Review,assessment and recommendations on environmental policies in Western China

Reviewing the existing environmental policies in Western China,we find that:in time sequence,the characteristics of China's western environmental policies shift from"development drive governance"to the full implementation of environmental protection and construction;and in spatial sequence,the ecological,social,and economic development of Western China reach to coordination through the nature reserve setting,ecological migrants,fiscal transfer payment and differentiated ecological environmental policies.Due to the implementation of the policies and projects,environmental degradation trends in the western ecological environment were alleviated significantly,the living conditions of farmers and herdsmen were improved,and many successful experiences were explored.However,future ecological environmental construction in Western China requires further improvement in integrated planning,eco-compensation mechanism,and policy assessment.This paper concludes with specific recommendations such as drawing up ecological environment construction planning,strengthening environmental law enforcement and incentive mechanisms,improving policy assessment and scientific support,enhancing environmental protection capacity,improving eco-compensation mechanism,and refining the environmental policies for key areas.

Analysis of the relationship between environmental policies and air quality during major social events

Based on an analysis of major recent social events in China,such as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games,2010 Shanghai World Expo,2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games,and 2014 Beijing Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference,mandatory,temporary,and indemnificatory quantitative policies aimed at protecting air quality,which were carried out by both central and local governments,made substantial contributions to changes and improvements in air quality.To some extent,the findings show that command and control measures play a significant role in protecting air quality,while the law and economic and voluntary environmental safeguard measures do not during major social events.Therefore,it reminds us the air quality could and will improve not only during major social events but also in the regular days if we implement appropriate environmental policies and safeguard measures.

Deliberative Democracy Establishment in Environmental Policies： alternatives for the Environmental Conflict Resolution

The environmental problems can not be addressed in all their depth and complexity, and the most viable solutions can be made only by direct and continuous reference to the large issues of the development of the society as a whole. Environment and economic development are indissoluble, the first is where we all live, and development is what we all do to improve our fate in this environment. A main cause is the attitude of economic operators towards the environment, an attitude according to which profit should be pursued immediately, while nature protection is left for later. Ecological crisis is a new phenomenon, but derived from anthropological crisis. This reflects, at a global level, man＇s inner crisis. Every man in part, and not people or humanity in general, is responsible for this crisis. Individual responsibility is not a question of quality, but a question of quantity. The ecological crisis is linked to the personal and social life of man as a whole. The convenience, lack of respect for things, irrational waste, lack of measure, irresponsibility, injustice, exploitation, winning dirty money, eudemonism, which manifest on all aspects of life and human activity, are factors that provoke it. And, unfortunately, they maintain it.

Does Environmental Laws and Policies Work?A Review Of Ghana’s Case

Enforcing environmental laws and policies has been one of the pressing agenda globally.Despite the mandate given to the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA)by the Act 490,there are still numerous environmental issues unaddressed in Ghana.This paper is geared towards unravelling and identifying the current additions that have been made to existing literature on environmental laws and policies in Ghana.This paper made a wide-ranging general literature review to outline significant contributions concerning environmental laws and policies.Numerous environmental laws and policies were identified but have been fragmented and are not codified in a particular document.It is evident from the review of literature existing that there are still areas for advanced research on the topic of environmental laws and policies placing more emphasis on institution concerned with environmental issues at global level.The study recommended the need for capacity building for environmental personnel and data due to the numerous technological advancement to better assist the implementation and enforcement of environmental laws in Ghana.

Enhancing the Efficiency of Enterprise Shutdowns for Environmental Protection:An Agent-Based Modeling Approach with High Spatial–Temporal Resolution Data

