Reducing embodied carbon emissions (ECE) is vital for climate mitigation, particularly for China's low-rise and multi-story housing, which comprises 80.78% of the stock but lacks empirical benchmarks. Analyzing 692 cases across 30 provinces, this study establishes life-cycle ECE benchmarks for reinforced concrete (RC) and masonry structure (MS) residential buildings. Median ECEs are 425.80 (RC) and 277.30 (MS) kgCO2e/m2, respectively. Concrete dominates RC, while MS exhibits concrete-brick co-dominance, with emissions concentrated in module A1-A3 (concrete/steel) and A4 (brick). Regression analysis identifies structural systems as key determinants, where ECE correlates negatively with building scale but positively with underground works. Simulations reveal service life, design strategies, and per capita area as primary drivers. Integrating low-carbon designs with optimized per capita areas under medium fertility effectively mitigates ECE and uncertainties. These findings provide a robust empirical basis for regional policy making and large scale emission reduction strategies.

Seasonal population travel flow refers to periodic, climate-driven relocations that shift energy demand and emissions across regions, significantly impacting carbon accounting and mitigation planning. This study develops a travel flow-induced emission assessment framework (TFIEAF) to analyze the incremental carbon emission caused by winter travel flow. A comprehensive life-cycle assessment (LCA) of carbon emissions induced by winter travel flow from Northeast China to Hainan Province is first conducted, which is a long-distance population shift driven by climatic comfort. High-resolution travel flow data (2019–2023), regional electricity load statistics, and a time-series ARIMAX(1,1,1) forecasting model are integrated to quantify direct and indirect emissions across four domains: transportation, accommodation, energy consumption, and food Results reveal that winter travel flow contributed 2.47 Mt of incremental carbon emissions in 2020. Among the four components, accommodation and transportation account for 57.7 % and 28.8 % of the total, with air travel being the most carbon-intensive factor. Sensitivity analysis shows that no single mitigation action can independently meet China’s carbon peaking goals by 2030. A coordinated mitigation strategy across all sectors is required. The travel flow-driven emissions are generated in regions that do not host the permanent population responsible for them, thereby decoupling carbon responsibility from governance jurisdiction. This misalignment between the spatial origin of emissions and the actors accountable for mitigation introduces a blind spot in current carbon accounting frameworks. The proposed framework can be generalized to other seasonal travel flow scenarios globally, such as snowbird travel flows in North America or Europe.

Global heat stress is intensifying under climate change, yet the relative roles of natural and anthropogenic forcing remain insufficiently quantified. Here, we show that global heat stress trend, assessed with the Universal Thermal Climate Index, increases markedly over the past four decades, with 52% of land area experiencing rises in mean heat stress intensity and 67% showing increases in extreme heat stress days. We find that anthropogenic climate change overwhelmingly dominates these trends, with the land area it dominates nearly twice as large as that dominated by natural climate change. Anthropogenic climate change also results in pronounced spatial inequality in heat stress trends across different economies, with low-income economies experiencing a growth rate two to three times higher than that of high-income economies. These findings demonstrate that human-induced climate change is amplifying global heat stress while deepening existing spatial inequalities, underscoring the urgency of equitable climate change adaptation.

Carbon information disclosure (CID), to a certain extent, signals enterprises' commitment to emission reduction. Using data from China's A-share listed companies and their supply chain partners, we empirically examine the impacts of CID on firms' own carbon emission and its supply chain spillover effects. Our findings indicate that corporate CID significantly reduces own carbon emission by fostering green technological innovation and improving energy efficiency, which is more pronounced in developed regions and for firms facing high financing constraints. Moreover, CID generates spillover reduction effects across the entire supply chain. The impact on upstream suppliers is particularly strong, mainly achieved through signaling effects and pressure transmission, while the effect on downstream customers operates via knowledge spillover and demonstration effects. These findings undergo various robustness tests. Furthermore, we also find that core firm size, industry, the listing status of upstream and downstream, the tightness of inter-firm transaction relationships, and relative carbon emission levels all influence the spillover effects. This study offers comprehensive empirical evidences for facilitating chain-wide carbon reduction and green supply chain management.

