Can the new energy vehicles (NEVs) and power battery industry help China to meet the carbon neutrality goal before 2060?

China is working to boost the manufacture, market share, sales, and use of NEVs to replace fuel vehicles in transportation sector to get carbon reduction target by 2060. In this research, using Simapro life cycle assessment software and Eco-invent database, the market share, carbon footprint, and life cycle analysis of fuel vehicles, NEVs, and batteries were calculated from the last five years to next 25 years, with a focus on the sustainable development. Results indicate globally, China had 293.98 m vehicles and 45.22% worldwide highest market share, followed by Germany with 224.97 m and 42.22% shares. Annually China's NEVs production rate is 50%, and sales account for 35%, while the carbon footprint will account for 5.2 E+07 to 4.89 E+07 kgCO2e by 2021-2035. The power battery production 219.7 GWh reaches 150%-163.4%, whereas carbon footprint values in production and use stage of 1 kWh of LFP 44.0 kgCO2eq, NCM-146.8 kgCO2eq, and NCA-370 kgCO2eq. The single carbon footprint of LFP is smallest at about 5.52 E+09, while NCM is highest at 1.84 E+10. Thus, using NEVs, and LFP batteries will reduce carbon emissions by 56.33%-103.14% and 56.33% or 0.64 Gt to 0.006 Gt by 2060. LCA analysis of NEVs and batteries at manufacturing and using stages quantified the environmental impact ranked from highest to lowest as ADP > AP > GWP > EP > POCP > ODP. ADP(e) and ADP(f) at manufacturing stage account for 14.7%, while other components account for 83.3% during the use stage. Conclusive findings are higher sales and use of NEVs, LFP, and reduction in coal-fired power generation from 70.92% to 50%, and increase in renewable energy sources in electricity generation expectedly will reduce carbon footprint by 31% and environmental impact on acid rain, ozone depletion, and photochemical smog. Finally, to achieve carbon neutrality in China, the NEVs industry must be supported by incentive policies, financial aid, technological improvements, and research and development. This would improve NEV's supply, demand, and environmental impact.

Health policies and guidelines to promote, protect and support early childhood development: A narrative review.

This comprehensive review examines the pivotal role of health policies and guidelines in promoting, protecting, and supporting early childhood development (ECD). Recognizing the multifaceted nature of ECD, the study explores key elements commonly found in policies that span health, education, social services, and community support. The focus is on creating an integrated approach that ensures the optimal well-being and growth of children during their formative years. The review highlights the significance of maternal and child health care, emphasizing contact toward prenatal and postnatal care for pregnant women and newborns. Nutritional policies center around supporting breastfeeding and ensuring access to nutritious food, laying the foundation for a healthy start in life. Early childhood education programs and parental education initiatives are crucial components, emphasizing cognitive, social, and emotional development from the earliest stages. The review underscores the importance of a holistic perspective, urging the integration of services across sectors to provide a comprehensive framework for ECD. Research-based policies, continuous monitoring, and evaluation mechanisms ensure evidence-driven decision-making and ongoing refinement of strategies. Additionally, the role of legislation and advocacy is highlighted in protecting the rights and well-being of children and advocating for ECD at various levels. In the end, this review highlights the importance of ECD guidelines and health policies as investments that not only help individual children but also enhance societal productivity and general well-being. By prioritizing the early years, policymakers can lay a strong foundation for future health, learning, and success.

The Brazilian Pharmaceutical Industry: Actors, Institutions, and Policies.

This paper aims to characterize the main actors in the Brazilian pharmaceutical industry - national companies, foreign companies and public laboratories - and analyze how they were affected and how they reacted to changes over the last 30 years in the institutional framework. The results show that national companies have been gaining prominence in the Brazilian pharmaceutical market with their internationalization movement and their strengthening of innovation strategies.

Research on wind power industrial policies' functional mechanism to the quality of enterprise innovation.

