The impact of the energy-consuming right trading system on corporate environmental performance: Based on empirical evidence from panel data of industrial enterprises listed in pilot regions.

The energy-consuming right trading system (ECRTS) is a significant institutional innovation in China to address the increasingly severe energy crisis and environmental issues. Identifying the policy effects of energy consumption rights on corporate environmental performance (CEP) is conducive to achieving a win-win situation for China's economic growth and carbon neutrality. This study aims to analyze the impact of energy-consuming right trading system on corporate environmental performance and provide empirical evidence and policy implications for the full implementation of future policies. Using data from Chinese listed industrial enterprises from 2012 to 2019 and adopting the difference-in-differences method and mediation analysis, we empirically analyze the policy effects of energy-consuming right trading system. We find that the energy-consuming right trading system significantly promotes the improvement of corporate environmental performance, and the conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests. Further mechanism examinations indicate that the system mainly enhances environmental performance by affecting corporate green technological innovation. Heterogeneity tests suggest that the energy-consuming right trading system has a stronger impact on companies in economically developed regions, non-state-owned enterprises, and those with higher asset flexibility. Our research results can aid in the green transformation of enterprises and provide practical evidence for China to accelerate the comprehensive construction of the energy consumption rights trading market.

Heterogeneous relations among environmental regulation, technological innovation, and environmental pollution.

In this study, interprovincial panel data of China from 2011 to 2020 are selected and empirically examined to determine the effects of three types of environmental regulation tools: command-and-control, market-incentive, and public-participation types. Then, hierarchical regression analysis and instrumental variables are used to analyze and verify the mediating role of technological innovation. Results show no significant relationship between command-and-control regulation and environmental pollution, while market-incentive and public-participation regulations have a significantly negative inhibitory effect on environmental pollution and contribute to pollution reduction. In addition, product and process innovations play partially mediating roles between market-incentive regulation and environmental pollution and between public-participation regulation and environmental pollution, respectively, thus indicating that technological innovation is an effective way to reduce pollutant emissions. Compared with product innovation, process innovation has a better effect on pollution emission reduction but a smaller incentive effect under environmental regulation. This finding indicates that enterprise technology innovation and environmental regulation fail to achieve a suitable match for maximizing environmental benefits. Further analysis shows that the effects of the three types of environmental regulation tools on reducing pollution emissions vary in different periods and show significant changes around 2010. The effects of command-based regulation weaken, while those of the pollution abatement of market-incentive and public-participation regulations increase.

Innovation or introduction? Impacts of the low-carbon city pilot policy on the pathways toward green technology progress.

To examine whether the low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy influences the green technology innovation (GTI) or embodied technology introduction (ETI), two different pathways to green technology progress, in manufacturing enterprises in China, this study employs a staggered difference-in-difference (DID) model to evaluate the effects of the policy. The findings suggest that the LCCP policy has stimulated an increase in the quantity of GTI and ETI among enterprises, but reduced the quality of innovation. Large, high-carbon-intensity, and state-owned enterprises are more likely to engage in GTI, while small, low-carbon-intensity, and non-state-owned enterprises prefer ETI. The policy is effective in alleviating financing constraints and improving environmental concerns. Both GTI and ETI play a crucial role in economic performance, while the latter also promotes environmental and ESG performance. Accordingly, we recommend establishing a policy-compatible evaluation system, strengthening mandatory and incentive measures, and cultivating a green innovation ecosystem, etc., to improve the performance of the LCCP policy.

Digital inclusive finance, green technological innovation, and carbon emissions from a spatial perspective.

