Environmental Protection Expenditure Research Articles

Public Expenditure and Green Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Prefecture-Level Cities.

Whilst effective public expenditure policies are essential for transforming the traditional factor-driven economy into a green and innovation-driven economy, the impacts of public expenditure’s size and composition on green economic development have not been comprehensively investigated. This paper attempts to fill this research gap. Based on the data of Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2010 to 2018, we first measure green total factor productivity (GTFP), the proxy variable for green development, and briefly analyze its spatial-temporal trends. Then, using the dynamic panel models, dynamic panel mediation models, and dynamic panel threshold models, we evaluate how public expenditure affects GTFP. The main findings are fourfold: (1) there is a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between the expenditure size and GTFP. (2) The expansion of social expenditures and science and technology (S&T) and environmental protection expenditures play an important role in stimulating green growth, while economic expenditures and administrative expenditures have adverse effects. (3) Public expenditure mainly promotes green development through four channels: human capital accumulation, technological innovation, environmental quality improvement, and labor productivity increase. (4) The expenditure composition influences the turning point of the inverted U-shaped relationship. Based on these findings, we propose some targeted policy suggestions to promote green development.

INNOVATIVE PRINCIPLES OF FRESHWATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

About two-thirds of the world’s population may experience water shortages within several decades. Yet, in many countries, there is still a tendency to solve water scarcity problems by increasing water supply, increasing the storage and distribution of surface and groundwater through the creation of new infrastructure, desalination of saline or brackish water, reuse of wastewater, or recharge of aquifers. This trend should prevail over the focus on reducing water demand, for example, by stopping losses in transport and distribution systems, implementing adequate tariff systems aimed at reducing the level of water demand, changing water use technologies, and, in general, increasing the efficiency of water use in household, industrial trial and irrigation systems; in other words, seeking to improve overall water productivity. However, it is possible to overcome the water shortage through efficient and rational use while using innovative solutions that will significantly modernize the water resources infrastructure. Therefore, using creative principles of freshwater resource management in the context of sustainable development should become a perspective for the next ten years. The article aims to research the current state, regional features, and prospects for developing the innovative potential of freshwater resources in Ukraine. It has been proven that in Ukraine, the share of state budget expenditures for environmental protection of total spending ranges from 0.57 to 1.11%. It was determined that the largest share of state budget expenditures on environmental protection in total spending was observed in 2011 – 1.11%, and the smallest in 2020 was 0.57%. It is noted that in 2020, the volume of expenses for environmental protection was significantly reduced compared to the previous year by UAH 675 million. The analysis showed that during the research period, the largest share of expenses was allocated to preventing and eliminating environmental pollution. Therefore, it was determined that the item of budget expenditures for the prevention and elimination of environmental pollution for 2010-2020 increased from UAH 2,255 million to UAH 6,507 million. However, the structure of total expenses decreased slightly from 78.52% to 71.85%, respectively. Accordingly, in the form of costs, the reduction occurred in the following items of budget expenses: preservation of the nature reserve fund from 7.64% in 2010 to 6.78% in 2020, fundamental and applied research and development in the field of environmental protection from 2.06 % to 1.85%, respectively.