The transmission effect of industrial policies on the quality of innovation of micro-enterprises is a central concern that attracts current academics and policy makers. Using the 2004-2019 data of A-shares of listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as the policies issued by Chinese ministries and departments at the ministry level and above, this paper empirically investigates the impact and mechanism of industrial policies on the innovation quality of wind power companies. The research results demonstrate that policies all play a significant role in promoting the quality of enterprise innovation of wind power. The intermediary role of credit financing of enterprises between different types of industrial guidelines and the quality of corporate innovation is different. Executive equity incentives positively moderate the relationship between different types of industrial policies and corporate credit financing and effectively weaken the adverse effects of regulatory policies, and it can also significantly enhance the role of policies in promoting the quality of corporate innovation. Finally, this paper gives targeted policy recommendations for the development of new energy industry innovation in China and similar countries and regions from the perspective of government and enterprise.

A review of the impact of hydropower reservoirs on global climate change.

Three types of greenhouse gases (GHGs), namely carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emitted from reservoirs have an important but often ignored impact on the climate change. Based on the literature, this paper presents a comprehensive assessment of the long-term impact of GHGs generated by hydropower reservoirs, the systems for monitoring and assessing reservoir GHGs, the mechanism for their generation and key factors involved. Using limnology theory as a basis, the biogeochemical cycle of carbon in the environment is understood to be the main mechanism for generating reservoir based GHG emissions. A summary of relevant research in South American tropical rain forests and the Canada's temperate zone, also shows the extent of current systematic analysis of GHG emission research. Proposals are made for more comprehensive data collection from a wider variety of sources and the key problems identified that need to be solved to provide a theoretical basis for future development policies and practice.

China's dusty lung crisis: Rural-urban health inequity as social and spatial injustice.

This paper examines rural-urban inequities in dusty lung (pneumoconiosis) deaths in China from 2002 to 2016 and possible causes for such inequities in the framework of social and spatial justice. The research reveals alarming results that have not been reported before. Dusty lung death rates for rural men increased twice as fast as those among urban men. The rural rates were particularly higher among middle-aged men, but lower in older age groups, as compared to urban rates. There were dramatic increases in death rates from 2011 to 2016 particularly among rural men aged 40-49 years old, who were many times more likely to die from dusty lung than urban men of a similar age. Chinese rural male victims also die at a younger age, compared to men in any of the seven countries or regions included in the study. For example, rural Chinese men aged 35-59 years old were many times more likely to die from dusty lung than their American, German, Polish, and Spanish counterparts. A possible explanation for the high death rates among middle-aged rural Chinese men is the tendency for rural migrant workers to be employed in unhealthy and unsafe working conditions in decent decades. Other explanations for the severe spatial injustice include the Hukou (household registration) system and the development policies that prioritize economic growth and urban development over occupational health and safety. The paper demonstrates the usefulness and weakness of the social and spatial justice concepts in understanding health inequity. Therefore, it proposes new definitions and models of social justice and spatial justice that combine the competing distribution and capabilities approaches and highlight interactions among multiple attributes.

A Comparative Study on Different Pharmaceutical Industries and Proposing a Model for the Context of Iran.

Medication is known as the main and the most effective factor in improving public health. On the other hand, having a strong and effective pharmaceutical industry will, to a very large extent, guarantee people's health. Therefore, this study was prospected to review the different pharmaceutical industries around the world and propose a model for the context of Iran. This is a qualitative as well as a comparative study which was carried out in 2015. At the first stage, using the World Bank website, countries were divided into four groups of low-income, lower-middle-income, upper-middle-income, and high-income economies. Then, four countries of Afghanistan, India, Brazil, and Canada were chosen from these four groups, respectively. Secondly, data gathered from these countries were given to two 12-member expert panels. Finally, using the articles and the results of expert panel groups, useful and effective policies were extracted for the growth and development of Iran's pharmaceutical industry. Findings of the study indicated that the following seven items are the essential policies for the context of Iran: establishment of high academic centers as well as research institutes, using weak patent law, supporting research and development centers at universities and pharmaceutical companies, backing national pharmaceutical companies up, implementing generic rules, gradual economic liberalization, and membership in world trade organization. Since, pharmaceutical industry is an effective and inseparable part of every health system, proper and evidence-based policies should be taken into account in order to develop this industry and, ultimately, meet the public needs.