Top-down environmental policies aim to mitigate environmental risks but inevitably lead to economic losses due to the market entry or exit of enterprises.This study developed a universal dynamic agent-based supply chain model to achieve tradeoffs between environmental risk reduction and economic sus-tainability.The model was used to conduct high-resolution daily simulations of the dynamic shifts in enterprise operations and their cascading effects on supply chain networks.It includes production,con-sumption,and transportation agents,attributing economic features to supply chain components and cap-turing their interactions.It also accounts for adaptive responses to daily external shocks and replicates realistic firm behaviors.By coupling high spatial-temporal resolution firm-level data from 18916 chemical enterprises,this study investigates the economic and environmental impacts of an environmen-tal policy resulting in the closure of 1800 chemical enterprises over three years.The results revealed a significant economic loss of 25.8 billion USD,ranging from 23.8 billion to 31.8 billion USD.Notably,over 80%of this loss was attributed to supply chain propagation.Counterfactual analyses indicated that imple-menting a staggered shutdown strategy prevented 18.8%of supply chain losses,highlighting the impor-tance of a gradual policy implementation to prevent abrupt supply chain disruptions.Furthermore,the study highlights the effectiveness of a multi-objective policy design in reducing economic losses(about 29%)and environmental risks(about 40%),substantially enhancing the efficiency of the environmental policy.The high-resolution simulations provide valuable insights for policy designers to formulate strategies with staggered implementation and multiple objectives to mitigate supply chain losses and environmental risks and ensure a sustainable future.

Environmental improvement or industry enhancement?A case study on the impact of environmental regulations on Chinese automobile industry

Developing countries are encouraged to pursue environmental protection and industrial development simultaneously,although it is a big challenge to reach win-win situation.This study explored the relationshipbetween environmental regulations and the industry enhancement in developing countries through conducting an empirical analysis of the impact of environmental regulationson Chinese automobile industry.In the empirical analysis,a total of64Chinese automobile enterprises were investigated,the Malmquist index of total factor productivity was adopted to determine the productivity of Chinese automobiles,and the two-step system Generalised Method of Moments(GMM)estimation was used for the regressionanalysis.The resultsshowedthat environmental regulations negatively affected the productivity and technology of Chinese automobile industry during 2004-2018.The production costof automobile industry in China was rising sharply,and the productivity and technological progress of Chinese automobile industry were impeded significantly.The case of Chinese automobile industry illustrated that strict environmental requirements can negatively impact industry productivity by increasing production costs and squeezing industry profits.

National Environmental Policy Act of the United States and Its Application in Climate Litigation——Evaluating Litigation Case by Friends of the Earth on Export-Import Bank of the United States and Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Because that American government and congress hold a negative attitude on responding to climate change issue, people transfer the battle stage of climate change to the court,and hope to promote government and large energy companies actively responding to climate change issue via litigation form. A large amount of related litigation appears,and a kind of special litigation type is gradually formed, namely climate change litigation. National Environmental Policy Act of the United States is one of important legal weapons used by prosecutor in climate change litigation. In National Environmental Policy Act, it stipulates environmental impact evaluation system which has close relationship with climate change litigation. The system requires that federal agency ＂ should compile detailed environmental impact report （EIS） on major federal action which significantly affects human survival environment quality＂. Litigation case of Export - Import Bank of the United States and Overseas Private Investment Corporation by Fdends of the Earth, Green Peace, Boulder City, etc. is typical one related to the act. We try to evaluate and analyze text and case of the act.

The Process of Environmental Institutionalization in Mozambique

The late 1980s began a transition from a centrally planned economic system to a market economy in Mozambique. This transition was marked by a gradual decentralization of public administration and the cross consideration of environmental issues. In our times, research and environmental studies are globally centrals to multiples fields of knowledge, based on this we try to reflect on the process of institutionalization of environmental issues in Mozambique. Our goal is to analytically explorer the political, social and economic contours that allow characterizing the beginning of this process. This article is the result of exploratory research using the qualitative method of analysis. The results showed that the beginning of the environmental issue institutionalization process in Mozambique was the result of various government initiatives and financial demands inherent in the development process, and filled in rhetorical strategies of different styles and motives, being pierced by political conflicts and fmancial, both at the state level as the meagerly existing civil society in this period. In this paper, we present and analyzed the socio-historical circumstances that interspersed the process of environmental institutionalization, indicating exogenous and endogenous factors that proved decisive for the current environmental institutional status in Mozambique.