Effective environmental policies are crucial for reducing water pollution. Previous total emission control policies set reduction targets based on governance experience, often leading to information asymmetry and data manipulation. This study examines China’s implemented new Total Emission Control Policy for water pollutants (NTECP), which links total reduction targets to water quality assessment outcomes. Using Difference-in-Differences, mechanism analysis, and Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), the study applies a geographic information system to match data from 296 river sections and 1,061 enterprises in China from 2016 to 2022. Results show that the NTECP significantly improves river water quality and reduces both the generation and discharge of total nitrogen by enterprises. Mechanism analysis reveals that reductions result from enhanced wastewater treatment capacity rather than production restriction, particularly among large enterprises. The CBA shows that the policy’s effectiveness depends on investments in wastewater treatment facilities. This study provides valuable insights for optimizing water pollution abatement strategies.

The adoption of advanced technologies has transformed regulatory enforcement by enhancing data collection and accuracy across industries. However, these technological advancements have introduced new challenges in data reliability, as regulated firms possess superior technical control to generate favorable but inaccurate readings. This paper examines the effects of third-party auditing in addressing these challenges by analyzing China's deployment of the data quality control system (DQCS) within the continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS). We find that the introduction of DQCS significantly restricts manipulations and improves data authenticity. Meanwhile, reported emission concentrations increase with data authenticity improvement, suggesting substantial prior underreporting. Furthermore, we observe a subsequent decline in pollutant concentrations, and this pollution reduction translates into measurable improvements in ambient air quality. Our study highlights the critical role of independent auditing in ensuring data integrity, especially in technology-intensive regulatory settings. The Chinese government's efforts to institutionalize data verification within the CEMS framework provide valuable insight into strengthening the credibility of environmental data.

Under a decentralized carbon regulation scheme, does the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) hold true among regions? What kind of leakage consequences will carbon regulation changes in different regions bring? To answer these questions, we establish a spatial equilibrium model, embedding endogenous regional carbon regulation which is affected by the central government’s preference for emission reduction in that region. After calibrating the model using Chinese data, we conduct counterfactual analysis and find that the carbon price can explain composition effect well, i.e., PHH tends to be confirmed among domestic regions, international trade and sectoral linkages are crucial for the manifestation of PHH, while population migration hinders it. Next, we simulate carbon policies based on this model. When increasing carbon regulation stringency in one single province, we find that there is carbon leakage but negative carbon intensity leakage. Strengthening carbon regulation in all provinces simultaneously, results show that under differentiated regulation, welfare increases in most provinces compared to the uniform regulation scenario. Considering the development of renewable energy, provinces with abundant renewable energy endowments will have relatively higher welfare after the regulation shock.

Campaign-style enforcement is a common tactic used by governments to effectively achieve specific political goals. Despite the extensive employment, campaign-style enforcement has long been criticized for its unknown long-term implications and low efficacy. This study investigates companies' responses to campaign-style inspections represented by China's Central Environmental Inspection (CEI). The findings indicate that the overall effects of the campaign are short-term, leading to a temporary increase in production stoppages and a decrease in pollutant concentrations when inspection teams are on-site. However, beyond these transient overall effects, we find that the CEI can effectively tackle longstanding local environmental issues by mitigating local regulatory capture and reshaping local regulatory strategies. This paper acknowledges the positive role of the central campaign in regulating pollution "hotspots," which refutes the existing research concluding that CEI can only produce short-term effects and argues that the effectiveness of campaign-style enforcement should be explored from more diverse perspectives.