Based on the panel data of 276 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2020, this study explores the impact of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on carbon emissions and the intrinsic mechanism of green technological innovation from a spatial perspective by constructing a spatial econometric model, a mediating effect model, and a threshold model. The results show that DIF significantly inhibits carbon emissions, exhibiting a spatial spillover effect. The transmission mechanism from a spatial perspective shows that green technological innovation plays a partial mediating role between DIF and carbon emissions, with the mediating effect accounting for approximately 59.47%. The heterogeneity analysis suggests that the impact of DIF on the reduction of carbon emissions is more pronounced in large and medium-sized cities and eastern regions. Further discussion reveals that the carbon reduction effect of DIF is also influenced by green technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading, showing threshold effects with marginal decreases and gradual increases, respectively.

Impact of digitization on carbon productivity: an empirical analysis of 136 countries.

Enhancing carbon productivity (CP) is key to achieving carbon reduction goals while maintaining economic growth. Digital technology plays a significant role in improving CP. Based on panel data from 136 countries worldwide from 2000 to 2020, this study empirically examines the impact of digitalization on CP and its mechanisms using fixed-effects and mediation models. The conclusions are as follows: (1) Overall, digitalization significantly enhances CP. (2) In terms of the mechanism, digitalization primarily improves CP through technological innovation and mitigating income inequality. (3) In terms of the quantile regression results, as the quantile level of CP increases, the promoting effect of digitalization on CP gradually strengthens. (4) From the perspective of heterogeneity among regions, income levels and human capital levels, digitalization has the greatest promotion effect on carbon productivity in European countries, high-income countries and high human capital countries. This study provides a reference for policymakers worldwide to use digital technology in achieving carbon emission reduction targets.

Technological innovation, militarization, and environmental change: evidence from BRICS economies.

In the complex international society, the economic development and defense construction of BRICS countries have attracted increasing attention. This article incorporates technological innovation, militarization, and environmental change into a unified analytical framework to assess the potential impact of technological progress and defense military expenditure on the environment in BRICS countries. Based on CSD tests, unit root tests, and cointegration tests, this study constructs a CS-ARDL model to examine the long-term and short-term relationships among various variables from 1990 to 2021. The results show that technological innovation, military expenditure, and economic growth can significantly increase ecological footprint in the long run, while in the short term, technological innovation and economic growth significantly increase ecological footprint, and the impact of military expenditure is not significant. It is suggested that BRICS countries should focus on supporting low-carbon technology policies and research and development investment, while also considering the use of cutting-edge technology to improve military intelligence capabilities in order to reduce the negative impact of technological innovation and military activities on the environment.

Exploring the digital psychology of environmental sustainability: the mediating influence of technological innovation in advanced physical education development in China".

The study aims to investigate the precise processes by which the advancement of physical education and technological progress leads to ecological conservation efforts within China's distinctive socio-cultural and economic framework. Acknowledging the pivotal role that economic advancement plays in a nation's environmental sustainability, this research utilizes cross-sectional quantitative data gathered using a five-point Likert scale survey. The sample size included 503 undergraduate students from Zhengzhou, China, and structural equation modeling was utilized to analyze the data. The study investigates how technology progress influences the relationship between compatibility, environmental sustainability, and the relative benefits of physical education. It fills the gap in the literature by illuminating how technical innovation and advanced physical education development contribute to China's pursuit of a sustainable environment. The findings emphasize the critical significance of higher physical education in fostering environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the research indicates that students participating in more rigorous physical education programs tend to possess a more well-rounded and mature mindset. This mindset is essential for healthy and long-lasting mental development, motivating individuals to critically consider environmental sustainability. The study provides valuable theoretical and practical insights that can be applied to enhance environmental sustainability in the country.

Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, fertilizer consumption, and technological innovation: A comprehensive quantile analysis.

