Environmental Protection, Industrial Structure and Urbanization: Spatiotemporal Evidence from Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, China

Regional integration policies and urban green innovation: Fresh evidence from urban agglomeration expansion

Climate change is a non-traditional security crisis affecting the global economy and diplomatic progress. In order to curtail carbon emissions and alleviate the perils of climate change at their roots, urban green innovation (UGI) has emerged as a pivotal technological solution. Using the expansion of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration in China as a case study, this paper develops a quasi-experimental model to analyze the effects of regional integration policies on UGI. The main findings are: (1) Regional integration policies significantly enhance UGI and their impact is more pronounced with the expansion of urban agglomerations; (2) Regional integration policies contribute to the advancement of exploitative green innovation while tending to diminish exploratory green innovation; (3) The green innovation effects (GIEs) created by the expansion of regional integration policies are largely influenced by governmental mechanisms on environmental governance as well as residents' green preferences. Based on these findings, recommendations are put forward to promote UGI from the perspective of policy implementation.

Spatial spillover of local general higher education expenditures on sustainable regional economic growth: A spatial econometric analysis

The ability of fair investments in local general higher education to drive sustainable regional economic growth is explored. Based on spatial theory, the exploratory spatial data analysis method is used to examine the spatial characteristics of local general higher education expenditures in China's 30 provinces from 2000 to 2021. The spatial Durbin model is employed to analyze the impact of education expenditures on regional economic growth. The results reveal that education expenditures had positive spatial autocorrelation. Education expenditures promoted regional economic growth, and the long-term effect was greater than the short-term effect. These expenditures also had a positive spillover effect, showing that strategic spatial interactions between provinces positively influence growth. The positive spillover effects nationwide and in the eastern region were significantly greater than the direct effect, whereas the spillover effects in both the middle and western regions were negative.

Does human capital matter for energy consumption in China? Evidence from 30 Chinese provinces

The impact of human capital on energy consumption is an important economic and environmental issue, especially in a country like China with a strong energy demand and continuously improving education levels. This study uses panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2020 to explore the impact of human capital on energy consumption. Empirical research shows that human capital can not only reduce local energy consumption but also reduce energy consumption in surrounding areas, through structural, technological, and knowledge spillover effects. The impact of human capital on energy consumption exhibits a U-shaped curve, decreasing first and then increasing, when economic growth reaches a threshold level. As industrial structure and urbanization develop, the impact of human capital on energy consumption increases. This study inform policy by demonstrating the energy conservation and emission reduction effects of human capital and provide insights for investors and policymakers.

Does the construction of innovative cities promote urban green innovation?

As a typical example of an innovative governance environment, innovative city has become the focus of political and academic circles. Discussing the green innovation effect of this policy is beneficial in providing decision support for enhancing urban green innovation capability and solving the dilemma of urban resources. Based on data from 241 cities in China from 2005 to 2017, this paper takes innovative city construction as a "quasi-natural experiment" and uses the difference-in-differences method to empirically study the impact of China's innovative city construction on urban green innovation. The results show that innovative urban construction: has a positive effect on improving urban green innovation, and that this effect will gradually increase with time; promotes urban green innovation by expanding the scope of technology application, improving the efficiency of resource allocation and promoting the adjustment of industrial structure; and presents heterogeneity in cities' location, size and hierarchy. Finally, this paper proposes that the government should promote innovative policies in an orderly manner on the basis of following the principle of adapting measures to local conditions, as well as incorporating green innovation performance into the evaluation system for innovative city construction.

The Impact Relationships between Scientific and Technological Innovation, Industrial Structure Advancement and Carbon Footprints in China Based on the PVAR Model

As one of the three major engines of economic growth in China, the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration has become one of the regions with the highest energy consumption intensity. To investigate the dynamic relationships between scientific and technological innovation, industrial structure advancement and carbon footprints, panel data in BTH from 2006 to 2019 was selected, and a Panel Vector Auto-Regressive (PVAR) model was established to conduct an empirical study. The conclusions show that there is a causal relationship between the industrial structure advancement and carbon footprints, and the influence of each on the other is significant. The impact of scientific and technological innovation on carbon footprints has a “rebound effect”. Scientific and technological innovation can accelerate the process of industrial structure advancement. Carbon footprints have a significant backward forcing effect on both industrial structure advancement and scientific and technological innovation, with impact coefficients of 0.0671 and 0.2120, respectively. Compared with scientific and technological innovation, the industrial structure advancement has a greater impact on carbon footprints, with a variance contribution of 25.4%. The research findings are conducive to providing policy support for the coordinated development of BTH and promoting the realization of the Double Carbon goal.

Indoor Air Purification and Residents' Self-Rated Health: Evidence from the China Health and Nutrition Survey

Indoor air pollution is injurious to human health, even worse than outdoor air pollution. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence using large samples in developing countries regarding whether indoor air purification can improve human health by reducing indoor air pollutants. Using the data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey in 2015, this study analyzes the relationship between indoor air purification and residents' self-rated health. We apply the generalized ordered logit model and find that indoor air purification has a significantly positive effect on residents' self-rated health. This positive effect is limited to improving the probability of residents' health level being rated "good", and there is no significant movement between the two levels of "bad" and "fair". The results also show that, as an important source of indoor air pollutants, solid fuels used in cooking significantly reduced residents' self-rated health level. Additional results show the heterogeneity of the relationship between indoor air purification and resident health among groups with different characteristics. This study provides empirical evidence for further optimizing the indoor air environment.

Multi-scenario simulation of ecological risk assessment based on ecosystem service values in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

In this study, a framework for ecological risk assessment based on ecosystem service values and risk probability was established. Remote sensing was used to estimate the value of ecosystem services at the regional scale. Considering the natural and anthropogenic factors and using the entropy weight method to assign weights, probability index was constructed. In addition, multiple scenarios based on the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) method were simulated to reduce subjective uncertainty in the assessment. The results showed that the ecosystem service values generated by the gas regulation value accounted for the largest proportion, with a ratio of 46% in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. From 2005 to 2015, the value of ecosystem services decreased, falling by 2.5 × 10⁷ Yuan. The level of ecological risk was relatively high, with a corresponding area ratio of 32.89%. Spatially, the areas with high risk were concentrated in the southeastern areas, and areas with relatively low risk were distributed in the western and northern areas. This high risk was probably caused by urbanization which was characterized by reduction of farmland and increase in impervious surface. Multi-scenario simulation showed that the areas of unstable ecological risk zones covered 30% and were mainly concentrated in the surroundings of developing cities. In areas of unstable risk distribution, the relationship between development and protection should be considered. This framework increases the reliability and practicability of ecological risk assessment results and has potential application value for regional risk control in the context of urbanization.