Cleaner Production Technologies Research Articles

North–South asymmetry, unilateral environmental policy and carbon tariffs

AbstractThis paper focuses on the potential impact of a carbon tariff on carbon emissions, North–South trade and welfare. We use a North–South trade model, where North implements a unilateral environmental policy on domestic carbon‐intensive industries followed by a carbon tariff on imports from South. Unlike the existing studies, we allow asymmetry in clean production technologies and marginal environmental damage. We show that a carbon tariff can reduce the global carbon emission via the use of a more advanced clean production technology in North, which increases the firm profit and welfare. However, improvement in welfare of North is associated with a decrease in global trade flows and welfare of South. We find that, in the presence of asymmetry in clean production technologies between North and South, a carbon tariff introduced by the North can eliminate carbon leakage, but the exports of South decrease below the pre‐unilateral environmental policy level and hence North can potentially use a carbon tariff for trade protectionism in the name of reducing carbon leakage in South.

(Digital Presentation) Activated Carbon Supported Ni-Co Layered Double Hydroxides Nanowires: An Effective and Low-Cost Electrocatalyst Towards Ethanol Oxidation Reaction in Alkaline Media

Developing nanostructured architectures using non-noble, low-cost transition metals with good electrocatalytic activity and durability to replace noble electrocatalysts such as Pt and Pd have gained considerable attention in the field of sustainable and clean energy production technology. To address this, we adopted a facile synthesis route to synthesize Ni-Co layered double hydroxides (NiCo-LDH) nanowires supported on Activated Carbon (AC) via a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis method. The resulting NiCo-LDH nanowires, possessing a crystallite size of ~16.15 nm and a Surface area of 100.81 m2/g, have been utilized as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) in an alkaline medium. The electrochemical performance of the synthesized catalyst was investigated by Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Chronoamperometry (CA), and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) techniques at room temperature. Impressively, NiCo-LDH/AC exhibited good electrocatalytic activity of 9.79 mA.cm-2 at 1.51 V vs. Saturated Calomel Electrode (SCE) and retained remarkable stability even after 200 cycles in 0.1 M NaOH with 1 M EtOH. The better electrocatalytic activity of NiCo/AC catalyst can be attributed to the presence of active sites and porous structures as well as the good electron transfer conductivity of AC. The attractive performance and facile synthesis of NiCo-LDH supported on AC highlights its potential application as an anodic material in direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs).

Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on the Carbon Dioxide Emissions of East Asian Countries Based on a Panel ARDL Method

The problem of air pollution caused by carbon dioxide emissions has gradually attracted the international community’s attention. The study shows the effect of foreign direct investment on carbon dioxide emissions in East Asia. Based on the 2011–2020 panel data of East Asian countries, the long- and short-term impacts of trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and economic growth on the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of these nations are estimated using an autoregressive distributed lag model. The results show that in the short term, an increase in per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in the current and previous periods will increase carbon dioxide emissions; an increase in FDI in the current and previous periods will increase CO2 emissions; an increase in trade openness in the current period will increase CO2 emissions. In the long term, per capita GDP, FDI, and trade openness have no significant impact on CO2 emissions. We should encourage foreign-invested enterprises to use and disseminate clean production technologies and environmentally friendly management methods and pay attention to trade structure adjustment.

Fabrication of Monopile Polymer Foams via Rotating Gas Foaming: Hybrid Applications in Solar‐Powered Interfacial Evaporation and Water Remediation

