International Pollution Research Articles

Does the pilot trading of carbon emission rights cause domestic or international pollution transfer?

The implementation of a carbon emission trading pilot policy has a positive impact on sustainable development but may lead to pollution transfer by enterprises, thereby affecting sustainability. In this study, based on the panel data of Chinese-listed companies from 2007 to 2017, the carbon emission trading pilot policy was treated as a quasi-natural experiment and the Difference-in-Differences model was used to analyze whether these companies engaged in pollution transfer under the policy shock. The results indicated: first, carbon emission trading pilots lead to pollution transfer within mainland China but not across international borders; second, the power and aviation industries exhibited significant pollution transfer phenomena, and the policy also encouraged pollution transfer by non-green transformation enterprises; third, regional heterogeneity further showed that the central region showed no signs of pollution transfer and instead experienced pollution inflow, while the eastern region exhibited significant pollution transfer. Therefore, in designing policy, we should fully consider the phenomenon of enterprise pollution transfer, promote technological innovation, and ensure that carbon emission trading policies achieve emission reduction goals and promote sustainable development.

Understanding the drivers of PM2.5 concentrations in Chinese cities: A comprehensive study of anthropogenic and environmental factors

Understanding the factors that drive PM2.5 concentrations in cities with varying population and land areas is crucial for promoting sustainable urban population health. This knowledge is particularly important for countries where air pollution is a significant challenge. Most existing studies have investigated either anthropogenic or environmental factors in isolation, often in limited geographic contexts; however, this study fills this knowledge gap. We employed a multimethodological approach, using both multiple linear regression models and geographically weighted regression (GWR), to assess the combined and individual effects of these factors across different cities in China. The variables considered were urban built-up area, land consumption rate (LCR), population size, population growth rate (PGR), longitude, and latitude. Compared with other studies, this study provides a more comprehensive understanding of PM2.5 drivers. The findings of this study showed that PGR and population size are key factors affecting PM2.5 concentrations in smaller cities. In addition, the extent of urban built-up areas exerts significant influence in medium and large cities. Latitude was found to be a positive predictor for PM2.5 concentrations across all city sizes. Interestingly, the northeast, south, and southwest regions demonstrated lower PM2.5 levels than the central, east, north, and northwest regions. The GWR model underscored the importance of considering spatial heterogeneity in policy interventions. However, this research is not without limitations. For instance, international pollution transfers were not considered. Despite the limitation, this study advances the existing literature by providing an understanding of how both anthropogenic and environmental factors, in conjunction with city scale, shape PM2.5 concentrations. This integrated approach offers invaluable insights for tailoring more effective air pollution management strategies across cities of different sizes and characteristics.

Digital Investment and Corporate Greenwashing Behaviour

In the current wave of digital economy and the increasingly serious international pollution problem, how to achieve a balance between digital investment and environmental governance is a very practical issue. Based on the data of A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2023, the article analyzes the impact of digital investment on corporate greenwashing behavior. The study finds that digital investment promotes the greenwashing behavior of enterprises, and there is heterogeneity in the nature of property rights, the degree of pollution in the industry and the degree of regional marketization. The moderating effect analysis shows that environmental regulation and environmental certification can strengthen the facilitating effect of digital investment on the greenwashing behavior of enterprises. The findings of this study not only deepen the understanding of the factors influencing the digitalization and greenwashing behavior of enterprises, but also provide corresponding suggestions for enterprises, governments and the public.

Unveiling underutilized public data on Canadian industrial pollutant transfers and disposals