How can governments sustain compliance improvements when institutions falter and ad hoc enforcement fades? This study introduces "regularized campaigns" as an institutional innovation that combines the high-intensity enforcement of campaigns with the stability of institutions to mitigate principal-agent problems. Compliance gaps often emerge when local regulators (agents) prioritize local economic or political interests over the directives of central or federal authorities (principals), resulting in greater violations by economically influential targets. Regularized campaigns address this by institutionalizing periodic enforcement waves, signaling sustained central government priority, reshaping local incentives, and reducing enforcement gaps. We examine this concept in the context of China's central environmental inspections (CEIs), which depart from traditional one-off crackdowns by implementing structured, recurring enforcement waves. Leveraging a unique firm-level dataset that integrates multiple confidential government sources, we show that before CEIs, firms with greater economic influence violated more environmental standards while facing fewer penalties. After CEIs became institutionalized, these compliance gaps narrowed significantly. Our findings suggest that regularized campaigns can realign incentives and reduce compliance gaps not only during active enforcement but also in periods between enforcement actions. The insights extend beyond China to decentralized authoritarian and democratic systems where persistent compliance gaps challenge effective policy implementation. 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Este estudio presenta las "campa & ntilde;as regularizadas" como una innovaci & oacute;n institucional que combina la aplicaci & oacute;n intensiva de las campa & ntilde;as con la estabilidad de las instituciones para mitigar los problemas entre principal y agente. Las brechas de cumplimiento suelen surgir cuando los reguladores locales (agentes) priorizan los intereses econ & oacute;micos o pol & iacute;ticos sobre los mandatos centrales (principales), lo que resulta en mayores infracciones por parte de objetivos econ & oacute;micamente influyentes. Las campa & ntilde;as regularizadas abordan este problema institucionalizando oleadas peri & oacute;dicas de aplicaci & oacute;n, se & ntilde;alando una prioridad gubernamental sostenida, reestructurando los incentivos locales y reduciendo las brechas de aplicaci & oacute;n. Examinamos este concepto en el contexto de las inspecciones ambientales centrales (IEC) de China, que se alejan de las medidas represivas puntuales tradicionales mediante la implementaci & oacute;n de oleadas de aplicaci & oacute;n estructuradas y recurrentes. Aprovechando un conjunto & uacute;nico de datos a nivel de empresa que integra m & uacute;ltiples fuentes gubernamentales confidenciales, demostramos que antes de las IEC, las empresas con mayor influencia econ & oacute;mica infring & iacute;an m & aacute;s normas ambientales y se enfrentaban a menos sanciones. Tras la institucionalizaci & oacute;n de las IEC, estas brechas de cumplimiento se redujeron significativamente. Nuestros hallazgos sugieren que las campa & ntilde;as regularizadas pueden realinear los incentivos y reducir las brechas de cumplimiento, no solo durante la aplicaci & oacute;n activa, sino tambi & eacute;n en los per & iacute;odos intermedios. Los hallazgos se extienden m & aacute;s all & aacute; de China, a sistemas autoritarios y democr & aacute;ticos descentralizados, donde las persistentes brechas de cumplimiento dificultan la implementaci & oacute;n eficaz de las pol & iacute;ticas.

In recent years, the importance of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors in shaping business sustain-ability and performance has gained significant attention. ESG is not only a measure of a company's social responsi-bility but also a crucial determinant of its long-term success. Despite the widespread recognition of ESG's importance, its impact on firm performance remains a subject of debate. In this paper, we systematically review and analyze the complex relationship between ESG and firm performance. We first introduce major ESG rating methods and agencies, followed by a synthesis of the empirical evidence on the rela-tionship between ESG and corporate financial performance, with particular emphasis on the conflicting and inconclusive findings in the literature. Subsequently, we examine the mechanisms through which ESG practices influence firm performance, focusing on legitimacy, reputation, and corpo-rate management as key pathways. Through this analysis, we aim to provide insights into how ESG can drive sus-tainable development and influence firm performance in the long run. Our study contributes to the ongoing academic discussions and practical advancements in the field of ESG by providing a structured approach to understanding the complex and multidimensional relationship between ESG and corporate performance and identifying future research directions.

Objectives: The effectiveness of telemedicine in rural areas with low-quality primary care remains unclear. This study examined the relationship of telemedicine adoption with life satisfaction and satisfaction with care in rural China. It also investigated the association of telemedicine with health-seeking behaviour, healthcare utilisation and heterogeneity in the type of telemedicine collaboration and the quality of healthcare workforce.Methods: Data were retrieved from the China Livelihood Survey, a nationally representative multi-level survey conducted in 2021. Ordinary least-squares regression models were employed to analyse the relationship between telemedicine adoption at the village level and rural households' life satisfaction and satisfaction with healthcare. Propensity score matching was used to address the potential selection bias.Results: A total of 4638 households were included in the analysis. The results show that telemedicine adoption in village clinics was associated with higher levels of life satisfaction and satisfaction with healthcare among rural households. This improvement was primarily attributed to an increased likelihood of seeking care at primary care facilities, rather than a reduction in healthcare expenditures. The association was stronger when village clinics collaborated with township health centres in telemedicine initiatives, compared to those partnering with higher-level hospitals. Moreover, the association was more pronounced in villages with lower-quality healthcare workers compared to those with higher-quality staff.Conclusion: These findings highlight telemedicine as an effective tool for improving rural residents' satisfaction. Strategies such as promoting strengthened telemedicine collaboration at local levels and targeting telemedicine resources to remote areas with deficient primary care workforces are recommended to optimise telemedicine adoption in primary care in China and other developing countries.