This paper investigates the asymmetric inter-linkages and causality between agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, fertilizer consumption, and technological innovation in four main agricultural countries i.e., China, the United States, Japan and Canada, by employing monthly data from 1990 to 2019. Accordingly, Quantile-on-Quantile (QQ) regression and two causality-in-quantile approaches are applied to conduct a comprehensive quantile analysis of the asymmetric relationship for all quantiles of the above distribution. Our results exhibit a positive association between agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, fertilizer consumption, and technological innovation in China, the United States and Canada. Besides, the strength of the positive association depends largely on the development level of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, fertilizer consumption, and technological innovation. However, except for the positive impact between fertilizer consumption and agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, I find a negative nexus between agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and technological innovation in Japan. Compared with the other three sample countries, Japan has done the best in agricultural greenhouse gas emission mitigation. The results also demonstrate that agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, fertilizer consumption, and technological innovation follow a bidirectional quantile-causality relation in all sample countries. Overall, I find that fertilizer consumption does increase agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, and that technological innovation has not played a full role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in most countries. Finally, our findings have significant implications for formulating reasonable emission reduction measures in the agricultural sector.

Analyzing the nexus between environmental sustainability and clean energy for the USA.

Environmental sustainability is a key target to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, achieving these targets needs tools to pave the way for achieving SDGs and COP28 targets. Therefore, the primary objective of the present study is to examine the significance of clean energy, research and development spending, technological innovation, income, and human capital in achieving environmental sustainability in the USA from 1990 to 2022. The study employed time series econometric methods to estimate the empirical results. The study confirmed the long-run cointegrating relationship among CO2 emissions, human capital, income, R&D, technological innovation, and clean energy. The results are statistically significant in the short run except for R&D expenditures. In the long run, the study found that income and human capital contribute to further aggravating the environment via increasing CO2 emissions. However, R&D expenditures, technological innovation, and clean energy help to promote environmental sustainability by limiting carbon emissions. The study recommends investment in technological innovation, clean energy, and increasing R&D expenditures to achieve environmental sustainability in the USA.

Dynamic strategy for low-carbon supply chain considering retailers competition and technological innovation.

This paper discusses how managers adjust their strategies to allocate relevant resources more effectively and maximize economic benefits when major technological changes are predicted for the future. For a supply chain system consisting of a single manufacturer and two competing retailers as the research object. First, random stop model is applied to portray the impact of technological innovation on the decision-making of supply chain members. On this basis, differential game models for supply chain members are constructed based on different cooperation modes, including centralized, decentralized, and retailers alliance. Second, we solve and compare the optimal decision-making, emissions reduction, low-carbon goodwill, and profit levels before and after technological innovation in different modes. Finally, we design a bilateral cost-sharing contract to achieve coordination. Results demonstrate that: (1) Before the success of technological innovation, when a higher probability of success and uplift rate is predicted can incentivize supply chain members' emissions reduction and low-carbon promotion inputs; (2) In the presuccess period of technological innovation, members' independent decision-making (decentralized decision-making) can optimize the retailer's low-carbon promotional inputs under certain conditions. In contrast, the optimality of decentralized decision-making after technological innovation depends only on the influence of competition intensity. (3) The bilateral cost-sharing contract designed in this paper can optimize supply chain-related inputs and performance levels to achieve perfect coordination within the supply chain system, given that specific preconditions are satisfied.

Unlocking the carbon emission efficiency improvement path of technological innovation: a perspective on industrial restructuring and R&D element flows.

Technological innovation is regarded as an important means to improve carbon efficiency. However, there is no consensus on this view. Meanwhile, few studies have considered how technological innovation affects carbon efficiency. To this end, this study investigates the influencing mechanism and effects of technological innovation on carbon emission efficiency from the perspectives of industrial restructuring and R&D element flow. It establishes the influencing and mechanism model and then deeply studies the impact and paths of technological innovation on carbon emission efficiency, using panel data from 30 provinces in 1999-2020. Results show that (1) technological innovation improves carbon emission efficiency. (2) Regional differences in the impact effects of technological innovation are evident, with a greater contribution to carbon emission efficiency in eastern region. (3) Innovation improves carbon efficiency through two paths: advanced industrial structure and industrial structure rationalization. (4) The moderating effect demonstrates that the technological innovation's influence is gradually enhanced with the interregional mobility of R&D personnel and capital. Hence, decision-makers should correctly guide the orderly flow of R&D factors and further improve the carbon emission reduction effect by increasing innovation support and helping optimize the industrial structure.

