Environment, Development and Sustainability最新文献

{"title":"Why is rural revitalization difficult to achieve? An in-context discussion of conceptual barriers to China’s 2018–2022 strategic plan","authors":"Isaac Sarfo, Jiajun Qiao, Li Lingyue, Zhu Qiankun, George Darko, Emmanuel Yeboah, Mohamed Abdallah Ahmed Alriah, Desmond Gagakuma, Dhekra Ben Amara","doi":"10.1007/s10668-024-05353-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05353-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>While rural revitalization strategies dominate public and scientific discourses, considerably less attention has been given to the key barriers that derail its full realization at the national level. This paper explores China’s rural revitalization pathway by evaluating the strategy’s four foundational pillars, and the key barriers that mar its success through expert judgement, a multicriteria decision analysis approach (i.e., Analytic Hierarchy Process), and review of existing literature. Findings put forth the following points (1) Key barriers influencing the full realization of China’s rural revitalization efforts include an ageing-population and labor shortage, income disparities between urban and rural areas, limited infrastructure and access to basic services, limited participation in governance processes, and land degradation/environmental issues (2) The critically weighted measures, highlighted by experts encapsulate support for rural industries, improved access to social services, balancing rural and urban development, land reform, and innovation (3) To revitalize rural China, <i>‘smart shrinkage’</i> is critical (4) In positive light<i>, 'rural shrinkage'</i> offers both direct and indirect benefits (5) The '4R value strategy' introduced presents a clear path for innovative decision- and place-making processes in rural settings. Standpoints promote equitable development and reduction of regional disparities through targeted interventions to address the key barriers identified.</p>","PeriodicalId":540,"journal":{"name":"Environment, Development and Sustainability","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142268696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Energy transition policy, cash flow uncertainty and R&D expenditures of energy enterprises","authors":"Yuyin Ma, Shuai Lu, Shouwei Li","doi":"10.1007/s10668-024-05402-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05402-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p>To cope with risks of increasing climate changes and curb carbon emission, various policies have been implemented to facilitate energy transition in China. However, it remains unclear that whether the cash flow of energy enterprises is affected by energy transition policy and whether they invest more on R&amp;D activities to transition. To answer these questions, we utilize a difference-in-differences method to detect the impact of the Peaking-Carbon-Dioxide-Emissions policy on the cash flow uncertainty of the energy enterprises and examine the interaction between it and R&amp;D expenditures by using the sample of listed energy enterprises in China during 2008–2021. We find that the energy transition policy has a positive effect on the cash flow uncertainty of the energy enterprises, and the higher cash flow uncertainty after the policy further decreases the R&amp;D expenditure of the energy enterprises. We also find that this negative role of the cash flow uncertainty is partially conducted by the reduction proportion of the long-term loan. In addition, the over-valued enterprises have stronger incentives to squeeze the expenses of R&amp;D activities. Last, we capture the heterogeneity that the energy enterprises with less political connections and in more developed areas prefer prudent strategy management to maintain their investments in R&amp;D activities.</p>","PeriodicalId":540,"journal":{"name":"Environment, Development and Sustainability","volume":"39 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142252032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Green recycling of used motor oil and steel slag aggregate in concrete","authors":"Hisham Qasrawi","doi":"10.1007/s10668-024-05420-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05420-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Steel slags and used motor oil (UMO) are hazardous materials that are produced in high amounts and released into the environment by human activity. They adversely affect all types of life especially if they contaminate soil or ground when dumped. This research introduces a green clean safe sustainable efficient cheap method for recycling these materials. In the first step in this research, hazardous UMO is recycled as a concrete admixture. Previous research on UMO showed that the use of oil would result in higher air content in concrete, which in turn would result in a decrease in concrete strength. The research eliminates this problem by ensuring correct mixing procedures which will get rid of the increased air content. Hence, concrete strength can be maintained in the structure. The research suggests two simple economic methods to solve the problem. The first is to use an alternative mixing method of concrete to use UMO as a plasticizer without affecting the strength. Enhancement of the strength of concrete was attained by optimizing mixing time. The second method is to recycle steel slag aggregate (SSA) in concrete as coarse aggregate by replacing a certain proportion of natural coarse aggregate. The green use of SSA in concrete was beneficial in improving the properties of concrete containing UMO and was a sustainable solution for reducing the destruction of the environment caused by the depletion of natural resources when natural coarse aggregate is used. The change in mixing method and the use of SSA allowed the recycling of higher amounts of UMO without adversely affecting the fresh, hardened, or transitional plastic