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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 13511

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Prof. Dr. Hui Hu

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Guest Editor

Economic Development Research Centre, School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Interests: energy and resource economics; business strategy and environment; environmental economics and management; sustainable development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Xunpeng Shi

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Guest Editor

Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney 2007, Australia
Interests: energy transition (economics and policy); climate change economics and policy; environmental policy; the chinese economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The contradiction between the environment and development is becoming more significant. Facing increasing pressure from resource shortages, pollution, declining biodiversity, and the greenhouse effect, major countries are trying to promote green economic transformation and improve resource efficiency in order to realize sustainable economic growth. Therefore, the research on the green economy, resource efficiency, and sustainable development, and the related areas is critical.

The green economy is crucial in dealing with climate change and pollution, and sustainable development is an inevitable requirement to balance the immediate interests and long-term interests at the constraints of our resources. How to achieve green and sustainable development is an urgent problem that needs to be solved. Fortunately, many measures have achieved a marked effect, such as establishing a carbon emission trading market, building a green financial system, and enhancing international cooperation, but not all cases work. Therefore, we need to focus on the main measures, including institutional innovation and technological innovation taken by various countries to realize the green economy and analyze their effects and mechanisms.

This Special Issue aims to promote and publish novel findings in the subject area of the green economy, resource efficiency, and sustainable development. We welcome a wide variety of original and high-quality research, including the following and related topics:

Carbon neutralization and peak carbon emissions;
The dilemma of government pollution control;
Green total factor productivity;
Low carbon city, low carbon industry, low carbon agriculture;
Green economy and finance;
Emission trading market;
Sustainable consumption and production;
The game relationship between government and enterprises;
Does environmental governance realize Porter hypothesis;
Environmental governance in the COVID-19 era.

Dr. Hui Hu
Prof. Dr. Xunpeng Shi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

sustainable consumption and production
resource efficiency
low carbon economy
sustainable economic growth
green economy and finance

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 447 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Green Finance Affects Green Total Factor Productivity—Evidence from China

by Min Zhang, Chengrong Li, Jinshan Zhang and Hongwei Chen

Sustainability 2024, 16(1), 270; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16010270 - 27 Dec 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1037

Abstract

Green finance is currently a key driver of China’s economic green transformation, but its impact on green total factor productivity (GTFP) mechanisms still needs further examination. Based on clarifying the theoretical mechanism of the impact of green finance on GTFP, this study uses the SBM model, which includes unexpected output, to calculate the GTFP of 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2020. It further breaks down GTFP into green technical efficiency change (EC) and green technical change (TC) and explores in detail the internal mechanism of the impact of green finance on GTFP, as well as its channels of action from the perspectives of technology transaction activity and financial development. The study finds that green finance can significantly improve GTFP, and its impact mechanism is mainly achieved through the promotion of green technical change. Stimulating the activity of the technology transaction market and improving the level of financial development are powerful channels for green finance to improve GTFP. The study also shows that the impact of green finance is relatively robust when dividing the 30 provinces of China into coastal, inland, eastern, central, and western regions. Due to the lack of financial development and abundant natural resources, the impact of green finance is not significant in the western region. These conclusions not only provide new research perspectives and supplementary empirical evidence for understanding the impact of green finance on GTFP, but also provide useful references for further improving relevant policies and promoting China’s economic development and transformation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Development)

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15 pages, 1440 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Artificial Intelligence and Street Space Optimization in Green Cities: New Evidence from China

by Yuwei Liu, Shan Qin, Jiamin Li and Ting Jin

Sustainability 2023, 15(23), 16367; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316367 - 28 Nov 2023

