the panel data of China’s 284 prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2020, this study employs spatial econometric and geographically weighted regression models to systematically analyze the influencing factors and their spatial–temporal heterogeneity of urban transport carbon emissions. The findings reveal the following: (1) GDP per capita, population, urban road area, and private car per capita are important factors causing the increase in urban transport carbon emissions, while the improvement of urban density, public transportation effectiveness, and government environmental protection can mitigate emissions and promote low-carbon development in urban transportation. (2) The worsening impact of GDP per capita on urban transport carbon emissions shows a decreasing trend over time, forming a spatial gradient pattern of gradually increasing from southwest to northeast. However, a similar effect of population increase during the research period, which currently displays an increasing spatial differentiation from north to south in sequence. (3) As another key deteriorating urban transport carbon emission, the influencing degree of private car per capita has gradually decreased from 2006 to 2020 and represented certain spatial gradient patterns. (4) Although the urban road area is favorable to urban transport carbon reduction in the early stage, it gradually begins to change in an unfavorable direction. The urban density is the contrary, i.e., the increase in that begins to play a positive role in promoting the development of low-carbon transportation among more cities. In addition, the influence coefficient of the former also presents an increasing distribution characteristic from south to north. (5) The reduction effect of public transportation effectiveness and government environmental protection on transport carbon emissions are both gradually prominent, where the former also shows space inertia of “increasing gradient from north to south and from north to northeast”.

A deep learning interpretable model for river dissolved oxygen multi-step and interval prediction based on multi-source data fusion

Water bodies experiencing excessively low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations cannot sustain aquatic life and disrupt ecosystem balance, whereas overly high concentrations induce eutrophication, deteriorating the water environment's health. DO monitoring and safeguarding have perennially been paramount for global environmental protection authorities. Precise DO prediction is vital for water resource protection. Due to the non-linearity, complexity, and periodicity of DO data sequence, this study introduces a predictive model integrating multi-source data fusion, mode decomposition, improved sparrow search algorithm (SSA), attention (AT) mechanism, and gated recurrent unit (GRU). Initially, the original sequence undergoes decomposition via variational mode decomposition (VMD), with the resultant decomposed sub-sequences being trained and predicted using the GRU. The final predictive outcomes are derived by summing the predictions of each sub-sequence. This study substantiates the proposed model's efficacy by contrasting single models, various decomposition strategies, and combined models utilizing diverse methods. For the testing sets of two datasets, the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) coefficient, and the proportion of acceptable predictive values of the proposed model are 0.980, 100% and 0.987, 100%, respectively, outperforming other benchmark models. Additionally, the Diebold Mariano (DM) test, valley, multi-step ahead, interval predictions, and interpretability are employed to compare and analyze the model results. DM test results reveal that at a 1% significance level, the predictions from the models proposed in this study surpass those of other benchmark models. Through various approaches and perspectives' comparison and analysis, it is further demonstrated that the model developed herein displays exceptional prediction accuracy and can be effectively deployed across diverse watersheds.

A Desktop Assessment of Ozone Micro-Nanobubble Technology for Algae and PFAS Removal from Surface Water Bodies Using Open-Source Water Quality Data

Ozone is an excellent oxidant and helps in breaking down both organic and inorganic compounds; this effect is further enhanced when it decomposes into hydroxyl radicals. Several studies confirm the good performance of ozonation and micro-nanobubble technology in eradicating algae and per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances. However, very little is known about the application of ozone micro-nanobubble technology in small-scale treatment; hence, this research aims to assess the potential of this technology. A survey was performed to obtain the water quality parameters of some selected water bodies via relevant open-source databases. The water quality was compared against the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) guidelines to identify those that did not meet the criteria and it was identified that 18% of the surface water bodies were below the recommended guidelines. The identified water sources were then used for the treatment simulation, which applies the literature-reported % removal of water quality parameters to predict the effectiveness of ozone micro-nanobubble technology for the selected water sources in this study. Furthermore, the time (dose) that is needed for the treatment using this technology was estimated based on the surface area of the water bodies. The scalability study was conducted to assess how many water bodies could be treated within a day using a 50 m3/h flow rate, which yielded a value of 27%. It was concluded that ozone micro-nanobubble technology can treat algae and per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in surface waters as part of their treatment process by reducing treatment frequency and environmental impacts. By observing the benefits of ozone micro-nanobubble technology, there is a considerable chance that the surface water bodies in the City of Salisbury and, therefore, other small-scale water treatment plants, will be healthier after undergoing this process. This study demonstrated the advantages of applying open-source water quality data as a quick approximation of the evaluation of new treatment techniques, which will help engineers to better predict the performance of the designed field trials.