Strategic Environmental Assessment to Improve Infrastructure Impact Assessments in Brazil

The wider consideration of environmental effects and alternatives in early stages of decision-making has been pointed as one of the major benefits of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). Adopted by virtually all of developed countries and sprawling around emergent and developing ones, it is recognized that SEA effectiveness is attached to its systematic application in development plans and programmes. Brazil and many developing countries have different experiences with this instrument and lacks of definition of a procedural framework to promote the use of SEA in strategic levels of decision. As a consequence development projects are frequently “threatened” by impact assessment outcomes, especially when a mandatory project-EIA has to inform decisions. In order to contribute to the implementation of SEA in developing countries, the present paper discusses the potential benefits of using SEA in transport infrastructure plans and programmes, through a case study applied to transport plans in the state of Sao Paulo (south-eastern Brazil). The outcomes indicate that SEA could contribute to improve infrastructure impact assessments, minimizing social and environmental conflicts, augmenting the acceptability of projects and decisions, reinforcing the need for SEA to be systematically implemented in Brazil.

Impacts of forest plantation programs on sectoral CO_(2) emissions regionally in New Zealand

Investing in projects that support environmental benefits,such as tree harvesting,has the potential to reduce air pollution levels in the atmosphere in the future.However,this kind of investment may increase the current level of emissions.Therefore,it is necessary to estimate how much the policy affects the current level of CO_(2) emissions.This makes sure the policy doesn’t increase the level of CO_(2) emis-sions.This study aims to analyze the effect of the One Bil-lion Trees program on CO_(2) emissions in New Zealand by employing the 2020 input–output table analysis.This inves-tigation examines the direct and indirect effects of policy on both the demand and supply sides across six regions of New Zealand.The results of this study for the first year of plantation suggest that the policy increases the level of CO_(2) emissions in all regions,especially in the Waikato region.The direct and indirect impact of the policy leads to 64 kt of CO_(2) emissions on the demand side and 270 kt of CO_(2) emis-sions on the supply side.These lead to 0.19 and 0.74%of total CO_(2) emissions being attributed to investment shocks.Continuing the policy is recommended,as it has a low effect on CO_(2) emissions.However,it is crucial to prioritize the use of low-carbon machinery that uses fossil fuels during the plantation process.

Extreme rain event highlights the lack of governance to face climate change in the Southeastern coast of Brazil

New rainfall records were registered in the southeastern region of Brazil during February 2023.The amount of rain in the north coast region of the State of São Paulo was more than 650 mm in less than two days.Landslides and tragedies with a socioeconomically vulnerable population marked this climatic extreme.The country has a regulatory system that suggests the elaboration and implementation of municipal public policies aimed at territorial organization,environmental conservation,and the prevention of disasters induced by natural hazards.In addition,both federal and state funds earmarked for such hazard's prevention have been underutilized over the last decade.In addition to this current devastating climate episode,other events were registered in this decade,reinforcing that financial governance is a key challenge to face the climate crisis in Brazil.The predicted future extreme events in different regions of Brazil will require a different governance system to minimize social inequality,seek sustainable alternatives for urban environments and manage to adapt cities for the challenges posed by climate change.

A Mechanism for Digital Finance to Drive Green and Low-Carbon Development

Given the global focus on green and low-carbon development and the increasing prominence of digital finance,it is particularly important to explore how to leverage digital finance to achieve these environmental goals.This study,through mechanism analysis,deeply examines how China’s digital finance promotes green and low-carbon development and elucidates the positive interaction between digital finance and the green industry.The study found that digital finance,through more flexible and efficient financial functions,alters the cost structure of carbon emissions,and reduces the risks and costs of green investments,thereby creating a cooperative green mechanism benefiting all parties,and guiding social groups toward a green and low-carbon transformation.Additionally,the rapid development of digital finance has strengthened the implementation of environmental protection policies,effectively promoted the expansion of the environmental protection industry,and established the green ethos as a mainstream concept in financial development.This study aims to provide reference perspectives and suggestions,assist policymakers in promoting the green and lowcarbon development of digital finance,and offer insights into the integrated development of digital finance and the green environmental protection industry.

