China's low-carbon economic transition: Provincial analysis from 2002 to 2012

Economic, environmental and social efficiency and effectiveness development in the sustainable crop agricultural sector: A systematic in-depth analysis review

Multi-dimensional inclusion of economic, environmental, and social sustainability spheres together are the most global concerns of the agricultural crop sector. Therefore, optimizing waste and natural resources guides researchers and policymakers to structure actions and strategies to attain sustainability. Several studies have been published around the world to choose between focusing on eco-efficiency or eco-effectiveness in different aspects. This work aims to systematically apply an updated review to critically assess the agricultural research articles' contributions among the assessment of those methods, models or tools, as well as a quantitative and qualitative in-depth analysis review to classify them, according to their mapping, functions, strengths, weaknesses, and logical relationships for the evaluation in the crop agricultural sector, which is expected to be needed in future to better understand the research gaps and select the appropriate methods for sustainability evaluation from different spheres (ecology, economy, and sociology). Of 242 peer-reviewed records from 2018 to the beginning of 2023, 135 reviews and articles gathered from Web of Science and Scopus meet the criteria to be examined. Our analysis revealed that the number of reviews is limited to approximately 4.5 %; most of the case studies were carried out in countries, such as China (36 %) and Brazil (6 %), and continents such as Europe (16 %). Depending on considered aspects, most studies evaluate the efficiency, effectiveness and derivatives using a set of tools, varying between the managerial tools applied for the macro-level structuration (DPSIR, EMA, and LCA) and mathematical tools applied for the micro-level quantification, subdivided into the visualization methods (GIS), and the optimization methods (DEA, SFA, MILP, FO). Thanks to their multifunctionality in considering different aspects of input, output and influence factors variables, the in-depth analysis study suggests the application of data envelopment and stochastic analysis to carry out a multidisciplinary evaluation for the socio-eco-efficiency or the socio-eco-effectiveness.

Evaluation and spatial agglomeration analysis of the green competitiveness of China's manufacturing industry at the provincial level

The pressures to maintain a low-carbon economy makes green competitiveness (GC) a significant issue in China. It has been found that the development of Internet and E-commerce contributes significantly to GC of regional economy, yet there are still lack of quantitative investigation on their effects, which can be used to further guide the economic development. Therefore, this study constructs a new evaluation index for the green competitiveness of the regional manufacturing industry in China by introducing Internet application indicators and E-commerce development indexes into its evaluation system. The results show Jiangxi and Gansu moved upward significantly in the GC ranking over the period. The development of the Internet and E-commerce has the most significant impact on GC of regional manufacturing. The lack of green manufacturing capabilities and green innovation drivers led to a decline in the GC ranking of Liaoning, Tianjin, Guangxi and Heilongjiang. Finally, this study uses Moran’s I index to investigate the spatial agglomeration effect of the green development of the manufacturing industry at the province level. The results show an increase in the GC of China’s regional manufacturing industry, and the GC of manufacturing industry shows a significant agglomeration effect. Based on the above conclusions, the proposal to promote the balanced development of the GC of the manufacturing industry is proposed.

Consumers’ Intention and Cognition for Low-Carbon Behavior: A Case Study of Hangzhou in China

The influencing factors of the low-carbon consumption behavior of urban residents have become popular. This paper explored the factors of consumers’ low-carbon behavior through a questionnaire survey. Using Hangzhou as a case study city, which yields 786 valid responses, the results indicated that urban consumers generally had a high perception of low-carbon behavior. At the same time, low-carbon cognition and low-carbon intention had a positive impact on residents’ low-carbon behavior. In particular, the level of awareness of global warming adjusted residents’ understanding of low-carbon behavior. From a policy point of view, this research contributes to insights into the promotion of guiding residents’ low-carbon behavior and improving the response to global warming.