User Requirements in Developing a Novel Dietary Assessment Tool for Children: Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of childhood obesity and comorbidities is rising alarmingly, and diet is an important modifiable determinant. Numerous dietary interventions in children have been developed to reduce childhood obesity and overweight rates, but their long-term effects are unsatisfactory. Stakeholders call for more personalized approaches, which require detailed dietary intake data. In the case of primary school children, caregivers are key to providing such dietary information. However, as school-aged children are not under the full supervision of one specific caregiver anymore, data are likely to be biased. Recent technological advancements provide opportunities for the role of children themselves, which would serve the overall quality of the obtained dietary data. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to conduct a child-centered exploratory sequential mixed methods study to identify user requirements for a dietary assessment tool for children aged 5 to 6 years. METHODS: Formative, nonsystematic narrative literature research was undertaken to delineate initial user requirements and inform prototype ideation in an expert panel workshop (n=11). This yielded 3 prototype dietary assessment tools: FoodBear (tangible piggy bank), myBear (smartphone or tablet app), and FoodCam (physical camera). All 3 prototypes were tested for usability by means of a usability task (video analyses) and user experience (This or That method) among 14 Dutch children aged 5 to 6 years (n=8, 57% boys and n=6, 43% girls). RESULTS: Most children were able to complete FoodBear's (11/14, 79%), myBear's (10/14, 71%), and FoodCam's (9/14, 64%) usability tasks, but all children required assistance (14/14, 100%) and most of the children encountered usability problems (13/14, 93%). Usability issues were related to food group categorization and recognition, frustrations owing to unsatisfactory functioning of (parts) of the prototypes, recall of food products, and the distinction between eating moments. No short-term differences in product preference between the 3 prototypes were observed, but autonomy, challenge, gaming elements, being tablet based, appearance, social elements, and time frame were identified as determinants of liking the product. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that children can play a complementary role in dietary data collection to enhance the data collected by their parents. Incorporation of a training program, auditory or visual prompts, reminders and feedback, a user-friendly and intuitive interaction design, child-friendly food groups or icons, and room for children's autonomy were identified as requirements for the future development of a novel and usable dietary assessment tool for children aged 5 to 6 years. Our findings can serve as valuable guidance for ongoing innovations in the field of children's dietary assessment and the provision of personalized dietary support.

A roadmap to SDGs-emergence of technological innovation and infrastructure development for social progress and mobility.

The goal of this study was to conduct a thorough investigation on understanding how infrastructure growth and technological innovation affect social mobility and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study aimed to illuminate the underlying mechanisms by exploring the mediating function of psychological empowerment and the moderating impact of community satisfaction. The study carefully chose a sizeable sample of 370 connected to the mega project CPEC. Data collection was carried out using a questionnaire-based approach. Notably, the study confirmed the large and favorable influence of technical innovation and infrastructural development on both the SDGs-13 (climate change) and social mobility. Furthermore, this study provided light on the critical function of environmental impacts identifying it as an important mediating mechanism that magnifies the effects of innovation and infrastructure on long-term development outcomes. It gives decision-makers in government, business, international organizations, and local communities useful information by offering empirical data and insights. This study offers a novel perspective and explores the relationship between infrastructure growth, technological innovation, social mobility, and SDGs-13-climate change. It uncovers the pivotal roles of psychological empowerment and community satisfaction, offering fresh insights into global development strategies influencing SDGs.

The effect of green fiscal policy on green technological innovation: evidence from energy saving and emission reduction fiscal policy.