ABSTRACT Over 50 nations worldwide have Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs), including Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), which comprise large public datasets of chemical releases to air, water, and land and also transfers to various on and off-site waste management practices. These inventories aim to support a myriad of audiences in pollution-related decision-making. While the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) framed a role for PRTRs as indicators for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 - the sound management of chemicals and wastes, research to date has focused only on air and water releases, omitting vast PRTR data on pollutant transfers to waste management. For Canada’s NPRI, 30 years of waste management transfers data on 250+ chemicals has been collected but rarely used in environmental research. Here we show how this overlooked NPRI data may be used to inform snapshots and trends in progress towards SDG 12 using the OECD’s framework. Results show that over 28 million (M) tonnes (t) of NPRI pollutants have been transferred from industrial facilities to various waste management practices from 2006 to 2021, of which ~10M t were transferred off-site for waste management operations both within and outside Canada. Time trends show pollutant transfer quantities are increasing, driven by on-site disposals to tailings and waste rock management (of mainly phosphorous, manganese and other metals) and underground injection (of mainly hydrogen sulphide). New route maps reveal that interprovincial and international pollutant transfers are common, and that chain of custody analyses is a burgeoning opportunity but hampered by data limitations. The findings create a state of the knowledge launching point for mainstreaming the use of this overlooked data from both Canada’s NPRI and PRTRs around the world, to better track both national and international progress towards sound management of chemicals in waste and SDG 12. Implications: Pollutant transfers and disposals data has not previously been widely used in environmental research. This paper shows how it can be, in the context of SDG 12. Doing so can inspire uptake by researchers and a range of other public users, both strengthening the justification for collecting this data, and bolstering public participation in environmental decision-making from a local to global scale. Doing so also provides the foundation for more in-depth analysis on the domestic and international transboundary movement of Canadian industrial pollutants in waste in the lens of SDG 12 – a topic that was beyond scope here but addressed elsewhere.

A Crash Course in Differential Games and Applications

The methodology of differential games is a combination of optimal control theory and game theory. It is the natural framework for economic analysis with strategic interaction and dynamical optimization. The theory gained traction by seminal papers in the early seventies, and it gradually found its way into economics. The purpose of this paper is to make theory and applications of differential games easily accessible by explaining the basics and by developing some characteristic applications. The core of the theory focuses on the open-loop and the multiple Markov-perfect Nash equilibria that use the maximum principle and dynamic programming as the techniques to solve the optimal control problems. The applications are the game of international pollution control and the game of managing a lake, which is an example of an ecological system with tipping points. Finally, it is interesting to note that the discovery of time-inconsistency in the open-loop Stackelberg equilibrium had a huge impact on macroeconomics, since policy making under rational expectations is a Stackelberg differential game.

An Initial Survey on Occurrence, Fate, and Environmental Risk Assessment of Organophosphate Flame Retardants in Romanian Waterways.

Organophosphate ester flame retardants (OPFRs) are ubiquitous organic pollutants in the environment and present an important preoccupation due to their potential toxicity to humans and biota. They can be found in various sources, including consumer products, building materials, transportation industry, electronic devices, textiles and clothing, and recycling and waste management. This paper presents the first survey of its kind in Romania, investigating the composition, distribution, possible sources, and environmental risks of OPFRs in five wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the rivers receiving their effluents. Samples from WWTPs and surface waters were collected and subjected to extraction processes to determine the OPFRs using liquid chromatography with mass spectrometric detection. All the target OPFRs were found in all the matrices, with the average concentrations ranging from 0.6 to 1422 ng/L in wastewater, 0.88 to 1851 ng/g dry weight (d.w.) in sewage sludge, and 0.73 to 1036 ng/L in surface waters. The dominant compound in all the cases was tri(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCPP). This study observed that the wastewater treatment process was inefficient, with removal efficiencies below 50% for all five WWTPs. The environmental risk assessment indicated that almost all the targeted OPFRs pose a low risk, while TDCPP, TCPP, and TMPP could pose a moderate risk to certain aquatic species. These findings provide valuable information for international pollution research and enable the development of pollution control strategies.

Research on environmental management of domestic wasteincineration fly ash and high salt water discharge into the sea

In our comprehensive management proposal for fly ash washing wastewater discharge into the sea, we establishstringent control measures across four categories: general elements, nutrients, heavy metals, and organic pollutants. Ourapproach is rooted in respect for and compliance with national and international pollution control standards. We definethe acceptable parameters for pH, salinity, and the content of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), suspended solids, totalnitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, phosphates, various heavy metals, and organic pollutants. Our plan includes thoroughlytreating wastewater, emphasizing the removal of lead, desalination, effective precipitation, and filtering processes beforethe wastewater is discharged into the sea. We advocate for constant surveillance and stringent management practicesto maintain a healthy marine ecosystem. Moreover, we acknowledge the need for additional biological testing in actualwork to more scientifically and comprehensively understand the potential impact of the discharged wastewater onmarine ecology. Our overall goal is to ensure that the potential environmental effects of fly ash washing wastewater areminimized while adhering to the highest environmental management standards.