Achieving decoupling between tourism economic growth and tourism carbon emissions is of paramount importance. This study innovatively integrates the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model—a tool for analyzing spatial heterogeneity—into the Tapio decoupling framework to examine the dynamic decoupling relationship between tourism growth and carbon emissions. It further investigates the driving factors behind decoupling evolution, their interactions, and precisely characterizes the mechanisms, directions, pathways, and intensities of these drivers. Key findings reveal an M-shaped fluctuation trend in tourism carbon emissions within the study area, with significant variations in emission shares across different tourism sectors and transportation modes. Spatially, carbon emissions exhibit heterogeneity and negative autocorrelation, where inter-regional disparities diminish while intra-regional disparities intensify. The tourism economic system in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) transitioned through weak decoupling, expansive negative decoupling, and strong decoupling states, eventually stabilizing at weak decoupling. Regional decoupling states varied markedly, suggesting that some areas require exploration of new low-carbon development paradigms. For sustainable tourism development, policy-makers should prioritize the decoupling relationship between tourism emissions and economic growth. Region-specific policies must be formulated to facilitate low-carbon transitions, promote industrial upgrading, and enhance inter-regional collaboration—ultimately advancing sustainable tourism under carbon neutrality goals.

Aerosol optical depth (AOD) serves as a critical indicator for atmospheric aerosol monitoring and air quality assessment, and quantifies the radiative attenuation caused by airborne particulate matter. This study uses MODIS remote sensing imagery together with land use transition datasets (2000–2020) and road network density metrics (2014–2020), to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution of AOD in Zhejiang Province and its synergistic correlations with urbanization patterns and transportation infrastructure. By integrating MODIS_1KM AOD product, grid-based road network density mapping, land use dynamic degree modeling, and transfer matrix analysis, this study systematically evaluates the interdependencies among aerosol loading, impervious surface expansion, and transportation network intensification. The results indicate that during the study period (2000–2020), the provincial AOD level shows a significant declining trend, with obvious spatial heterogeneity: the AOD values in eastern coastal industrial zones and urban agglomerations continue to increase, with lower values dominating southwestern forested highlands. Meanwhile, statistical analyses confirm highly positive correlations between AOD, impervious surface coverage, and road network density, emphasizing the dominant role of anthropogenic activities in aerosol accumulation. These findings provide actionable insights for enhancing land-use zoning, minimizing vehicular emissions, and developing spatially targeted air quality management strategies in rapidly urbanizing regions. This study provides a solid scientific foundation for advancing environmental sustainability by supporting policy development that balances urban expansion and air quality. It contributes to building more sustainable and resilient cities in Zhejiang Province.

The severe heat stress caused by climate change and urbanization has become an urgent issue for sustainable development, and urban green spaces can effectively mitigate heat stress. However, traditional heat stress assessments based solely on temperature can not fully capture human thermal perception, which also hinders the understanding of the multiple pathways through which green spaces regulate thermal comfort, potentially underestimating their ecological benefits. This study used the universal thermal climate index (UTCI) to assess heat stress in Shanxi Province. Structural equation modeling was used to quantify the contribution of green spaces to regulating UTCI through dual pathways of cooling and humidifying. The results showed that, in the summer of 2019, the average UTCI was 30.87 degrees C, indicating moderate thermal stress, with 27.90% of the total area experiencing strong thermal stress. Green spaces reduced UTCI by cooling and humidifying, with respective contributions of 78.02% and 21.98%. In Cold climate zones, which were more humid than Arid climate zones, the humidifying pathway of green spaces accounted for as much as 63.75%, underscoring the significant role of humidification in reducing UTCI. By quantifying the contribution of the dual pathways through which green spaces regulated UTCI, and by comprehensively understanding their mechanisms, this study highlighted the potential of green spaces in enhancing urban climate resilience.

