PLOS ONE: [sortOrder=DATE_NEWEST_FIRST, sort=Date, newest first, q=subject:"Environmental economics"]PLOShttps://journals.plos.org/plosone/webmaster@plos.orgaccelerating the publication of peer-reviewed sciencehttps://journals.plos.org/plosone/search/feed/atom?sortOrder=DATE_NEWEST_FIRST&unformattedQuery=subject:%22Environmental+economics%22&sort=Date,+newest+firstAll PLOS articles are Open Access.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/resource/img/favicon.icohttps://journals.plos.org/plosone/resource/img/favicon.ico2024-03-29T13:05:13ZResearch on the coupling relationship and interaction between urbanization and eco-environment in urban agglomerations: A case study of the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomerationWeilong WuYing HuangYuzhou ZhangBo Zhou10.1371/journal.pone.03012872024-03-28T14:00:00Z2024-03-28T14:00:00Z<p>by Weilong Wu, Ying Huang, Yuzhou Zhang, Bo Zhou</p>
Urban agglomerations are emerging as new regional units for national participation in global competition and the international division of labor. However, they face increasingly severe resource and eco-environment pressures during urbanization. The coordination of the relationship between urbanization and the eco-environment has attracted global attention. In this study, we used Coupling Coordination Degree and Vector Autoregression models to examine the dynamic evolution, coupling relationships, coordinated development patterns, and interaction mechanisms between urbanization and the eco-environment. The results indicate that: (1) The level of urbanization in the Chengdu-Chongqing Urban agglomeration was relatively low, and the region showed a good eco-environment background. However, rapid urbanization is gradually straining the carrying capacity of the eco-environment. (2) A close and stable coupling relationship exists between urbanization and the eco-environment, which has reached an advanced coupling stage. The status of coordinated development among cities differs considerably, and multiple stable forms may exist simultaneously. (3) Urbanization has a substantial impact on environmental changes, whereas the restrictive effect of the eco-environment on urbanization development is not particularly notable. (4) Various interactive relationships exist between the urbanization and eco-environment subsystems, including positive promotion and negative constraint effects. The positive promotion effect mainly manifests between the economic, social, and ecological response subsystems, while the negative constraint effect is most evident in the mutual coercion and inhibition between the regional urbanization, economic urbanization, ecological status, and ecological pressure subsystems. These findings have important policy implications for decision makers exploring the path of coordinated and sustainable development in urbanization and the eco-environment in Urban agglomerations.Green R & D investment, ESG reporting, and corporate green innovation performanceFawad RaufWang WanqiuKhwaja NaveedYanqiu Zhang10.1371/journal.pone.02997072024-03-28T14:00:00Z2024-03-28T14:00:00Z<p>by Fawad Rauf, Wang Wanqiu, Khwaja Naveed, Yanqiu Zhang</p>
Given the contradictory empirical evidence on the relationship between green R&D expenditure and corporate Green Innovation performance (GIP), The present research study is a distinctive investigation into the moderating impacts of ESG reporting on this relationship. We utilized a data collection of 3,846, firm-year observations of A-share listed firms in China from 2016 to 2022 from CSMAR and Bloomberg databases. The firm’s Corporate GIP is assessed and measured by looking at the total quantity of green patents. Lastly, models with multiple regression analyses and fixed effects were employed. The findings show that ESG reporting has a positive and significant impact on the association between corporate GIP and green R&D expenditure, implying its compensating and supportive function in the form of green signals in green outputs. This research could help executives and lawmakers, especially in developing countries to build innovative environmental strategies for business sustainability.A duo-theme cloud model DEMATEL approach for exploring the cause factors of green supply chain managementJih-Kuang ChenTseng-Chan Tseng10.1371/journal.pone.02946842024-03-28T14:00:00Z2024-03-28T14:00:00Z<p>by Jih-Kuang Chen, Tseng-Chan Tseng</p>