Study and Evaluation of Soil Contamination with some Heavy Metals According to International Standards for Pollution

This study was conducted to assess soil pollution with some selected elements according to the use of international pollution standards. Three areas were selected (Baghdad, Hilla, Diwaniyah) along both sides of the outer highway extending from Diwaniyah to Baghdad at specific distances ranging from (10, 20, 50, and 100 m) and surface depths of (30 cm). The results showed, through international pollution standards, all soils were contaminated with heavy elements (Cd, Pb, Ni, Zn), which were contaminated between medium to heavy elements but did not exceed internationally allowed limits except for Cd. The results also showed that the increase in concentrations of these heavy elements has led to an increase in the values of the pollution load index (PLI). Hence, these soils are contaminated with heavy elements. Other than that, they fall within the level (PLI>1), which indicates a confirmed pollution state and the deterioration of the soil of those areas on both sides of the extended highway between Baghdad and Diwaniyah. Thus, this soil has a high accumulation of long-term concentrations and toxic effects, which poses a great risk to public health after entering the food chain.

A Review of Research on Embodied Carbon in International Trade

Nowadays, how to reduce carbon emissions is a hot issue in environmental economics research, and countries around the world are having extensive discussions on their respective carbon emission obligations. The embodied carbon contained in international trade plays a crucial role in controlling pollutant emissions but it is often overlooked, resulting in problems such as carbon displacement and avoidance of responsibility for pollutant emissions. Based on the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCI-E) database, this paper adopts a bibliometric method to summarize 626 papers from 1994 to 2023 in six aspects, including the number of the literature, the literature citations, research region, journal, author, and research discipline. Meanwhile, the research method and model used in the collected papers are classified and reviewed. Then, this study briefly outlines the current status of embodied carbon emissions and the international pollutant identification laws and analyzes the shortcomings of existing research and the rationality of responsibility identification principles. Finally, we propose future research hotspots by combining carbon neutrality and carbon trading theory.

Ensuring Mutual Benefit in a Trans-boundary Industrial Pollution Control Problem

Technological developments play a crucial role in allowing governments and industries to meet carbon emission targets, whilst maintaining cost effectiveness. Mathematical modeling related to climate change has often included technology (including technology transfer between nations) as an effective policy instrument. However, such models often incorporate technology as an exogenous variable, highlighting the need to further interrogate the role of technology, its dynamics and limitations on reducing international pollution levels to improve sustainability, energy reliability and subsequent policy initiatives. Hence, in this study, we consider technology as an endogenous variable within a broader trans-boundary industrial pollution problem with random interference factors to obtain a closed-loop (Markov perfect) Nash equilibrium. We then articulate the Nash non-cooperative and cooperative equilibria via a stochastic linear quadratic differential game paradigm and prove the stability of a cooperative game by using Pareto optimal solution. We show that under such strategies to control carbon pollution a cooperative game is more efficient than a non-cooperative game, emphasizing the importance of technology transfer and collaboration between nations, subsequently serving as a mutual benefit for multi-lateral efforts to reduce global carbon emissions. In doing so, our study highlights the role of government subsidy incentives when collaborating with industry to encourage the integration of carbon-reducing technologies, whilst simultaneously increasing each country’s net revenue. Hence, our study provides a novel insight and framework for policymakers when encouraging industry to use carbon capturing and storage technologies. We also emphasize that efforts to coordinate emissions control should be pursued jointly to ensure mutual benefit for government and industry alike.