The "National Comprehensive demonstration of Energy Saving and Emission Reduction Fiscal Policy" (ESER policy) is a green fiscal policy to facilitate China's green sustainable development. Green sustainable development is facilitated by green technological innovation. Thus, evaluating the influence of the ESER policy on green technological innovation is essential. This study employs the difference-in-differences model to assess the ESER policy effects. The findings suggest that the ESER policy facilitates green technological innovation, but the policy effect has inhibited green technology innovation in neighboring cities. Mechanism analysis indicates that this policy effect is realized through increasing scientific research investment intensity and promoting industrial structure upgrading. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this policy is effective in facilitating green technological innovation when performed in eastern, non-old industrial base, non-resource-based, and high green innovation level cities. In addition, the ESER policy implemented in conjunction with innovation policy can be more effective in promoting green technological innovation. These results provide valuable insights for improving the ESER policy and offer helpful guidelines for green fiscal policymaking in other countries.

Venture capital, innovation channels, and regional resource dependence: Evidence from China.

Although the literature predominantly emphasises the crucial role of technological innovation in alleviating resource dependence, limited attention has been given to the pivotal role of capital in driving such innovation. As a critical factor in technological advancements and productivity enhancement, venture capital has a substantial function in the utilisation of resources and the development of sustainable energy sources. Drawing upon panel data from 30 provinces in China, this study explores how venture capital and resource dependence are interrelated. Our research reveals that venture capital effectively mitigates regional resource dependence by facilitating increased investment in innovation channels. However, the weakening of regional human resources mitigates venture capital's diminishing impacts on resource dependence. These findings provide valuable insights for countries seeking to reduce their dependence on natural resources and achieve long-term economic sustainability.

Do industrial solid waste recycling and technological innovation promote low-carbon development in China? New insights from NARDL approach.

Recycling waste is crucial for consolidating resources and promoting sustainable development, serving a pivotal role in achieving the objectives of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Nonetheless, most existing research has primarily focused on municipal solid waste (MSW) recycling, often neglecting the significant volume of industrial solid waste (ISW). This study aims to explore the asymmetric effects of industrial solid waste recycling and technological innovation on the low-carbon development. To this end, this study selects GDP and carbon intensity as indicators representing economic growth and environmental quality. A variable that can enhance GDP growth while reducing carbon intensity signifies its contribution to low-carbon development. By collecting data from China over the period of 1985-2020, non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) models of GDP and carbon intensity are established to discover whether the low-carbon development can be achieved by enacting ISW recycling and technological innovation. The results show the asymmetric shocks of ISW recycling and technological innovation on economic growth and environmental quality. In the long run, both ISW recycling and technological innovation promote low-carbon development. In the short run, technological innovation proved to be detrimental to economic growth and environmental quality. This paper also highlights the inhibitory effect of the labor force on economic growth. The "pollution haven hypothesis" is supported by the finding that foreign direct investment reduces carbon intensity. Additionally, the Granger test revealed the direction of the variables' causality. Based on empirical findings, policymakers can protect the environment and create economic value simultaneously through waste recycling and technological innovation, thereby realizing low-carbon development.

Scoping review on the link between economic growth, decent work, and early childhood caries.

BACKGROUND: Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is a prevalent chronic non-communicable disease that affects millions of young children globally, with profound implications for their well-being and oral health. This paper explores the associations between ECC and the targets of the Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8). METHODS: The scoping review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. In July 2023, a search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus using tailored search terms related to economic growth, decent work sustained economic growth, higher levels of productivity and technological innovation, entrepreneurship, job creation, and efforts to eradicate forced labor, slavery, and human trafficking and ECC all of which are the targets of the SDG8. Only English language publications, and publications that were analytical in design were included. Studies that solely examined ECC prevalence without reference to SDG8 goals were excluded. RESULTS: The initial search yielded 761 articles. After removing duplicates and ineligible manuscripts, 84 were screened. However, none of the identified studies provided data on the association between decent work, economic growth-related factors, and ECC. CONCLUSIONS: This scoping review found no English publication on the associations between SDG8 and ECC despite the plausibility for this link. This data gap can hinder policymaking and resource allocation for oral health programs. Further research should explore the complex relationship between economic growth, decent work and ECC to provide additional evidence for better policy formulation and ECC control globally.

