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Sustainability
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The Governance of the Low-Carbon Transition for Sustainable Development
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The Governance of the Low-Carbon Transition for Sustainable Development

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2026 | Viewed by 1599

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Yujie Hu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Management, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Interests: modeling of energy and environmental policies; energy finance and carbon finance; big data and regional governance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The focus of this Special Issue is to explore various governance frameworks and strategies to facilitate a smooth and effective transition to a low-carbon economy, ultimately promoting sustainable development. The scope will cover various topics, including policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation; stakeholder participation and collaboration; technological innovation and diffusion; and the social and economic impacts of the low-carbon transition. This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the governance challenges and opportunities related to the low-carbon transition and to provide practical insights and recommendations for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers. It will complement the existing literature by providing the latest research and case studies. We suggest that relevant works should be combined with previous research to enhance their relevance and impact. At the same time, we recommend that relevant works should be able to compare research findings across different contexts to provide practical insights and recommendations, attract different perspectives, and highlight future development directions and research areas. We hope to contribute to the ongoing development of the low-carbon governance and sustainable development discourse.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Yujie Hu
Guest Editor

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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

  • low-carbon transition
  • sustainable development
  • governance frameworks
  • policy formulation
  • stakeholder engagement
  • technological innovation
  • social impacts
  • economic impacts
  • case studies
  • policy recommendations

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 4153 KB  
Article
Governing the Green Transition: A Resource–Pressure Perspective on Urban Low-Carbon Sustainable Development in China
by Qingshuang Chen and Sitong Bi
Sustainability 2026, 18(7), 3434; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18073434 - 1 Apr 2026
Viewed by 412
Abstract
Amid the accelerating global green transition, urban Low-Carbon Sustainable Development (LCSD) has emerged as a critical governance challenge. Despite a growing body of research on low-carbon initiatives, the role of local governments in shaping urban LCSD outcomes remains inadequately explored. To address this [...] Read more.
Amid the accelerating global green transition, urban Low-Carbon Sustainable Development (LCSD) has emerged as a critical governance challenge. Despite a growing body of research on low-carbon initiatives, the role of local governments in shaping urban LCSD outcomes remains inadequately explored. To address this gap, this study develops a resource–pressure analytical framework that systematically examines how local governments’ resource endowments and pressures jointly condition LCSD. Drawing on panel data from 262 Chinese cities spanning the period 2011–2021, we construct city-level composite indicators of LCSD performance and investigate the underlying driving mechanisms through a combination of statistical analyses and geographically and temporally weighted regression. Our findings yield three principal insights: (1) although overall LCSD has progressed steadily, inter-regional disparities have widened, characterized by persistent structural misalignments and a discernible shift in spatial clustering from the northeast toward southeastern coastal regions; (2) supervisory pressure and economic resources consistently emerge as the most robust and influential determinants of LCSD; and (3) both resource-based and pressure-based drivers display significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity: economic and technological resources exert particularly strong effects in the northwest and central-west regions, respectively, while policy pressures generate differentiated impacts across cities. This research contributes to the theoretical refinement of low-carbon governance frameworks and furnishes robust empirical evidence to inform context-sensitive and regionally differentiated policy design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Governance of the Low-Carbon Transition for Sustainable Development)
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23 pages, 2259 KB  
Article
Influence Paths and Group Differences in Residents’ Low-Carbon Behaviors in China’s Pilot Cities: A Perspective on Policy Perception and Information Dissemination
by Yi Chen and Yinrong Chen
Sustainability 2025, 17(24), 10952; https://doi.org/10.3390/su172410952 - 8 Dec 2025
Viewed by 656
Abstract
Based on structural equation modeling, the influence paths and group differences in residents’ low-carbon living behaviors and consumption behaviors were explored in six low-carbon pilot cities in China from the perspectives of low-carbon policy perception and low-carbon information dissemination. The results showed that [...] Read more.
Based on structural equation modeling, the influence paths and group differences in residents’ low-carbon living behaviors and consumption behaviors were explored in six low-carbon pilot cities in China from the perspectives of low-carbon policy perception and low-carbon information dissemination. The results showed that residents in different pilot cities significantly differed in their low-carbon intention and low-carbon behavior, especially in Hangzhou and Chengdu, which had high low-carbon intention and low-carbon behavior. Low-carbon intention was the core driving force that promoted residents’ low-carbon behavior. Low-carbon policy perception and information dissemination impacted residents’ low-carbon intention and low-carbon behavior, with differences among different pilot cities. Residents in Chengdu and Wuhan showed a significant positive correlation in the direct and indirect paths of low-carbon policy perception on low-carbon behavior. In contrast, residents in Hangzhou showed a significant positive correlation in the impact path of low-carbon information dissemination on low-carbon consumption behavior. In addition, groups with different demographic characteristics significantly differed in the influence paths of their low-carbon behavior. Finally, targeted recommendations were proposed to promote differentiated strategies for implementing low-carbon behaviors, aiming to enhance public awareness and action capacity and support China’s low-carbon transition and carbon reduction goals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Governance of the Low-Carbon Transition for Sustainable Development)
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