Assessment of Waste Generation and Efficiency of Their Use in Economic Activity

Abstract. Introduction. The problem of waste accumulation and efficient use in Ukraine is particularly large and significant. This is due to the dominance of resource-intensive and waste-intensive technologies in the country's economy, as well as the low degree of their processing. At the same time, the high level of resource use of the national economy, as well as energy and raw materials orientation in combination with the outdated technological base continue to determine the high rates of generation and accumulation of various types of waste. The unresolved problems lead to a further deepening of the environmental crisis and, accordingly, to the aggravation of the socio-economic situation in society. Therefore, there is a need to regulate the use of natural resources in general and effective waste management using foreign best practices. Purpose. The purpose of this article is to study the formation and use of waste in Ukraine and the efficiency of their use. The specific objectives of the study include evaluation of the waste management pyramid that is the base to find appropriate way to deal with waste overall the country; and evaluation of the linkage between utilization of wastes from environmental protection expenditures by regions in Ukraine. Results. Waste disposal is an urgent problem for Ukraine, as waste generation is quite high, in the average it equalled to 462,373.5 thousand tons in 2020, but there are not enough plants for proper processing, in particular, the dynamics over the past 5 years shows their growth in 2020 compared to 2015 on 48%. It was found that the largest share in the structure of waste was occupied by mining (85.7%) and manufacturing (11.5%). The lowest amount of waste generation is observed in such areas as: construction; water supply, sewerage and waste management. Getting results of research are shown that the leading positions in the share of recycled waste in the total amount of generated waste by region in 2020 were Khmelnytsky (81.7%), Zaporizhia (63%), (55.6%), Cherkasy (56.4%), Chernivtsi (39.5%) ) and Ivano-Frankivsk (30.4%). At the same time problems with utilization were observed in Kyiv city (4.1%), Zakarpattia (0.2%), Odesa (0.4%), Mykolaiv (3.5%), Kyiv (0.8%) regions. In general in Ukraine this indices in 2020 was low and amounted approximately to 22%. In Ukraine landfills play crucial role for waste disposal. However, in new circular economy concept is expected to transform the current waste management system (WMS) pyramid into a sustainable WMS pyramid in which the landfill will have a minimal amount of waste after reducing, recycling or composting energy recovery options. In the article was evaluated the efficiency of the waste management by regions in Ukraine, where was estimated the dependence of utilization of wastes from environmental protection expenditures. Data for the regression was taken by regions from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine for 2020. Obtained results confirmed the dependence and showed that the increase of environmental protection expenditures on 1 mln. UAH leads to increase of waste utilization on 5.23 thousand tones. Conclusions. In perspective Ukraine needs to optimize its waste management policy and introduce modern technologies for their recycle to reduce harmful influence on environment. By 2025, the country can provide an environmentally friendly solid waste management system and recycle up to 40% of waste. Achieving waste reduction in Ukraine by 30-40% requires investments amounting to approximately 13 billion euros. This, in turn, would reduce the demand for landfill expansion by 30% and generate additional revenues from the sale of secondary materials and energy to 300 million euros

Characteristics of spatiotemporal variations in coupling coordination between integrated carbon emission and sequestration index: A case study of the Yangtze River Delta, China

• Analyzes the degree of coupling coordination between integrated carbon emissions and sequestration. • Analyzes the coercive effect of economic development on the degree of coupling and coordination. • Analyzes the restraint effect of ecological environment on the degree of coupling and coordination. • Analyzes the effects of regional government decision-making priority with different development characteristics. To explore the degree of coupling coordination between carbon emissions and sequestration, a theoretical analysis framework of integrated carbon emission and sequestration index was constructed, and an evaluation index system was constructed based on the economic development, population growth, energy emissions, land use and other indicators. Then, a comprehensive index method and a coupling coordination degree model were used to analyze the characteristics of spatiotemporal variation in the degree of coupling coordination between economic development carbon emissions and ecological environment quality in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2005 to 2017. A grey relational degree model was used to identify driving factors, and the influence of governmental decision-making priorities on the degree of coupling coordination was simulated. The results showed that: (1) the total carbon emissions of the YRD are still increasing, and vegetation carbon sequestration is stable. Before 2003, carbon emissions and absorption were basically in balance, but they gradually became unbalanced after 2003. (2) The degree of coupling coordination between economic development carbon emissions and ecological environment quality in the YRD is in a period of turning and rising, and the number of high-quality development cities is also increasing, but the entire region remains in the slightly unbalanced stage of coupling coordination. (3) The coordination degree is closely related to the quality of the ecological environment, and areas with higher ecological environmental evaluation scores have higher coordination degrees. The degree of population spatial agglomeration, quality of economic development and efficiency of land use are the main factors that affect the ecological environment. The maintenance of ecological service functions and proportion of expenditures for environmental protection have an increasing impact on the quality of economic development. (4) Governmental decision-making priorities currently significantly affect the coupling coordination trends; the environmental restraint of economic development is increasingly strengthened, and it is necessary to pay more attention to the improvement of environmental quality while improving the quality of economic development. To a certain extent, this research may provide a reference for policy makers in creating sustainable development policies.