Cleaner production indicator system of petroleum refining industry：From life cycle perspective

The Cleaner Production audit is a comprehensive method that aims to realize Cleaner Production throughout the life cycle industrial process of petroleum refining. The audit simultaneously measures the environmental impacts of the refinery, its upstream and downstream organizations and related auxiliary activities. At present, most research associated with the Cleaner Production indicator system of petroleum refining industry predominantly focuses on the production stage, while the environmental impacts of other stages, such as raw material supply, logistics and transportation, downstream sales, and product use, tend to be ignored. In addition, the imperfection of the indicator systems, the hysteresis quality of the evaluation standards, and the high subjectivity are the drawbacks of the Cleaner Production indicator systems of China's petroleum refining industry. This work analyzed the existing international pollutant emission standards and the Cleaner Production indicator systems of the petroleum refining industry from the microscopic life cycle thinking, and integrating a set of Cleaner Production indicator systems suitable for the current development of the petroleum refining industry of China. New ideas were proposed to improve the Cleaner Production indicator system by incorporating the Cleaner Production level of the partners into the Cleaner Production inspection of the refinery industry. In particular, the newly established indicator system places more emphasis on carbon emissions which are ignored in traditional ones. This review provides reflections on energy saving, pollution reduction, carbon neutral and sustainable development of the supply chain-wide, the addition of carbon emission indicators can promote the synergistic effect of Cleaner Production and carbon neutrality.

A Cross‐Cutting Approach for Relating Anthropocene, Environmental Injustice and Sacrifice Zones

AbstractThe Anthropocene is an uneven phenomenon. Accelerated shifts in the functioning of the Earth System are mainly driven by the production and consumption of wealthy economies. Social, environmental and health costs of such industrialization, however, bear on low‐income communities inhabiting severely degraded territories by polluting activities (i.e., sacrifice zones). How global, national and local socio‐economic and governance processes have interacted in perpetuating socio‐environmental inequalities in these territories has been rarely explored. Here, we develop an historical quantitative approach integrating a novel chemostratigraphic record, data on policy making, and socio‐economic trends to evaluate the feedback relationship between environmental injustice and Anthropocene in sacrifice zones. We specifically outline a case study for the Puchuncaví valley ‐one of the most emblematic sacrifice zones from Chile‐. We verify an ever‐growing burden of heavy metals and metalloids over the past five decades paced by the staggering expansion of local industrial activities, which has ultimately been spurred by national and transnational market forces. Local poverty levels have declined concomitantly, but this path toward social equality is marginal as costs of pollution have grown through time. Indeed, national and international pollution control actions appear insufficient in mitigating the cumulative impact brought by highly toxic elements. Thus, our sub‐decadal reconstruction for pollution trends over the past 136 years from a sediment record, emerges as a science‐based tool for informing the discussion on Anthropocene governance. Furthermore, it helps to advance in the assessment of environmental inequality in societal models that prioritize economic growth to the detriment of socio‐environmental security.

Dynamic Game of International Pollution Control with General Oligopolistic Equilibrium: Neary Meets Dockner and Long

Dynamic Game of International Pollution Control with General Oligopolistic Equilibrium: Neary Meets Dockner and Long

Research on food safety information training system based on component algorithm

In today's world, new food safety concerns emerge and develop on a regular basis, and antimicrobial food resistance is challenged by changes in the environment, food production, and transportation, as well as new and emerging diseases. As travel and trade have grown, international pollution has become more prevalent. The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points system is a globally recognized food safety system. This technique allows potential dangers in the food manufacturing process to be identified and controlled. By continuously monitoring and managing each of the essential control points when it comes to food production, the program focuses on preventing possible dangers. According to an increasing number of papers and studies in the food sciences addressing topics like authenticity, contamination, deception, nature, and record-keeping of foods, including the rising use of instrumental methods, principal component analysis (PCA) is by far the most common approach in data analysis and interpretation. In conclusion, the PCA program delivers two essential elements: loadings and scores. The loadings indicating which factors are significant in explaining patterns in sample grouping, and the scores offer a sample location.