Purpose <p>Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methods identify cause factors in green supply chain management (GSCM). This study argues that the target method treats affecting factors as unique themes; however, various factors may be mutually antagonistic (i.e., mutually positive or negative) or encompass other meaningful information (e.g., gain/risk, intensify/depress). The factor affecting GSCM implicitly encompasses the economy and ecology (greenness), which may conflict. This new approach can be integrated into the analysis, dividing affecting factors into “cause” and “effect” groups. The organization should focus on affecting factors in the cause group. The findings provide strategic guidance for organizations to practice GSCM.</p> Design/Methodology/Approach <p>A duo-theme cloud model DEMATEL approach was proposed to divide these affecting factors of GSCM into “economy” and “greenness.” The cloud model was applied to overcome the ambiguity and randomness in the concept of uncertainty and allow the integration of mutual qualitative and quantitative mapping.</p> Findings <p>Six factors in the economic aspect and four in the greenness aspect should be classified as the cause group.</p> Practical implications <p>Organizations should prioritize these ten factors in their GSCM practices. Doing so makes the GSCM problem relatively straightforward and allows for efficacious decision-making.</p> Originality/Value <p>This study proposes a duo-theme cloud model DEMATEL approach to identify cause factors in GSCM.</p>The influence of environmental diplomacy, economic determinants and renewable energy consumption on environmental degradation: Empirical evidence of G20 countriesMuhammad RizwanullahJian ShiMuhammad NasrullahXue Zhou10.1371/journal.pone.03009212024-03-25T14:00:00Z2024-03-25T14:00:00Z<p>by Muhammad Rizwanullah, Jian Shi, Muhammad Nasrullah, Xue Zhou</p>
This study examines how various environmental and economic variables contribute to environmental degradation. Industrialization, trade openness, and foreign direct investment are among the variables, as are environmental diplomacy, environmental diplomacy secure, and renewable energy consumption. Therefore, the data covers the years 1991–2020, and our sample includes all 19 countries and two groups (the European Union and the African Union). The research used the Pesaran CD test to determine cross-section dependency, CIPS and CADF test to determine stationarity, the Wald test for hetrodcedasasticity and the Wooldridge test for autocorrelation; therefore, VIF for multicollinearity, Durbin and Hausman to analyze the endogeneity. It also employed Westerlund’s cointegration test to ensure cross-sectional dependence, Wald test for group-wise heteroscedasticity, Wooldridge test for autocorrelation, VIF for multicollinearity, and Durbin and Hausman for endogeneity. The two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) is used to estimate the results and confirm the relationship between independent variables (Industrialization, trade openness, FDI, environmental diplomacy, secure environmental diplomacy, and renewable energy) and dependent variables (Environmental Degradation) in G20 countries. Therefore, Industrialization, trade openness, foreign direct investment, ecological diplomacy, and renewable energy consumption significantly impact ecological degradation. Environmental diplomacy is crucial to combat degradation and stimulate global collaboration. G20 nations enact strict environmental restrictions to tackle climate change and encourage economic growth.A time of decline: An eco-anthropological and ethnohistorical investigation of mpox in the Central African RepublicRomain DudaJosé Martial BetouletCamille BesombesFestus MbrengaYanina BorzykhEmmanuel NakounéTamara Giles-Vernick10.1371/journal.pgph.00029372024-03-22T14:00:00Z2024-03-22T14:00:00Z<p>by Romain Duda, José Martial Betoulet, Camille Besombes, Festus Mbrenga, Yanina Borzykh, Emmanuel Nakouné, Tamara Giles-Vernick</p>
The Central African Republic (CAR) has experienced repeated mpox outbreaks since 2001. Although several mpox epidemiological risk factors for zoonotic and interhuman transmission have been documented, the reasons for more frequent epidemic outbreaks are less well understood, relying on vague explanatory categories, including deforestation, hunting, and civil unrest. To gain insight into increasingly frequent outbreaks, we undertook an ethnohistorical, eco-anthropological analysis in two CAR regions: the Lobaye prefecture, experiencing one or more annual outbreaks in the past decade, and the Sangha-Mbaere prefecture, with a longer history of mpox but less frequent outbreaks. We comparatively examined changing political economies, forest use practices, and understandings of mpox. In 2022, we conducted 40 qualitative ethnohistorical, anthropological interviews and participant-observation of forest activities in two languages (Sango and French). We compared contemporary practices with hunting, trapping, and meet consumption practices, documented through quantitative and qualitative observation in one research site, over 6 months in 1993. We find increased rodent capture and consumption