Understanding patterns of land-cover change in the Brazilian Cerrado from 2000 to 2015.

Clearing tropical vegetation impacts biodiversity, the provision of ecosystem services, and thus ultimately human welfare. We quantified changes in land cover from 2000 to 2015 across the Cerrado biome of northern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. We assessed the potential biophysical and socio-economic drivers of the loss of Cerrado, natural regeneration and net cover change at the municipality level. Further, we evaluated correlations between these land change variables and indicators of human welfare. We detected extensive land-cover changes in the study area, with the conversion of 23 446 km(2) and the natural regeneration of 13 926 km(2), resulting in a net loss of 9520 km(2) The annual net loss (-1.2% per year) of the cover of Cerrado is higher than that reported for the whole biome in similar periods. We argue that environmental and economic variables interact to underpin rates of conversion of Cerrado, most severely affecting more humid Cerrado lowlands. While rates of Cerrado regeneration are important for conservation strategies of the remaining biome, their integrity must be investigated given the likelihood of encroachment. Given the high frequency of land abandonment in tropical regions, secondary vegetation is fundamental to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem services. Finally, the impacts of Cerrado conversion on human welfare likely vary from local to regional scales, making it difficult to elaborate land-use policies based solely on socio-economic indicators.This article is part of the themed issue 'Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation'.

Saúde e desenvolvimento no Brasil: avanços e desafios / Health and development in Brazil: progress and challenges

A sustentabilidade estrutural do sistema de saúde brasileiro remete ao padrão de desenvolvimento do País em função de como este se expressa e reproduz na saúde de sua população. Isso decorre não somente de sua dimensão social como também da econômica, uma vez que responde por parcela significativa do produto interno bruto e da criação de empregos, e exerce relevante impacto na geração de inovação e competitividade nacional. O governo federal tem institucionalizado o papel da saúde na agenda de desenvolvimento nacional devido a seu caráter estratégico. A despeito disso, a fragilidade de sua base produtiva continua configurando importante vulnerabilidade para o Sistema Nacional de Saúde e para uma inserção competitiva em ambiente globalizado, sinalizando que a efetivação virtuosa da relação entre saúde e desenvolvimento envolve uma ruptura de paradigmas cognitivos e políticos que separam, de forma estanque, a ordem econômica da social.

The structural sustainability of the Brazilian health system refers to the country's pattern of development according to how this pattern is expressed and reproduced in the Brazilian population. This derives not only from its social dimension, but also from the economic one, as it accounts for a significant part of the gross domestic product and of job creation, and produces a great impact on the generation of innovation and national competitiveness. The federal government has institutionalized the role of health in the national development agenda due to its strategic aspect. Despite this, the fragility of its productive base continues to be a major vulnerability for the National Health System and for Brazil's competitiveness in a global environment. This signals that the virtuous establishment of the relation between health and development involves the rupture of cognitive and political paradigms that separate, in an impermeable way, the economic from the social order.

O complexo econômico-industrial da saúde e a dimensão social e econômica do desenvolvimento / The economic-industrial health care complex and the social and economic dimension of development

O papel estratégico da saúde na agenda de desenvolvimento nacional tem sido crescentemente reconhecido e institucionalizado. Além de sua importância como elemento estruturante do Estado de Bem-Estar Social, a saúde é protagonista na geração de inovação - elemento essencial para a competitividade na sociedade do conhecimento. Contudo, a base produtiva da saúde ainda é frágil, o que prejudica tanto a prestação universal de serviços em saúde quanto uma inserção competitiva nacional em ambiente globalizado. Essa situação sugere a necessidade de uma análise mais sistemática das complexas relações entre os interesses produtivos, tecnológicos e sociais no âmbito da saúde. Consequentemente, é necessário aprofundar o conhecimento sobre o Complexo Econômico-Industrial da Saúde devido ao seu potencial de contribuir para um modelo de desenvolvimento socialmente inclusivo. Isso significa reverter a hierarquia entre os interesses econômicos e os sociais no campo sanitário, e assim minimizar a vulnerabilidade da política de saúde brasileira.