Impact of Energy Price Distortion on Green TFP Based on Spatial Econometric Model

With environmental regulation as the intermediary, this paper studies the influence mechanism and mediating effect of energy price distortion on green total factor productivity. On the basis of the panel data of 30 provinces in China (except Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan), the research results from the study of panel and spatial metrology show that energy price distortion has a significant negative effect on the improvement of green total factor productivity. Different environmental regulation tools have different impacts, and the impact effect of fiscal energy conservation and environmental protection expenditure is better than that of pollution punishment. The transmission effect of energy price on environmental regulation policies is different when environmental regulation is the intermediary. The increase of the degree of energy price distortion will increase the financial expenditure of energy conservation and environmental protection, while the energy factor price will increase the green total factor productivity with the increase of pollution punishment.

Učešće ekoloških poreza u državnim izdacima za zaštitu životne sredine - slučaj izabranih zemalja EU

The aim of this paper is to show whether the current system of environmental taxation and environmental policies of the states is efficient for solving environmental problems. We analyze the link between environmental tax revenues and total government expenditure as independent variables and government expenditures for environmental protection as dependent variable in selected EU countries. By the implementation of panel data regression analysis on a defined sample, we came to the conclusion that among the observed variables there is a positive relationship. However, this relationship shows that the growth of expenditures for environmental protection is slower than the growth of total expenditure. The results also suggest that the relationship between revenues from environmental taxes and expenditures of the state in the area of environmental protection is a little weaker. With respect to the result of analysis, it can be concluded that the existing state policy in is not sufficiently effective.

РЕЗУЛЬТАТИВНІСТЬ ВИДАТКІВ ДЕРЖАВНОГО БЮДЖЕТУ НА ОХОРОНУ НАВКОЛИШНЬОГО ПРИРОДНОГО СЕРЕДОВИЩА В УКРАЇНІ

The article focuses on the study of the effectiveness of financing environmental protection measures from the state budget of Ukraine. The main task is to establish a correspondence between the level of financing from the state budget for environmental protection measures and the level of the environmental effect achievement, as well as to assess the effectiveness of financing environmental protection. To this end, the article explores (1) the structural dynamics of state budget expenditures on natural environmental protection, (2) the mechanisms for filling and application the funds of the State Budget Environmental Protection Fund. For this, considering 2011–2020 period, there were fulfilled: (1) an analysis of expenditures from the state budget in the context of budget programs for the environmental direction, as well as (2) an analysis of the structure and dynamics of state budget expenditures for natural environmental protection in terms of the expenditures functional classification. The results of the analysis showed that the funds of the state budget intended for the protection of the natural environment are used to a small extent to solve urgent environmental problems. A negative trend of reducing the expenditures of the state budget of Ukraine on environmental protection measures has been revealed. At the same time, funding for measures that actually consist in ensuring the functioning of budgetary institutions from the sphere of state environmental management bodies is increasing. The level of funds application from the State Budget Fund for Environmental Protection aimed at the implementation of the very environ-mental measures is low. In addition, the shortcomings of the mechanism for the use of funds allocated for financing environ-mental protection measures are revealed, which does not contribute to the implementation of an effective state environmental policy. In order to increase the effectiveness of financing natural environment protection, the article suggests ways to improve the mechanism for using the assets of the Fund for Natural Environmental Protection, as well as planning and monitoring the implementation of budget programs of the environmental direction.

