Integrating the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the norm activation model (NAM), this study investigated the formation mechanism of university students’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for carbon offsets under climate change. Through a survey of 2728 students across 28 universities in Yunnan Province, China, we developed an extended TPB-NAM framework incorporating carbon offset cognition (COC), climate change hazard perception (CCHP), and climate change awareness (CCA). Key findings revealed the following. (1) The integrated model explained 74.8% of WTP variance (R2 = 0.748), with behavioral attitude (β = 0.467, p < 0.001), subjective norms (β = 0.297, p < 0.001), and COC (β = 0.087, p < 0.001) emerging as primary direct predictors. (2) PN exerted the strongest indirect effect via ATP (β = 0.223, p < 0.001), while full mediation occurred between AC and WTP through ATP/PN. (3) Counterintuitively, CCHP demonstrated significant negative impacts (β = −0.027, p < 0.01), revealing nonlinear risk perception–behavior relationships. This research pioneers the application of TPB-NAM synthesis in carbon offset studies, proposing a tripartite intervention framework (“value identity–social norms–cognitive drive”) for campus carbon neutrality policies. The results advance voluntary carbon market mechanisms through theoretical integration and contextualized behavioral insights.

Transregional energy transmission can help balance resource allocation and serve long-term regional interests. The West-East Gas Pipeline Project (WEGPP), which is the longest natural gas pipeline in China, aims to address the serious imbalance between natural gas supply and demand in China's eastern and western regions. Few studies have considered WEGPP's effect on carbon emissions in terms of energy transmission. Using data for prefecture-level cities from 2000 to 2019, we consider WEGPP as a quasi-natural experiment and adopt a staggered difference-in-differences model to investigate the causal effect of energy transmission on carbon emissions. We find that WEGPP can reduce carbon emissions; various robustness tests confirm the reliability of the results. However, the emission-reduction effect is heterogeneous owing to factors such as operation batch, location, administrative level, population size, resource endowment, industrial level, and whether a city belongs to an old industrial base. We also reveal three important channels for WEGPP's emission-reduction effect: environmental concern of the government, industrial agglomeration, and green technological innovation. This study provides a reference for assessing the feasibility and effectiveness of energy transmission in the context of emission reduction. Compared to cities without natural gas transmission, WEGPP can reduce carbon emissions by 10.9% in cities with natural gas transmission.WEGPP's emission-reduction effect includes three important channels: environmental concern of the government, industrial agglomeration, and green technological innovation.The emission-reduction effect exhibits heterogeneity according to urban characteristics. The government should ensure a precise integration of natural gas distribution systems with urban characteristics.

China's low-carbon city pilot scheme (LCCPS) supports a broad economic and social systemic transition. However, current analyses have only considered the unilateral impact of the LCCPS on the environment without assessing total environmental quality (TEQ). We employed a time-varying difference-in-difference model to detect the causal effect of the LCCPS on urban TEQ, using panel data extracted from satellite observations, including information on biodiversity, vegetation coverage, water resources, soil pollution, contamination pressure, and frequency of environmental pollution events. We found, first, that the scheme can ameliorate urban TEQ. Second, this effect is more obvious in cities in the eastern region, of high economic level, that are resource-dependent, and have a high industrial level. Finally, facilitating green technology innovation and raising public environmental awareness are crucial to achieve the scheme's objectives. This study provides convincing evidence to support the promotion of the LCCPS in developing countries.

The coordination of economic development and ecological conservation has emerged as a global trend for sustainable development. This paper utilizes the "Broadband China" policy as a quasi-natural experiment, employing panel data from 279 prefecture-level cities spanning from 2006 to 2019. By constructing a spatial difference-indifferences (SDID) model, it examines the impact of digital infrastructure (DI) on industrial ecology (IE). The study finds that DI enhances both local and neighboring IE, with a spatial attenuation boundary of 600 km for IE impacts on neighboring cities. DI primarily facilitates the transformation of IE by promoting green technology innovation and expediting factor mobility. Heterogeneity analysis conducted using a spatial difference-indifference-in-differences (SDDD) model reveals that DI has a greater impact on IE in resource-based cities, highly marketized regions, small-scale cities, and eastern regions. This research provides a novel perspective for exploring the transformation of IE theoretically and offers practical insights for leveraging digitization to promote IE.

Entrepreneurship plays a critical role in contributing to the realization of full employment in all countries around the world. By improving the efficiency of the flow of production factors, high-speed rail (HSR) has an important impact on regional economic development. However, little is known about whether HSR has improved urban entrepreneurial activity. This paper takes the opening of HSR as a quasi-natural experiment and constructs a difference-in-differences (DID) model, using panel data on 284 prefecture-level cities in China for the period from 2005 to 2019, to systematically evaluate the impact of HSR openings on urban entrepreneurial activity. We find that the opening of HSR has increased the urban entrepreneurial activity, and that this effect is more obvious in cities at high administrative levels, with locational advantages, and highly developed economies, including service industries. HSR can enhance urban entrepreneurial activity by improving the level of talent aggregation and venture capital. These findings provide fresh perspectives on the connection between HSR and urban entrepreneurial activity.