An overview of the environmental finance policies in China： retrofitting an integrated mechanism for environmental management

Considering the significant roles of the policies in developing environmental finance, an overview is conducted on the environmental finance policies （EFPs） in China. This paper analyzed the definition, scope, evolution and main instruments of EFPs. The implementation progress of financial activities on each instrument are investigated respectively. Then the experiences learned from and failures discovered in the development of the EFPs are discussed well recommendations for further improvement of the EFPs and their implementation are provided. Our study found that the EFPs have been established in China after a four-phase evolution since the early 1980s. The policies have played a critical role in leading to a rapid development in environmental finance by involving more financial instruments to accomplish the objective-led environmental plans. Driven by the policies, the new green credit （GC）, green security （GS）, and green insurance （GI） instruments have been phased in as supplements to the conventional command and control approaches to improve the environmental governance of financial activities and pollution sources. However, the market mechanism of financial institution is limited due to their defensive and incapable performance on implementation some of EFP instruments. To further strengthen the effectiveness of EFPs in facilitating environmental man- agement, recommendations are made mainly on the aspects including developing more specific policy guidelines, enhancing information sharing and disclosure, providing sufficient economic incentives, establishing environmental liabilities with financial activities, and involving issues related to climate change, and biodiversity and ecosystem service.

An Overview of Big Data Industry in China

The year of 2011 is considered the first year of big data market in China.Compared with the global scale,China's big data growth will be faster than the global average growth rate,and China will usher in the rapid expansion of big data market in the next few years.This paper presents the overall big data development in China in terms of market scale and development stages,enterprise development in the industry chain,the technology standards,and industrial applications.The paper points out the issues and challenges facing big data development in China and proposes to make polices and create support approaches for big data transactions and personal privacy protection.

Marginal cost pricing for coal fired electricity in coastal cities of China:The case of Mawan Electricity Plant in Shenzhen City, China

By developing a GDMOD model to estimate the environmental externalities associated with electricity generation, this project provides a detailed analysis of the damages and costs caused by different pollutants at varying distances from the Mawan Electricity Plant in Shenzhen, China. The major findings of this study can be summarized that (1) environmental damages caused by electricity production are large and are mainly imposed on regions far away from the electricity plant; (2) air pollution is the most significant contributor to the total damages, and SO_2, NOx, and particulate matter are the three major pollutants with highest damages; (3) the damages caused per unit of particulate, NOx, and SO_2 emissions are much higher than pollution treatment and prevention costs. The research results of this project showed that China needs to have a more effective levy system on SO_2, and a more manageable electricity tariff mechanism to internalize the environmental externalities. The results have also implications for pollution control strategies, compensation schemes as well as emission trading arrangements.

Simulation of Hail and Soil Type Effects on Crop Yield Losses in Kansas,USA

Computer simulation was used for predictive analysis of the effects of weather and soil type on crop yield in the U.S. crop insurance program. The Environmental Policy Integrated Climate （EPIC） model was modified to include hail weather events, which completed the modifications necessary to simulate the four most frequent causes of crop yield loss （hail, excessive wet, excessive cold, and excessive dry） associated with soil type in Kansas, USA. At the region level, per hectare yields were simulated for corn, wheat, soybean, and sorghum. We concluded that it was possible to predict crop yields through computer simulation with greater than 93% accuracy. The hail damage model test indicated EPIC could predict hail-soil-induced yield losses reasonably well （R^2 〉 0.6）. The investigation of soil type influence on dryland sorghum and wheat production indicated that Wymore silty clay loam soil and Kenorna silt loam produced the highest sorghum yields statistically; Kuma silt loam, Roxbury silt loam, Crete silty clay loam, and Woodson silt soils produced the second highest sorghum yields statistically; and Richfiled silt loam, Wells loam, and Canadian sandy loam produced the lowest sorghum yields. By contrast, wheat production showed less sensitivity to soil type variation. The less sensitive response of wheat yields to the soil type could be largely due to the unconsidered small-scale variability of soil features.

Review of the Development of China's Mobile Broadband Networks

The year of 2014 saw the beginning of China's LTE,which marks that China has become one of the major engines for the global LTE development.China dazzled in the construction of LTE networks,subscribers,and industry chain.However,the policy formulated around TD-LTE also put China in predicament and brought it many challenges.With this article,we are going to put China's market for mobile broadband networks into perspective,focusing on the development of China's LTE market,challenges that encountered,and the research in this area in the years to come.Besides,in regards to the problems that already appeared,we will,from policy-making,industry-level,and technological points of view,offer our suggestions on how China should do to make this market robust.