Viewed by 910

Abstract

In the context of the green economy and sustainable urban development, the rapid expansion of urban construction has given rise to pressing public health concerns, notably environmental pollution and the increased prevalence of chronic illnesses linked to swift urbanization. These urban health issues are escalating, prompting significant attention to the concept of creating “healthy cities”. Meanwhile, the planning and design of urban street space have a far-reaching impact on urban residents’ quality of life and health. Urban planners are facing challenges and need to follow the principle of a green economy while meeting the needs of residents for public activities and adapting to motor vehicle traffic. This study explores the optimization of urban street space to promote the harmonious coexistence between people and cars. This study actively explores the relationship between health, urban environment, and social background, focusing on promoting the harmonious coexistence between people and vehicles, especially the optimization goal of sharing urban streets. The study’s main goal is to design a road that can meet the needs of citizens’ public activities and accommodate motor vehicles, which conforms to the principle of a green economy. To achieve this, geographic information system (GIS) technology and a genetic algorithm (GA) are employed to optimize shared urban street spaces. Among them, GIS tools are used for spatial simulation to evaluate the effect of different shared street space configurations. The urban shared street space is gradually optimized through GA’s selection, crossover, and mutation operations. Simulation experiments are conducted to determine the relationship between street space utilization and the elements of a healthy city, ultimately striving to identify the optimal design parameters for shared street spaces. The research results reveal that the urban street space is optimized from the three aspects of shared allocation of facilities resources, replacement of land use functions, and mixed layout of facilities, and the utilization rate of urban streets is finally ensured to reach 53.43%, fully assuming the essential functions of urban streets. This innovative approach bridges the gap between urban development and public health, offering valuable insights for sustainable urban space planning and enhanced living environments within the framework of the green economy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Development)

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21 pages, 1655 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Measurement of CO₂ Emissions Efficiency and Analysis of Influencing Factors of the Logistics Industry in Nine Coastal Provinces of China

by Hanxin Wang, Weiqian Liu and Yi Liang

Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14423; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914423 - 01 Oct 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 837

Abstract

The surge in CO₂ emissions affects global climate change and the development of society. The logistics industry, being a swiftly advancing industry, demonstrates an escalating trend in CO₂ emissions. Therefore, this paper selects the more developed coastal provinces (districts) in China’s logistics industry and takes 2011–2020 as the research period. Using the Super-SBM model and the Malmquist index model, the article analyzes the changes in the carbon emission efficiency of the logistics industry from the static and dynamic perspectives and then explores the factors affecting it using the panel model and the mediating effect model. Findings from research indicate that: (1) The CO₂ emission efficiency of the logistics industry is generally moderate when viewed from a static perspective. (2) Taking a dynamic viewpoint, there is a slight declining trend in the overall CO₂ emission efficiency. (3) As environmental regulations become more stringent, the CO₂ emission efficiency follows the “U”-shaped pattern, initially declining and then rising. Environmental regulations can influence CO₂ emission efficiency by affecting technological innovation. Additionally, energy efficiency plays a positive role in promoting CO₂ emission efficiency. Recommendations: Implement differentiated environmental regulations tailored to local conditions. Emphasize technological innovations. Enhance the energy efficiency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Development)

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22 pages, 544 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Carbon-Reduction, Green Finance, and High-Quality Economic Development: A Case of China

by Shaolong Zeng, Qinyi Fu, Fazli Haleem, Yang Shen and Jiedong Zhang

Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13999; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813999 - 21 Sep 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1467

Abstract

Development that is eco-friendly, coordinated, sustainable, and of the highest caliber is crucial to China’s modernization. Based on the Cobb–Douglas production function and environmental Kuznets curve analysis, this paper investigates the link between green finance and the reduction of carbon emissions and high-quality economic development, then puts forward the hypothesis that green finance promotes high-quality economic development, and carbon emission reduction effect is its important transmission mechanism. This paper applies the bidirectional fixed effect model to a panel dataset of 30 Chinese provinces, cities, and autonomous regions from 2008 to 2019 to conduct an empirical test. The empirical results show that: (1) Green finance has a significant role in promoting high-quality economic development, which has passed the robustness test and has regional heterogeneity. (2) The growth of green financing reduces carbon emissions, which encourages high-quality development. (3) A positive spatial spillover effect results from the promotion of green finance to high-quality economic development. Given the aforementioned findings, this paper makes policy recommendations regarding how green financing, carbon emission reduction, and high-quality economic development might work together to support green development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Development)

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13 pages, 470 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Green and Environmental Marketing Strategies and Ethical Consumption: Evidence from the Tourism Sector

by Abdelmohsen A. Nassani, Zahid Yousaf, Adriana Grigorescu and Alexandra Popa

Sustainability 2023, 15(16), 12199; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151612199 - 09 Aug 2023