Government environmental protection subsidies and corporate green innovation: Evidence from Chinese microenterprises

This paper explores the impact of government environmental protection subsidies on corporate green innovation using panel data of listed companies from 2007 to 2019. The results show that such subsidies can significantly promote corporate green innovation, and the results are robust. Financing constraints, research and development (R&D) willingness, and resource allocation efficiency are important variables for government environmental protection subsidies to promote corporate green innovation. Further analysis shows that compared with industrial policies at the provincial level, the key supportive industrial policies at the central level have a more obvious reinforcing effect on government environmental subsidies to promote enterprise green innovation. Furthermore, government environmental subsidies in the eastern, middle, and western regions benefit the promotion of enterprise green innovation, and the promotional effect is stronger in the middle and western regions. Compared with state-owned enterprises, government environmental subsidies have a more obvious promotional effect on promoting green innovation of non-state-owned enterprises. This paper provides strong theoretical inspiration for better playing the positive incentive role of government intervention with the help of government environmental protection subsidies.

Investigating the Role of Law Enforcement in Preventing Environmental Crimes Related to Industrial Waste in Specific Regions of Ethiopia

Environmental crimes related to industrial waste refer to illegal activities conducted by industrial factories that pose harm to the environment and human health. In many developing nations, law enforcement agencies underestimate the prevalence of such crimes. This study focuses on investigating the role of law enforcement institutions in preventing industrial waste-related environmental crimes within selected regions and city administrations of Ethiopia. Employing a qualitative research approach with an exploratory design, the study used key informant interviews and document analysis as data collection tools. The researchers purposively selected sample regions (Amhara, Oromia, Sidama, and Harari) and two city administrations, engaging participants from law enforcement bodies (regional police, code enforcement (Militia)), environmental protection authorities, and communities. The findings reveal that although there are national and international laws addressing industrial waste-related environmental crimes, their enforcement is limited because of a lack of awareness about the legal framework within the country. Environmental protection authorities play a significant role in enforcing environmental laws and standards compared to other law enforcement agencies. Opportunities for preventing industrial waste-related environmental crimes include existing environmental laws, community participation, stakeholders, and addressing environmental cross-cutting issues. Conversely, challenges to effective prevention include a lack of cooperation among law enforcement bodies, limited awareness about crimes, insufficient resources, and misperceptions by responsible bodies. Based on these findings, the study proposes suggestions to strengthen law enforcement agencies.

Doctrinal approach to the concept of the legal nature of the ecological state

The article examines the legal nature of the ecological state based on the analysis of foreign and national legislation.
 Attention is drawn to the fact that the term "ecological state” in various scientific literature is used in such meanings as "green state”, "eco­state”, "eco-centric state”, "ecologically oriented state”, "ecological state of social justice”, etc.
 The normative consolidation of the concept of "ecological state” in foreign countries was analyzed, the scientific literature, and using the systematic method of research, it is necessary to determine several directions of understanding of the "ecological state”. First, the concept of "ecological state” is widely used in foreign countries to describe political and socio-economic systems aimed at protecting the environment and natural resources. These concepts define the state's approach to environmental issues and often indicate that environmental issues are a priority for the government and citizens. Secondly, the "ecological state” must be understood as a system of legal regulation aimed at ensuring ecologically sustainable development through environmental protection and rational use of natural resources. Third, as a system of government bodies, which includes various structures and institutions responsible for the development, implementation and control of environmental policy.
 The features that determine its essence and content of an ecological state are summarized, namely: strict compliance with environmental legislation; supporting sustainable development and promoting the use of renewable energy sources; broad powers of environmental protection authorities; preservation of biodiversity; public participation and transparency; provision of environmental education and formation of citizens' eco-awareness; international cooperation in the field of environmental protection, etc.
 The author's definition of an ecological state is provided.