Stability of international pollution control games: A potential game approach

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>In this paper, stabilization problems for <i>n-</i>player noncooperative differential games of international pollution control (IPC) are analysed via the concept of the potential differential game (PDG) introduced by Fonseca-Morales and Hernández-Lerma (2018). By first identifying a game of IPC as a PDG, an associated optimal control problem (OCP) is obtained, whose optimal solution is a Nash equilibrium (NE) for the game of IPC. Thus, the problem of finding conditions for which the NE stabilizes the game of IPC reduces to finding conditions for which the optimal solution stabilizes the associated OCP. The concept not only yields mild conditions for saddle point stability analysed in the literature but also for the overtaking optimality of the NE of the game of IPC.</p>

Jump Equilibria in Public-Good Differential Games with a Single State Variable

A simple sufficient condition is proved for symmetric Markov subgame perfect Nash equilibria in public-good differential games with a single state variable. The condition admits equilibria in feedback strategies that have discontinuous dependence on the state variable. The application of the condition is demonstrated in the Dockner-Long model for international pollution control. The existence is shown of equilibria that are arbitrarily close to Pareto dominance for all initial conditions. In the limit as the discount rate tends to 0, the equilibrium strategies differ from the optimal strategies under full coordination, but nevertheless the agents' payoffs do converge to those obtained from the coordinated (first-best) solution. For positive values of the discount rate, the supremal value function associated to the globally Pareto dominant equilibrium is a continuously differentiable function that is not a solution of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation.

Have international pollution protocols made a difference?

Evaluating the effectiveness of international agreements is inherently difficult due to problems such as self-selection, spillovers, anticipation effects, and aggregate-level data. In this paper, I provide new and arguably more credible estimates on the effects of three major pollution protocols on SO2, NOx, and VOC emissions. I do so by combining a newly available global dataset on emissions dating back to 1970 with a generalized version of the synthetic control method. By constructing “synthetic” controls that mimic the pre-treatment development of each affected country, I mitigate bias caused by self-selection and non-parallel emission trends. The broader data coverage - both geographically and over time - allows me to examine the importance of spillovers and anticipation effects. Results from the estimation show that all three protocols induced emissions reductions well beyond a (synthetic) counterfactual development.

Polar Code implementation in the Arctic Five: has harmonisation of national legislation recommended by AMSA been achieved?

ABSTRACT In the seminal Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Report, Arctic states were urged to explore the harmonisation of their national maritime regulatory regimes and uniform safety and environmental protection regulatory regimes. These recommendations were important because before the Polar Code was fully adopted in 2015, there existed no dedicated international standard for polar shipping and some Arctic states legislated national regimes on a unilateral basis. Arctic states endeavoured to facilitate the development of international safety and pollution prevention rules and standards through the IMO, culminating in the adoption of the Polar Code. Over the last 5 years the Arctic Five have implemented the Polar Code in their capacities of flag and coastal states. Against this backdrop, this article discusses the extent to which and how the Arctic Five have pursued the legislative harmonisation recommended by the AMSA report.

Global Warming and Border Carbon Adjustments

This study examines the welfare implications of border carbon adjustments (BCAs) in a globalized economy characterized by international trade and cross-border pollution (CBP). The model predicts that adopting BCAs is a weakly dominant strategy and global welfare is maximized when at least one country adopts BCAs in the presence of CBP, such as global warming. This is because adopting BCAs incentivizes other countries to tighten their environmental regulations without concerns such as the excessive shrinkage of domestic production and aggravation of CBP.

Domestic dynamics of crop production in response to international food trade: evidence from soybean imports in China

ABSTRACTInternational food trade plays an important role in food security, but little research has been devoted to studying crop dynamics in importing countries caused by trade. We studied the spatiotemporal patterns of soybean planting area in China (the largest soybean importing country) in response to soybean imports. The results show how the soybean planting area from 1980 to 2012 in China is dominated by two temporal patterns, both of which first increased, then decreased, with an 8-year time lag. The first increasing-decreasing pattern is affected by increasing soybean imports, and the second increasing-decreasing pattern is driven by decreasing domestic soybean profits. The results also show spatially distinct spatial patterns: soybean planting area decreased in southeastern China while it increased in northwestern China. Our analysis of soybean planting area helps China and other food-importing countries understand spatiotemporal responses of domestic agricultural cultivations caused by international food trade and agricultural pollution management.