CARBON NEUTRALITY OF UKRAINE BY 2050

The article presents the research results on some aspects of achieving carbon neutrality in Ukraine. Carbon neutrality is a challenge for the whole world. In 2020, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a historical maximum. The work aims to study the features of achieving carbon neutrality in Ukraine. The tasks of the work are the analysis of the components of the transition to low-carbon development, analysis of the consumption of fossil fuels, and activities related to the preservation of forests, natural steppe, and meadow ecosystems. Interest in carbon neutrality issues grows yearly, with a particularly in 2021-2022. Most articles on carbon neutrality were published by scientists from China, the USA, Great Britain, Turkey, and Pakistan. They are mainly devoted to carbon dioxide emissions, economic growth, renewable energy, energy consumption, financial development, co-integration, dioxin emissions, etc. Positive trends regarding the achievement of carbon neutrality have been identified: the supply of natural gas, coal, and peat has decreased, while the supply of renewable energy sources has increased; the share of coal and peat decreased by 26.4%, and the percentage of energy produced from renewable sources increased to 6.6%; the use of coal and peat decreased by 8.5%, natural gas by 5%, and biofuels increased by 16%; the share of biofuel use increased to 5.8%. Expenditures for environmental protection increased by 88.5%, for preserving biodiversity and habitat - by 3.6 times, and costs for air protection and climate change problems - by 2.5 times. The share of expenditures on the protection of biodiversity and habitat increased to 3.2%, and costs on atmospheric air protection and climate change problems to 19.3%. Negative trends that restrain the development of a carbon-neutral economy were also revealed: a low share of renewable sources in the structure of supply and use. Thus, the percentage of biofuel in aggregate use remains low - only 5.8% in 2020. The area of forest loss is increasing, and the area of forest regeneration has decreased by 36%. The area of reforestation remained at the same level, but the area of afforestation decreased ten times during 2010-2020.

Efficiency of Environmental Protection Expenditures in EU Countries

Environmental protection policy is a widely discussed issue in scientific works. However, special attention should be also paid to the effectiveness of expenditures on environmental protection, and this is the main goal of this paper. The countries of the European Union were selected for this analysis due to the fact that, in recent years, this region has become an informal world leader with respect to the implementation of policy measures in the field of environmental protection. For that reason, the data envelopment analysis methodology was used, which allows the calculation of input-output efficiency for the years 2005–2015. The analysis shows that, among the 30 analyzed countries, the most effective in environmental protection actions is Finland. The hypothesis that higher environmental protection expenditures does not result in better environmental results has been confirmed. Our analysis confirmed the problem of the deteriorating efficiency of environmental expenditures across the selected European Union Member States, caused by increases in spending. This research may contribute to the discussion on environmental protection policy design and its assessment, as well as environmental policy results measurement.

Analysis of Environmental Protection Expenditures and Their Influence on the Quality of the Environment

The environment is an important element in ensuring working and living conditions, but the evolution of industries, especially those polluting branches, have had the effect of deteriorating the quality of the environment. Measures to protect it are becoming increasingly necessary.Environmental protection must be a priority in all aspects of our work, and we must look for ways to protect the Earth's resources for future generations.In the article we have presented an analysis of the evolution of environmental protection expenditures. Environmental protection expenditure is the economic measure of the response of the community to solve environmental problems at a given time.Companies in the national economy reserve funds for environmental protection activities. The amounts allocated differ from one sector of activity to another, but also from one year to another.The field of environmental protection is considered very important for the population. Expenditures on environmental protection involve, on the one hand, expenditures for carrying out environmental surveillance and protection activities, and, on the other hand, expenditures related to the prevention or repair of damages caused to it.It is found that the costs involved in environmental protection are greatly reduced when its degradation is prevented, compared to the situation in which it needs to be repaired.The environment must be protected not only by the requirements of European directives but also by a national program to eliminate pollution.Regarding the expenditures for environmental protection in Romania, the situation was much improved by increasing the amounts available, as a result of economic growth, but also of budget revenues.

