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Abstract The development of the regional economy in China is unbalanced. Interregional "carbon leakage" and "carbon transfer" have a significant impact on the realization of carbon emission mitigation targets and the allocation of responsibility. Using China's interregional input-output tables and the corresponding carbon emission data for 2007 and 2010, this paper proposes an interregional Ghosh input-output model and estimates the amount of interprovincial carbon emission transfer from the supply-side perspective. We find that the main direction of supply-side carbon emission transfer is from resource-intensive provinces in the central and western regions to developed provinces in the eastern coastal regions. Further analysis shows that the transfer is mainly concentrated in the production and distribution of electricity and heat, nonmetallic mineral products, and basic metals, whose carbon emissions account for approximately 70% of all sectors’ carbon emissions. The differences between the supply side and the demand side of China's provinces are mainly reflected in the transfer out of carbon emissions.

Abstract The rapid economic development in emerging economies is deeply coupled with massive material use, which poses serious challenges to the environment. Thus, the desired transition towards sustainable society requires a more complete understanding of the interplay of material stock and economic development. To investigate how the productivity of materials evolves as the economy grows, we develop a modified Cobb-Douglas production function model by incorporating steel stock as one input factor and conduct a panel regression analysis based on China's provincial-level data from 1990 to 2016. Our empirical results indicate that steel stock plays a vital role, almost equivalent to labor and non-steel capital stock, in economic growth in China, and output elasticity of steel stock, which reflects its productivity, increases with economic development but might decline at a very developed stage. Potential factors leading to such variations in steel stock productivity are further explored by an extended model. It is found that industrialization and urbanization levels contribute positively to the output elasticity of steel stock while the existing stock level plays an opposite role. As industrialization and urbanization levels hit the upper limit when the economy matures, we predict that China's steel stock productivity will reach a plateau or start decreasing, depending on the future path of investment in materials.

Energy infrastructure construction is a top priority and focus for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and this drives dramatical demand for significant energy consumption growth and investment funds in BRI countries. In response, the concept of a regional power grid of an industrial park (RPGIP) has emerged as a new energy infrastructure, where the industrial power supply, load, and grid are integrated to form a balanced and independent regional power grid. Moreover, dramatically increased market competition on the retail side of the electricity market challenges developing countries striving to achieve sustainable development of power retailers. This paper proposes that power retailers transform into energy saving companies (ESCOs) to participate in the electricity management of an RPGIP. By using a financing scheme realized by asset securitization, power retailers can smoothly participate in the construction and operation of a power system of BRI that contributes to accelerating energy infrastructure construction, the electricity management of the RPGIP, and sustainable development of power retailers in BRI countries. Furthermore, this study provides a game analysis for achieving maximum benefits of power retailers and industrial consumers in the implementation of the financing scheme.

Rapid urban growth in major cities of a country poses challenges for sustainable development. Particularly in Africa, the process of rapid urbanization is little understood and research is mostly limited to single cities. Thus, this study provides a comprehensive comparative analysis of the growth and spatial patterns of urban development in the three major cities of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa, Adama, and Hawassa) from 1987 to 2017. Also, the applicability of diffusion and coalescence theory on the evolution of these cities has been tested. Remote sensing and GIS technologies were combined with spatial metrics and morphological analysis was employed to undertake this study. The result revealed that all the studied cities experienced accelerated growth in the urbanized areas, but the cities with a larger initial urbanized size were associated with lower expansion rates. Differences in extent and direction of expansion in each city were mostly related to physical features, urban master plans, and policies, with an increase in the irregularity and dispersion of urban growth, representing strong evidence of urban sprawl. The spatiotemporal analysis confirmed that the urbanization processes of Addis Ababa and Adama were consistent and Hawassa city diverged from expectations based on diffusion and coalescence theory. In general, large cities with strong economic growth in a country fail to effectively control the scattered nature of urban growth, thus requiring aggressive policy intervention. The approach used in this study permits a deeper exploration of urban development patterns and the identification of priority areas for effective urban planning and management.

(1) Background: Air quality apt to deteriorate in decades in China, people are seeking improvement measures. To assess the willingness to pay (WTP) for improved air quality among manufacturing workers and associated factors influencing their WTP. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in combination with contingent valuation in Nanchang between September and October of 2015. A face-to-face interview was conducted to obtain basic demographic information from manufacturing workers and to understand their WTP for air quality improvement. (3) Results: A total of 600 effective questionnaires were collected in this study and showed that more than half of the respondents (53%) expressed their WTP for improved air quality. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that the main factors associated with manufacturing workers’ WTP were their residence areas, education level, annual household income and travel experience. (4) Conclusions: These findings have provided (a) important information of the concern and desire for air pollution control through their WTP from manufacturing workers, (b) baseline information for the policy-maker and local government for their development of more effective policy in air pollution prevention and control and (c) the need for more study for WTP among different population groups in future.

AbstractIn rural China, reducing low-quality fuel consumption and adopting solar technologies can mitigate pollution problems and improve farmers' living conditions. Before advising farmers to convert traditional houses to solar houses, it is necessary to understand their willingness to do so. Based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study examined nine factors related to farmers' willingness (FW). A survey was conducted in Chongqing with 465 participants. Nine hypotheses were proposed based on literature studies. A binary logistic regression model was constructed to test the data with the SPSS software package. Three of the nine factors had positive and significant impacts on FW, which were quality of life, government commitments and neighbours'/friends' assessments; two factors had negative and significant impacts, which were additional monthly out-of-pocket expenses and switching cost; and the remaining four factors had no significant impacts, which were durability, popularity, timing and local solar market maturity. Based on the findings, suggestions are made to properly introduce solar houses to Chinese farmers and to quickly stimulate market activities.

The integrity of greenhouse gas emissions data is essential to assess progress towards countries’ pledges under the Paris Agreement on climate change. Building credible systems for emissions measurement, reporting and verification is challenging, especially in developing countries. Using a unique dataset from two of China’s pilot emissions trading systems (Beijing and Hubei), we compare firms’ self-reported CO2 emissions with emissions verified by third parties (‘verifiers’). In Beijing, we find that the average discrepancy fell by statistically significant levels (from 17% in 2012 to 4% in 2014 and 2015), while in Hubei it started lower and showed a statistically insignificant decrease (from 6% in 2014 to 5% in 2015). We observe no evidence of deliberate misreporting in these two pilots, and show that improvements in firms’ reporting capacity are associated with discrepancies of decreasing magnitude in Beijing. The results suggest that the administrative and firm capabilities required to support emissions trading systems in developing countries will require substantial time and effort to build. Accurate emissions data are required to monitor progress towards climate goals. Firms’ self-reported emissions show convergence with independently verified emissions in two pilot emissions trading systems in China over several years, suggesting the effectiveness of oversight and third-party audits.

This study examines to what extent foreign private investment (FPI) affects the clean industrial environment and sustainable economic growth through developed countries investment in China. Moreover, this study investigates an association among FPI, CO2 emission, energy consumption, trade openness, and sustainable economic growth. This study uses random effects and generalized least squares (GLS) and panel VAR estimators for data analysis. The results show that China's economy has a great positive impact on the location and choice of investment in domestic markets in emerging countries and developed countries. In addition, investment in emerging and developed economies has increased the contribution of domestic enterprises and environmental sustainability to the national economy. The further results show that foreign private investment and gross domestic investment have positive impact on sustainable economic growth.