Collaborative Governance and Environmental Regulation Measures for Pollution Reduction and Carbon Reduction in the Yangtze River Basin under the “Double Carbon” Goal

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript entitled "Collaborative governance and environmental regulation measures for pollution reduction and carbon reduction in the Yangtze River basin under the "double carbon" goal" was reviewed. In this study, the authors study the impact of environmental regulatory measures on industrial pollution control in the Yangtze River basin through empirical analysis from the perspective of coordinating pollution reduction and carbon reduction. And the spatial impact of environmental regulation on carbon emissions was also explored using the spatial eigenvector mapping (SEVM) method. This work and the results obtained have implications for ecological conservation studies in the Yangtze River basin. This manuscript can be accepted for publishing "Sustainability" but I have some minor remarks before it can be publishable.

 1. In the introduction part, it is necessary to increase the main methods of studying carbon emissions at home and abroad at present, and explain why this paper chooses SEVM method to analyze the spatial impact of environmental supervision on carbon emissions.

 2. In section 2.1, the use of relevant formulas should be marked with the reference source.

 3. Please standardize the use of symbol formatting in the manuscript, such as page 8, line 295, the formatting error of "SO₂" in Table 2.3.4, and the missing numbers at the end note part of the table in the manuscript.

 4. In part 3 of the manuscript, the authors' analysis of the estimated results lacks support from the relevant literature and comparison with the results of others' studies.

 5. The manuscript lacks a conclusion section.

Author Response

The manuscript entitled "Collaborative governance and environmental regulation measures for pollution reduction and carbon reduction in the Yangtze River basin under the "double carbon" goal" was reviewed. In this study, the authors study the impact of environmental regulatory measures on industrial pollution control in the Yangtze River basin through empirical analysis from the perspective of coordinating pollution reduction and carbon reduction. And the spatial impact of environmental regulation on carbon emissions was also explored using the spatial eigenvector mapping (SEVM) method. This work and the results obtained have implications for ecological conservation studies in the Yangtze River basin. This manuscript can be accepted for publishing "Sustainability" but I have some minor remarks before it can be publishable.

1. In the introduction part, it is necessary to increase the main methods of studying carbon emissions at home and abroad at present, and explain why this paper chooses SEVM method to analyze the spatial impact of environmental supervision on carbon emissions.

Response: Thanks very much for the kind suggestion. Relevant descriptions have been added in the introduction. As follows:

In the economic field, regression analysis can be used to analyze the impact of different factors on economic development and environment. However, for traditional regression analysis, data with spatial nature cannot be analyzed. The spatial filtering method based on SEVM can separate the spatial correlation of the samples to be analyzed. In SVEM regression model, this can be used as a separate explanatory variable for data analysis, so as to improve the processing ability of traditional econometric models for data with spatial correlation.In order to further study the impact of environmental regulation on carbon emissions, this experiment uses the modified SEVM spatial filtering method to analyze the carbon emissions and environmental regulation in the Yangtze River Basin in detail.It is hoped to provide policy options for the ecological environment protection of the Yangtze River Basin direction and management methods.

2. In section 2.1, the use of relevant formulas should be marked with the reference source.

Response: Thanks very much for the kind suggestion. The reference was added in the revised paper. As follows:

Guo K, Cao Y, Wang Z, Li Z. Urban and industrial environmental pollution control in China: An analysis of capital input, efficiency and influencing factors. Journal of Environmental Management, 2022(316): 115198.

3. Please standardize the use of symbol formatting in the manuscript, such as page 8, line 295, the formatting error of "SO2" in Table 2.3.4, and the missing numbers at the end note part of the table in the manuscript.

Response: Thanks very much for the kind suggestion. The format and missing numbers in Tables 2, 3 and 4 have been modified.

4. In part 3 of the manuscript, the authors' analysis of the estimated results lacks support from the relevant literature and comparison with the results of others' studies.

