Do smart city policies improve energy efficiency?Evidence from China

To address air pollution and offer a convenient and comfortable living environment,the Chinese government launched a smart city pilot(SCP)project in 2012,accompanied by a comprehensive set of environmental and energy-related laws and regulations.Although academic interest in smart cities has surged,there remains a notable gap in empirical research exploring the economic,environmental,and energy effects of such initiatives.Taking 232 prefecture-level cities from 2003 to 2017 as research subjects,this study measures energy effi‐ciency by using energy consumption per unit of GDP and adopts a difference-in-differences(DID)analysis to investigate the impact of SCPs on energy efficiency.The empirical results indicate that SCPs improved energy efficiency by promoting urban technological innovation capabilities and green total factor productivity,and this effect was more pronounced in cities that were more dependent on traditional fossil fuel energy sources and had more developed fiscal and financial levels.Studying the impact of smart city construction on energy utilization efficiency in developing countries,such as China,is not only significantly enlightening for China’s green and low-carbon transition but also provides reference opinions for constructing smart cities and the path to enhancing energy efficiency in other developing countries.The findings provide valuable insights into the global development of smart cities,urban sustainability,and high-quality economic growth.

The Impact of the Environment Management Act （EMA） on the Accountability of Companies in Fiji

This study seeks to explore the impact of the Environment Management Act （EMA） （2005） on the accountability of three companies in Fiji. The study uses a multi-case study approach based on three subsidiaries of a conglomerate. Data collection methods include semi-structured interviews with accountants, internal auditors, and environmental officers, document reviews, and content analysis of annual reports and websites of the respective companies. The findings suggest that the EMA （2005） had some effects in terms of engendering accountability on the companies studied. Further evidence suggests that while this increased accountability has led to disclosures in annual reports and websites, these disclosures are minimal at best; furthermore, they primarily address that the stakeholder group comprised government regulatory authorities. The study provides policy implications on how environmental legislations could be designed to improve the accountability of commercial entities in developing economies. The experience and issues highlighted are also useful to other developing economies who are contemplating in developing their own environmental legislations. This paper is one of the few papers that explore the impact of environmental legislations on accountability in a developing economy context.

China's Mode for Compiling an Environmental Code

"Basic law+separate laws"and codification are the two modes countries worldwide adopted for enacting environmental legislation in line with their national circumstances and legal traditions.Following the goal of establishing a modern environmental governance system,the mode"moderate codification"should be China's choice for compiling an environmental code."Moderate codification"is a dynamic and open substantive code-compiling mode.Based on idea changes and method innovations,it builds a basic logic system with the goal value as the core and the tool value as the technical method.An environmental code following the"moderate codification"mode can use the structure of"General-Specifics."The General Part"extracts common factors"and elaborates the legislative purposes,basic principles,management rules and lead measures that dominate the overall situations and are universally applicable.Then each Specific Part(they form Specifics)compiles and integrates the relevant prevailing laws and regulations,and further regulate environmental factors.Therefore,the cornerstone concept ofeco-environment"'should be defined and the environmental legal relationships should be clarified."Environmental code"derives from"dual source-of-law"and considers sustainable development as its value goal,takes the"eco-environment"as its cornerstone concept,and regards the legal relationship as its systematic tool for constructing its framework system.