Solar‐powered interfacial evaporation has emerged as an innovative and sustainable technology for clean water production and it has motivated the design and fabrication of monolithic 3D steam generators and related hybrid applications. However, the existing porous and hydrophilic 3D scaffolds fabricated via conventional processing techniques remain one of the main roadblocks toward scalable and mass applications. Herein, a series of closed‐cell 3D polymer foams is developed via a “rotating” gas‐foaming technique. Monopile supporting structures with reticulated and hydrophilic gas pockets are formed in the 3D foams, resulting in controlled shapes and heights, ultralight weight, efficient water diffusion, and optimized solar and environmental energy input. Gratifyingly, the 3D foam with a selected height of 12 cm attains an outstanding water evaporation rate of 5.8 kg m−2 h−1 under 1 sun. Furthermore, selected photothermal, adsorbent, and photocatalytic materials on the 3D foam introduce water remediation beyond clean water production, exhibiting organic pollutant removal efficiencies over 90% in indoor and outdoor experiments. An ease‐of‐mold approach to shape‐controlled fabrication of polymer foams is demonstrated and their intriguing properties for solar‐powered hybrid applications such as organic pollutant removal in wastewater are highlighted.

Promotion of biological H2 (Bio-H2) production by the nitrogen-fixing anaerobic microbial consortia using humin, a solid-phase humic substance

Dark fermentative biological hydrogen (Bio-H2) production is expected to be a clean and sustainable H2 production technology, and the technologies have been studied to increase in the product yield as index. This study achieved high product yields of Bio-H2 using nitrogen-fixing consortia under nitrogen-deficient conditions with glucose or mannitol as substrate and humin as the extracellular electron mediator: 4.12mol-H2/mol-glucose and 3.12mol-H2/mol-mannitol. The high Bio-H2 production was observed under the conditions where both nitrogenase and hydrogenase were active in the presence of humin. Nitrogenase activity was confirmed by acetylene reduction activity and hydrogenase activity by Bio-H2 production under nitrogenase-inhibiting conditions with NH4NO3. [Fe-Fe] hydrogenase detected by a specific PCR and acetate, butyrate, formate, lactate, and pyruvate produced as by-products suggested the involvement of both pyruvate-ferredoxin-oxidoreductase and pyruvate formate lyase pathways in Bio-H2 production. Humin promoted the Bio-H2 production beyond the capacity of the consortium, which had reached saturation with the optimum concentrations of glucose and mannitol. Carbon balance suggested the concurrent H2 consumption by hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis and acetogenesis. Bio-H2 production of the washed and starved consortium with reduced humin under conditions with or without NH4NO3 suggests that humin promoted hydrogenase and nitrogenase activity by donating extracellular electrons. Clostridium and Ruminococcus in the consortia were considered major hydrogen producers. Thus, this study demonstrated the outstanding potential of nitrogen-fixing consortia under nitrogen-deficient conditions with humin as an extracellular electron mediator for dark fermentative Bio-H2 production with high yields.

The heterogeneous effects of environmental taxation on green technologies

This paper analyses the effectiveness of environmental taxation in stimulating the adoption of end-of-pipe and cleaner production technologies across manufacturing and mining firms between 2008 and 2014. We perform simple and categorical treatment matching of firms to study the heterogeneous effects of different taxation levels. We assess the effects between firms forced to pay environmental taxation (treated) and those that did not have to pay such taxes (controls), as well as between different levels of environmental taxation (small, medium, large). We find that low levels of environmental taxation are ineffective at stimulating green technology adoption. As the taxation level increases, so does the associated effect on green technology investment. Additionally, we find that even low levels of environmental taxation can be effective when combined with public financing. In this case, the effect is stronger than that of providing public financing alone.

Characteristics of CO2 foam plugging and migration: Implications for geological carbon storage and utilization in fractured reservoirs

Fractured reservoirs exhibit heterogeneity and high conductivity, posing challenges to the application of low-carbon and clean production technologies. In this study, the flow and plugging characteristics of CO2 foam in fractured cores were analyzed in physical fracture cores and visual slab fracture models. The influence of surface roughness and fracture openings on foam flow and plugging efficiency were studied. Results show that polymer-enhanced foam displays a higher-pressure drop in a single core with a small fracture opening. With increasing fracture opening, the plugging capacity of the polymer-enhanced foam gradually decreases to that of ordinary foam. In parallel fractures of different openings, ordinary foam is better able to regulate the flow, whereas the conformance control of polymer-enhanced is more robust. Prolonged foam flow in the fractures leads to foam collapse, especially for small fracture openings and high roughness. For such a core, the difference in distance lapsed by the upper and lower ends of the polymer-enhanced foam front is greater than that of the ordinary foam, and the bubble collapse during migration is less. For a given surface roughness, the smaller the fracture opening, the greater the resistance to foam flow. However, the resistance brought forth by surface roughness is greater, for a given fracture opening. Foam flow in the fracture is analyzed in terms of the forces acting on the foam. Understanding foam flow resistance is a key to preventing gas channeling, expanding sweep range and improving the oil washing efficiency.

