In the measurement of the growth of green total factor productivity (GTFP), existing studies firstly need measure environmental efficiency, where undesirable outputs are estimated based on the quantity of inputs using the material balance method. The material balance method not only makes it possible to derive undesirable outputs but also implies a constraint. However, existing studies have not considered this potential constraint when measuring environmental efficiency, which may result in GTFP growth measurements that violate the material balance principle. This paper improves the measurement of the growth rate of GTFP by incorporating material balance constraints into the environmental efficiency measurement method. Based on green cost function, a new method which is consistent with material balance constraints for measuring the GTFP growth rate is constructed. Empirical measurement of the growth of GTFP in power generation enterprises from 2009 2014 reveals that, without considering material balance constraints, the traditional GTFP growth measurement results do not align with the trends in the unit energy consumption of power generation enterprises. This discrepancy is corrected when material balance constraints are incorporated. The GTFP growth results based on the environmental cost function indicate that power generation enterprises focus more on improving cost efficiency rather than merely enhancing technical efficiency.

In order to contribute to the body of knowledge on sustainable poverty reduction by exploring the relationship between rural and structural transformations and rural poverty incidence in Asian developing countries, this paper selected China, the Philippines, and Vietnam as case studies. Based on a comparison with the provincial data from those three countries, both the graphic and regression analysis suggest that structural and rural transformations matter in rural poverty reduction in these three countries. There is strong evidence showing that raising the share of non-agricultural GDP and the share of rural off-farm employment significantly contributes to rural poverty reduction in all three countries. More importantly, with the expansion of the non-farm sectors in both urban and rural areas, high-value agricultural share has a statistically significant and negative correlation with rural poverty in China and Vietnam over time, while such a negative correlation is much weaker or even does not exist in the Philippines. This paper further concludes with several implications for policymakers to promote inclusive structural and rural transformations.

This paper develops a new model for measuring technical efficiency of energy based on the input distance function. This new model not only measures the technical efficiency levels of energy and other inputs simultaneously but also distinguishes the differences in technical efficiency levels among various inputs. Additionally, we have constructed a two-step Bayesian method to estimate this model. We applied the method proposed in this paper to study the technical efficiency of energy of Chinese provinces from 1997 to 2022. Among other findings, we observed that China’s technical efficiency of energy during this period exhibited an inverted U-shaped trend. The level of technical efficiency of energy was higher than that of capital and labor, and the differences in technical efficiency levels among different input factors did not diminish over time.

Ensuring affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all (SDG 7) is a core cross-cutting ingredient of sustainable development because it plays an important role in eradicating hunger, reducing poverty, and achieving green growth. This makes the attainment of SDG 7 crucial, especially in developing countries where many households rely on traditional bioenergy with significant negative environmental, economic and health-related impacts. This chapter reviews the current state of affairs and progress on attaining the targets of SDG 7, conceptualises the linkages between SDG 7 and SDG 2 on Zero Hunger, and highlights the solutions and opportunities for boosting synergies between improving energy access and enhancing food security.

It has been widely recognized that accelerating green residential energy transition from traditional solid fuels (biomass and coal) to clean and high-efficient energy sources is critical for rural sustainable development. However, little attention has been paid to estimate panel data discrete choice models to analyze the dynamic behavior information of individual households in the process of energy transition. Hence, this paper investigates green residential energy transition using a panel dataset from 3308 rural households in eight provinces of China in 2015 and 2018. The results show that although traditional solid biomass still plays a dominating role in rural residential energy choice, fuel switching from solid fuels to modern clean energy alternatives is taking place. Off-farm employment plays an important role in the transition towards more sustainable energy sources, as households with off-farm employed heads and higher off-farm income level are highly likely to choose superior energy alternatives other than traditional biomass. Besides, the educational level of the household head and household location are also important influencing factors of household residential energy choices. Based on these findings, this paper suggests that job creation in non-farm sectors should be given a priority in future policy design to promote rural green energy transition in residential sector. North–south differences should be taken into account, whereas more policy options for optimizing biomass energy use should be explored.