Viewed by 1903

Abstract

Sustainable business in the hospitality sector should be designed and restructured to offer services meant to satisfy the customers aware of the ethical behavior toward environment. Green environmental marketing strategies (GES) are based on the desire of the customers to access hospitality services with zero or a less negative impact with the adaptation of greening activities. Therefore, this research aims to explore the direct effects of green environmental strategies on ethical consumption and the indirect influence of green marketing and its mediating effect between green environmental strategies and ethical consumption links. Additionally, this research also reveals that psychological aspects play the moderating role in the relationship between GES and ethical consumption. The data were collected from a sample of 545 respondents with the support of Saudi tourism companies, and a structural equation model was used to process them. The findings confirm the positive relationship between green environmental strategy and ethical consumption. The outcomes also corroborate that green marketing is interplaying between green environmental strategy and ethical consumption. In addition, this study validates that psychological aspects strengthen the link between GES and ethical consumption. This study adds to the knowledge in the literature through emphasizing the crucial role of psychological factors in improving green environmental strategies and developing ethical consumption habits among members to increase ethical consumption among tourism companies. The findings support companies from the hospitality sector implementing green sustainable services, to stimulate ethical consumption and to use their competitive advantage in green marketing strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Development)

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28 pages, 1224 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Low-Carbon City Building and Green Development: New Evidence from Quasi Natural Experiments from 277 Cities in China

by Wanzhe Chen, Jiaqi Liu, Xuanwei Ning, Lei Du, Yang Zhang and Chengliang Wu

Sustainability 2023, 15(15), 11609; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511609 - 27 Jul 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1340

Abstract

As a high-quality and sustainable growth model, green development has different economic, ecological, and social dimensions and is strategically important for the realization of modern city construction and the sustainable development of human society. The low-carbon city pilot policy (LCCP) is an innovative initiative for promoting green urban development and building a harmonious society in China. Based on balanced panel data from 277 prefecture-level cities from 2007 to 2020, this paper measures the level of urban green development in terms of three dimensions: green economic growth, ecological welfare enhancement, and social welfare increase. This paper also adopts a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) method for investigating the impact of LCCP on green development with the panel dataset. The results of the study show that: (1) LCCP is generally beneficial to urban green development, and the results still hold after a series of robustness check analyses. (2) The results of the mechanism analysis show that the construction of low-carbon cities has improved the level of green technology innovation, thereby promoting the level of regional green development. Environmental regulation has a masking effect between low-carbon city construction and green development in this study. When environmental regulation is controlled for, the coefficient of the effect of LCCP on green development increases, reflecting that environmental regulation also plays an important role between the two. (3) According to the geographical location, whether it is a resource-based city, and the city cluster, we found that the low-carbon city pilot policy has a significant positive role in promoting green development in the central region, non-resource-based cities, and the Jing-Jin-Ji, but not in the eastern region, the western region, the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. We also found that in resource-based cities, this effect presents a significant negative relationship. The above findings enrich the literature on low-carbon city pilot policies and green development and provide Empirical evidence for relevant countries and regions to carry out low-carbon city pilots. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Development)

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13 pages, 3426 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Developing Iron Ore Pellets Using Novel Binders for H₂-Based Direct Reduction

by Harikrishnan Parathodiel, Elsayed Mousa, Hesham Ahmed, Mohamed Elsadek, Kerstin Forsberg and Charlotte Andersson

Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 11415; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411415 - 23 Jul 2023

Viewed by 1363

Abstract

The transformation from traditional iron- and steelmaking technologies to green H₂-based new technologies will require an improvement in the quality and purity of iron ore burden materials. Iron ore pellets are essential inputs for producing direct reduced iron (DRI), but the conventional binders, used in iron ore pelletizing, introduce gangue oxides to the DRI and consequently increase the slag generation and energy consumption in the steelmaking unit. Partial and/or full replacement of the traditional binders with novel organic binders would significantly contribute to improving the process efficiency, particularly in the next-generation H₂-based direct reduction technology. This study illustrates the feasibility of pelletizing magnetite iron ore concentrate using four organic binders: KemPel, Alcotac CS, Alcotac FE16, and CMC, in comparison to bentonite as a reference. The study explores the influence of binder type, binder dosage, and moisture content on the characteristics and properties of the pellets. The efficiency of binders was characterized by the moisture content, drop number test, cold compression strength, and H₂ reduction of pellets. For dry pellets, CMS was superior among other binders including bentonite in developing dry strength. After firing, the pellets produced by the partial replacement of bentonite with 0.1 wt.% KemPel demonstrate a performance nearly identical to the reference pellets. While the complete replacement of bentonite with organic binder shows a lower performance of fired pellets compared to the reference, it may still be suitable for use in DR shaft furnaces. The cold-bonded pellets demonstrate a superior reduction rate compared to fired pellets. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Development)