The relationship and obstacles between sustainable development (SD) and ecosystem services (ESs) are crucial factors for SD decision-making and ecological conservation strategies. The production-living-ecological (PLE) functional perspective provides a new research entry point to analyze the interrelationship between the SD of human society and ESs. In view of this, based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this study established an SD localization evaluation framework from the perspective of the PLE functions and subsequently evaluated the SD levels of 16 cities in Yunnan Province from 2005 to 2020. Furthermore, changes in the ecosystem service value (ESV) were explored by combining the PLE land classification and dynamic equivalence methods. The relationship between SD and ESV was then analyzed using the modified coupling coordination degree (CCD) model. Finally, the obstacle degree model was introduced to identify the main factors affecting the CCD level of the two systems. The results revealed the SD level in Yunnan Province to be high in the central region and low in other areas. From 2005 to 2020, the province’s SD level increased from 0.146 to 0.341. Furthermore, the main contribution of ESV originated from ecological land (over 90%). The ESV was higher in the southwest of Yunnan Province compared to that in the northeast. From 2005 to 2020, the ESV decreased by 2.231 billion CNY and was dominated by the regulation services. The CCD level increased significantly from 2005 to 2020. The CCD subcategory changed from SD lag to ESV lag and ESV-SD balanced type. Moreover, the dominant obstacle factors did not change significantly during the study period. The ESV and SD systems were dominated by regulation services and sustainable production subsystems, respectively. The research results have important guiding significance for further optimization of regional development strategies and ecological protection measures.

Improving coordination between urbanization and ecosystem service value (ESV) in border counties can help optimize the spatial patterns of regional coordinated development. However, the majority of current analysis focuses on the urbanization process of core areas and large-scale administrative units and lacks a quantitative investigation of border counties. Taking 25 border counties in Yunnan Province, China, as research cases, this study evaluated urbanization level and ESV. A coupling coordination degree (CCD) model and a geographical detector model were used to explore the interaction of the two systems and reveal the influencing factors. Furthermore, different scenarios were simulated to reveal the effects of policy priorities on CCD. The results showed the following: (1) The urbanization level increased from 2005 to 2019 while the ESV level fluctuated, showing spatial patterns of having multiple centers and being high in the middle and low at both ends, respectively. (2) Although CCD increased, its level was still low, and the urbanization of most counties lagged behind. (3) Normalized difference vegetation index, temperature, and largest patch index were the main factors affecting CCD, and the interaction effects between any two of these factors were stronger than the independent effect of any single factor. (4) Policy priorities had a significant effect on CCD. Our findings can provide references for border cities in similar contexts to balance urbanization and ESV based on local circumstances.

The water quality of a basin is pronouncedly affected by the surrounding types of land use. Analyzing the impact of LULC and landscape patterns on water quality is critical for identifying potential drivers. To further study how LUCC affects the water quality in a typical plateau lake basin, this study investigated the impacts of land-use types on water quality in the Dianchi Lake Basin in Southwest China. We analyzed changes in land-use types and the landscape pattern of the Dianchi basin, calculated the CWQI (Canadian Water Quality Index) value based on the water quality indexes (PH, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO), permanganate index (CODMn), five-day biochemical ox-ygen demand (BOD5), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), turbitidy, and chlorophyll-a (Chla)), used the RDA (Redundancy Analysis) and SMLR (Stepwise multiple linear regression) methods, the coupling degree, coupling coordination degree, and the geographical detector model to explore the relationship between water quality and changes in the land-use type. The results show that (1) changes in the land-use types were obvious: the majority of the land, which was originally forest land, became built land in 2020 and farmland in 1990 (except for the Dianchi water). Landscape pattern indexes indicated that almost all land-use types were first scattered, then gathered from 1990 to 2020. (2) Changes in the water quality of Dianchi Lake lagged behind the changes in land-use types, and the variation trends were similar to the landscape pattern variation trends. The CWQI value decreased in a nearly linear fashion from 1990 to 1998, exhibited a slight change from 1999 to 2013, and quickly increased from 2013. (3) Land-use types demonstrated a tight correlation with the Dianchi water quality, and LPI was the most dominant factor in both Caohai Lake and Waihai Lake. (4) There were different indexes affecting the coupling coordination degrees of Caohai Lake and Waihai Lake.