While the use of mulch film in agricultural production has contributed to higher yields and improved crop quality in the short term, the long-term accumulation of residual plastic in farmland soils has led to deterioration of soil quality and reduction in crop production. Thus, there is a need to develop efficient management strategies to optimize plastic film mulch use. Under this circumstance, this paper attempted to investigate the technical efficiency of plastic mulch film use by analyzing a provincial-level balanced panel data from China during the period of 1991–2020. Adopting a stochastic frontier production function, this paper showed that a 1

This study aimed to investigate the tactical factors influencing shooting success in the Chinese Football Association Super League (CSL). The data set comprised 5914 shooting actions collected from all 240 matches in the CSL 2018 season, featuring 16 different teams. The variables assessed included pass number (PN), playing minute (M), match status (MS), final passing area (FPA), regaining possession position (RPP), offense category (OC), and shooting position (SP). To distinguish the attacking patterns of teams of varying strengths, all 16 teams were clustered into two groups based on two contextual factors: their starting season budgets and their rankings at the end of the season. Firstly, a descriptive analysis was conducted, followed by the application of a binomial-logit model (p < 0.05). The Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) method was employed to evaluate the factors impacting shooting success. The results revealed that: (1) Match status (p = 0.0412), regaining possession position (p = 0.0002), and shooting position (p = 0.0001) play important roles in shooting success for all teams. (2) For strong teams, the offense category (p = 0.0031) and the final passing area (p = 0.0027) also have an important influence on shooting success. (3) The tactics of the weak teams should focus especially on the final passing area (p = 0.0388) before shooting at the goal. These findings can provide guidance for coaches in developing more effective scoring strategies or defensive tactics and tailoring them appropriately to the strengths and weaknesses of their respective teams.

Dependence on traditional biomass energy, such as crop residues and firewood, has a number of negative impacts on sustainable rural livelihoods in many developing countries. Subsidizing modern fuels has been adopted by many governments and development agencies to increase the adoption of modern clean fuels, however, its effectiveness on rural energy transition away from traditional biomass energy is rarely investigated. This paper seeks to understand the effectiveness of fuel price subsidies based on a non-separable agricultural household model. We developed a theoretical framework explaining household behavioral responses to price incentives in the presence of labor market imperfections and tested this framework with rural household data in China. We found that the policy interventions focusing on fuel pricing are largely ineffective in promoting household energy transition partly due to imperfect rural labor markets. This finding has important policy implications for accelerating energy transitions. Based on our findings, we recommend that more attention needs to be paid to non-price mechanisms, such as providing technical support (e.g. increasing R&D investment in exploring new energy technologies and providing demonstration projects), constructing accompanying modern energy infrastructures, providing off-farm employment opportunities, and establishing a sound and effective social safety.

The aim of this study was to explore the effect of scoring first on match outcomes in the Chinese Football Super League (CSL). A total of 1,116 matches in which at least one goal was scored from the 2014 to 2018 seasons were collected. Match outcomes, absolute goal differences, the minute of the first goal, match locations, and teams’ budgets were analyzed. A team’s budget was measured in terms of a team’s value at the beginning of the season, and teams were clustered into two groups (high and low budget with means of 50.77 and 13.77 million dollars, respectively). A descriptive analysis was conducted, and two generalized linear models (a multinomial logit model and a Poisson model; p < 0.05) were applied. The results showed a favorable outcome for the team that scored first both in match outcome and goal difference. Regarding the teams that scored first, 66.31% won their matches, 20.70% achieved a draw, and 12.99% lost. Specifically, home teams were more likely to win (13.42%) and less likely to lose (9.52%) or draw (3.90%) than away teams. Home teams also had a higher likelihood of obtaining a larger goal difference. Higher budget teams were more likely to win (14.90%) and less likely to lose (9.75%) or draw (5.14%) than low-budget teams. Additionally, for each minute, the team scores closer to the end of the match, and the average probability of winning increased by 0.0028. These findings can guide the strategies of coaches in different match scenarios according to the match location and the opponent’s quality.

Rural residential space heating is strongly linked to policy considerations related to the clean energy supply and rural sustainable development. As there has been a hot debate on whether to promote district heating in South China, this paper aims to investigate household heating choices with a particular focus on rural residential sector, using the survey data from Sichuan Province. In order to investigate the main influencing factors of household decision-making behaviors, a multinomial logit (MNL) model with sample selection correction and an alternative-specific conditional logit (ASCL) model were used to respectively analyze the actual and stated choices. The estimation results show that energy-specific attributes such as safety level and smoky level have statistically significant effects on household stated preferences for heating systems. Households prefer to adopt lower-cost heating system with high quality energy sources. Among household-specific characteristics, income level, educational level of the decision-maker, household demographic structure, and household location are important determinants of heating fuel choices. These findings suggest that future energy policy should pay more attention to its combined effect on both cost and quality of heating system as well as its different regional effects. Besides, enhancing household socio-economic status should also be attached importance in policy design.