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15 pages, 2048 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pollution Reduction, Informatization and Sustainable Urban Development—Evidence from the Smart City Projects in China

by Xiaoya Hu, Huimin Huang, Jun Ruan and Weijia Wang

Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 10030; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310030 - 25 Jun 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 943

Abstract

China’s modernization endeavors to advance both material and spiritual civilization concomitantly; nevertheless, the nation presently faces a pressing issue of urban pollution. This research examines how the introduction of information technology has affected environmental pollution in Chinese cities. By utilizing a panel dataset consisting of 214 prefecture-level cities in China spanning from 2005 to 2017, we employed a time-varying DID model with smart city pilot projects serving as a quasi-natural experiment to assess the impact of informatization on environmental pollution. The establishment of smart cities has remarkably elevated the information quotient of urban areas. Additionally, the results indicate a significant reduction in pollution levels in urban areas as a result of informatization, which remained robust even after conducting a series of rigorous tests to ensure the reliability of the findings. Mechanism analysis shows that informatization of smart cities affects the environmental governance behavior of enterprises and governments. Consequently, the implementation of informatization in smart cities can effectively alleviate environmental pollution by means of both the technique effect and structure effect. This finding calls for the Chinese government to improve informatization by promoting smart city pilot projects to build sustainable cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Development)

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15 pages, 3530 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Sustainable City and Old-Age Security Policy Intervention in China

by Run Tang, Xin Guan, Junfan Zhu, Bo Liu, Zeyu Wang and Fanbao Xie

Sustainability 2023, 15(7), 6192; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15076192 - 04 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1376

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly urgent to address the health of the urban environment and the aging population as cities increasingly absorb the majority of the world’s population. Efforts to promote “healthy cities” continue to garner interest as a means of empowering local communities to improve residents’ access to healthcare and encourage them to adopt more preventative practices. Due to the confluence of urbanization and population aging in China, the country’s cities must be designed and constructed to accommodate a wider range of residents and improve the quality of life for residents of all ages. A policy intervention evaluation model for the sustainable city index system is introduced after briefly reviewing the historical progression of sustainable city construction and the policies around the world. Then, six main pilot cities are selected to analyze their unique characteristics and trends across various dimensions. Finally, the dynamic simulation model is used to simulate the operation status of the pilot city system according to different dynamic factors. Two main conclusions are reached. (1) In different areas, the implementation of the sustainable city pilot strategy has had varying degrees of encouraging effects on building projects. (2) Overall, the pilot cities’ observed value is quite near to the control value calculated here. This suggests the synthetic control unit closely resembles the actual pilot city in terms of layout and design. (3) The healthy city pilot policy has a promotion effect on healthy city construction, as measured by its effect size of 0.015. This work can serve as a theoretical reference for promoting healthy city growth and as a guide for the city’s benign operation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Development)

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20 pages, 340 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Do Education Human Capital and Environmental Regulation Drive the Growth Efficiency of the Green Economy in China?

by Hua Tao, Min Tao and Rong Wang

Sustainability 2022, 14(24), 16524; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416524 - 09 Dec 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1139

Abstract

The question of how to gradually transform the economic growth mode from extensive growth to intensive economic growth, and steadily improve the efficiency of green economic growth (GEGE), has become the focus of society and scholars. The present study uses the SBM-DDF directional distance function to measure GEGE from 2008 to 2021 in China, and then selects the bootstrap regression method to test the influencing factors of China’s GEGE. The following conclusions are obtained: (1) the GEGE level is still low, and its average value in the fourteen-year period from 2008 to 2021 is 0.484; areas with low levels of GEGE account for approximately 66.7% of the country, and those with relatively high levels account for approximately 20% of the country; high-level green development areas account for 13.3% of the country; (2) environmental regulation’s impact on GEGE has a U-shaped relationship, which means that when the regulation intensity increases, GEGE will first decrease and then increase, and once it crosses the inflection point, the effect of improving GEGE becomes obvious; the elasticity coefficient of educational human capital is significantly negative, which has a hindering effect on GEGE; (3) FDI is significantly negatively correlated with GEGE; there is a U-shaped relationship between GEGE and urbanization, and the industrial structure has a negative effect on GEGE, while trade dependence has the same effect. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Development)

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