Determination of evaporation rate of warm water placed inside a partially-filled top cooled enclosure

Evaporation is an important step in clean water production technologies such as solar desalination. Here, a warm body of impure water evaporates in a differentially heated cavity, the vapour condenses over a cooler surface and the condensate is collected as salt-free water. While buoyancy-driven convection is set-up in air, the water body is subjected to evaporative cooling and buoyancy-driven flow is setup in the water volume as well. Evaporation-induced buoyant flow in water is imaged in the present study using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer in the infinite and wedge fringe settings. The corresponding interfacial heat flux, that includes the contribution from evaporation, is evaluated by analyzing the interferograms. From a modeling perspective, the evaporation rate is the central quantity of importance. It is determined in the present study using an ab initio model for an air-water system that solves mass, momentum, energy, and moisture transport equations with convective flow and jump conditions in the heat flux at the interface. The instantaneous mass and energy fluxes thus determined have also been compared with the kinetic theory model and Dunkle's correlation that is frequently adopted in the design of solar stills. Among the three models, the ab initio approach shows close agreement with experiments. The match with Dunkle's correlation is less satisfactory. The ab initio model closely follows the flow transitions in the air-phase and provides a justification for a good match with the experimentally derived instantaneous evaporative heat and mass fluxes. The ab initio approach is further adopted to parametrically study the effect of initial water temperature, top surface temperature and water depth on the evaporation rate.

Hydrogen production via photoreforming of wastewater under LED light–driven over CuO@exfoliated g–C3N4 nanoheterojunction

As the global interest heading towards net zero emission by 2050, clean hydrogen production technologies becomes limelight among the research community. Besides, the generation of large quantity of industrial wastewaters creates huge dilemma and needs special attention. In this work, synthetic wastewater using formaldehyde (FA) as a model organic pollutant was utilized to produce hydrogen. The photocatalyst, CuO@exfoliated g–C3N4 nanoheterojunction was synthesized by an acid treatment and facile chemical precipitation technique. XRD results confirmed the successful formation of exfoliated g–C3N4 by expanding the interlayer spacing of the nanosheets via shifting of characteristic peak of graphite towards lower 2θ from 27.97° to 27.04°. Meanwhile, the BET surface area of CuO@exfoliated g–C3N4 (199.3 m2/g) was remarkably enhanced as compared to bulk g–C3N4 (34.5 m2/g) and exfoliated g–C3N4 (104.4 m2/g). The existence of large pores (3.55 cm3/g) in CuO@exfoliated g–C3N4 promotes the accessibility of reactant to the surface active sites, escalating the redox reactions. Study on hydrogen production via photoreforming of aqueous formaldehyde over the prepared photocatalysts were conducted. Interestingly, hydrogen generated using CuO@exfoliated g–C3N4 (3867 μmol/g) was greatly enhanced by 7 times and 13 times than the counterparts catalysts, exfoliated g–C3N4 (532 μmol/g) and pure CuO (271 μmol/g) respectively. By employing the CuO@exfoliated g–C3N4 nanoheterojunction, the optimum hydrogen with apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 5664 μmol/g and 22% were obtained respectively. Besides, S–scheme reaction mechanism was proposed based on heterojunction formed between the p–type CuO and n–type exfoliated g–C3N4 nanosheets.