Although the increasing adoption of digital finance in recent years has exerted a wide-ranging influence on farmers’ consumption and production activities, many farmers in China still seriously suffer from digital financial exclusion. Few studies have documented the different impacts of e-commerce adoption characterized by online purchases and sales on farmers’ participation in the digital financial market measured by their engagement in digital payments, digital wealth management, and digital credit in rural China. Using survey data from 832 entrepreneurial households in rural China, we contribute to the literature by confirming that both online purchases and sales have a robust significant and positive impact on farmers’ participation in the digital financial market and that this impact on digital wealth management is successively larger than that on digital payments and digital credit, with the propensity score matching (PSM) method and instrument variable (IV) approach employed. We further discover that the impact of online purchases and sales on farmers’ participation in the digital financial market is significantly mediated by digital financial literacy. Moreover, the impact of online purchases and sales on farmers’ participation in the digital financial market is larger for those with high education levels, pursuing skills training, running new agricultural operation entities (i.e., family farms, professional cooperatives), and engaging in agricultural entrepreneurship. Our findings suggest that more effective measures to enhance adoption rates of online purchases and sales, innovation in rural market-oriented digital financial products and services, systematic training for farmers in e-commerce skills as well as digital financial literacy, and differentiated support measures for different groups of farmers to reduce the gap are urgently needed in China.

It is well known that increasing participation in physical activities is not only positive for individual health promotion, but also beneficial for community-level public health by enhancing the individual's social well-being by facilitating social inclusion. Although the provision of community sports affects participation in physical activities, the magnitude and direction of this effect are still not clear. Under this circumstance, this paper examined the effects of community sports provision on social inclusion and public health using the micro-level data from a household survey conducted in eight provinces of rural China. For the purpose of this paper, the degree of social inclusion was proxied by participation in community sports, while public health was measured by the probability of getting ill for members of each household. The empirical results show that community sports provision was partially effective in promoting inclusion and health in rural areas. Specifically, constructing public sports facilities significantly increases participation in community sports and decreases the risk of getting ill. In contrast, organizing public sports activities increases the opportunity for households to play sports. Nonetheless, it does not promote public health. Equally important is that economic growth (reflected in the increase in income level) may enhance public health through advancing medical technologies and improving sanitary conditions instead of encouraging participation in community sports.

With the development and advancement of technology, various types of high-tech auxiliary equipment have been gradually introduced into football matches to assist referees to officiate the game. The Chinese football Super League (CSL) introduced the video assistant referee (VAR) in the 2018 season. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the introduction of VAR on football matches and on referees’ performance. This study compared the data of all 240 games without VAR in the season 2017 and all 240 games with VAR in the season 2018 using Generalized Linear Model (GLM) and means comparison. The following match variables were considered: goals, penalties, red cards, yellow cards, fouls, offsides, playing time in the first half, playing time in the second half and total playing time. The study found that: 1) After the introduction of VAR, the number of offsides and fouls in the Chinese Super League dropped significantly (p < .001); 2) the playing time in the first and second half and the total playing time increased significantly(p < .001); 3) after the introduction of VAR, the home team advantage decreased slightly. The research result can help to better understand the impact of VAR on professional football, especially on the Chinese football Super League, it can also help referees to optimize their refereeing strategy.