A novel grey multivariate convolution model based on the improved marine predators algorithm for predicting fossil CO2 emissions in China

The effective prediction of fossil carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions provides a foundation for environmental protection authorities to make relevant management and decisions. CO2 emissions are influenced by various factors and exhibit a nonlinear and complex trend. First, the weighted conformable fractional accumulation (WCFA) method is proposed. WCFA is a generalized form of the existing weighted accumulation and conformable fractional order accumulation. A nonlinear discrete grey Bernoulli multivariate convolution model is introduced to model the sequences processed by WCFA. Then, an improved marine predators algorithm (IMPA) is obtained by improving the marine predators algorithm by the tent map and cosine control parameter. The performance of IMPA is verified by algorithm comparison experiments and Friedman test. The feasibility and predictive effectiveness of the proposed model is validated through three case studies. In prediction of fossil CO2 emissions in China, the fitting and prediction errors of the proposed model reach 1.1773% and 0.5402%, respectively. Finally, the total fossil CO2 emissions in China from 2022 to 2026 are predicted and analyzed. The results indicate a gradual decrease in fossil CO2 emissions over the next five years. Some reasonable suggestions are made based on the prediction results and sources of fossil CO2 emissions.

Research on invasive pests and diseases in New Zealand and the law

​Two New Zealand statutes have important implications for research with organisms not previously found in New Zealand and either incidentally or illegally introduced. The Biosecurity Act 1993 and the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 define the legal framework and allowable activities for ‘unwanted’ and ‘new’ organisms, respectively. Aspects of these Acts that are relevant to research activities possible with plant pest and disease organisms after their discovery, in particular those organisms requiring rapid development of management strategies and tools, are summarised. The need for accurate, detailed and accessible lists of ‘unwanted’ and ‘new’ organisms, and the need for the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Environmental Protection Authority to respond rapidly when the status of these organisms needs to be changed is highlighted. Consideration should be given to making the legislation concerning ‘new’ organisms more applicable to incidentally or illegally introduced organisms.

Omnibus Law on Job Creation: Tug of War over Environmental Protection Authority Amid the Climate Crisis

This article analyses the relationship between national and local governments regarding environmental protection amid the climate crisis after the Omnibus Law on Job Creation issuance. It is a normative study of legal concepts in the statutory system. The results point out that Omnibus Law on Job Creation has changed the paradigm of environmental protection from “permission” to “consent” or “agreement.” The policy weakened the local government’s role in protecting the environment amidst the climate crisis. Apart from that, the Omnibus Law has also created a pattern of centralization by reducing the authority of local governments—which is only interpreted as a deconcentrated primate in implementing the law provisions.

Digitalized Ship Maintenance Management System Website Application Innovation Strategy Using Design Thinking Method

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explore the benefits of digitalization, specifically in the context of PT Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia's (PT. BKI) digital transformation efforts. The focus is on how digitalization can enhance operational efficiency, productivity, customer service, and global competitiveness in the maritime industry.
 Method: The research employs the design thinking method to identify and address customer needs and challenges. It highlights the development of the "Digitalized Ship Management Maintenance System" application, showcasing its role in simplifying ship maintenance processes. The study uses a customer-centric approach to determine modules that provide effective solutions to identified issues.
 Result: The Digitalized Ship Management Maintenance System application is designed to streamline ship maintenance for customers. Utilizing design thinking, the study identifies customer problems and develops modules to address them. The application offers direct integration with PT. BKI's survey status, strengthening its international classification standing. Additionally, it supports government data integration, ensuring safety and environmental protection in Indonesia's maritime areas.
 Implication: The implications of the study underscore the significance of digital transformation for companies in the maritime sector, particularly for PT. BKI. The "Go Global" and "Big Top 5 Asia" targets align with the broader benefits of digitalization, including enhanced operational efficiency, global market access, and improved customer service. The developed application serves as a tangible outcome of the digitalization process, contributing to PT. BKI's competitiveness and its role as a trusted classification body.

Optimal waste load allocation in river systems based on a new multi-objective cuckoo optimization algorithm.