State Policy on the Environment in Vietnamese Handicraft Villages

Handicraft villages play an important role in promoting social and economic development in rural areas as well as Vietnam＇s economy. Nowadays, Vietnam＇s handicrafts have a foothold in the world market, and are exported over 163 countries and territories （Tuan, 2010）. However, the production activities of the handicraft village have a lot of shortcomings, especially the problem of environmental pollution （Chi, 2010）. Therefore, government policy plays a very important role to minimize environmental pollution villages, contributing to improving environmental quality and public health. This paper focuses on： 1）. Current status of state policy environment in handicraft villages shows the achievements and limitations of the policy, from which reviews state policy in environments in handicraft villages （through fieldwork in the handicraft villages）; and 2）. Solution to improve state policy on environmental protection in handicraft villages in Vietnam.

Transaction costs for collaboration in the watershed management of the Cuyahoga River Area of Concern

This study examines the transaction costs of collaborative watershed management in the Cuyahoga River Area of Concern(AOC)—one of the 43 geographic areas designated by the U.S.and Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement(GLWQA),where significant impairment of beneficial uses has occurred as a result of human activities.The Cuyahoga River is located in Northeast Ohio,the U.S.and flows through the City of Cleveland before draining into Lake Erie—one of the five Great Lakes of North America.The watershed is degraded due to municipal and agricultural discharges,streambank erosion,and contamination from urban and industrial sources.This research explores how a diverse group of stakeholders convened under the Cuyahoga River AOC Advisory Committee to share information,coordinate activities,agree on activities that restore beneficial uses,and support strategic management actions.In this study,23 semi-structured interviews with members of the advisory committee were conducted between January 28,2020 and April 20,2020,with follow-up emails and phone calls as needed to corroborate information.A review of research articles and government documents supported the interviews,including United States Environmental Protection Agency(U.S.EPA)and Ohio Environment Production Agency(OEPA)reports on the GLWQA and Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plans.A third source of data is from direct participant observation at quarterly meetings of the advisory committee during 2017–2020,binational AOC conferences in 2017 and 2019,and other professional events geared towards restoring the Cuyahoga River AOC in 2016–2020.Results of this study include a set of recommendations to help guide group structure and decision-making processes,including(1)employing best available technology to organize AOC events and disseminate information;(2)supporting new members with an orientation and/or mentor to clearly define formal and informal committee rules;(3)assuring equal access to detailed information on management action plans with a real time dashboard;(4)updating voting procedures and the prioritization of management actions;and(5)better incorporating underrepresented local communities and highlevel decision makers from municipalities,government agencies,and nongovernmental organizations located within the Cuyahoga River AOC.Results help to explain the collaborative process within the advisory committee and measure the institutional performance of the advisory committee in terms of efficiency,equitability,accountability,and adaptability.

Current status and future trends for material flow analysis applications at CSC

Material Flow Analysis(MFA) is a crucial instrument for sustainable development and creating industrial ecology system.MFA studies could balance and analyze the sources,flows,and consumes of specific materials or substances.The results of MFA studies could support the strategies or decisions making for energy, resource,and waste management,especially achieving sustainable resource management.At CSC,the dynamic simulating software,STELLA,is used to develop a MFA model for scenario analysis.CSC also uses the freeware STAN 2.0 as a tool for visualizing and simulating material flows and stocks.Case studies of greenhouse gases MFA for integrated steel works are conducted.The results showed that the carbon content of hot-metal is an important hidden flow for balance analysis,and the different GHG emission scenarios and mitigation action scenarios are assessed.In addition,the Iron-making GHG I/O MFA Model,based on worldsteel Global Steel Sector Approach(GSSA),is developed for calculating the CO_2 and energy intensity of coke making,sintering,and BF processes.This MFA model was used to analyze the CO_2 reduction potential for iron-making process.The cases conducted for MFA applications at CSC were such as greenhouse gas,zinc,etc.In the future,CSC is going to develop a 'CSC Environment Management and Decision Supporting System' which combine MFA,LCA(life cycle assessment),and environment risk assessment.This supporting system expects to promoting energy efficiency and best resource use,supporting environment policymaking,creating environmental information value,etc.