GREY WATER FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS OF RICE-STRAW PULP TOWARD AN ADAPTIVE STRATEGY TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Water crisis is one of the main problems due to climate change. This condition is deteriorated by pollution in receiving water body. Pulp and paper mill is known as industry that contributes to water pollution in receiving water body, because it generates large amount of waste water. Estimating pollutant in rice-straw pulp production process through grey water footprint calculation is very important to determine the adaptive strategy in order to minimize the impact that could occur due to fresh water scarcity caused by climate change. Grey water footprint is an indicator of the freshwater required to mix and dilute polutant and maintain water quality according to water quality standard. The objective of this research is to find out the grey water footprint value of rice-straw pulp production and to formulate some strategy in order to reduce the amount of pollutant. Quantitative-less dominant qualitative methods are used in this research. Data were collected through observations, direct measurement and semi-structured interviews at each step of production. The result shows that the grey water footprint value of rice straw pulp is 721.2 m"/ton, it means that in every ton pulp produced, 721.2 m3 of water is needed to assimilate the pollutant discharged to water bodies. The strategy to reduce the impact due to pollutant generated from rice straw pulp production is water efficiency at every step of production through application of cleaner production technology.

Sustainable cleaner production technologies and treatment of segregated effluent streams with recovery of quality salt, chromium & water

Conventional process and treatment system adopted by Indian and Global Tanneries consist of Segregation of Spent Chrome Stream and discharge of supernatant for combined treatment along with effluent from all sectional operations starting from soaking to finishing, Conventional physiochemical and biological treatment for reduction of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), etc., Ultra-filtration and Reverse Osmosis (RO) system for recovery of water and Multiple Effect Evaporator (MEE) for the evaporation of RO reject stream and generation of mixed salt in case of Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) system and Storage of mixed salt recovered from the MEE system for which no viable disposal system is found. Establishment of treatment system for the mixed stream results in poor performance of biological treatment units, increases the Operation & Maintenance (O&M) cost and accumulation of recovered mixed salt in case of ZLD system. It is estimated that, more than 8-10 tones of mixed salt is generated during the treatment of 1.0 MLD effluent under ZLD system. To address this serious environmental problem, an innovative approach of segregation of saline streams such as soak liquor and chrome liquor are planned to be collected separately with the feasibility of recovering reusable quality salt and chromium in the form cake for regeneration and use in the form of Basic Chromium Sulphate (BCS) by the tanneries. This innovative treatment concept has been developed and is being implemented in many Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) in India. This will become the first of its kind in Global Leather World. This developmental scheme is in accordance with the guidelines and recommendations of UNIDO in terms of sustainability of ZLD system for leather sector. The technological developments on cleaner productions, centralized chrome recovery reuse system, segregation of saline soak water for separate treatment with recovery of water and quality salt are dealt in this technical paper.

Shape-controlled fabrication of cost-effective, scalable and anti-biofouling hydrogel foams for solar-powered clean water production

• Development of closed-cell hydrogel foams via a controlled foaming − gelation technique. • Demonstration of self-contained solar evaporation and desalination. • Realization of a single-stage water purifier for efficient clean water production. Solar-powered interfacial evaporation has emerged as a sustainable technology for clean water production with a minimized carbon footprint. Fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) steam generators via conventional processing techniques (sol–gel and template-assisted methods) remain one of the main roadblocks toward mass production and scalable applications. In this study, 3D hydrogel foams based on biopolymer composites are developed via a controlled foaming − gelation technique and applied to a monolithic interfacial steam generator. The designed closed-cell structures deliver many important form-factors to the hydrogel foams, such as light-weight, low-cost, low thermal insulation and efficient water diffusion. The hydrogel foam with a maximum height of 3.2 cm attains a high water evaporation rate of 2.12 kg m −2 h −1 and a high cost-effectiveness of 2692 g h −1 $ −1 under one sun. A single-stage water purification system is fabricated based on the high-performing hydrogel foam. Because of its self-floating structure and enhanced passive cooling on open water, the system attains a maximum clean water collection rate of 0.71 L m −2 h −1 under real sky and surpasses a majority of single-stage solar stills. This work demonstrates the rational fabrication of hydrogel foams and combines high-performance solar evaporation with other intriguing properties (i.e., cost-efficient, scalable, anti-biofouling, self-floating and anti-overturning). The system-level design enables facile scale-up of clean water production.