The strategic role of health care in the national development agenda has been increasingly recognized and institutionalized. In addition to its importance as a structuring element of the Social Welfare State, health care plays a leading role in the generation of innovation - an essential element for competitiveness in knowledge society. However, health care's productive basis is still fragile, and this negatively affects both the universal provision of health care services and Brazil's competitive inclusion in the globalized environment. This situation suggests the need of a more systematic analysis of the complex relationships among productive, technological and social interests in the scope of health care. Consequently, it is necessary to produce further knowledge about the Economic-Industrial Health Care Complex due to its potential for contributing to a socially inclusive development model. This means reversing the hierarchy between economic and social interests in the sanitary field, thus minimizing the vulnerability of the Brazilian health care policy.

Inovação na indústria química e biotecnológica em saúde: em busca de uma agenda virtuosa / Innovation in pharmaceutical and health biotechnology industries: challenges for a virtuous agenda / Innovación en la industria química y biotecnológica en salud: en busca de una agenda virtuosa

As indústrias de base química e biotecnológica compõem um dos subsistemas produtivos do Complexo Produtivo da Saúde, que se destaca tanto pela sua relevância econômica como pela sua importância no domínio de novas tecnologias em áreas estratégicas. A consolidação do segmento de produção de medicamentos genéricos na última década proporcionou um aumento significativo da participação de empresas nacionais no mercado farmacêutico e representou um importante ponto de inflexão na trajetória de crescimento do setor. Entretanto, ainda há importantes gargalos estruturais tanto na base produtiva como em termos de seu dinamismo inovativo. Tais gargalos revelam a elevada vulnerabilidade do Sistema Nacional de Saúde e apontam para a importância da criação e implementação de políticas públicas que articulem o desenvolvimento da base produtiva e da inovação na indústria farmacêutica com o atendimento das demandas sociais relativas à saúde no País.

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries comprise a major production subsystem of the health industrial complex in Brazil. It stands out for both its economic importance and its prominent role in developing new technologies in strategic areas. Strengthening the local production of generic drugs in the last decade has significantly increased the number of Brazilian companies in the local pharmaceutical market and has been an important turning point for this industry's growth. However, there remain major structural bottlenecks both in terms of production and continuous innovation. These bottlenecks reveal the high vulnerability of the Brazilian National Health System and point to the need of public policies that promote strengthening the production base and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry and that at the same time meet health-related social demands in health in Brazil.

Las industrias basadas en química y biotecnología componen uno de los subsistemas productivos del Complejo Productivo de la Salud Brasileña que se destaca tanto por su relevancia económica, como por su importancia en el dominio de nuevas tecnologías en áreas estratégicas. La consolidación del segmento producción de medicamentos genéricos en la última década proporcionó un aumento significativo de participación de empresas nacionales en el mercado farmacéutico y representó un importante punto de inflexión en la trayectoria de crecimiento del sector. Sin embargo, hay aún importantes golletes estructurales tanto en la base productiva como en términos del dinamismo innovador. Tales fallas revelan la elevada vulnerabilidad del Sistema Nacional de Salud en Brasil y apuntan a la importancia de la creación e implementación de políticas públicas que articulen el desarrollo de la base productiva y de la innovación en la industria farmacéutica con la atención de las demandas sociales relativas a la salud en Brasil.

Desafios e oportunidades da era do conhecimento / x

Este artigo discute a necessidade de identificar as principais características da era do conhecimento, assim como de monitorar e orientar as conseqüências das transformações associadas ao novo padrão de acumulação em difusão. Aponta-se para a urgência de desenhar novas políticas e instrumentos que minimizem os desafios e potencializem as oportunidades associadas à inserção de países como o Brasil na era do conhecimento.

This article addresses the need to identify the main characteristics of the information age, as well as to monitor and guide the new standards for accumulating and disseminating knowledge. It further underscores the urgency of developing new policy tools to manage the challenges and enhance the opportunities associated with Brazil's entrance into the information age.