Study on industrial selection of counterpart cooperation between Jilin province and Zhejiang province in China from the perspective of low carbon

Counterpart cooperation is a major innovative measure in China's strategy for revitalizing north-eastern China. While promoting economic progress, regional counterpart cooperation should also focus on low-carbon economy and sustainable development. Under the background of China's proposed innovative cooperation strategy, using a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model and structural decomposition analysis (SDA), this study takes Jilin province and its counterpart Zhejiang province as an example and decomposes the change in carbon emission intensity (CEI), which is a widely used indicator to measure regional carbon emission performance. The decomposition spans the years 2007 to 2012, at the level of two provinces and departments. By comparing the factors that drive and inhibit CEI in the two provinces, it was found that the production technology effect in Jilin province primarily drove the growth in CEI, while in Zhejiang province, the opposite occurred. Second, the structural effects of agriculture and heavy industry in Jilin province accounted for the largest proportion of this change, and the pulling effect on the increase in CEI in Jilin was significantly higher than that in Zhejiang province. Third, the scale effect of agricultural demand in Zhejiang province was much higher than that in Jilin province, and the same trend was observed for the scale effect of heavy industrial exports.

Allocation of carbon dioxide emission quotas based on the energy-economy-environment perspective: Evidence from Guangdong Province

As one of the most important environmental control mechanisms in China, the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is set to alleviate the contradictions among the energy-economy-environment (3E) system and achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs), while any such scheme requires an initial allocation of carbon dioxide emission quotas. However, the current allocation method dominated by the grandfathering approach does not reflect this original intention well. Integrating the 3E goals with the quota allocation issue, this paper established a dual-objective programming model that considered both the economic and energy goals, while the environmental goal was reflected in constraints. Evidence from Guangdong Province revealed that the 3E approach was superior to the grandfathering approach in some respects. When the weight given to the energy goal was within a certain interval, the 3E approach could simultaneously optimize the total abatement cost and emission efficiency, which not only reflected the "polluter pays" principle but also avoided the possibility of windfall profits from the redundant quota. In other cases, the 3E approach could unilaterally improve the energy or economic goal to reflect decision preferences. Finally, the findings of this paper have important implications for policy makers seeking to develop new regulations for the national ETS.

Does China become the "pollution heaven" in South-South trade? Evidence from Sino-Russian trade

The South-South trade has witnessed a rapid development over the years, but its impacts on the participating countries remain unknown. Taking Sino-Russian trade as evidence, a multiregional input-output model is adopted and three types of non-carbon pollutant are chosen to investigate whether China has become the "pollution heaven" in South-South trade. After investigating the industry structure distribution and trade flows of embodied pollution during 2000-2014, the driving factors of the changes in embodied pollutant are further explored by Structural Decomposition Analysis (SDA). The results showed that China has gradually lost the win-win situation of trade surplus and pollution reduction. Since the year 2007, China has totally become a net exporter of embodied pollutions, and has become to bear the environmental costs in the trade with Russia. The expansion of exports to Russia is the main cause of increasing embodied pollutant emission in China, and the progress of emissions reduction technology effect is not sufficient to offset the increase in embodied pollutant emissions. From the sectoral aspect, we find that the exports of textiles, leather, chemical, machinery and electronics are the main causes of pollution outflows. Meanwhile, imports of mineral, transport, metals, coke, petroleum and nuclear fuel to a certain extent eased the pressure of pollution reduction in China.

Promoting sustainability of manufacturing industry through the lean energy-saving and emission-reduction strategy

The energy-saving and emission reduction (ESER) strategy is a crucial measure for promoting the sustainability of manufacturing industry in green transition. Analyzing current practices and limitations of the ESER in the manufacturing industry, this paper proposes a new concept entitled lean energy-saving and emission-reduction (LESER) and an approach to effectively improve the energy efficiency and reduce waste emissions. This paper illustrates the definition of the LESER and establishes an implementation framework for LESER to improve the manufacturing process. To quantify and evaluate performance of LESER, the state space model of the carbon footprint for energy consumption and waste discharge is established. A method for implementing the LESER strategy is constructed in the following steps: (i) clarification of the current situation; (ii) analysis of the root cause; (iii) improvement; (iv) evaluation of the carbon emissions; (v) sustaining and standardizing. Finally, the LESER strategy is applied to the Zcrubber Group Co. Ltd., which is characterized with high pollution, high energy consumption, and high emission in green transition. Results demonstrate practicability of the proposed strategy to offer an effective measure for promoting sustainability of manufacturing industry.