in both sites in the past 30 years and expanded practices of other potentially risky activities. Simultaneously, we also identify important differences in risky practices between our Lobaye and Sangha-Mbaere participants. In addition, Lobaye and Sangha participants underscored historical processes of decline producing mpox among other emergences, but they framed these declension processes diversely as economic, political, nutritional, and moral. Our findings are important because they mobilize new types of evidence to shed light on the processual dynamics of mpox outbreaks in the CAR. This study also reveals variability across two sites within the same country, highlighting the importance of comparative, fine-grained anthropological and historical research to identify underlying dynamics of mpox outbreaks. Finally, our study points to the need for mpox interventions and risk communication accounting for these regional differences, even within a single country.Encirclement of productive capacities and institutions in context of sustainable developmentRenhan GuoGhulam Rasool Madni10.1371/journal.pone.02973502024-03-21T14:00:00Z2024-03-21T14:00:00Z<p>by Renhan Guo, Ghulam Rasool Madni</p>
The question of whether productive capacities and institutional quality facilitate or impede progress towards sustainable development is a significant issue that has not been extensively explored in prior literature. Despite their importance, these variables are often overlooked in the literature on sustainable development, yet they play a crucial role in enabling efforts to achieve sustainable development. In this study, we examined how productive capacities affect sustainable development, with a moderating impact of institutional quality. The sample was comprised of 44 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) economies, covering the period from 2000 to 2018. Using a two-step system GMM, we found that the relation between productive capacities and sustainable development is dynamic, positive, and significant. Additionally, institutional quality played a moderating role in achieving sustainable development, especially among regionally connected countries. Our findings suggest that sustainable development is strongly linked to a country’s productive capacities. Therefore, improving productive capacities and institutional quality may lead to long-term development and sustainability. These results are valuable to academia as they provide new thought regarding the influence of productive capacities and institutional quality on sustainable development, and policymakers may benefit from the suggestions presented regarding productive capacities and institutional quality.The allocation of carbon resources in marine capture fisheriesGuangliang LiWeikun ZhangHailan QiuChunlan TanJuanjuan Niu10.1371/journal.pone.02931202024-03-15T14:00:00Z2024-03-15T14:00:00Z<p>by Guangliang Li, Weikun Zhang, Hailan Qiu, Chunlan Tan, Juanjuan Niu</p>
Marine fishery carbon emissions play a significant role in agricultural carbon emissions, making resource allocation a crucial topic for the overall marine ecological protection. This paper evaluates the dynamic iteration method as a research approach with the factors of resource allocation consisting of value assessment, optimization objective, difference between value assessment and objective, and optimization calculation. The paper selects the shadow price from the Super-SBM model as the judgment function for the goal value, aiming for the fairness criterion. From an equity standpoint, the allocation of carbon resources in marine capture fisheries proves to be unreasonable. The fishery model exhibits an excessive supply of carbon resources, resulting in wastage, while the green fishery model faces a relatively limited supply, with a focus on energy conservation and environmental protection. To address this issue, this paper proposes a new method and discusses the corrective results. This result shows that the stabilization point achieved is a short-term equilibrium rather than a long-term one. By rectifying the social contradiction of profit-oriented approaches, this research provides a fresh perspective for economic studies and applications, particularly in industrial layout and resource utilization optimization.Can digital transformation promote the green innovation quality of enterprises? Empirical evidence from ChinaYang HuangChau-wa Lau10.1371/journal.pone.02960582024-03-11T14:00:00Z2024-03-11T14:00:00Z<p>by Yang Huang, Chau-wa Lau</p>
Digital transformation constitutes a crucial component of the digital economy and represents a microcosmic manifestation, playing a vital role in advancing enterprise sustainable development from the perspective of green innovation quality. Using the panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2011 to 2020, the study examines the impact of digital transformation on the quality of green innovation. The study finds that digital transformation significantly increases the green innovation quality of enterprises. Moreover, the positive effect of digital transformation on green innovation quality is strengthened by the executive with digital knowledge experience and in regions with high-level intellectual property protection. The study findings contribute to digitalization research and the literature on green innovation, and provide suggestions for managers and policymakers seeking to improve the quality of environmental sustainability through digital transformation in developing economies.Research on the impact of digitalization on green development: An empirical analysis from the low-carbon strategy perspectiveJiehui Zhang10.1371/journal.pone.03002882024-03-08T14:00:00Z2024-03-08T14:00:00Z<p>by Jiehui Zhang</p>
With the collision between the green and low-carbon economy and the accelerating digital economy, how to realize the effect of "1+1>2" has gradually become an important topic for contributing to the high-quality development of regions and enterprises. Entrepreneurship in the digital age continues to exhibit new characteristics, and its impact on green development is also more closely related. This article focuses on the context of the low-carbon strategy, incorporating the digitalization level, entrepreneurship, and green development into the same framework. It then takes 2011–2021 Chinese provincial panel data and enterprise panel data as samples to conduct research. The results indicate the following: (1) The digitalization level has a significant positive promoting effect on the green development of regions and enterprises, and blockchain technology has the strongest promoting effect on the green development of enterprises. (2) The digitalization level drives the green development of regions and enterprises through three channels: entrepreneurs’ innovative spirit, entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurs’ contract spirit. Entrepreneurship is the intermediary bridge for the digitalization level to promote green development. (3) Environmental regulations partially serve as "accelerators" of the impact of green development. The findings of this article will provide empirical support for evaluating the impact of digitalization on green development and offer useful insights for better stimulating and cultivating entrepreneurship in the new era to empower comprehensive green development.Digital economy and green total factor productivity in ChinaShuo WangYueping ZhengHailan Yang10.1371/journal.pone.02997162024-03-01T14:00:00Z2024-03-01T14:00:00Z<p>by Shuo Wang, Yueping Zheng, Hailan Yang</p>
The development of information technology has created conducive conditions for the digital economy. The digital economy is regarded as a critical pathway for transforming traditional economic models. Green total factor productivity serves as an indicator for assessing the quality of economic development. During pivotal periods of economic transition, the digital economy and green total factor productivity have emerged as two prominent themes for achieving sustainable economic development. But the impact of digital economy on green total factor productivity is less discussed. Innovation environment refers to a confluence of conditions shaped by factors such as talent, funding, cultural atmosphere and government policies, all of which collectively support innovative activities within a region. The institutional environment encompasses the aggregate of economic, political, social, and legal rules. Currently, there is little discussion on bringing innovation environment and institutional environment into the impact of digital economy on green total factor productivity. To fill the research gap, this paper adopts the Slack based measure-Directional distance function model and Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index to measure green total factor productivity in each region based on the panel data collected from 30 provinces in China from 2004 to 2019. Generalized Method of Moments method is constructed to carry out an empirical study on the impact of digital economy on green total factor productivity. This paper constructs a panel threshold model with innovation environment and institutional environment as threshold variables. In further analysis, this paper employs panel quantile regression for the empirical analysis of the impact of the digital economy on green total factor productivity. Further analysis elucidates the evident disparities in the influence of the digital economy on green total factor productivity at various levels. The research results can provide a guide for discussing the green value of the digital economy and its role in fostering the development of a green economy.Ecological economics as the science of sustainability and transformation: Integrating entropy, sustainable scale, and justiceBrent M. HaddadBarry D. Solomon10.1371/journal.pstr.00000982024-02-22T14:00:00Z2024-02-22T14:00:00Z<p>by Brent M. Haddad, Barry D. Solomon</p>
Ecological economics, developed in the late 1980s, came to be known as the multi- and transdisciplinary science of sustainability. Since that time, it has blended basic and applied research with the intention of both informing and bringing change to environmental policy, governance, and society. However, many conventional economists have questioned its originality and contributions. This paper begins by clarifying the foundational perspectives of ecological economics that it engages an economy embedded in both real and limited ecosystems as well as socially constructed power relations. Herman Daly, a founder of the field, expanded on Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen’s <i>entropy economics</i> by focusing on a quantifiable sustainable <i>scale</i> of the economy and achieving <i>justice</i> in the control and distribution of economic benefits. He called for both quantitative analyses of economic scale and discursive approaches to a just distribution. The paper then discusses how the terms entropy, scale, and justice are used and interact in the literature, illustrated by some of the key debates in the field involving the Ecological Footprint, substitutability of natural and manufactured capital, and the growth—“agrowth”—degrowth debate. The debates also illustrate the potential for the field to influence policy. Ecological economics as the science of both sustainability and transformation can deploy numerous concepts and tools to provide insights on how to illuminate and solve some of the most pressing problems of the Anthropocene.Spatial and temporal distribution characteristics and influencing factors of tourism eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin based on the geographical and temporal weighted regression modelDonghui PengZongzheng LiangYapeng DingLiuke LiangAohui ZhaiYan ZhangXu Gong10.1371/journal.pone.02951862024-02-20T14:00:00Z2024-02-20T14:00:00Z<p>by Donghui Peng, Zongzheng Liang, Yapeng Ding, Liuke Liang, Aohui Zhai, Yan Zhang, Xu Gong</p>
With economic progression in China, Yellow River Basin serves as a critical economic belt, which has also been recognized as a cradle of Chinese culture. A watershed is a complex structure of social, economic, and natural factors, and the diversity of its components determines its complexity. Studies on the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and factors influencing the tourism eco-efficiency at the watershed scale are crucial for the sustainable regional socio-economic development, maintaining a virtuous cycle of various ecosystems, and comprehensively considering the utilization and coordinated development of various elements. Based on tourism eco-efficiency, the coordination degree of regional human–land system and the sustainable development levels can be accurately measured. With the tourism eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin from 2009 to 2019, the present study considers 63 cities in the Yellow River Basin as the research area by adopting the super-efficiency slacks-based measure (Super-SBM) model. Methods such as trend surface analysis, spatial autocorrelation analysis, elliptic standard deviation analysis, and hot spot analysis were used to explore their spatiotemporal distribution and evolution characteristics. The geographical and temporal weighted regression (GTWR) model was used to determine the factors influencing the tourism eco-efficiency value. The findings are as follows: ①The level of tourism eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin is not high, exhibiting a fluctuating upward trend. ②The tourism eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin shows significant spatial interdependence and agglomeration. Furthermore, the track of the center of gravity moves from northeast to southwest. ③ The tourism eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin is affected by various factors, with the economic development level having the greatest influence.The impact of market-incentive environmental regulation policies on corporate environmental costs: Evidence from China’s carbon trading policyZhilong QinChao TuWeihui HanQintong Jiang10.1371/journal.pone.02970032024-02-09T14:00:00Z2024-02-09T14:00:00Z<p>by Zhilong Qin, Chao Tu, Weihui Han, Qintong Jiang</p>
As the world’s largest emitter of carbon, China has implemented a series of environmental regulatory policies to reduce emissions. However, most of these environmental regulations have been at the expense of increased corporate environmental costs. Therefore, research on how to efficiently control these costs is of significant practical importance. This paper uses the China’s carbon trading policy (CTP) implemented in 2013 as a quasi-natural experiment, utilizing data from Chinese listed manufacturing firms between 2008 and 2020. Employing a difference-in-differences (DID) model, the study investigates the impact of market-incentive environmental regulatory policies (ERP) on environmental costs. The findings reveal that CTP significantly reduced the environmental costs of firms, confirming the positive and vital role market-incentive ERP can play in environmental protection and cost control. These conclusions remain robust after a series of stability tests. Mechanism analysis suggests that the cost reductions brought by market-incentive ERP are primarily achieved through increasing green innovation. Heterogeneity analysis shows that non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs), key polluting firms, firms with lower financial constraints, and firms with lower total production efficiency benefit more from market-incentive environmental regulatory policies. This study provides new empirical evidence for government policy-making aimed at achieving long-term sustainable development.Coupling coordination and interactive effects of new urbanization efficiency and eco-efficiency—A case study of Fujian ProvinceYan CaoJianchong Wei10.1371/journal.pone.02929212024-02-08T14:00:00Z2024-02-08T14:00:00Z<p>by Yan Cao, Jianchong Wei</p>
(1) Background <p>This study explores the coupling and coordinated development of new urbanization and eco-efficiency and their interaction mechanisms from the perspective of efficiency, and it has significant implications for promoting high-quality development and surpassing in China’s regional development.</p> (2) Objective <p>The study aims to investigate the spatiotemporal distribution pattern of new urbanization efficiency and eco-efficiency and its coupling and coordinated development relationship.</p> (3) Methods <p>Using panel data from 2010 to 2020 for nine cities in Fujian Province, this study employs the undesired super-efficiency SBM model to measure the efficiency of new urbanization and eco-efficiency. Additionally, a spatial panel Durbin model is constructed to analyze the interaction effect between the two efficiencies.</p> (4) Results <p>During the study period, both new urbanization efficiency and eco-efficiency in Fujian Province showed a fluctuating upward trend, with higher efficiency in the southeast than the northwest, exhibiting significant spatial agglomeration effects. Despite high double efficiency coupling, coordinated development was low, evolving from near-disorder to barely coordinated. The high coupling and coordination areas were mainly concentrated in the southeast, with gaps between different regions gradually narrowing. There was positive interaction between dual efficiency in the same region, with new urbanization efficiency showing a positive spatial spillover effect on eco-efficiency. Conversely, the spatial spillover effect of eco-efficiency on new urbanization efficiency was not significant.</p>Harnessing economic tools for Indigenous climate resilience: Insights from Arctic marine resourcesMelina Kourantidou10.1371/journal.pclm.00003422024-02-05T14:00:00Z2024-02-05T14:00:00Z<p>by Melina Kourantidou</p>
Economic tools remain under-used in addressing multiple challenges faced by indigenous communities in the rapidly changing Arctic. While there are multiple explanations for this under-use, perceptions that economic principles diverge from indigenous value systems and are rooted in Western paradigms limit the uptake of these tools to bolster resilience in the face of climate change. Nevertheless, Indigenous communities are expected to integrate their traditional systems with the historically imposed colonial systems of resource extraction to sustain their economies and community wellbeing that are challenged by environmental shifts and socioecological transitions. These changes manifest in resource use, availability and management and affect the ways Indigenous knowledge has traditionally guided resource exploitation decisions and practices. Using select examples, this paper argues that economic approaches to the management of marine resources have the potential to improve the well-being and resilience of indigenous Arctic communities. While more work is needed to tailor economic tools to the specific needs of indigenous people, the integration of resource economics and traditional approaches to resource management holds promise for strengthening Indigenous resilience in the face of the profound challenges posed by climate change.