Haematococcus pluvialis: A potential feedstock for multiple-product biorefining

The microalga Haematococcus pluvialis synthesizes high quantities of the antioxidant astaxanthin under adverse growth conditions. In addition to astaxanthin, the species accumulates other metabolites with commercial value including lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins. These compounds can be utilized to produce biodiesel, bioethanol, biogas, biofertilizer and animal feed among others. Despite the high biotechnological potential of H. pluvialis, the high costs associated with the production process make the commercial realization of microalgae-based bioproducts challenging. As a solution, biorefining of H. pluvialis can be carried out through the integration of diverse production processes within a single production facility, aiming to produce numerous compounds from the same feedstock which in turn reduces the consumption of raw materials, energy, and freshwater. In addition, biorefining allows the maximum utilization of the feedstock, minimizing waste generation and improving the sustainability of the process while promoting the concept of a circular bioeconomy. Thus, the present review aims to discuss the biorefining potential of H. pluvialis in view of implementing more sustainable and cleaner production technologies. In contrast to existing reviews, the present review analyzes the potential of utilizing the particular microalgae species to generate multiple products without being constricted to astaxanthin. Moreover, the current status of related research, potential challenges, and solutions are provided along with future perspectives in the research domain.

Double zero tillage and foliar phosphorus fertilization coupled with microbial inoculants enhance maize productivity and quality in a maize\u2013wheat rotation

Maize is an important industrial crop where yield and quality enhancement both assume greater importance. Clean production technologies like conservation agriculture and integrated nutrient management hold the key to enhance productivity and quality besides improving soil health and environment. Hence, maize productivity and quality were assessed under a maize–wheat cropping system (MWCS) using four crop-establishment and tillage management practices [FBCT–FBCT (Flat bed–conventional tillage both in maize and wheat); RBCT–RBZT (Raised bed–CT in maize and raised bed–zero tillage in wheat); FBZT–FBZT (FBZT both in maize and wheat); PRBZT–PRBZT (Permanent raised bed–ZT both in maize and wheat], and five P-fertilization practices [P100 (100% soil applied-P); P50 + 2FSP (50% soil applied-P + 2 foliar-sprays of P through 2% DAP both in maize and wheat); P50 + PSB + AM-fungi; P50 + PSB + AMF + 2FSP; and P0 (100% NK with no-P)] in split-plot design replicated-thrice. Double zero-tilled PRBZT–PRBZT system significantly enhanced the maize grain, starch, protein and oil yield by 13.1–19% over conventional FBCT–FBCT. P50 + PSB + AMF + 2FSP, integrating soil applied-P, microbial-inoculants and foliar-P, had significantly higher grain, starch, protein and oil yield by 12.5–17.2% over P100 besides saving 34.7% fertilizer-P both in maize and on cropping-system basis. P50 + PSB + AMF + 2FSP again had significantly higher starch, lysine and tryptophan content by 4.6–10.4% over P100 due to sustained and synchronized P-bioavailability. Higher amylose content (24.1%) was observed in grains under P50 + PSB + AMF + 2FSP, a beneficial trait due to its lower glycemic-index highly required for diabetic patients, where current COVID-19 pandemic further necessitated the use of such dietary ingredients. Double zero-tilled PRBZT–PRBZT reported greater MUFA (oleic acid, 37.1%), MUFA: PUFA ratio and P/S index with 6.9% higher P/S index in corn-oil (an oil quality parameter highly required for heart-health) over RBCT-RBCT. MUFA, MUFA: PUFA ratio and P/S index were also higher under P50 + PSB + AMF + 2FSP; avowing the obvious role of foliar-P and microbial-inoculants in influencing maize fatty acid composition. Overall, double zero-tilled PRBZT–PRBZT with crop residue retention at 6 t/ha per year along with P50 + PSB + AMF + 2FSP while saving 34.7% fertilizer-P in MWCS, may prove beneficial in enhancing maize productivity and quality so as to reinforce the food and nutritional security besides boosting food, corn-oil and starch industry in south-Asia and collateral arid agro-ecologies across the globe.