properties. Three states of concrete were studied in the research: fresh, plastic transitional, and hardened states. The study showed that the slump test alone is not sufficient to describe the workability of concrete containing UMO. In the transitional plastic state, setting time, bleeding, and finishability were studied. Results show that UMO and SSA can safely be used in concrete without adversely affecting its properties. The initial and final setting times increased by an average of 11 and 22 min respectively. Finishability tests show that the surface smoothness was excellent for UMO mixes containing 1.5% for SSA concretes and 1% for SSA-free mixes. The use of the modified mixing method reduced air content by about 3%. The use of SSA and the modified mixing improved the strength reduction of UMO concretes allowing dosages of about 0.8% to be safely used without losing compressive strength and 1.25% without losing tensile strength. No shrinkage problems are observed in all mixes. Lastly, a special study showed that the combined use will also reduce the overall material direct costs of about 5$ per cubic meter of concrete. Recycling UMO by this method would eliminate the CO₂ emissions produced by the firms that recycle UMO.</p>","PeriodicalId":540,"journal":{"name":"Environment, Development and Sustainability","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142268652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mathematical models proposed for calculating the utilization magnitudes and utilization proportions of renewable energies for satisfying the building energy requirement","authors":"Fang’ai Chi, Kun Gao, Liping He","doi":"10.1007/s10668-024-05409-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05409-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>With the progressive realization of fuel-based energies replaced by renewable energies, the electricity generation based on 100% renewable energy will eventually achieve in the future. Therefore, before realization of the 100% renewable electricity generation, it is of importance to analyze and optimize the renewable energy system mix in advance. Via power footprint, the mathematical models used for evaluation of the 100% renewable electricity generation in each province/municipality of China towards satisfaction of the building energy requirement were created. The proposed mathematical models can be applied to evaluate the utilization magnitudes and utilization proportions of target energies, in any given year before or the year that the 100% renewable electricity generation is realized. And, based on the proposed mathematical models, the energy transfer trace (i.e., power footprint) from renewable energies to electricity used in the buildings can be able to be explored. Moreover, the optimum exploitation and utilization methods for hydro energy, wind energy and solar energy were proposed in this work, aiming at the energy conversion efficiency improvement. The research results are expected to provide the policy makers with some useful guidelines and references.</p>","PeriodicalId":540,"journal":{"name":"Environment, Development and Sustainability","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142251959","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Proposal for a social certification model for agriculture in Latin America aligned with the sustainable development goals","authors":"Javier Eugenio García de Alba Verduzco, Samuel Borges Barbosa, Blanca Catalina Ramírez Hernández, Leila Dal Moro, Luis Enrique Lomelí Rodríguez, Luciana Londero Brandli, André Borchardt Deggau, Maria Gabriela Mendonça Peixoto, Angélica Isabel García Navarro, Simone Sehnem, Viviane dos Guimarães Alvim Nunes, José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Guerra","doi":"10.1007/s10668-024-05343-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05343-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Considering the certifications for family farming, several types of certification are used in Latin America, focusing on social and environmental issues. This study seeks to analyze the social, environmental, and health certifications in Mexico and Brazil. The study contemplates a qualitative approach, using as a technique a systematic literature review on the effectiveness of agricultural private certification in developing countries (Brazil and Mexico) published between 1990 and 2016. The research intended to survey existing certifications considering categories that had not been addressed in the literature. Responsible production, and social justice factors were taken into account and it was important to have as a parameter the main certifications already existing in the Latin American context. This survey also assessed the certifications concerning their alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). As a result of the research, it was possible to evaluate the social and environmental certifications for agriculture applied in Brazil and Mexico. After assessing the certifications, a framework of guidelines for certification for family farming in Latin America was structured, supported by the UN SDGs, and managed by universities. This proposal assists in achieving the SDGs proposed by the UN, mainly contemplating SDG 2 “Sustainable Agriculture” and SDG 12 “Responsible Production and Consumption”, and will also allow certifying products in a cheaper way for farmers. As future implications, the study assists in mapping existing certifications that serve as a guide for the use of producers.