Understanding the impact of land use and ecosystem services on sustainable development goals is a key to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). Taking Dianchi Lake Basin as the research area, land use data from five periods, 2001, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2019, were analyzed using the dynamic equivalent method to determine ecosystem service value (ESV) and hot spot analysis method to explore temporal and spatial changes in ESV in Dianchi Lake Basin. Three sustainable development goals, SDG15.1.1, SDG15.2, and SDG15.3.1, were selected to quantitatively analyze the impact of land use change in Dianchi Lake Basin. The results showed that (1) in the 20-year study period, the main land use types in Dianchi Lake Basin were forest land, cultivated land, construction land, and water area. In the land transfer, the largest amount of land transferred out is cultivated land, accounting for 35.50% of the total transferred out amount. It is transferred to construction land, resulting in significant expansion of construction land, nearly twice as much. (2) The SDG15.1.1 index of three forest land types in Dianchi Lake Basin showed a downward trend, and the total forest land decreased from 45.36 to 41.80%, with a cumulative decrease of 3.56%, of which 2.35% was caused by the transformation from open forest land to other land types. For watershed SDG15.2 and SDG15.3.1 indicators, all were degraded, but the degradation of high forest (SDG15.2) was the most obvious. (3) From 2001 to 2019, the total ESV in Dianchi Lake Basin initially decreased and then increased before decreasing again, with an overall decrease of 3.687 billion yuan. The ESV in the study area was high in the middle and low in the periphery, and the water area dominated by Dianchi Lake was the highest value area. (4) From 2005 to 2019, the spatial displacement relationship between cold and hot spots dominated by Dianchi Lake was corresponding and obvious, during which the ESV fluctuated violently. This study provides a basis for the sustainable development and ecological construction in typical urbanized watershed.

The high-quality development in the Yunnan–Guizhou region (YGR) is a significant support for the high-quality development of China. It will help shape a new pattern of regional coordinated development. Referring to a Beautiful China and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) evaluation indexes, we built an evaluation index system that puts the high-quality development at its heart. This system includes the resource load, economic development, ecological environment protection, and social progress. Taking 25 prefecture-level cities of the YGR as study subjects, the authors used the entropy weight–TOPSIS model to evaluate high-quality development and evolution. Then, the authors used the Geographical Detector (GD) method and a Geographic-Weighted Regression (GWR) model to analyze factors and mechanisms of the evolution of high-quality development. The results suggest that the changes of urban built-up area, per capita GDP, total foreign trade value, tourism revenue, and total investment of fixed assets investment are the primary factors of spatial differentiation of this evolution. The influence and direction of each factor are different in different periods, with apparent spatio-temporal heterogeneity. From 2005 to 2018, the synergistic effect of changes in total foreign trade value and tourism revenue is the leading force in shaping the evolution pattern. The high-quality development of the YGR generally presents the spatial pattern of “central Yunnan–central Guizhou core dual drive”, “high in east and low in west”, and the evolution speed presents a development characteristic of “low speed–relatively high speed–high speed”. The research can provide a reference for high-quality and precise development and decision-making in the YGR.

Fewer studies on ecological security (ES) in border areas limit the synergistic development of border areas in the context of rapid globalization. The study of ES in border areas of southwest China can enrich the evaluation methods, summarize the knowledge related to ES in border areas, and provide references for similar areas in the world. Therefore, twenty-five international border counties in Yunnan Province were selected to establish a system to evaluate ES; an entropy weight TOPSIS model was used to evaluate the changes in ES from 2004 to 2019. Then, an obstacle degree model was used to diagnose the factors affecting ES. The state of ES was predicted by a gray prediction model (GM) (1,1) in 2025 and 2030. The results show that an improving ES situation presented a spatial distribution pattern of high to low from the southwest to the west and east. Various factors, including fixed assets investment, per-capita fiscal revenue, per-capita GDP, food production, and water regulation, created obstacles to a desirable ES in the study area. Although the ES of border areas will maintain an upward trend under the existing development model, the number of counties that will reach a secure state of ES in 2025 and 2030 is predicted to only be 1 and 2, respectively.

Landscape pattern, ecosystem service value (ESV), and human well-being are closely related. Determining the link between the three is significant to the realization of regional sustainable development. However, the relationship is complex and vulnerable to multiple factors, many of which remain unknown. This study used remote sensing imagery of Xishuangbanna to map land-use in 1996, 2003, 2010, and 2016 and used landscape metrics to quantify landscape pattern changes. This research evaluated changes to ESV using the benefit transfer method and evaluated changes in human well-being using the evaluation index system and the entropy weight method. A coupling coordination model was used to analyze the coupling coordination state of the three, and the grey correlation method was used to determine key factors involved in the coupling mechanism. The results show that: (1) Forest, rubber, and tea are the main land-use types, with the area of forest decreasing, the area of rubber presenting an inverted V-shape change trend, the area of tea presenting an N-shape change trend, and the transformation of a large quantity of forest land into rubber and tea plantations. (2) The landscape pattern has become more fragmented, and connectivity and stability are in decline. (3) Climate regulation, water regulation, and erosion prevention are the main ecosystem services and, from 1996 to 2016, total ESV decreased by 3.53 billion yuan, mainly due to the decrease in forest ESV. Meanwhile, across the region, the area of high value decreased, and the area of median value increased, with a distribution trend of high value in the north and low value in the south. (4) The level of human well-being continues to rise. (5) The link between landscape pattern, ESV, and human well-being was relatively strong, and the coupling coordination degree first increased and then decreased, changing from grudging coordination to primary coordination and then dropping to a state of near maladjustment. Patch density and food production are the key coupling effect factors of landscape pattern and ESV on human well-being, respectively. The study results provide a reference for regional land-use policy and economic decision-making.