Despite extensive studies into international trade and CO2 pollution, a panel of only top exporting economies was not considered. As the current research is an endeavor to address the gap by ...exploring the impact of economic complexity index (ECI) and renewable energy electricity (RELC) on consumption-based carbon emissions (CCO2) in the presences of exports, imports, and gross domestic product (GDP) in the top exporting countries from 1990 to 2019. The results confirm a relationship between consumption-based carbon emissions, economic complexity index, renewable energy electricity, exports, imports, and economic growth in both the short-run and long run. Empirical evidence for cross-sectional auto-regressive distributed lags (CS-ARDL) estimates, confirms that economic complexity index imports and GDP are positively associated and have significant adverse short-run and long-run impacts on consumption-based carbon emission. Whereas, export and renewable energy electricity significantly reduce carbon emissions. To achieve carbon neutrality target, policymakers should make economic complexity reforms, import green products, and promote investments in sustainable sources.
•This evaluate the role of renewable electricity and economic complexity index.•The study uses data from 1990 to 2019 for top exporting economies.•The study uses robust panel econometric methods.•GDP, Imports and economic complexity index increase consumption-based emissions.•Exports and renewable energy electricity help to achieve carbon neutrality target.
We explore how rice farmers adjust their farm management practices in response to extreme weather events and determine whether their adjustments affect the mean, risk, and downside risk of rice ...yield. Based on a survey of 1,653 rice farmers in China, our econometric analyses show that the severity of drought and flood in the study areas significantly increases the risk and downside risk of rice yield. The applied farm management measures respond to severe drought and flood and can be considered as adaptation to climate change, an issue often ignored in previous studies. We model adaptation and its impact on rice yield for adapters and non-adapters. Utilizing a moment-based approach, we show that adaptation through farm management measures significantly increases rice yield and reduces the risk and downside risk of rice yield. Several policies, including scaling up the cost-effective farm management adaptation and providing public services related to natural disasters, are recommended to improve adaptive capacity of farmers, particular the poor, in response to extreme events.
To combat pollution, the Chinese government has taken a series of environmental regulations, including requiring cities to report their daily air quality information. This has affected not only the ...environmental performance of governments and enterprises but also individual happiness. This paper attempts to explore whether and how mandatory air quality information disclosure affects happiness in China, using a difference-in-differences (DID) approach across cities for the waves 2007, 2008 and 2013. Empirical results show that in Chinese cities, people feel less happy over time although there is an increase in GDP per capita. Moreover, it is found that mandatory air pollution index (API) disclosure exerts a significantly positive impact on happiness, mainly by reducing air pollution. Our analysis has policy implications that for developing countries, air quality information disclosure should be encouraged since it is effective in combating air pollution resulting from high economic development and meanwhile it adds to individual happiness.
•This paper examines the impact of mandatory air quality information disclosure on individual happiness, using a difference-in-differences (DID) model across China's cities for the waves 2007, 2008 and 2013.•People feel happier in cities with API disclosure than those in cities without API disclosure. Meanwhile, happiness level in high SO2 pollution cities is also higher than in cities with low SO2 emission.•API disclosure positively and significantly responds to individual happiness, especially in cities with low SO2 pollution.•API disclosure influences individual happiness by increasing environmental transparency and by reducing air pollution.•Improving environmental transparency can be used as a means to reduce pollution and to promote the public's subjective well-being, especially in developing countries.
To cope with environmental degradation, countries around the globe are devising policies such as renewable energy, eco innovation and green financing, etc. Investment in renewable energy sources is ...crucial for achieving development. An increase in investment in renewable energy in the development goals are turn out to be the main concern of countries. This study examines the elements that influence the investment in renewable energy sources, as well as the importance of each aspect in case of China for the period of 1990–2020. We use Bayer-Hanck cointegration and Quantile Regression method to estimate the long run coefficients. To check the causal relationship among variables, this study employs Frequency Domain Causality (FDC) test. The results show that natural resource volatility is negatively related with investment in renewable energy. However, economic performance, technological innovation and energy efficiency have positive impact on investment in renewable energy. From results of quantile regression, it is inferred that as long as the effect of economic performance on investment in renewable energy loses trace of significance, the negative effect of natural resource volatility attains stronger statistical evidence. It implies that the positive impact of economic performance and negative impact of natural resource volatility on IRE changes its significance after a certain threshold level is achieved. There is evidence of uni-directional causality from GDP, TNR, TI and ENEF to IRE in all three runs. The findings of this study have important implications that can also be used by international organizations and other stakeholders in developing policies to improve the environment through renewable energies.
•The elements that influence the investment in renewable energy sources are explored.•The impact of NRV ,EP, TI and ENEF in effecting investment in RE is examined.•The Bayer-Hanck cointegration and Quantile Regression method are used.•Natural resource volatility is negatively related with investment in renewable energy.•Uni-directional causality from GDP, TNR, TI and ENEF to IRE in all three runs.
