Responsibility-sharing and compensation scheme of transboundary water pollution embodied in China's inter-provincial trade: a perspective from economic value capturing.

Transboundary water pollution induced by inter-regional trade is a complex and challenging issue due to the multiple jurisdictions involved. This study combined water pollution discharge inventory, multi-regional input-output analysis, discharge responsibility-sharing, and ecological compensation model to advance the collaborative control of water pollution embodied in China's inter-provincial trade. Over a fifth of China's water pollution discharges in 2017, equivalent to 1376 Kt, were a result of inter-provincial trade, which primarily flowed from wealthier coastal provinces to less developed ones. Moreover, the analysis demonstrates a mismatch between economic gains and environmental costs. In particular, Jiangxi and Guangxi bear the greatest environmental impact (64 and 58 Kt, respectively) while only receiving meager economic returns (131 and 80 billion Yuan). The economic benefit shared responsibility results for the great majority of provinces fell between production- and consumption-based discharges, and this compromise-based allocation of responsibility is more likely to gain acceptance across various regions. Provinces such as Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Beijing necessitate the highest compensation volumes to others, with 31 Kt, 25 Kt, and 20 Kt, respectively, while provinces including Guangxi, Jiangxi, and Ningxia require the largest inflows of compensation, totaling 26 Kt, 23 Kt, and 18 Kt, respectively. The compensation outcomes ensure that less developed regions, bearing a greater pollution burden, receive compensation from more developed regions with lower pollution burdens. The compensation values aligned with compensation volumes, with a few exceptions driven by variations in shadow prices of water pollution. Our study sheds light on the inter-provincial water pollution burdens and benefits and provides a quantitative basis for optimizing the responsibility-sharing and compensation strategies in China, thereby promoting regional cooperation on water pollution control.

Collaborative governance of trade-driven transboundary air pollution in China: A responsibility-based fair compensation mechanism.

Transboundary air pollution poses a significant challenge in China, and collaborative governance presents a promising approach to tackle this problem. However, such approach is rarely implemented due to the influence of inter-regional trade dynamics. To address this issue, a comprehensive, responsibility-based fair compensation mechanism was established in the present study. The aim of the mechanism is to bridge the existing gap through the integrated utilization of air pollutant emission inventories, multi-regional input-output analysis, emission responsibility allocation, and an ecological compensation model. In 2017, approximately 50% of China's air pollutant emissions were embedded in inter-provincial trade, primarily originating from wealthier provinces and directed towards less-developed regions with higher pollution intensity. There exists a significant imbalance between the inter-provincial transfers of air pollution and economic benefits, owing to which Inner Mongolia and Liaoning have suffered from serious environmental inequity brought about by trade. The allocation of responsibility for trade-related emissions between producers and consumers is determined by the economic surplus they gain from trade. Such approach results in an intermediate outcome that falls between production-based and consumption-based emissions for the majority of provinces. The scheme highlights the import-related share of responsibility for economically developed provinces and the export-related share for less-developed, pollution-intensive provinces, which can primarily be attributed due to their differences in value chain specialization. The inter-provincial compensation volumes for trade-related emissions are determined based on the economically equitable emission responsibility sharing scheme. More developed provinces, characterized by industrial structures focused on low-pollution, high-value-added products, primarily function as compensation providers. In contrast, less-developed provinces with higher pollution intensity seek compensation from these more affluent regions. The present findings can offer a quantitative basis for the ecological compensation and collaborative control mechanism of trade-driven transboundary air pollution in China.

International trade shapes global mercury-related health impacts.

Mercury (Hg) is a strong neurotoxin with substantial dangers to human health. Hg undergoes active global cycles, and the emission sources there of can also be geographically relocated through economic trade. Through investigation of a longer chain of the global biogeochemical Hg cycle from economic production to human health, international cooperation on Hg control strategies in Minamata Convention can be facilitated. In the present study, four global models are combined to investigate the effect of international trade on the relocation of Hg emissions, pollution, exposure, and related human health impacts across the world. The results show that 47% of global Hg emissions are related to commodities consumed outside of the countries where the emissions are produced, which has largely influenced the environmental Hg levels and human exposure thereto across the world. Consequently, international trade is found to enable the whole world to avoid 5.7 × 105 points for intelligence quotient (IQ) decline and 1,197 deaths from fatal heart attacks, saving a total of $12.5 billion (2020 USD) in economic loss. Regionally, international trade exacerbates Hg challenges in less developed countries, while resulting in an alleviation in developed countries. The change in economic loss therefore varies from the United States (-$4.0 billion) and Japan (-$2.4 billion) to China (+$2.7 billion). The present results reveal that international trade is a critical factor but might be largely overlooked in global Hg pollution mitigation.