Environmental protection and happiness: A long-run relationship in Europe

The possible linkage between environmental regulation and happiness represents a relatively new and little explored issue. This study wants to contribute to this recent stream of research by examining the long-run relationship between environmental protection expenditure and happiness in the case of European countries. The analysis draws both on micro data from Veenhoven's (2013) World Database of Happiness and macro data of 19 European countries observed during the period 1997–2019. A dynamic panel heterogeneity analysis through an autoregressive distributed lag model is applied, using three different estimators: the dynamic fixed effect, the mean group and the pooled mean group estimators. In order to account for cross-sectional dependence of the panel, Westerlund cointegration tests are also used. Dynamic fixed effect estimations highlight the existence of a direct link between happiness and environmental protection expenditure in the long run while the unemployment rate negatively affects happiness both in the short and in the long run. Our analysis recommends governments to include environmental expenditure among possible instruments to improve domestic well-being, highlighting the importance of the interplay between environmental quality and life satisfaction. The last aspect is crucial when implementing national and European policy measures to promote sustainable development.

Government's environmental protection expenditure in China: The role of Internet penetration

This study attempts to investigate the effect of the Internet penetration on government's environmental protection expenditure (GEPE). On the basis of Chinese provincial panel data from 2007 to 2016, this paper estimates a dynamic panel model by employing the system generalized method of moments (GMM). We find a significant positive relationship between Internet penetration and the GEPE in China, and this conclusion remains consistent after conducting several robustness checks. In addition, we further identify three potential mechanisms to explain how Internet penetration affects the GEPE, namely, the popularity of the Internet contributes to restraining government's behaviors, improving government's responsiveness to public's needs, and enhancing public's environmental protection awareness. The findings shed light on several issues in environmental policy, for instance, the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and sustainable development.

The spillover effect of fiscal environmental protection spending on residents' medical and healthcare expenditure: evidence from China.

The Chinese government has not only been increasing investments in environmental protection, improving the quality of the ecological environment, but has also been focusing on curbing the excessive growth of medical and healthcare expenses so as to ease the economic burden of China's residents. Both aspects are significant concerns worldwide and have received much research attention individually, but the relationship between government environmental protection expenditure and residents' medical and healthcare expenditure remains unclear. Based on panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2007 to 2019, this paper empirically reveals that fiscal environmental protection expenditure is significantly negatively correlated with per capita medical and healthcare expenditure of residents (including outpatient expenditure and inpatient expenditure). This study shows that increasing the fiscal environmental protection expenditure can help curb the rising level of residents' medical and healthcare expenditure. In addition, the results of heterogeneity analysis indicate that the above relationship is stronger in provinces with a relatively low level of economic development or low proportion of the population over 65years old. Management implications are discussed.

WASTE MANAGEMENT AND PROSPECTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CIRCULAR ECONOMY TECHNOLOGIES

Abstract. In the context of the transition from a linear model of the economy to circular issues of waste management and prospects for the development of circular economy, technologies are relevant and require further study.
 The article explores the necessity and advantages of introducing a circular economy model for further efficient development of the national economy. The trend in the volume of education and waste management in the territory of Ukraine for the period 2010—2019 was analyzed. The negative trends in the growth of generated waste over the study period by 4,49 % and the decrease in waste disposal by 25,86 % have been identified. An analysis was made of the development of the volumes of waste generation according to hazard classes in the territory of Ukraine for the period 2010—2019. which led to the conclusion that there was a positive trend of 2.51 times less generation of such wastes. The trend in waste generation by type of economic activity of enterprises and in households for the period 2010—2019 was analyzed. The most significant increase in waste generation by 12,41% was found in the mining industry and quarrying.
 The trend in environmental protection expenditure in Ukraine by type of economic activity for the period 2010—2019 was analyzed. This has made it possible to identify the most cost-effective economic activities. A classification of technologies of circular economy is proposed, which distinguishes technologies aimed at recycling already accumulated industrial and household waste, technologies aimed at reducing the toxic load on the environment, and eco-design technologies. Based on the situation of waste management prevailing in the territory of Ukraine, it is proposed that priority be given to the development and introduction of technology aimed at the recycling of already accumulated industrial and household waste.
 Keywords: waste management,linear economy, circular economy, waste-free technologies, state, development, prospects.
 JEL Classіfіcatіon Q32, Q51
 Formulas: 0; fig.: 0; tabl.: 6; bibl.: 28.