The building sector has received increasing attention for its significant contribution to overall city carbon emissions. Existing studies on building carbon neutrality focus on large cities like Beijing and Shanghai, with limited attention to small and medium-sized cities. Moreover, a unified framework for assessing building carbon emissions across different city levels is still lacking. Based on an operational carbon emissions database for buildings developed by our team, 362 Chinese cities are grouped into 12 clusters by total emissions and their growth rates. For each cluster, the factors affecting building carbon emissions are summarised, screened and ranked through literature research and two filter methods. Optimal features per cluster are selected via a wrapper method using random forest regression. Further, system dynamics is used to project building emissions in China and city clusters through 2060, with three scenarios reflecting varying carbon reduction efforts. Based on this, recommendations are proposed for cities with varying emission profiles. The results show that floor area, population, and carbon emission factor of electricity are the main factors affecting total building carbon emissions. There is a significant relationship between carbon emissions and 3-5 key characteristics in both low and high carbon emitting cities. Of the total building carbon emissions, the three scenarios peak in 2060, 2043, and 2036, respectively. Stronger constraints advance peak emissions by 16 years relative to the baseline. This study can provide data support for the development of building carbon reduction policies that are consistent with city characteristics.

Agricultural socialization services (ASS) are recognized as a key strategy for transitioning from smallholder farming to modern agriculture in developing countries. However, the environmental impacts of ASS remain unclear. This study investigates the impact of ASS on chemical fertilizer reduction drawing on survey data from 677 farmers in Hubei Province, China, collected in 2023. We apply the instrumental variable (IV) method and endogenous switching regression (ESR) model to address potential endogeneity issues. Mechanism tests are also conducted to explore the underlying pathways. Results show that ASS can reduce fertilizer consumption per unit of cultivated land by 6.9% and fertilizer expenditure by 36.1%. Mechanism analysis reveals three main pathways: First, ASS replace traditional manual fertilization with mechanized fertilization. This ensures a scientific fertilization process and improves fertilizer utilization through deep fertilization. Second, ASS apply professional fertilization technologies to field management, preventing over-fertilization. Third, ASS enhance farmers' environmental awareness, overcoming the technical barriers to green fertilization practices faced by smallholders. This promotes the chemical fertilizer reduction. The study also finds that the fertilizer-reducing effect of ASS varies with farmers' planting scale and fertilizer application type. These findings have important implications for promoting sustainable agricultural development globally.

The iron and steel industry (ISI) is a significant source of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter pollution in China. Existing research on regional environmental regulation or ISI emission reduction strategies tends to overlook spillover effects and the enterprise perspective. During the heating season, production limitations in ISI are potential policy measures for achieving structural emission reductions in heavily polluted cities in China's Jing-Jin-Ji and surrounding regions. We adopt a bottom-up modeling approach, incorporating effective production time to describe enterprise behavior and establishing a quantitative trade model based on trade theory. By modeling three types of production restriction policies outlined in policy documents, we evaluate the emission reduction effects of structure-adjustment measures using the example of reduced effective production time for steel-producing enterprises in the air pollution transmission channel in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area. The results indicate the following: (1) Reducing the effective production time of ISI enterprises can help decrease domestic production value and total factor productivity in pollution-intensive industries, including but not limited to ISI. It also leads to reduced emissions of various pollutants in the implementation regions. (2) Due to interprovincial trade and input-output linkages, structural reduction measures in certain regions have implications for almost all other provinces' industrial structures. Differences in initial industrial structures, factor endowments, and geographical locations contribute to varying directions and magnitudes of industrial structural changes. Pollution-intensive industries' share tends to increase higher in less developed regions. (3) Our estimated pollution reduction is smaller compared to the literature evaluating clean air policies in similar regions using top-down strategies. This discrepancy arises because we analyze a single policy tool rather than modeling industry-wide emission fluctuations from the top down. Additionally, our modeling approach allows us to examine dynamic changes in comparative advantages. The increase in production scale for certain industries in policy-affected regions partially offsets the decline in pollution emissions. These findings enhance our understanding of structure-adjustment reduction measures' role and highlight their potential advantages and limitations.