Effect of building energy efficiency standards on carbon emission efficiency in commercial buildings

The building sector plays a crucial role in the worldwide shift toward achieving net-zero emissions.Building energy efficiency standards(BEESs)are highly effective policies for reducing carbon emissions.Therefore,exploring the provincial variations in carbon emission efficiency(CEE)in the building sector and identifying the effect of BEESs on CEE is crucial.This study focuses on commercial buildings in China and applies a difference in differences model to evaluate the impact of BEESs on the CEE of commercial buildings.The slacks-based measure–data envelopment analysis model is employed to assess the CEE of commercial buildings in 30 Chinese provinces from 2000 to 2019.Furthermore,heterogeneous tests are used to explore how climate characteristics and economic conditions affect the efficiency of BEESs.The results indicate that BEESs positively influence the CEE of commercial buildings.Specifically,a 1%increase in the intensity of BEESs causes a 0.1484%increase in the CEE of commercial buildings.Moreover,the impact of BEESs is particularly pronounced in the southern and western provinces.This study provides valuable scientific evidence for governments to enhance BEESs implementation.

The Impact of New Monetary Policy Instruments on the Bond Market

Establishing a modern central banking system in China necessitates the deployment of a novel suite of monetary policy instruments and unencumbering of the channels through which these policies are transmitted.A critical aspect of evaluating the soundness and efficacy of monetary policy is to examine its capacity for tempering non-stationary volatility in the bond market.We use a synthetic difference in differences model(SynthDid),which draws upon panel data from eight countries spanning October 2011 to June 2022 period,to accurately determine the efficiency of the transmission of these monetary policy instruments.The Medium-term Lending Facility(MLF)can mitigate fluctuations in both medium-and long-term bond markets.Implementing a unified lending cycle of one year and expanding MLF collateral enhance the transmission efficiency of the newly established monetary policy instruments to the bond market.Additionally,the utilization of the Standing Lending Facility(SLF)substantially reduces the risk associated with short-and medium-term bond markets.Nevertheless,the efficacy of monetary policy transmission via different instruments varies in different periods.

The Policy Effects of the Environmental Governance of Chinese Local Governments:A Study Based on the Progress of the River Chief System

Water pollution control is an important part of the onerous long-term task of building a beautiful China. Based on water pollution data from the state-controlled monitoring sites and the manually compiled data on the evolution of the river chief system(Hezhangzhi 河长制), we used the Difference in Differences(DID) technique to identify the policy effects of the system in local practice. Our findings show that the system has achieved preliminary management of water pollution but has not significantly reduced the main water pollutants. This may indicate that local governments have whitewashed the symptoms rather than addressing the root cause. In the course of comprehensively advancing the river chief system, better governance results will be achieved if all levels of government formulate clear and appropriate goals, design sound and feasible accountability mechanisms, and invite professional third-party agencies specializing in water quality testing to supervise the work.

Investigating the role of emissions trading policy to reduce emissions and improve the efficiency of industrial green innovation

Rapid economic development usually leads to serious environmental pollution problems.In order to solve the problem of pollutant emission in sustainable industrial development,it is urgent to examine the implementation effect of emissions trading policy(ETP)and its impact on green industrial development.This study adopts China's ETP as a case study and selects provincial panel data from 2004 to 2018.We first use a non-radial,non-directed,slack-based measure-directional distance function(SBM-DDF)to measure industrial green innovation efficiency.Then we use a difference in differences(DID)model to empirically test the emissions reduction effect of China's policy and whether it promotes industrial green innovation.Thereafter,results show that:(1)the ETP reduces sulfur dioxide(SO2)emissions indicating the effectiveness of the policy;(2)the policy significantly improves industrial green innovation efficiency,meaning it promotes the sustainable development of the economy;(3)heterogeneity analysis highlights that ETP produces greater benefits for the most polluted regions of China which have more strict environmental regulations.The study examines the effect of emissions trading policy implementation from a new perspective.The study also provides a reference point for China to further refine its policy mechanisms and for other countries to formulate suitable ETP.

CEO Power, CEO Age and the Policy Instrument Property of State-Owned-Enterprises

In this paper, we examine the relationship between CEO power, CEO age and the efficiency of policy implementation in listed corporations controlled by each province＇s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission （SASAC） in China. We find that CEOs with more power implement policy are more efficiently. We also find that younger powerful CEOs will act more effectively than their older competitors. The reason for the difference is that younger powerful CEOs in state-owned companies are incentivized to implement their policy tasks to gain promotions or political capital. Our results are important to future SOE reform and to understanding the characteristics of SOEs as policy instruments.

Impact of the Construction of Ecological Civilization Demonstration Areas on Carbon Emission Intensity

The development path from attaching importance to environmental protection to the theory of ecological conservation,then to piloting ecological civilization demonstration areas,marks that China’s ecological conservation has gradually moved from theoretical construction to practical exploration,based on the new idea that“lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.”It is still an ordeal for China’s ecological conservation in the context of global warming how to reduce carbon emission intensity while maintaining sustained economic growth.Under the dual constraints of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060(“dual carbon”goals),this paper employs the five national ecological civilization pilot demonstration areas(ECDAs)established in 2014 as quasi-natural experiments based on the panel data of 30 Chinese provincial regions from 2003 to 2019.Based on the analysis of the policy implementation background and the theoretical mechanism of its impact on carbon emission intensity,the synthetic control method and difference in differences method are adopted to test the impact of the construction of ECDAs on carbon emission intensity and examine the spatial spillover effect of the pilot policies.The study shows that the construction of ECDAs has significantly reduced carbon emission intensity as a whole,especially in Fujian,Guizhou,and Yunnan Provinces.Moreover,the conclusions successfully pass the robustness test.The mechanism analysis results demonstrate that the construction of ECDAs can lower carbon emission intensity through the positive incentives from boosting technological progress and developing green finance,and the reversal pressure mechanism of optimizing the energy structure and improving the market segmentation.The analysis results of the spatial spillover effect indicate that the construction of ECDAs plays a significant role in reducing carbon emission intensity in the region and its adjacent areas.Therefore,China should introduce ECDAs and the experience gained to more regions.Meanwhile,China should spare no effort to seek multi-dimensional paths to reduce carbon emissions in view of regional differences in green development,and strengthen cross-regional communications and cooperation to realize the goals of carbon emission reduction.