Modelling the Interaction between Air Pollutant Emissions and Their Key Sources in Poland

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between key sources of air pollutant emissions (sources of energy production, factories which are particularly harmful to the environment, the fleets of cars, environmental protection expenditure) and the main environmental air pollution (SO2, NOx, CO and PM) in Poland. Models based on MLP neural networks were used as predictive models. Global sensitivity analysis was used to demonstrate the significant impact of individual network input variables on the output variable. To verify the effectiveness of the models created, the actual data were compared with the data obtained through modelling. Projected courses of changes in the variables under study correspond with the real data, which confirms that the proposed models generalize acquired knowledge well. The high MLP network quality parameters of 0.99–0.85 indicate that the network generalizes the acquired knowledge accurately. The sensitivity analysis for NOx, CO and PM pollutants indicates the significance of all input variables. For SO2, it showed significance for four of the six variables analysed. The predictions made by the neural models are not very different from the experimental values.

A non-convex metafrontier DEA model with natural and managerial disposability for pollutant tax levels and environmental efficiencies analysis

Efficiency analysis is an important step in the environmental performance evaluation research, especially in the context of the implementation of the Environmental Protection Tax Law in China. In this paper, we first consider regional heterogeneity and divide regions into high, medium, and low-cost groups based on pollution tax levels. Then, we construct a non-convex metafrontier Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model that can solve the heterogeneity problem well and measure the environmental efficiency of each region. In addition to considering natural disposability, we further discuss managerial disposability here. The empirical results show the difference between the efficiency and the benchmark test based on the convex or non-convex metafrontier assumption. Besides, middle and low-cost groups are encouraged to increasing environmental protection expenditure under managerial disposability. Finally, we summarize the improvement methods of provincial administrative regions under different tax rates: high-cost groups develop a green environmental economy and control pollution emissions; middle-level groups optimize industrial structure and increase investment in technological innovation; the low-tax groups increase the tax on pollutants and strengthen government control.

The Effect of Environmental Degradation, Climate Change, and the European Green Deal Tools on Life Satisfaction

Environmental issues, sustainability, and climate change have become the targets of many policies from international and governmental organizations including the EU’s European Green Deal action plan. This plan provides tools to address them—which include support for the circular economy, implementation of energy and environmental taxes, and investment in environmental protection—with the aim of favoring the well-being of EU citizens. In this context, this study analyses the impact of several parameters (environmental matters, global warming, circular economy, energy and environmental taxes, and expenditure and investment on the environment) on life satisfaction, or subjective well-being, and their effects on 33 European countries. For this purpose, four econometric models were carried out using data collected from the World Values Survey (WVS), the European Values Study (EVS), and the World Bank and Eurostat, reflecting subjective citizen satisfaction data. The findings present a highly significant inverse relationship between life satisfaction variables and both environmental problems and energy taxes. Additionally, there is a highly significant positive relationship between circular economy, environmental tax, and environmental protection expenditure parameters and life satisfaction variables, as well as, to a lesser degree of significance, with noise pollution from neighbours.