Response: Thanks very much for the kind suggestion. Some support from the relevant literature and comparison with the results of others' studies were added in the revised paper, please see the results and discussion section. For example:

In the study of recessive economy and environmental regulation, researchers used different spatial econometric models to analyze the collaborative governance of environmental pollution and put forward suggestions[41-43]. The result shows that the model has good application effect. Therefore, the analysis model with spatial attributes is also selected in this paper.In the study of environmental governance in the Yangtze River Basin, this paper starts from the perspective of coordinated governance of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. Through empirical analysis, this paper studies the impact of environmental regulation measures on industrial pollution control in the Yangtze River basin under the recessive economy.

5. The manuscript lacks a conclusion section.

Response: Thanks very much for the kind suggestion. A conclusion section including the main conclusions, limitations and future research was added in the revised paper.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript introduced the coordinated management and environmental regulation measures of pollution and carbon emission reduction in the Yangtze River Basin under the background of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. This is an interesting topic and the author gives some valuable information, such as “ improve the management system of the Yangtze River Basin”, “continue to promote the reduction of pollutant emissions”, “ promote the exchange of advanced technologies at home and abroad” and so on. However, it is also necessary to improve the quality of the writing and introduce some details. The suggestion for a major revision was as follows:
1. The language needs to be improved to avoid grammatical errors.
2. What is “green paradox”, please explain it in the text.
3. In addition to explaining the most serious environmental problems caused by industrial pollution from the perspective of investment, what other perspectives can we explain? Please introduce it/them.
4. Line 52, “...and the problem is more complicated” should be “...and the problem is relatively complicated”.
5. Line 88-91, give an example.
6. Line 106, “improved SEVM” should be “modified SEVM”, how is it modified?
7. The authors derive formula 2 and formula 3 in the same way. Why do they get different formulas? (Line 145-156)
8. Line 221, “SEVM-based spatial filtering method”, is this method different from that in Line 106?
9. Line 279-287, this excessively long sentence needs to be reorganized and optimized.

Author Response

The manuscript introduced the coordinated management and environmental regulation measures of pollution and carbon emission reduction in the Yangtze River Basin under the background of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. This is an interesting topic and the author gives some valuable information, such as “improve the management system of the Yangtze River Basin”, “continue to promote the reduction of pollutant emissions”, “promote the exchange of advanced technologies at home and abroad” and so on. However, it is also necessary to improve the quality of the writing and introduce some details. The suggestion for a major revision was as follows:

1. The language needs to be improved to avoid grammatical errors.

Response: Thanks for your kind comments. We have checked the whole manuscript and improved the language. Now, the syntax of the full text has been modified.

2. What is “green paradox”, please explain it in the text.

Response: Thanks for your kind comments. The definition of "green paradox"was added in the revised paper. As follows:

The "green paradox" is defined as the phenomenon that the implementation of policies and measures aimed at limiting climate change leads to the accelerated exploitation of fossil energy. This in turn accelerates the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, resulting in environmental deterioration.

3. In addition to explaining the most serious environmental problems caused by industrial pollution from the perspective of investment, what other perspectives can we explain? Please introduce it/them.

Response: Thanks for your kind comments. Some other perspectives that can be explained was added in the revised paper.

Industrial pollution has an impact on the cost of environmental governance, industrial structure and policy adjustment. In order to reduce the impact of industrial pollution on the environment, the government invested a large amount of capital to carry out environmental governance, resulting in the rise of environmental governance costs. This led the government to continuously adjust policies to reduce the harm of industrial pollution, and forced the adjustment of the industrial structure of enterprises.

4. Line 52, “...and the problem is more complicated” should be “...and the problem is relatively complicated”.

Response: Thanks for your kind comments. This sentence was revised.

5. Line 88-91, give an example.

Response: Thanks for your kind comments. Examples were added in the revised paper. As follows:

First of all, is to reduce emissions. It should actively promote the green transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure and adopt advanced energy-saving and emission reduction technologies. So it can improve the comprehensive utilization technology of energy and improve the efficiency of resource utilization. The second is to open source, like promoting the innovation of energy-saving technology, transforming the traditional use of fossil energy, promoting energy transformation and enabling green development.

