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A metafrontier slack-based efficiency measure is presented to measure environmental efficiency for various regions in China. The objective of the new approach is to investigate the change of environmental efficiency while incorporating group heterogeneities and all variable slack and environmental pollutants into environmental efficiency analysis. Global production technology is used to improve the discriminating power of environmental efficiency measurement. An empirical analysis of regional environmental efficiency is carried out incorporating sulfur dioxide emissions and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of China’s regions from 2000–2011. Results indicate that excessive emissions pollution is the major cause of environmental inefficiency. Most of the regions return environmental efficiency values. Significant regional technology gaps in environmental efficiency are found between the east, central, and west areas. Finally, some policy implications are presented from the empirical results.

Introducing private capital into the public transport system for its sustainable development has been increasing around the world. However, previous research ignores emissions and energy consumption impacts, which are important for private capital investment policy-making. To address this problem, the system dynamic (SD) approach was used to quantitatively analyze the cumulative effects of different private capital investment models in public transport from the environmental perspective. The SD model validity was verified in the case study of Jinan public traffic. Simulation results show that the fuel consumption and emission reductions are obvious when the private capital considering passenger value invests in public transport compared with the no private capital investment and traditional investment models. There are obvious cumulative reductions for fuel consumption, CO2, CO, SO2, and PM10 emissions for 100 months compared with no private capital investment. This research verifies the superiority of the passenger value investment model in public transport from the environmental point of view, and supplies a theoretical tool for administrators to evaluate the private capital investment effects systematically.

One of the most topical research areas currently concerns the identification and improvement of technologies against climate change, environmental pollution, exploitation of natural resources, and the economic crisis [...]

Coal regulation has been implemented throughout China. However, the potential benefits of pollution abatement and the co-benefits of residents’ health were rarely assessed. In this study, based on the analysis of historical coal consumption and multiple coal regulation measures in Anhui Province, China, four scenarios (Business as Usual (BU), Structure Optimization (SO), Gross Consumption Control (GC), and Comprehensive Measures (CM)) were constructed to indicate four different paths from 2020 to 2060, which is a vital period for realizing carbon neutrality. The results show that reductions of SO2, PM10, and PM2.5 emissions in the SO scenario are higher than those in the GC scenario, while the reduction of NOx emission is higher in the GC scenario. Compared with the BU scenario, residents’ health benefits from 2020 to 2060 are 8.3, 4.8, and 4.5 billion USD in the CM, GC, and SO scenarios, respectively, indicating that the achievements of coal regulation are significant for health promotion. Therefore, the optimization and implementation of coal regulation in the future is not only essential for the carbon neutrality target, but also a significant method to yield environmental and health co-benefits.

Green credit policy (GCP) serves as an important tool for environmental protection and economy development. However, conflicting evidence exists regarding its role in affecting firms’ green innovation. China’s GCP practice provides an opportunity to explore this issue in the context of developing economies. Taking the implementation of the “Green Credit Guidelines” in China in 2012 as an exogenous shock, this paper adopts the difference-in-differences (DIDs) method to separately explore GCP’s effect on green innovation of non-heavily polluting firms (non-HPFs) and heavily polluting firms (HPFs). Based on the microdata of Chinese firms from 2008 to 2020, this study finds that: (1) GCP promotes green innovation of non-HPFs, but inhibits green innovation of HPFs. (2) GCP’s promoting effect on green innovation of non-HPFs is more prominent in large-sized firms, regions with a higher financial development level, and regions with a higher pollution level. (3) GCP’s inhibiting effect on green innovation of HPFs is less prominent in regions with higher financial development level. (4) Environmental information disclosure (EID) strengthens GCP’s promoting effect on green innovation of non-HPFs. Overall, these findings help practitioners to better understand the impact of GCP on firms’ green innovation in developing countries.

At the outlet of the Vermicelli catchment—a peri-urban area located in the campus of University of Calabria (Cosenza, Southern Italy)—a sedimentation tank is located, aiming at collecting the basin surface runoff and improve its quality. First, experimental results of the treatment effects are here presented and analyzed. In addition, a monitoring campaign was conducted in order to characterize the particles transported by surface runoff and to determine the treatment efficiency of the tank. The analysis showed the presence of a pollutant load in the surface runoff of the Vermicelli basin and provided information on its particle-size distribution (PSD). Results were considered in terms of the treatment efficiency of the sedimentation tank, showing a good overall removal efficiency value, together with a high variability of the removal sedimentation efficiency. This variability is mainly due to the different grain size of the suspended solids and the characteristics of the rainfall event.

The development of Belt and Road has seen a boom of imported fresh agri-products in China. This stimulates the growth of refrigerated transport, which accounts for much more carbon emissions than traditional transport. Designing a sustainable cold chain network is of vital importance from both financial and environmental perspectives. In this research, a multi-objective linear programming model is proposed for green cold chain design for multiple imported fresh agri-products in China to balance between the two competing goals—the total cost and carbon emissions. The effect of the outdoor air temperature on the carbon emissions of transportation and maintaining distribution centers is considered. By applying the ε-constraint method, the multi-objective model is solved. Numerical examples derived from the scenario of imported fresh-agri products in China are conducted to shed light on green cold chain design under Belt and Road development.

The recent outbreak of a new Coronavirus has developed into a global pandemic with about 10.5 million reported cases and over 500,000 deaths worldwide. Our prospective paper reports an updated analysis of the impact that this pandemic had on the Italian agri-food sector during the national lockdown and discusses why and how this unprecedented economic crisis could be a turning point to deal with the overall sustainability of food and agricultural systems in the frame of the forthcoming European Green Deal. Its introductory part includes a wide-ranging examination of the first quarter of pandemic emergency, with a specific focus on the primary production, to be understood as agriculture (i.e., crops and livestock, and their food products), fisheries, and forestry. The effect on the typical food and wine exports, and the local environment tourism segments is also taken into account in this analysis, because of their old and deep roots into the cultural and historical heritage of the country. The subsequent part of the paper is centered on strategic lines and research networks for an efficient socio-economic and territorial restart, and a faster transition to sustainability in the frame of a circular bio-economy. Particular emphasis is given to the urgent need of investments in research and development concerning agriculture, in terms of not only a fruitful penetration of the agro-tech for a next-generation agri-food era, but also a deeper attention to the natural and environmental resources, including forestry. As for the rest of Europe, Italy demands actions to expand knowledge and strengthen research applied to technology transfer for innovation activities aimed at providing solutions for a climate neutral and resilient society, in reference to primary production to ensure food security and nutrition quality. Our expectation is that science and culture return to play a central role in national society, as their main actors are capable of making a pivotal contribution to renew and restart the whole primary sector and agri-food industry, addressing also social and environmental issues, and so accelerating the transition to sustainability.