Effects of ICT agglomeration on carbon emission reduction: New evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt

It is unidentified whether information communication technology (ICT) agglomeration can contribute to carbon reduction and to what extent it plays a role in energy conservation and emission reduction, and further exploration is urgently needed. Based on the panel data of 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2008 to 2019, the spatial panel Durbin model and intermediary effect model are employed to explore the effect of ICT agglomeration on carbon emissions and its pathways. It can be indicated from the results as below. (1) The local ICT agglomeration can reduce carbon emissions, but an increase in the level of ICT agglomeration in surrounding cities will increase local carbon emissions. (2) ICT agglomeration can reduce carbon emissions through reducing energy intensity and capital mismatch. (3) The effect of ICT agglomeration on carbon emissions is heterogeneous. ICT agglomeration can suppress carbon emissions in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, while it will increase carbon emissions in the upper reaches. ICT agglomeration increases carbon emissions in old industrial cities, reduces carbon emissions in non-old industrial cities, and has a more significant emission reduction effect in non-resource-based cities. We suggest promoting the formation of a coordinated linkage mechanism for ICT industry development and carbon emission reduction policies among regions, and implement differentiated ICT development strategies according to different industrial structure types.

Does fiscal decentralization support green economy development? Evidence from China

China, as the world's largest energy consumer, has made the green economy a central component of its economic development strategy. However, how to effectively play the government's crucial role in promoting the development of the green economy has become the focus of research by a significant number of economic experts. This paper uses the Super-SBM model to measure the green economy development index by introducing carbon dioxide emissions and industrial "three wastes" emissions and analyzes the relationship between fiscal decentralization, green technology innovation, and the green economy from the vantage point of local government behavior. It is discovered that fiscal decentralization significantly inhibits the development of the green economy, and local green technology innovation activities in the last period will amplify this negative impact. The above findings pass the robustness test. After introducing comparative analysis of economic growth indicators that are measured by the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), the results show that only in the eastern region does fiscal decentralization both drive economic growth and do not inhibit green economy development by local government officials' political promotion motives and self-interested preferred expenditures, but overall economic promotion and green economy inhibition caused by fiscal decentralization exist simultaneously in the Yangtze River Economic Belt region, and significant heterogeneity differences exist in the rest of the regions. The findings suggest that regulating local government fiscal behavior and improving fiscal transparency are very important to promote the development of China's green economy.

Spatial-temporal evolution and driving factors of grey water footprint efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

At present, the deterioration of the water ecosystem has constituted a bottleneck for the further development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). As a crucial indicator for evaluating the degree of water pollution, grey water footprint (GWF) is of great significance for rationally evaluating the water environment of the YREB. In this study, we calculated the GWF efficiency of the YREB based on the panel data of 9 provinces and 2 cities from 2005 to 2019. On this basis, spatiotemporal methods and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model were adopted to analyze the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics and driving factors of GWF efficiency in the YREB. This study drew the following conclusions: (1) the GWF efficiency in the YREB was on an uptrend, with the average annual growth rates of the upstream, midstream and downstream being 17.35 %, 18.31 % and 17.8 % respectively from 2005 to 2019. (2) The GWF efficiency in the YREB showed a weak trend of polarization and the gap between different regions continued to widen. Besides, it was characterized by stability and owned a positive spatial correlation in both geographic distance and economic distance. (3) The improvement of the technology level, water use efficiency, wastewater treatment capacity, economic development level and the reduction in the industrial pollution intensity contributed positively to boosting the GWF efficiency. Meanwhile, the effect of environmental regulation made a significant negative contribution to GWF efficiency. Therefore, in the process of building the YREB, while emphasizing the coordinated development of the economy, all regions should also carry out joint pollution control.

Decomposition and decoupling analysis of carbon emissions from agricultural economic growth in China's Yangtze River economic belt

In this study, carbon emissions from agricultural energy consumption (CEAEC) are fully analyzed using data from the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YEB) between 2000 and 2017. First, generalized LMDI is adopted to decompose the drivers of CEAEC into five components. Then, the decoupling indicator and the decoupling effort indicator are constructed to quantify the decoupling degrees and examine the government's emission reduction efforts, respectively. The results show that (1) CEAEC in the YEB has shown a phased increase, reaching a peak at 1732.2510⁴t in 2012. Except for some decreases found in Shanghai, Chongqing, and Guizhou, it is shown that all provinces' CEAEC have risen to varying degrees. In contrast, the intensity of CEAEC in the YEB has been declining since 2005. (2) The economic output effect acts as the major contributor to the growth of CEAEC, followed by the population effect. In contrast, both the energy intensity effect and the energy structure effect are the primary reasons for reductions in CEAEC. The spatial difference in CEAEC in the YEB increased significantly from 2000 to 2017. (3) There was an alternating change from decoupling to coupling and then to negative decoupling from 2000 to 2017. Based on the conclusions mentioned above, it is proposed that the formulation of low-carbon agricultural development strategies should consider the structural adjustment of agricultural energy consumption and the advancements of agricultural technology.

Effect of landscape-scale farmland fragmentation on the ecological efficiency of farmland use: a case study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Improving the ecological efficiency of farmland use (EEFU) has become an important part of ensuring food security and solving environmental pollution problems. At present, the Chinese government is actively promoting large-scale farmland transfer to reduce the level of farmer-/plot-scale farmland fragmentation (FF), so it is crucial to clarify the effect of landscape-scale FF on EEFU. This study applies the non-dynamic panel and threshold models in an empirical study of the municipal administrative regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt (2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015). The results reveal that there is a single threshold for the effects of area, shape, and distance fragmentation on EEFU with farmland area per capita (FAPC) as the threshold variable. The threshold values are 1.548, 1.373, and 1.542, respectively. The effects of area and distance fragmentation on EEFU are initially promoted and then suppressed; however, shape fragmentation always has an inhibitory effect on EEFU. These findings suggest that ignoring the condition of FAPC of different regions and promoting large-scale farmland transfer blindly will give rise to the decline of EFFU. These results are conducive to the sustainable utilization of farmland and the formulation of related policies.

Examining the spatiotemporal change of forest resource carrying capacity of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China

Rapid urbanization and the excessive human harvesting of forests have led to a continuous decline in the carrying capacity of forests in China. As a result, quantitative means of measuring forest resource carrying capacity are greatly needed, with a view to identifying problem areas and their causes and formulating effective response strategies. This paper puts forward a framework and methodology for constructing a forest resource carrying capacity index (FRCCI). To do this, we first calculate a forest ecological security index (FESI), using an evaluation index system. Ideal FESI values are then simulated by introducing a forest ecological location coefficient (FELC), and the FRCCI is obtained as the difference between the ideal FESI and the FESI. The study considers the 1086 counties that compose the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China, using forest and socioeconomic data for 2015. The resulting FRCCI values indicate that the forests of Yunnan province are generally in a state of "no overload," while Sichuan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces occupied a state of "critical overload" and Anhui and Jiangsu provinces experienced "general overload." The spatial pattern of the FRCCI in the study region presented significant centralization, with high FRCCI values mainly clustered in areas in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and low FRCCI values mainly clustered in areas in the midstream and downstream reaches of the River. The study identifies 416 counties identified as forest carrying capacity problem areas (38.31% of the study area); these areas were mainly concentrated in Shanghai and Anhui province. We argue that a number of measures would be helpful in improving FRCCI values, including promoting the forest state index by strengthening reforestation as well as afforestation, reducing the external pressure on forests by means of energy saving and emission reduction strategies, and formulating comprehensive policy measures to promote the carrying capacity of forests in the whole study area and in the problem areas.