Decentralized biogas facilities have become an important component of agricultural sectors in Chinese rural area. This study is the first attempt to investigate how transition in Chinese rural areas affects the revolution of decentralized biogas facilities and its sustainability. The characteristics of the household biogas digesters (HBD), simple biogas plants (SBP), and well equipped biogas plants (WEBP) with higher level of technologies were clarified, and their practical feasibility was correspondingly investigated through a comprehensive survey of 15 selected villages. More effort was devoted to the adoption of feedstock availability, energy supply stability, and digestate distribution optimization for each facility. The results showed that feedstock collection and insufficient biogas production were the main restraining factors for HBD, while SBP found to be ineffective facilities for competitive energy production due to the un-guaranteed biogas supply. The survey results demonstrated that the average biogas expenditure of dwellers, who were connected to WEBP, accounted for 39.61% commercial energy cost. According to the one-year operation data collected from a 52 -household club revealed that WEBP would effectively maintain stability and continuous biogas supply with the average feeding interval of 6.2 d. Accordingly, WEBP groups were found as the best option for regional development respected with the professional management unit. Overall, commercial biogas is the orientation of decentralized biogas facility construction. However, to form a robust biogas-centric industrial chain, future research should focus on how to establish relative policies and regulations supporting the comprehensive operation framework of a multi-participant collaboration leadership system.

实施乡村振兴战略需要科学的长远规划和更有效的项目实施模式.虽然不同国家乡村发展各有特色,但也呈现一些共性和规律.在分析国外农村发展主要共性特征和经验的基础上,提出落实乡村振兴战略的政策建议:1)农村发展路径要遵循农村转型和结构转型相辅相成的规律,要特别关注城乡融合发展的体制与机制;2)未来城乡人口要适应产业与就业空间变动趋势,合理规划农村人口布局;3)乡村振兴要在以农民为主体的基础上,充分发挥政府、市场、社区和农民的各自优势和作用;4)乡村振兴项目实施要高度重视"从下至上"的参与式模式.

Trends of rural residential energy consumption and CO2 emission should be evaluated in a broader context of urbanization, especially in developing countries where urbanization is in its expanding stage. In this study, we use the STIRPAT model and various panel regression techniques to explore the impact of urbanization on rural residential energy consumption and CO2 emission by using data from Southwest China. The results show that a higher urbanization level contributes to higher total residential energy intensity. Increases in net income per capita can decrease the intensities of traditional biomass energy and non-biomass energy, while industrialization has a negative effect only on non-biomass energy intensity. Land use change driven by urbanization can also lower the intensities of total residential energy, traditional biomass energy and non-biomass energy. Moreover, the impact of total residential energy intensity on emissions is positive. Particularly, traditional biomass energy accounts for most of CO2 emissions derived from the use of residential energy. As urbanization is expected to increase in the developing world and lead to more CO2 emissions from rural areas, policies which intend to reduce the intensity of traditional biomass energy, promote biogas and industrialization, and raise net income of rural residents can be used as effective mitigation strategies.

Limited evidence has been provided in literature on the effects of urbanization on rural residential biomass energy intensity and CO2 emissions. Under this circumstance, based on the STIRPAT model, this paper adopts different panel regression techniques like pooled ordinary least squares (POLS), fixed-effect (FE), fixed effects with instrumental variables (FE-IV) and first difference fixed effects (FD) to estimate the impacts of urbanization on rural residential biomass energy intensity and CO2 emissions using the data of 21 prefectural-level cities in Sichuan Province of China over the period from 2006 to 2013. The results show that the relationship between urbanization and the intensities of different types of energy is not robust. Nevertheless, increasing income and area ratio of central urban build-up zones to cultivated land can reduce the intensities of traditional biomass energy and non-biomass energy. Meanwhile, rural population and industrialization positively and significantly affect biogas intensity, while they negatively influence the intensities of traditional biomass energy and non-biomass energy. One the other hand, energy intensities have significant and positive influences on CO2 emissions. Particularly, biogas has relatively lower effects on CO2 emissions. Moreover, although the impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions is mixed, the combined effect of increasing all urbanization measurements will lead to higher CO2 emissions.

Access to reliable and affordable energy is vital for sustainable development. In the off-grid areas of developing countries, decentralized energy solutions have received increasing attention due to their contributions to reducing poverty. However, most of the rural population in many developing countries still has little or no access to modern energy technologies. This paper assesses the factors that determine the successes and failures of decentralized energy solutions based on local harmonized case studies from heterogeneous contexts from Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and South America. The case studies were analyzed through the coupled lenses of energy transition and the Water–Energy–Food Security (WEF) Nexus. The findings indicate that access to modern decentralized energy solutions has not resulted in complete energy transitions due to various tradeoffs with the other domains of the WEF Nexus. On the other hand, the case studies point at the potential for improvements in food security, incomes, health, the empowerment of women, and resource conservation when synergies between decentralized energy solutions and other components of the WEF Nexus are present.