Decline of virtual water inequality in China's inter-provincial trade: An environmental economic trade-off analysis.

The trade-off between economic growth and environmental conservation is a significant factor in national environmental management. Previous studies have revealed that there are substantial water resources embodied in the inter-regional trade of China, but there is a scarcity of studies analyzing the cost-benefit inequality in trade, which should be considered when developing water resource allocation and conservation policies. The aim of the present study was to fill the gap in existing research by constructing a novel virtual water inequality index based on the net transfers of virtual water and value added between trading provinces. The results of the present study reveal that the virtual water trade of China accounts for about a third of the annual water use thereof and tends to flow from interior developing provinces to coastal developed provinces. Over 70% of consumption-based water consumption of richer provinces (Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai) is imported from other regions; however, approximately 60% of the value added triggered by the final consumption of said regions is retained within the region. When trading with rich provinces, several developing provinces with rich water resources, such as Xinjiang and Heilongjiang, not only incur net water outflows but also suffer a negative balance of value added, thereby resulting in the occurrence of virtual water inequality. However, with the coordinated development of China's economy, the problem of virtual water inequality in China's inter-provincial trade has been alleviated to some extent. Advocating water pricing system reform to reflect local water scarcity is suggested, especially in arid regions. Additionally, a virtual water compensation scheme considering cost-benefit inequality in trade may also be a practical solution.

Decline of net SO2 emission intensity in China's thermal power generation: Decomposition and attribution analysis.

Thermal power generation is the main electricity source of China, but also contributes the largest share of air pollutants in the country. Because of China's considerable efforts in pollution control, one measure of the most important source of air pollution net SO2 emission intensity (NSEI) of thermal power generation has dropped significantly since 2006. Understanding the reasons behind the decline could help further explore the solution-space for deeper mitigation targets. This study combines multiplicative LMDI with attribution analysis to decompose the decline in national NSEI into four factors (i.e. SO2 treatment or end-of-pipe approaches; SO2 emission factor of coal and coal intensity, which both account for cleaner production measures; and geographical structure effects) for 30 regions. Our results show that end-of-pipe technologies remained the primary way to control air pollution in China. In addition, cleaner production efforts contributed to SO2 mitigation. Attribution results at the province level show that northern provinces increased their efforts in SO2 treatment and reducing coal intensity, while southern provinces have done more on reducing the SO2 intensity of coal. Provinces were classified into four categories (i.e. leading regions, end-of-pipe dependent regions, process-dependent regions and lagging regions) according to their performance in terms of end-of-pipe treatment and cleaner production, to help them choose targeted policy methods.

Expansion of environmental impact assessment for eco-efficiency evaluation of China's economic sectors: An economic input-output based frontier approach.

Due to the increasing environmental burdens caused by dramatic economic expansion, eco-efficiency indicating how efficient the economic activity is with respect to its environmental impacts has become a topic of considerable interest in China. In this context, Economic Input-output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) are combined to assess the environmental impacts and eco-efficiency of China's 26 economic sectors. The EIO-LCA results indicate that Electricity Production and Supply sector is the largest net exporter in energy usage, CO2 emission and exhaust emission categories, while Construction sector is the largest net importer for five impact categories except for water withdrawal. Moreover, Construction sector is found to be the destination of the largest sector-to-sector environmental impact flows for the five impact categories and make the most contributions to the total environmental impacts. Another key finding is that Agriculture sector is both the largest net exporter and the greatest contributor for water withdrawal category. DEA results indicate that seven sectors are eco-efficient while over 70% of China's economic sectors are inefficient and require significant improvements. The average target improvements range between 23.30% and 35.06% depending on the impact category. Further sensitivity analysis reveals that the average sensitivity ratios vary from 7.7% to 15.7% among the six impact categories, which are found to be negatively correlated with their improvement potentials. Finally, several policy recommendations are made to mitigate environmental impacts of China's economic sectors and improve their eco-efficiency levels.