China’s Going Global Strategy and Belt and Road Initiative gained great attention among scholars. Moreover, it is believed that Chinese investments abroad cause serious social and environmental ...externalities. Hence, in this paper, we examine how China’s foreign direct investments influence the carbon emissions of 35 Belt and Road Initiative countries from 2000 to 2019. To do so, we use a panel model that accounts for heterogeneity and country cross-section dependence. Our results show that while other countries’ foreign direct investments have contributed to the deterioration of the environment in these countries, Chinese investments have not. This substantiates the hypothesis of the halo effect influence of China’s foreign investments as opposed to other countries’ investments which may seek a haven for its carbon emissions. These results highlight the importance of source and destination regulations of foreign direct investments in terms of their environmental impact and carbon emissions in the Belt and Road Initiative countries. It also provides a fresh finding on the efficacy of China’s foreign investment management policies and regulations in producing the desired environmental outcome in hosting countries.
The assessment of environmental and health impacts stemming from sports mega-events plays an important role in evaluating the overall cost–benefit of the events. This study utilizes microdata sourced ...from the China Household Income Project in conjunction with a time-varying difference-in-differences methodology. Through this approach, we estimated the impact of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games on both air quality and public health conditions within China. The results reveal the following: (1) The Games wield substantial and favorable effects on self-perceived health; (2) The primary avenue through which the Games improve self-perceived health is by mitigating air pollution levels in the cities associated with the Games; (3) The cost–benefit analysis unveils that hosting the Games has led to a reduction of 1103.12 million RMB in residents’ medical expenses, with the improved air quality accounting for 20.15% of the cost reduction.
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•Public-private investment, natural resources and CO2 emissions nexus explored in China.•Natural resources rent identified as a contributor to amplified CO2 emissions.•Public-private ...investment and environmental technologies declined CO2 emissions.•Policies are designs for sustainable energy investment and environmental strategies.
The shift to zero-carbon emissions nurtures enormous economic opportunities owing to stimulating the creation of new industries, offering jobs, and driving technological innovation. This study aims to investigate the dynamics among public–private energy investment, natural resources rent, environmental technologies, and carbon neutrality in China over the period spanning from 1984 to 2021. We employ the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method to determine the long-term and short-term connections between those factors. The Kernel-based Regularized Least Squares (KRLS) machine learning approach is used for the robustness check. Our findings demonstrate that while public-private energy investment and environmental technology decrease, natural resources rent is linked to increased carbon emissions. Moreover, the moderating effect of natural resources rent and environmental technology raises the success rate of public-private energy investment in supporting net-zero emissions. . The study findings call for reassessing policy priorities to harness the potential of investments and innovations in environmental protection, while addressing the challenges of urbanization and economic growth.
Supercapacitors with the advantages of high power density and rapid discharging rate have widespread applications in energy storage. Nevertheless, their development is hindered by the limitation of ...low specific capacity. Traditional approaches to enhance specific capacity primarily involve incorporating foreign atoms and blending with additional reactive substances. Herein, a photo-assisted supercapacitor electrode material (GN/MnO2 nanocomposite) with excellent capacity is developed. As a photoactive material, graphene generates electrons and holes with photoirradiation. As the photogenerated carriers increase, electrons are separated from the holes and stored as charges. Photoirradiation is the driving force that promotes the energy storage and conversion of supercapacitors. Although there are many reports on GN/MnO2 composites, there are still few reports on the photo-assisted energy storage of this composite material. The specific capacity of this photo-assisted GN/MnO2 electrode materials could reach 210 F/g with photoirradiation. It was higher than that without photoirradiation (170 F/g). The development of this study provides important theoretical guidance and practical significance for the research of photo-assisted energy storage materials, and plays a significant role in advancing the progress of energy storage devices with high specific capacity.
Widespread adoption of advanced agricultural machinery among smallholder farmers is one way for China to enhance productivity in the agricultural sector. Especially, full mechanization and smart ...automation of rice production are of great importance for food security in China and beyond. However, farmers face many challenges in adopting such machinery. This study explores farm and household factors that influence adoption and their relative importance in the context of adoption of smart rice seed planters in peri-urban Shanghai. A survey targeting rice farmers’ adoption of such planters was implemented in 2020 that contained questions regarding awareness and adoption of the available machines. The inverse probability weighted regression adjustment (IPWRA) approach was used to examine the survey data. The results show that farming households more dependent on rice production, having larger per capita expenditure, etc., are more likely to adopt such planters. However, farming households with high non-farm income shares or non-rice area shares in their agricultural portfolios are less likely to adopt such machinery. Dedication to farming and rice production appears influential for adoption, especially given the peri-urban context. Based on the results, this study suggests that subsidy policies should target farmers who are more focused on rice cultivation, raising their income levels for inducing the use of new machinery. Policies should be also designed to attract new talent into the modern agricultural workforce. Moreover, field demonstrations and training of using new machinery should be strengthened. The study offers policy insights for smart transformation of rice production in China and beyond.
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•Widespread adoption of smart machinery is a way to increase rice productivity.•This study explores factors influencing adoption of smart rice seed planter.•Dedication to farming and rice production is influential for adoption in Shanghai.•The study has policy implications for smart transformation of rice production.
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