Development of a plastering mortar using waste bagasse and rice husk ashes with sound mechanical and thermal properties

The concept of using cleaner production technologies has become prominent in the present context for achieving sustainability in construction. Incorporating agricultural waste as cement replacements has shown enhanced mechanical and durability properties of the resulting mortar. A comparative study on the mechanical, thermal and environmental performance of a newly developed lightweight mortar containing agro-wastes namely Bagasse Ash (BA) and Rice Husk Ash (RHA) were investigated. Ordinary Portland Cement was partially replaced by BA at dosages of 0%, 5%, 15%, 20%, and 30% and RHA at dosages of 0%, 5%, and 15% by weight. A detailed investigation was carried out to determine the optimum material mix design which achieved good material properties. Results indicated that the addition of 30% BA as a partial replacement for cement improved the thermal performance by causing a 33% decrease in the thermal conductivity. Additions up to 30% of BA or 15% each from RHA and BA can be used to obtain mortar with compressive strengths complying with the standard values. At the same time, the combination of BA and RHA (15% each) decreased the thermal conductivity up to 31% compared to the conventional mortar. Further, the environmental assessment indicated that incorporation of BA and RHA in mortar can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions (i.e., 28% reduction per kg of BA).

The impact of environmental regulation on enterprises' green innovation under the constraint of external financing: evidence from China's industrial firms.

In recent years, the value of green innovation in achieving high-quality development in China has been increasingly recognized. However, studies on different types of green innovation under various environmental regulations have not established a systematic framework; especially, those considering external financing constraints are lacking. This study subdivides both environmental regulation and green innovation. Specifically, environmental regulation is divided into command-and-control regulation, market-incentive regulation, and public-participation regulation. Green technology innovation is divided into cleaner production technology innovation and end-of-pipe technology innovation. Moreover, this study explores whether and how environmental regulation affects green technology innovation, and investigates the moderating effect of external financing constraints, by matching the data from China Environmental Yearbook and China Industrial Enterprise Database. The results show that both command-and-control regulation and market-incentive regulation have the U-shaped relationship with cleaner production technology innovation. Meanwhile, public-participation environmental regulation significantly and positively affects cleaner production technology innovation, whereas market-incentive regulation and public-participation regulation have the inverted U-shaped relationship with end-of-pipe technology innovation. In addition, the external financing constraints have a moderating effect on the relationship between environmental regulation and cleaner production technology innovation.

End-of-pipe and cleaner production technologies. Do policy instruments and organizational capabilities matter? Evidence from Spanish firms

This paper focuses on the drivers of green technology adoption. We distinguish between end-of-pipe and cleaner production technologies aimed at either pollution mitigation or energy efficiency, respectively. We provide empirical evidence of the relations between existing policy instruments, organizational capabilities of firms and the adoption of different types of green technologies. We use a unique firm level panel dataset of 2562 Spanish manufacturing firms from 2008 to 2014 to carry out the empirical analysis. Our results show, first, that policy instruments drive adoption of green innovation more than organizational capabilities. Second, environmental taxation seems to be ineffective at stimulating the adoption of eco-innovation. Third, both investment subsidies and tax credits do imply higher levels of investments in green technologies. Tax incentives seem to mostly foster cleaner production technologies, while subsidies are used to finance all types of eco-innovations. Fourth, human resources as green employees are positively related with environmental investments. Finally, dynamic capabilities as the introduction of environmental management systems are correlated particularly with cleaner production investments oriented to reduce energy consumption.