6. Line 106, “improved SEVM” should be “modified SEVM”, how is it modified?

Response: Thanks for your kind comments. This sentence was revised.

7. The authors derive formula 2 and formula 3 in the same way. Why do they get different formulas? (Line 145-156)

Response: Thanks for your kind comments. This is to deduce different indicators with the same method, so different formulas are obtained.

8. Line 221, “SEVM-based spatial filtering method”, is this method different from that in Line 106?

Response: Thanks for your kind comments. The formula in the original line 221 is the method that has not been improved, and the method in the original line109 is the improved method. They are different.

9. Line 279-287, this excessively long sentence needs to be reorganized and optimized.

Response: Thanks for your kind comments. The sentence was changed to “From the estimated results (1)~(3) in Table 2, the environmental factors have a significant inhibitory effect on the amount of SO₂ discharged (SO₂), the amount of waste water discharged (W) and the amount of industrial smoke (powder) dust discharged (S) when other factors are ignored. At the same time, recessive economy has a positive impact on relevant pollution indicators. This shows that the government has a restraining effect on the environmental pollution of non-recessive economy through environmental regulation. However, due to the existence of recessive economy, the degree of environmental pollution is further aggravated. The result of the case analysis is consistent with the theoretical analysis in the previous article.”

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear authors, the paper is very interesting, but there are some changes to be made. My suggestions are:

- the title should be changed to: Collaborative governance and environmental regulation measures for pollution reduction and carbon reduction in the  Yangtze River basin under the "double carbon" goal

- In the texto, the authors keep writing “coordinated pollution reduction and carbon reduction”. Why not writing instead “coordinated pollution reduction and carbon reduction”??? I tis my opinion that the meaning is the same and it looks better in written english.

- In the abstract, the authors should write Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first time they refer to GDP.

- The bibliographic sources are updated, nevertheless I would like to see more references , particularly of similar studies with similar or distinct results.

- There should be a section with the main conclusions, limitations and future research

Author Response

Dear authors, the paper is very interesting, but there are some changes to be made. My suggestions are:

1. the title should be changed to: Collaborative governance and environmental regulation measures for pollution reduction and carbon reduction in theYangtze River basin under the "double carbon" goal

Response:Thank you for your suggestions. The title was now changed to: Collaborative governance and environmental regulation measures for pollution reduction and carbon reduction in the Yangtze River basin under the "double carbon" goal.

2. In the texto, the authors keep writing “coordinated pollution reduction and carbon reduction”. Why not writing instead “coordinated pollution reduction and carbon reduction”??? I tis my opinion that the meaning is the same and it looks better in written english.

Response: Thank you for your comments. The sentence was changed to “this study started from the perspective of the reduction of coordinated pollutioncarbon”.

In addition, We have checked the whole manuscript and improved the language. Now, the syntax of the full text has been modified.

3. In the abstract, the authors should write Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first time they refer to GDP.

Response: Thank you for your suggestions. The full name of GDP was added as “Gross Domestic Product”.

4. The bibliographic sources are updated, nevertheless I would like to see more references , particularly of similar studies with similar or distinct results.

Response: Thank you for your suggestions. Some support from the relevant literature and comparison with the results of others' studies were added in the revised paper, please see the results and discussion section.For example:

In the study of recessive economy and environmental regulation, researchers used different spatial econometric models to analyze the collaborative governance of environmental pollution and put forward suggestions[41-43]. The result shows that the model has good application effect. Therefore, the analysis model with spatial attributes is also selected in this paper.In the study of environmental governance in the Yangtze River Basin, this paper starts from the perspective of coordinated governance of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. Through empirical analysis, this paper studies the impact of environmental regulation measures on industrial pollution control in the Yangtze River basin under the recessive economy.

5. There should be a section with the main conclusions, limitations and future research.

Response: Thanks very much for the kind suggestion. A conclusion section including the main conclusions, limitations and future researchwas added in the revised paper.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Thank you very much for all the improvements