Exploring necessary and sufficient conditions for carbon emission intensity: a comparative analysis

The spillover effect of economic institutions on the environment: A global evidence from spatial econometric analysis

This study examines the impact of economic institutions on ecological footprint and their spatial spillover effects globally, covering the period from 2000 to 2021. We focus on economic institutions because institutions that espouse economic freedom are essential for safeguarding environmental quality. We hypothesize that the spatial influence of these institutions varies both globally and regionally. The Moran's I test reveals significant spatial associations among countries, while the Wald and likelihood tests identify the spatial Durbin model as the most appropriate approach. Furthermore, the Hausman test indicates that a fixed effects model best captures the coefficients. Globally, economic institutions demonstrate a direct reduction effect of 16.4% and a spillover reduction effect of 4.4% on ecological footprint. However, these effects show considerable regional variation. In North America, East Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and Central Asia, economic institutions effectively reduce ecological footprint, while their impact is negligible in other regions. These regional differences underscore the importance of addressing institutional deficiencies, encouraging policymakers in regions with limited effects to learn from best practices to enhance institutional effectiveness. These insights collectively advance the literature on economic institutions and environmental economics, emphasizing regional policy adaptation and the transboundary effects of institutional quality. The findings further reveal that economic institutions moderate GDP per capita to curb ecological footprint significantly. These conclusions hold even after addressing endogeneity using the generalized spatial two-stage least squares method. The study recommends that policies promoting economic freedom are essential to mitigate global environmental degradation.

Assessment of Two Crosslinked Polymer Systems Including Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide and Acrylic Acid-Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide Co-Polymer for Carbon Dioxide and Formation Water Diversion Through Relative Permeability Reduction in Unconsolidated Sandstone Formation

One of the most challenging aspects of manipulating the flow of fluids in subsurfaces is to control their flow direction and flow behavior. This can be especially challenging for compressible fluids, such as CO2, and for multiphase flow, including both water and carbon dioxide (CO2). This research studies the ability of two crosslinked polymers, including hydrolyzed polyacrylamide and acrylic acid/hydrolyzed polyacrylamide crosslinked polymers, to reduce the permeability of both CO2 and formation water using different salinities and permeability values and in the presence of crude oil under different injection rates. The result showed that both polymers managed to reduce the permeability of water effectively; however, their CO2 permeability-reduction potential was much lower, with the CO2 permeability reduction being less than 50% of the water reduction potential in the majority of the experiments. This was mainly due to the high flow rate of the CO2 compared to the water, which resulted in significant shearing of the crosslinked polymer. The crosslinked polymers' swelling ratios were impacted differently based on the salinity, with the maximum swelling ratio being 9.8. The HPAM polymer was negatively affected by the presence of crude oil, whereas increasing salinity improved its performance greatly. All in all, both polymers had a higher permeability reduction for the formation water compared to CO2 under all conditions. This research can help improve the applicability of CO2-enhanced oil recovery and CO2 storage in depleted oil reservoirs. The ability of the crosslinked polymers to improve CO2 storage will be a main focus of future research.

Exploring impact of green finance and natural resources on eco-efficiency: case of China

China ranks 160 out of 180 countries in terms of ecological efficiency, with an EPI score of 28.40 and a 10-year average change in score of 11.40. This article examines the impact of green finance and China's natural resources on regional ecological efficiency using the Tobit regression model. The study uses the average yearly exchange rate to normalize dollar-related values and GDP to 2012 RMB using the price deflator. Variables used as explanatory tools include green financing, the availability of natural resources, and regional eco-efficiency. The results of the study imply that natural resources in eastern region of China are better managed as and have avoided the resource curse as compared to central and western regions. Resources temporarily support area economic and social growth. However, resource agglomeration locks many elements in the resource industry and degrades regional industrial development, generating environmental and social difficulties that may hinder regional economic progress. Given that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increases regional eco-efficiency after accounting for adjustment. The FDI positively correlated with ecological efficiency in the east zone, while central and western zones have negative correlations. The industrial development of the nation negatively impacts ecological efficiency in the East, Midwest, and West regions. Western results are distinctive, with ecological efficiency and regional economic growth frequently going hand in hand.

How environment and technology affect the regional manufacturing industry development

To help the manufacturing industry achieve high-quality development, it is urgent to identify the factors that affect the development of regional manufacturing. Compared to previous regression models, this article attempts to discover the nonlinear effects of different factors on regional manufacturing industry development (RMID) and their future impact trends. Based on the theory of new structural economics, we used order parameter analysis to examine the impact of environmental pollution and technology on RMID. The results indicate that: (1) The half of the cities promote industrial growth, but there are still three other situations: development slow down (3/21), a slight downward trend (5/21), and recession (2/21). (2) The two-thirds of cities adopt green development to promote industrial growth, while the development of other cities slows down (3/21), and some cities have a slight downward trend (4/21). The conclusion is as follows: (1) Through comparison, it is found that the impact of environment and technology on the RMID remains roughly synchronous, but currently the environmental promotion effect is greater. (2) We have found four technological development paths and can extend three green development models, effectively promoting RMID's green technology development. These suggestions will lay the foundation for promoting RMID.

Can industrial co-agglomeration improve carbon emission efficiency? Empirical evidence based on the eastern coastal areas of China

The goal of "carbon peak and carbon neutrality" is the key to coping with global warming and achieving high-quality development. Producer services and manufacturing co-agglomeration (Coagglo) is an important path to achieve low-carbon development. Therefore, the relationship between industrial co-agglomeration and carbon emission efficiency (CEE) needs to be discussed. Based on the panel data of 114 cities along the eastern coast of China from 2006 to 2021, this study uses a panel quantile regression model and dynamic spatial Durbin model to evaluate the impact and spatial effect of Coagglo on CEE. The results show that there is a nonlinear relationship between Coagglo and CEE. When it exceeds the 50th quantile, the degree of influence decreases slightly, but it still shows a significant positive correlation. When considering industry heterogeneity, we find that the co-agglomeration of warehousing and postal industry (TRA) and manufacturing has the most significant impact on CEE, while the co-agglomeration of leasing and commercial service industry (LEA) and manufacturing has the least impact on CEE. Regional heterogeneity shows that the Coagglo has a greater impact on carbon emission efficiency in the northern region than in the southern region. In addition, Coagglo promotes the spillover of knowledge and technology and has a positive spatial spillover effect on CEE. This conclusion provides a theoretical reference for carbon emission reduction in eastern coastal areas of China.