Safeguarding food security through large-scale adoption of agricultural production technologies: The case of greenhouse farming in Ghana

Africa risk achieving its food security target due to the predominance of open field rain-fed production systems, worsening climate change impacts, environmentally unsustainable agronomic practices and low productivity. Large scale adoption of new and clean production technologies can overcome these challenges and increase productivity in an environmentally sustainable manner. However, large scale technological adoption faces several research, policy and financial challenges which must be identified and resolved. Despite the introduction of greenhouse technology in Ghana more than a decade ago to ensure sustained domestic supply of vegetables throughout the year, importation of vegetables has continued to increase. This study sought to address the problem of low adoption of greenhouse technology by investigating the barriers to their large scale adoption as well as associated opportunities. For the first time, stakeholders in research and academia, policy and business communities were consulted through questionnaire administration and personal communication to address this problem. Secondary data such as policy documents, strategies and plans of relevant ministries and allied institutions were reviewed. Quantitative and qualitative data analysis approaches were employed to process and analyse the data. The results revealed that, barriers to large scale adoption of the technology pertained to unsuitability of existing greenhouse designs to Ghana's climatic and other biophysical conditions, lack of locally adapted seeds, low technical expertise to manage the production process, high utility charges, lack of access to finance/credit and limited collaboration between initiatives of relevant ministries and also between ministries, research and business communities. These results call for a stronger collaboration between the three communities in (i) establishing a local fabrication industry, (ii) developing locally adapted seeds and solutions for pest and disease management, (iii) developing skills and enhancing capacity and extension services, (iv) value addition and marketing and (v) improving access to finance/credit for young entrepreneurs.

Impact of pollution-related punitive measures on the adoption of cleaner production technology: Simulation based on an evolutionary game model

China has recently implemented strict punitive measures on the polluting behavior of enterprises. These measures have had immediate benefits, but their long-term effects remain unknown. This study determined the potential impact of punitive measures on the clean transition behavior of enterprises under different policy scenarios in order to explore a framework for optimizing punitive measures. We built a network-based evolutionary game model to simulate the group behavior of enterprises regarding their adoption of cleaner production technology (CPT). The model is multi-dimensional and considers punitive measures by introducing three key attributes: intensity, coverage, and accuracy. The results indicate that enhancing the intensity and coverage of punishment can promote the diffusion of CPT in enterprises. However, it will reduce the average revenue of such enterprises, with adverse effects on economic development. By contrast, improving the accuracy of punitive measures will promote the diffusion of CPT without negative effects on revenue. Moreover, improving accuracy alongside the other two attributes conjointly will help to enlarge the comprehensive benefits. Therefore, we argue that the short-term performance and long-term benefits of clean transition should be considered when designing punitive measures, while the optimization of attribute parameters is crucial.

How global value chain participation affects green technology innovation processes: A moderated mediation model

Global value chain (GVC) embeddedness is an irreversible development paradigm in China's manufacturing sector. However, the increasingly prominent problem of ecological deterioration has become a bottleneck restricting its further high-quality development. Green technological innovation is an effective way to realise cleaner production and an environmentally-friendly society. Most studies consider green technological innovation as a whole. The specific mechanism and path influences on GVC participation in green technological innovation require further clarification. This study subdivides green technology innovation into process innovation and product innovation, constructing an improved Utterback and Abernathy (A-U) technological innovation process model to reveal the mediation effect moderated by environmental regulation. Our innovative findings are as follows: Green process innovation completely mediates GVC participation and green product innovation nexus; and environmental regulation positively moderates green process innovation's mediating role between GVC participation and green product innovation. Cleaner production technology innovation completely mediates the relationship between GVC participation and green product innovation. Green process innovation partially mediates the relationship between GVC forward participation and green product innovation. Cleaner production technology innovation completely mediates GVC forward participation and green product innovation nexus. The research conclusions provide new theoretical evidence for improving GVC forward participation and giving full play to cleaner production process innovation to promote China's green and low-carbon transformation; we also offer some references for other developing countries and emerging economies.