</p>","PeriodicalId":540,"journal":{"name":"Environment, Development and Sustainability","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142251957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Historical environmental Kuznets curve for the USA and the UK: cyclical environmental Kuznets curve evidence","authors":"Tolga Omay, Julide Yildirim, Nazmiye Balta-Ozkan","doi":"10.1007/s10668-024-05320-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05320-y","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;Human activities, including population growth, industrialization, and urbanization, have increasingly impacted the environment. Despite the benefits of economic growth to individual welfare, its negative environmental consequences necessitate a thorough assessment. The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), positing an inverted U-shaped relationship between income per capita and environmental degradation, has been extensively studied since its proposition by Grossman and Krueger (Environmental impacts of a North American free trade agreement, National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, 1991. https://doi.org/10.3386/w3914). However, empirical evidence on the validity and shape of the EKC varies due to methodological differences, country-specific dynamics, and other factors. Examining the historical growth paths of individual countries helps explain the mixed findings in empirical EKC research. Long-term data allow researchers to determine the EKC's shape and turning points, aiding policymakers in devising appropriate environmental policies for each economic growth cycle within the framework of global environmental governance. Accordingly, this study contributes to the literature by taking a historical perspective on the EKC, focusing specifically on the United States and the United Kingdom. Drawing on data spanning from 1850, we employ advanced econometric techniques, including fractional frequency flexible Fourier form Dickey–Fuller-type unit root tests and structural breaks unit root tests, to overcome limitations of traditional linearized EKC estimations. Moreover, the classical polynomial regression approach is employed to model the long-term cycles based on the scatterplot inspection of per capita carbon dioxide (CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;) and per capita GNP series. Contrary to conventional expectations, our empirical findings do not support the existence of a clear inverted U-shaped EKC relationship between CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; emissions and economic growth for either country. Instead, our analysis reveals the presence of multiple regimes, indicating a cyclical pattern where economic growth affects environmental quality with varying severity over time. Furthermore, we demonstrate proper modeling techniques for the EKC, highlighting the importance of identification and misspecification tests. Our study identifies cyclical EKC patterns for both the UK and the USA, with the UK exhibiting two cycles and the USA exhibiting three, shaped by varying economic, social, and technological contexts. By revealing the nuances of the economic growth-environmental degradation nexus for these early developer countries, our study provides valuable insights for policymakers seeking to devise evidence-based and environmentally sustainable growth policies within the framework of global environmental governance. These findings underscore the importance of considering historical context and structural changes when analyzing the EKC, providing valuable insights for policymak","PeriodicalId":540,"journal":{"name":"Environment, Development and Sustainability","volume":"100 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142251982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The green innovation effect of digital transformation —evidence from the Chinese experience","authors":"Yinglin Qian, Jin Chen","doi":"10.1007/s10668-024-05426-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05426-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The global commitment to carbon neutrality signals the decline of the traditional development paradigm since the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of a new green development model. This study analyzes data from Chinese listed companies between 2011 and 2022 to explore the impact of digital transformation on corporate green innovation.Our findings reveal that higher levels of digital transformation significantly enhance corporate green innovation. This influence operates through mechanisms such as improved corporate information transparency, better internal control quality, and increased absorptive capacity. Notably, the green innovation benefits of digital transformation are more pronounced in state-owned enterprises and heavily polluting industries compared to non-state-owned and less polluting industries. Moreover, digital transformation leads to substantial environmental benefits, particularly by significantly reducing corporate carbon emissions over time. These conclusions provide empirical evidence for assessing the green innovation effects of digital transformation and for developing targeted digital empowerment policies to support corporate green and low-carbon transitions.</p>","PeriodicalId":540,"journal":{"name":"Environment, Development and Sustainability","volume":"187 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142251960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of China’s digital economy on carbon emissions from the perspective of scale and efficiency","authors":"Jun Zhang, Huijia Liu, Jiangquan Wang, Xin Yi","doi":"10.1007/s10668-024-05418-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05418-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>China's digital industry (DI) is vital in curbing carbon intensity. We constructed the mechanism of the DI on carbon intensity through energy structure and efficiency. We divided the development level of the DI into two perspectives: scale and efficiency. Based on industrial and regional differences, we empirically tested the influence of China’s DI on carbon intensity through energy structure and efficiency. Our findings revealed that the role of the DI’s scale surpassed its efficiency in curbing carbon intensity in China. Further, the DI’s scale and efficiency significantly inhibited carbon intensity by improving energy efficiency; however, their inhibitory effect through optimising energy structure was limited. Moreover, the inhibitory effect of the DI on carbon intensity varied among industries and regions. Finally, we proposed measures to reduce carbon intensity when developing the DI.