The national budget as the financial basis for the environmental policy in the EU countries

Subject. The article discusses the role of the budgetary system in the EU countries in financing the environmental policy of States. We analyze the volume and structure of environmental taxes and national budgetary spending on environmental protection, and their equilibrium. Objectives. We trace modern trends in the environmental portion of the EU countries’ budgets and substantiate thresholds of budgetary revenue and expenditures with respect to the environment in the Russian Federation. Methods. The study is based on general, economic-statistical methods and methods of economic analysis of trend series. Results. Having analyzed ecotaxes and budgetary spending on environmental protection in 2010–2019, we traced the stabilizing tendency of the budgetary contribution to finance of the environmental policy in 27 EU countries in terms of income and expenditures for environmental protection, the differentiation of the above indicators across the EU countries. In the EU countries, local authorities are obviously in charge of financing environmental protection costs, maintaining the surplus of the environmental portion of national budgets. We measured the mean value of environmental taxes and national budget spending in environmental protection in 27 EU countries. Conclusions and Relevance. As the EU actively promotes sustainable development values, respective budgetary systems continue to make more or less the same contribution throughout 2010–2019, according to aggregate data of 27 EU countries. However, the contribution significantly differs as per data of certain EU countries. Assessing the adequacy and balance of the environmental portion of the Russian consolidated budget, mean values of the EU data can be used to substantiate thresholds of the indicators.

Evolution of the Spatial Pattern of the Assets and Environmental Liabilities Conversion Rate and Its Influencing Factors

With the extensive development of the economy, environmental degradation has become a serious global issue. How to ensure the sustainable development of regional environments has drawn widespread attention from governments, academia, and the public. As an index to measure the efficiency of financial expenditure on the environment by local governments, the assets and environmental liabilities conversion rate (AELCR), along with the spatial pattern changes it presents and the factors it is affected by, is worthy of in-depth study. This study took the AELCRs of 31 provinces in China from 2012 to 2017 as the research objects, analyzed their spatial patterns and evolution using GeoDa software, and explored their spatial distribution using a spatial econometric model. The results show that, on the whole, China’s provinces were characterized by unbalanced economic development and large gaps in development levels, and there were significant differences in the efficiencies of fiscal expenditure for environmental protection between regions. Overall, there was a negative correlation between China’s neighboring provinces, and there was strong heterogeneity between provinces with a low conversion efficiency and the surrounding provinces. Locally, most provinces did not show significant spatial correlation, while the local similarities of the AELCRs decreased from 2012 to 2017, and the heterogeneities increased. Through the analysis of influencing factors, it was found that the urbanization level and provincial R&D investment positively increased the AELCRs, where the positive impact of urbanization was more obvious; resource tax and urban infrastructure investment were negatively correlated with the conversion rates, and the negative impact of resource tax was greater. The findings of this study provide important theoretical and practical implications for local governments to reasonably allocate environmental expenditure and improve their conversion rate of assets and environmental liabilities.

Sustainable economic development in the European Union and COVID-19

The paper has two basic objectives. The first, is to present the evolution of the process of sustainable development in the European Union (EU). We provide evidence that over time, the concept of sustainable development as a broad policy objective has been steadily declining in importance giving way to the less multidimensional strategy of green growth. We argue that the green growth strategy is actually based on the strategic selection of the traditional economic growth model, taking into account certain environmental aspects. We show that environmental protection expenditure is growing much slower than per capita income. Looking at the investment on environmental protection, we document a clear falling trend. Our findings imply that both the social and the environmental dimension of sustainability have been losing ground and the traditional goal of economic growth is being restored. The second, is to provide some assessment of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the process of sustainable development in the EU. Considering the relevant EU forecasts on the immediate effects of the pandemic, we conclude that it will severely hinder the process of sustainability in the EU in the short term. The long-term effects of the pandemic cannot even be outlined, especially at the level of the individual member states. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the Recovery and Resilience Facility as key instrument of recovery and of national recovery and resilience plans, will play a decisive role in minimising or even neutralising the negative longer-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic.