Evaluating pollution damage function through carbon pricing, renewable energy demand, and cleaner technologies in China: blue versus green economy

Quantifying the impact of green growth and digital transformation on health: new insights from Asian economies

In today's global landscape, a paradigm shift from closed systems to open and digital networks is underway, with digital transformation and green growth permeating every facet of society, including healthcare. Therefore, our study attempts to explore the impact of digital transformation and green growth on the health outcomes of Asian economies. Employing the ARDL-PMG methodology, we delve into the long-run and short-run correlations between digital transformation, green growth, and health. Digital transformation is captured through patent technology, internet, and research and development. The findings report the significant and positive impact of digital transformation on health in the long and short run. Furthermore, the study reveals a substantial and favorable impact of green growth on health in both the short and long run. The findings of the study highlight the need for digital transformation and green growth particularly in the field of healthcare in order to improve quality of life and life expectancy.

How does environmental regulation affect real green technology innovation and strategic green technology innovation?

Although green technology is the core competitiveness of sustainable development, it is still crucial to identify whether green technology innovation under environmental constraints is strategic or real. Based on the R&D motivation of innovation subjects, the technical complexity of patents and the value of patents, this paper divides green technology innovation into real green technology innovation (RGTI) and strategic green technology innovation (SGTI). Based on a sample of 284 Chinese cities from 2004 to 2019, this study uses the panel fixed-effects model to analyze the impact and internal mechanisms of environmental regulation (ER) on urban RGTI and SGTI. The results show that a "U-shaped" relationship between ER and SGTI (RGTI); however, SGTI seems more sensitive to real ER. Additionally, high fiscal subsidies and industrial agglomeration are conducive to helping the ER induce RGTI. While under the condition of high foreign direct investment, ER is more likely to induce SGTI. Finally, the impact of ER on SGTI and RGTI is affected by heterogeneous factors, such as geographical location, resource endowment, pollution, and industrial scale. This study provides a theoretical and policy basis for governments to optimize the intensity of ER to facilitate the formation of real green innovations.

Access to sustainable healthcare infrastructure: a review of industrial emissions, coal fires, and particulate matter

Environmental health is critical for the economy's social welfare and environmental sustainability. Using time series data from 1975 to 2020, the research examines the short- and long-run relationship between environmental pollutants and healthcare costs in the context of Pakistan. The study's results reveal that short-term and long-term efforts towards cleaner development in terms of carbon emissions, coal combustion, nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions, and industrial value-added have resulted in significant reductions in healthcare expenses due to improved management of industrial emissions. However, in the long run, particulate matter (PM_2.5) has a detrimental effect on a country's sustainable healthcare agenda, leading to increased healthcare costs. Furthermore, the increased use of coal-fired power plants that release polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and revenue generated by contaminated production lead to higher out-of-pocket healthcare costs, increasing a country's risk of morbidity and mortality. The study's Granger causality estimations demonstrate that carbon emissions are responsible for emissions-driven healthcare expenses in a nation. Additionally, economic growth leads to increased carbon emissions and industrial toxins, which are also emission-led. Through variance decomposition analysis (VDA), the study finds that carbon emissions have the highest variance shock of 32.702% on healthcare expenditures in the next ten years. This is followed by polluted income and continued economic growth, which have a variance shock of 13.243% and 8.858%, respectively, over the same period. The findings indicate that the maximum healthcare benefits may be acquired by mitigating environmental pollutants via stringent environmental regulations, reducing industrial toxins through solid waste management techniques, and minimizing coal combustion reliance through renewable fuels. Environmental research is still required to provide more sustainable solutions to the sustainability of the global healthcare agenda.

Economic growth and carbon emissions in Pakistan: the effects of China's Logistics Industry

The logistics business is a crucial contributor to economic development, yet it is also the leading source of carbon emissions. Economic growth at the expense of environmental deterioration is a challenging issue; this phenomenon offered a new avenue for scholars and policymakers to investigate and address these issues. The recent study is one of the attempts to explore this intricate subject. The goal of this research is to determine whether or not the Chinese logistics sector has an impact on Pakistan's GDP and carbon emissions as a result of CPEC. The research utilized data from 2007Q1 to 2021Q4 using the ARDL approach for an empirical estimate. Due to the mixed order of variable integration and finite data set, the ARDL technique is well deserved, which helps reach sound policy inferences. The study's key results indicated that China's logistic business enhances Pakistan's economic development and carbon emissions in the short and long term. Similarly, China's energy usage, technology, and transportation contribute to Pakistan's economic progress at the price of environmental damage. The empirical study may be a model for other developing nations, given Pakistan's viewpoint. With the support of the empirical results, policymakers in Pakistan and other associated countries would be able to plan for sustainable growth in conjunction with CPEC.

Goals of sustainable infrastructure, industry, and innovation: a review and future agenda for research

Sustainable Development Goal 9 targets (SDG 9 targets) are mainly tracked through the indicators of penetration of internet and mobile broadband subscription, logistic performance index, quality and ranking of the universities, investment in research and development initiatives, industrial reforms and emission control, and connectivity to rural areas. The attainment of many of these targets and tracking of indicators is confronted by challenges of poor awareness, funding issues, distorted policies, and implementation failures. This systematic review on achievements, challenges, and future scope in attaining SDG 9 consolidates the literature from the Web of Science, related to SDG 9 and indicators, since 2017; develops bibliometric patterns; conducts thematic analysis by focusing the leading indicators of SDG 9; and develops agenda for future research. The major limitations of this study include focusing on selected indicators and limited literature availability. This review recommends policymakers, researchers, and administrators to focus on promising themes such as tackling the digital divide and ensuring digital justice and digital equality; clean fuel and technology adoption; enhancing internet and mobile broadband subscription with reduced negative impacts, logistic sector reforms; industrial policy reforms and technology integration; improving the quality and sustainability of universities; and increasing funding and support for research and development initiatives and improving the rural connectivity.

Study on Spatiotemporal Evolution Features and Affecting Factors of Collaborative Governance of Pollution Reduction and Carbon Abatement in Urban Agglomerations of the Yellow River Basin

Exploring spatiotemporal evolution features and factors affecting pollution reduction and carbon abatement on the urban agglomeration scale is helpful to better understand the interaction between ecological environment and economic development in urban agglomerations. In this study, we constructed an evaluation index system for collaborative governance of pollution reduction and carbon abatement in urban agglomerations. In addition, we employed the correlation coefficient matrix, the composite system synergy model, the Gini coefficient, and the Theil index to evaluate the level of and regional differences in collaborative governance of pollution reduction and carbon abatement in seven urban agglomerations in the Yellow River Basin from 2006 to 2020. Moreover, we explored the factors affecting collaborative governance of pollution reduction and carbon abatement in urban agglomerations in the basin. The following findings were obtained: (1) the order degree of collaborative governance of pollution reduction and carbon abatement in the seven urban agglomerations exhibited a significant growing trend, representing a spatial evolution feature of "high in the west and low in the east"; (2) the internal differences in collaborative governance synergy of pollution reduction and carbon abatement decreased in Lanzhou-Xining Urban Agglomeration, Hohhot-Baotou-Ordos-Yulin Urban Agglomeration, Central Shanxi Urban Agglomeration, Zhongyuan Urban Agglomeration, and Shandong Peninsula Urban Agglomeration, while the internal differences basically remained stable in Guanzhong Urban Agglomeration and the Urban Agglomeration along the Yellow River in Ningxia; (3) the variances in environmental regulation and industrial structure among urban agglomerations had a significant positive effect on collaborative governance of pollution reduction and carbon abatement in urban agglomerations in the basin, and the variances in economic growth had a significant inhibitory effect. In addition, the variances in energy consumption, greening construction, and opening-up had an inhibitory impact on collaborative governance of pollution reduction, but the impact was not significant. Finally, this study proposes various recommendations to improve collaborative governance for pollution reduction and carbon abatement in urban agglomerations in the basin in terms of promoting industrial structure upgrading, strengthening regional cooperation, and reducing regional differences. This paper represents an empirical reference for formulating differentiated collaborative governance strategies for pollution reduction and carbon abatement, comprehensive green and low-carbon economic and social transformation programs, and high-quality green development paths in urban agglomerations, which is of certain theoretical and practical significance.

Advancing the debate on hotel employees’ environmental psychology by promoting energy-saving behavior in a corporate social responsibility framework

Considering the vulnerable climatic conditions in most parts of the planet, a successful transition toward a carbon-free future is a critical challenge worldwide. In this respect, around 35% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emission (GHG) is associated with the power sector (especially electrical energy). To this end, a vast of electrical energy has been used by the people in buildings. Specifically, a significant amount of energy in buildings is used for heating, cooling, and ventilation. While the available literature highlights the importance of neat, clean, and green electrical energy for the decarbonization of society, a critical gap exists in such literature. That is, most of the literature under this stream deals with the supply side (production) of electrical energy, while the demand side (consumption at an individual level) was neglected. To bridge this critical knowledge gap, this study investigates how the CSR engagement of a hotel organization can promote the energy-related pro-environmental behavior (ERPEB) among the employees with the intervening effect of employees’ environmental commitment (EMEC) and Green intrinsic motivation (GRIM). Further, the conditional indirect role of altruistic values was also tested in this study. The data were collected from different hotel employees in Pakistan with the help of a self-administered questionnaire. We tested the hypothesized relationship through structural equation modeling (SEM). The results confirmed that CSR can be a potential motivator to impact the ERPEB of employees, while EMEC and GRIM mediated this relationship significantly. The findings of this study also confirmed the conditional indirect role of altruistic values. These findings offer various theoretical and practical contributions which are conversed in detail.

The effect of climate patterns on rice productivity in Pakistan: an application of Driscoll and Kraay estimator

This study assesses climate change impact on rice productivity in 28 top rice-producing districts in Pakistan. Driscoll and Kraay estimation is applied on panel data from 1981 to 2019. The cross-sectional dependency test results reveals that climatic factors such as rainfall, humidity, and temperature have correlation issue in different selected regions. The study observes that temperature, rice productivity, and rainfall have inverted U-shape relationship. Rice productivity response is quadratic instead of linear towards average rainfall and temperature during the particular cultivation time, comprising of harvesting, flowering, and planting. The coefficient of temperature during planting time is positive and significant, while the square of temperature during planting time is negative and significant. Temperature during flowering and harvesting time is significant and positive, while the square of temperature during flowering and harvesting time is negative and significant. Rain fall during planting and flowering time are positive and significant; besides that, fertilizer usage stimulates and humidity hinders rice productivity in selected districts of Pakistan. Our empirical results considered the issues of spatial dependency, serial correlation, and heterogeneity.

Environmentally Specific Servant Leadership and Employees’ Energy-Specific Pro-Environmental Behavior: Evidence from Healthcare Sector of a Developing Economy

Environmental issues are significantly rising worldwide. Addressing the environmental issues and preserving the biosphere is a critical matter of concern in this era. The sheer amount of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the world is related to the energy sector, especially electrical energy. A bulk of electrical energy is consumed by individuals in buildings for cooling and heating purposes. Prior researchers have emphasized employing clean and green energy sources to deal with environmental issues. The role of green energy from a decarbonization aspect is unchallengeable. However, a critical gap in most energy-related studies exists in the available literature. That is, most of the literature focuses on the supply side (the production) of energy, neglecting the critical issue lies with the demand side (consumption side). Energy data show that a sheer amount of electrical energy is wasted by individuals due to their inadequate energy consumption behavior. In this respect, a country’s healthcare system uses a significant amount of electrical energy. In particular, hospital staff uses a bulk of electricity during patient treatment, care, and other service delivery operations. The critical aim of this study is to improve the energy-specific pro-environmental behavior (EPEB) of hospital employees in an environmentally specific servant leadership (ESL) framework. Specifically, the study was conducted in Pakistan, which is a developing country. This study also tests the mediating effect of green self-efficacy (GSE) and green perceived organizational support (GPOS) in the above-proposed relationship. The data for the current work were collected from hospital employees by employing a survey strategy (n = 316) from a developing country. Structural equation modeling was considered to analyze the data, which confirmed that a servant leader with environmental preferences could significantly drive the EPEB of employees (β = 0.699), while GSE (β = 0.138) and GPOS (β = 0.102) mediated this relationship. The findings of this study can help the healthcare sector to improve its efforts toward de-carbonization by improving the energy consumption behavior of employees through ESL, GSE, and GPOS.

Policy Uncertainty, Official Social Capital, and the Effective Corporate Tax Rate-Evidence From Chinese Firms

The political environment has a significant impact on the sustainable development of enterprises. This manuscript aims to investigate the effect of policy uncertainty and official social capital on enterprises' effective tax rate (ETR) due to the change of officials. Based on the panel data from the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database from 1998 to 2009, it is shown that the policy uncertainty caused by the change of local government officials significantly increases the ETR of enterprises. Meanwhile, municipal officials who have social ties with provincial officials in their province also tend to raise the ETR of industrial enterprises, and this tendency is more evident when the officials take office. Further research shows that the effects vary in many aspects for policy uncertainty and social capital on the ETR of enterprises. The findings of this manuscript provide support for a deeper understanding of the change in local government fiscal policies and give suggestions to strengthen political environmental governance for the sustainable development of enterprises.