Water pollution escalates with rising waste discharge in river systems, as the rivers' limited pollution tolerance and constrained self-cleaning capacity compel the release of treated pollutants. Although several studies have shown that the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II) is an effective algorithm regarding the management of river water quality to reach water quality standards, to our knowledge, the literature lacks using a new optimization model, namely, the multi-objective cuckoo optimization algorithm (MOCOA). Therefore, this research introduces a new optimization framework, including non-dominated sorting and ranking selection using the comparison operator densely populated towards the best Pareto front and a trade-off estimation between the goals of discharges and environmental protection authorities. The suggested algorithm is implemented for a waste load allocation issue in Jajrood River, located in the North of Iran. The limitation of this research is that discharges are point sources. To analyze the performance of the new optimization algorithm, the simulation model is linked with a hybrid optimization model using a cuckoo optimization algorithm and non-dominated sorting genetic algorithms to convert a single-objective algorithm to a multi-objective algorithm. The findings indicate that, in terms of violation index and inequity values, MOCOA's Pareto front is superior to NSGA-II, which highlights the MOCOA's effectiveness in waste load allocation. For instance, with identical population sizes and violation indexes for both algorithms, the optimal Pareto front ranges from 1.31 to 2.36 for NSGA-II and 0.379 to 2.28 for MOCOA. This suggests that MOCOA achieves a superior Pareto front in a more efficient timeframe. Additionally, MOCOA can attain optimal equity in the smaller population size.

Government environmental protection expenditure and national ESG performance: Global evidence

Drawing on comprehensive indicator data of national ESG performance across 27 countries from 2006 to 2020, this study employs a panel Tobit model to examine the impact of government environmental protection spending on national ESG performance. The results demonstrate that government environmental protection spending has a significant and positive effect on national ESG performance. Moreover, the analysis of heterogeneity indicates that the allocation of funds towards environmental protection not only bolsters the ecological and societal performance of a nation, but also elevates its governance standards. Additionally, the mechanism analysis highlights that augmenting government spending on environmental protection leads to an upsurge in green innovation, which in turn has a positive impact on the national ESG performance. This study offers crucial insights into the factors that drive national ESG performance, specifically through the lens of government spending on environmental protection. It provides valuable guidance to policy makers on how to optimize such spending and enhance the national ESG performance.

Accelerated aging for after-treatment devices of diesel engine: Method, emission characteristics, and equivalence

After-treatment devices of diesel engines effectively reduce exhaust emissions but deteriorate over time. Consequently, the China-VI emission regulation mandates a useful life of seven years or 700,000 km for after-treatment devices. Conventional engine bench aging methods, being costly and time-consuming, are inapplicable for long-term emission durability verification. This paper introduces an accelerated aging method based on the thermal accumulation and Arrhenius equation. Accelerated aging of four after-treatment devices of the same model at different temperatures and durations was carried out. Results revealed that barring the CDPF's PN filtration efficiency, the efficiencies of the DOC, SCR, and ASC catalysts declined with accelerated aging, especially under lower temperatures. Deterioration in conversion efficiencies of catalysts increased the NOx, CO, THC, and NH3 emissions under cold- and warm-WHTC tests. Considering that the equivalent durability mileage of the after-treatment devices under 150 h 650 °C accelerated aging condition is approximately 870,000 km, while the CO, THC, PN, NOx, and NH3 emission factors are 0.05 g/kWh, 0.21 g/kWh, 2.14 × 1010 #/kWh, 0.44 g/kWh, and 3.48 ppm, respectively, so the durability of the tested after-treatment devices could comply with the China-VI emission regulation. Although accelerated aging did not significantly affect PN emissions, it increased the balanced point temperature of CDPF and the proportion of sub-23 nm particles. If emission regulations further reduce the lower limit of PN measurement to 10 nm, it could negatively impact the emission durability of CDPF. In addition, comparing the 1000 h of conventional aging showed similar characteristics and results in NOx conversion efficiency and NOx emission, suggesting that the accelerated aging method is reliable. In conclusion, the accelerated aging method reduces the durability verification duration, providing a cost-effective regulatory tool for environmental protection authorities and guidance for manufacturers to optimize device performance and durability.