Towards smart sustainable cities: Does technological innovation mitigate G7 CO2 emissions? Fresh evidence from CS-ARDL.

Sustainable cities are considered paradigmatic to achieve COP27 targets, but scant literature has analyzed the association with CO2 emission (CE) mitigation policies, especially for the G7 economies. This study traces the impacts of urbanization, innovation, income, and energy consumption on CE for the G7 countries from 1995 to 2019. The time period is important due to the rapid increase in urbanization, globalization, and, at the same time, technology diffusion. The study is focused on novel and relevant panel data econometric methods that tackle cross-section dependence, non-normality of data, and heterogeneity in slope coefficients. The empirical outcome first confirms the long-run cointegrating relationship among the variables in the presence of structural breaks by employing the advanced panel cointegration test. Technologies related to environmental management and energy consumption are positively linked with CE. However, the role of income per capita is found to be inverse with CE. In contrast, the effect of urbanization in different models is mixed for CE. Innovation and its interaction with urbanization are crucial for limiting CE and promoting sustainable cities in G7 economies. This indicates that urbanization with environment-friendly innovation can help G7 countries foster sustainable cities and achieve COP27 targets in general, specifically the Sustainable Development Goal of sustainable cities. The results were tested for the multiplicative effect of different variables with urbanization and innovation. Regarding policy insights, the study recommends focusing on smart and sustainable cities with environment-related innovations and transitioning towards cleaner energy from conventional energy consumption.

The causal effect and autonomous buffering mechanisms of large-scale internal migration on carbon emissions: evidence from China.

Large-scale internal migration and unprecedented urbanization have dramatically promoted economic growth in China, resulting in a rapid surge in carbon emissions in urban areas. However, few studies have investigated the causal effect of mass internal migration on carbon emissions or examined the effects of autonomous mitigation mechanisms, such as population agglomeration and technological innovation. This study identifies the causal effect of internal migration on prefectural-level cities' carbon emissions in China by employing an instrumental variable and further investigates the buffering effect of population agglomeration and technological innovation using mediating effect models. The results show that mass internal migration has a substantial impact on increasing carbon emissions in prefectural-level cities. If the proportion of inflowed migrants rises by 1% point, prefectural-level cities' carbon emissions per capita will increase by 1.9%. A series of robustness tests confirms the result. Population migration also promotes population agglomeration and technological innovation in urban areas. Two autonomous mechanisms buffer 11.9% and 5.4% of prefectural-level cities' incremental carbon emissions per capita caused by population migration, respectively. This study highlights the crucial role of population agglomeration and technological innovation in mitigating carbon emissions in cities experiencing significant migrant inflows and provides several implications for formulating relevant policies.

Revisiting the nexus between digital trade, green technological innovation, and environmental sustainability in BRICS economies.

After the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019, many countries started progressing towards race to zero targets. The intricate framework of digitalization and green technologies has the potential to persuade governments to implement policies that promote a zero-carbon economy, i.e., green economy. Hence, this study determines the effect of digital trade (DGT) and green technological innovation (GTI) on environmental sustainability (ENS) by considering the role of renewable energy consumption (REC), globalization (GLOB), and economic growth (EG). The study measured ENS by taking into account three proxy variables, i.e., ecological footprint (EF), carbon dioxide emission (CO2e), and methane emissions (CH4e). POLS and PMG-ARDL techniques are applied to the panel data of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) from 2000 to 2019. Panel Quantile Regression (PQR) along with AMG and CCEMG estimators is applied hereafter for checking the robustness of the empirical results. The long-run empirical outcomes show the positive association of DGT, GTI, REC, and GLOB with ENS. Lastly, this study inscribed the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and highlights policy implications and governmental measures to ensure environmental sustainability in BRICS economies.