</p>","PeriodicalId":540,"journal":{"name":"Environment, Development and Sustainability","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142251980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of women and the obstacles to biodiversity conservation in developed and developing countries","authors":"Helyone Sarita das Mercês Lima, Helenilza Ferreira Albuquerque Cunha","doi":"10.1007/s10668-024-05407-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05407-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Women play several significant roles in biodiversity conservation, be they linked to conservation’s main activities or decision-making. However, there are countless barriers and disparities capable of affecting the performance of their roles. From this perspective, this study aimed to investigate and compare the roles played by women in the conservation and management of biodiversity. Additionally, it sought to evaluate the obstacles and disparities they face in this process, focusing on both developed and developing countries. We carried out a systematic review of the literature, using the PRISMA Protocol to avoid biased data. We reviewed 400 articles. However, only 73 articles were included in this study, as they met the inclusion criteria. We used the Discursive Textual Analysis method to identify the categories of roles and obstacles found in the articles. We have identified 8 categories of roles played by women in biodiversity conservation and 11 obstacles/difficulties faced by them to perform their role. Developed countries did not show conservation’s main activities, only environmental governance categories, biodiversity management, and others (environmentalist movements). Concerning developing countries, ‘management of natural resources’ was the most cited category in the analyzed studies. There were several main activities related to agriculture in developing countries, mainly agroecology, sustainable agriculture, and agrobiodiversity. Developed countries stood out for double shifts, lack of public policies, lack of financing, gender discrimination, cross-sectional factors, and climatic skepticism, as obstacles to biodiversity conservation. We have concluded that there are differences in the roles played by women in developed and developing countries. We understood that the cross-sectional factors, that is, factors that encompass ethnicity, race, age, geographic location, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and/or the condition of a person with a disability, were the most observed obstacle/difficulty in both developing and developed countries.</p>","PeriodicalId":540,"journal":{"name":"Environment, Development and Sustainability","volume":"65 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142251985","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dynamic strategies for collaborative governance of rural environments: a simulation study on the most effective mechanisms","authors":"Xuehai Jiang, Wanqiong Zheng","doi":"10.1007/s10668-024-05335-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05335-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Rural environmental governance is one of the important tasks in China’s rural revitalization strategy. Currently, relying solely on government governance cannot effectively solve the environmental governance needs of nearly 700 thousand administrative villages in China. Building a collaborative governance model of “government regulation + villagers’ supervision” is the key to achieving successful rural environmental governance. Previous literature mainly used the evolutionary game model under the static reward and punishment mechanism (SRPM) to study the strategy evolution dynamics of village enterprises, the government and villagers. However, the simple model setting makes it difficult for the game system to accurately depict complex real-world problems, and it is concluded that the evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) of the game system can only be pure strategy Nash equilibrium (PSNE). In fact, it is difficult to see the stable strategy of “either this or that”, and most of the strategy combinations with asymptotic stability are mixed strategy Nash equilibrium (MSNE) rather than PSNE, which indicates that the model construction based on the SRPM is problematic. Therefore, this paper expands the SRPM and studies the strategic evolution dynamics of village enterprises, the government and villagers under the dynamic reward and punishment mechanism (DRPM). Theoretical research has shown that MSNE may indeed be the system’s ESS under the DRPM, and a mathematical proof was provided. System simulation has shown that under the SRPM, village enterprises, the government, and villagers all exhibited a periodic strategy selection mode, and the strategies of all parties cannot achieve asymptotic stability. However, under the DRPM, the strategies of all parties eventually tend to stabilize over time, and MSNE is the system’s ESS. This indicates that there is indeed a situation where MSNE is the system’s ESS, and also confirms that the DRPM is indeed a stability improvement compared with the traditional SRPM. Finally, it is suggested that the government should focus on raising the upper limit of punishments for illegal emissions by village enterprises, and should carefully raise the upper limit of rewards for active supervision by villagers.</p>","PeriodicalId":540,"journal":{"name":"Environment, Development and Sustainability","volume":"192 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142251983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}