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Effectiveness Evaluation of Sustainable Climate Policies

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Air, Climate Change and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 February 2026 | Viewed by 3126

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Economics and Management, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Interests: carbon market; machine learning; environmental economics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Economics and Management, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Interests: energy finance; energy economics; climate finance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Institute of Green Finance, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Interests: environmental economics; environmental policy; energy economics; energy policy; public policy evaluation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great pleasure that we launch this call for contributions to a Special Issue of Sustainability that will focus on the topic of “Effectiveness Evaluation of Sustainable Climate Policies”.

Many countries have adopted several economic instruments, such as tax and emissions trading, to deal with climate change. These policies could theoretically encourage the emitters to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and realize the green transition. However, several economic, political, or social factors could to a certain extent influence the effectiveness of these policies.

Both policymakers and researchers pay attention to the policy effect of these economic instruments in coping with climate change while realizing the sustainable development of the economic system. Therefore, they should make full use of advanced data-driven methodologies, including econometric and machine learning approaches, to scientifically evaluate the effect of these policies. On the one hand, they could extensively collect the necessary data from the databases, statistical yearbooks, as well as the news text related to the research issues. In specific, the unstructured data related to the policies could also be utilized in the relevant studies through text analytical methodologies. On the other hand, they could consciously propose or utilize the cutting-edge data-driven methodologies to better evaluate the effectiveness of the policies. Widely-used econometric approaches may suffer from methodological shortcomings, and then the respective improved models, especially those coupling with the latest machine learning methods, can be adopted in the respective studies.

This Special Issue will collate a selection of high-quality and novel research contributions evaluating the effectiveness of climate policies and improving their mechanism design with advanced data-driven approaches.

Suggested themes for this Special Issue may include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • The implication of the text analytical approach in the climate policy effectiveness evaluation;
  • The improvement of econometric models in evaluating the effectiveness of climate policies;
  • The implication of machine or deep learning approaches in the effectiveness of climate policies;
  • The impact(s) of climate policy on greenhouse gas emissions reduction;
  • The impact(s) of climate policy on green transition of economies;
  • The impact(s) of climate policy on optimization and adjustment of economic sectors;
  • The impact(s) of climate policy on development of renewable energy;
  • The impact(s) of climate policy on labor market structure adjustment of incumbent sectors;
  • The impact(s) of climate policy on green technological innovation;
  • The impact(s) of climate policy on ESG decisions of incumbent firms;
  • The impact(s) of climate policy on competitiveness of incumbent firms.

We welcome contributions of all types, including empirical or theoretical studies or relevant review articles. Submissions are welcome from any disciplinary perspective, and multi- or cross-disciplinary research is encouraged given the nature of the subject matter.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Xu Wang
Dr. Zhenhua Liu
Dr. Zhenhua Zhang
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

  • climate change
  • environmental policy
  • emission trading
  • carbon tax
  • green transition
  • econometrics
  • text analysis
  • machine learning
  • deep learning

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 1111 KiB  
Article
The Synergistic Effect of the Dual Carbon Reduction Pilot on Corporate Carbon Performance: Empirical Evidence from Listed Manufacturing Companies
by Guantai Wu, Chaowei Feng and Shixian Ling
Sustainability 2025, 17(10), 4409; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17104409 - 13 May 2025
Viewed by 430
Abstract
In recent years, a pressing global challenge has been that increasingly stringent environmental regulations have failed to prevent global climate change. In this context, exploring the synergistic effects of a policy mix approach has emerged as a promising strategy to turn the tide. [...] Read more.
In recent years, a pressing global challenge has been that increasingly stringent environmental regulations have failed to prevent global climate change. In this context, exploring the synergistic effects of a policy mix approach has emerged as a promising strategy to turn the tide. Given that companies are the primary sources of carbon emissions, this study adopts a novel micro-level perspective. It employs the difference-in-differences method and establishes a two-way fixed effects model to empirically examine the interactive effects of the Low-Carbon City Pilot (LCCP) and the Carbon Emissions Trading Pilot (CETP) on corporate low-carbon development. Based on data availability and relevance, it uses a sample of Chinese listed industrial companies in 2007–2020. The findings indicate that the CETP enhances corporate carbon performance, whereas the LCCP has no significant impact on its own. However, the combined implementation of the two policies has resulted in a synergistic effect, with green innovation playing a mediating role in this process. The study also identifies the presence of a “green paradox” under heavily polluting industries and a weakening of the policies’ effectiveness in Western China and among non-high-tech firms. For emerging countries undergoing low-carbon transitions, it is essential to design context-specific policy combinations that maximize the effectiveness of environmental regulations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effectiveness Evaluation of Sustainable Climate Policies)
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25 pages, 3800 KiB  
Article
Comparative Analysis of Carbon Tax and Carbon Market Strategies for Facilitating Carbon Neutrality in China’s Coal-Fired Electricity Sector
by Yin Li, Xu Wang and Qi Qin
Sustainability 2025, 17(5), 1961; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17051961 - 25 Feb 2025
Viewed by 1158
Abstract
Carbon taxes and carbon markets both contribute to mitigating carbon emissions in China’s power industry. Nevertheless, the pricing mechanism within China’s national carbon market, confined solely to the power sector, faces challenges in accurately reflecting the diverse costs of emission-reduction efforts across various [...] Read more.
Carbon taxes and carbon markets both contribute to mitigating carbon emissions in China’s power industry. Nevertheless, the pricing mechanism within China’s national carbon market, confined solely to the power sector, faces challenges in accurately reflecting the diverse costs of emission-reduction efforts across various regions. Similarly, carbon taxes encounter difficulties in effectively harnessing the inherent emission-reduction capabilities of power enterprises. This study investigates which carbon-pricing mechanism—a carbon tax or the carbon market—can better promote carbon neutrality in China’s coal-based electricity industry. Using a stochastic electricity price model, we reveal the price shocks of both a carbon tax and the carbon market under different carbon-pricing goals. Taking the China Carbon Emission Trading Market as the research object, the results are as follows: First, both carbon tax and the carbon market could significantly trigger price volatility in the coal-based electricity industry, while the carbon market’s shock effect on the industry’s emissions is more significant than that of carbon tax. Second, through both carbon-pricing mechanisms, emissions could be reduced by as much as 20%—a key premise of achieving this goal is keeping the carbon price at the level of 100 yuan/ton. Third, the volatility range of the electricity price, which is policy based, does not manifest the incentivizing effect of economic instruments on emission reduction in the coal-based electricity industry. Policy allows for an upper limit of 15% in the floating electricity price. By clarifying the linkage between carbon-pricing tools and coal-based electricity costs, this study contributes to developing a carbon-pricing mechanism that could help China’s coal-based electricity industry achieve carbon neutrality in a timely manner. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effectiveness Evaluation of Sustainable Climate Policies)
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17 pages, 449 KiB  
Article
The Impact of AIA on Farmers’ Income in the Eastern, Western, and Northern Regions of Guangdong Province: From the Perspective of Common Prosperity
by Shizheng Huang and Chunyuan Ke
Sustainability 2025, 17(4), 1548; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17041548 - 13 Feb 2025
Viewed by 734
Abstract
Achieving common prosperity and promoting coordinated regional development are key objectives of China’s economic and social development in the new era. The eastern, western, and northern regions of Guangdong (hereafter referred to as “the Regions”) possess abundant agricultural resources and serve as significant [...] Read more.
Achieving common prosperity and promoting coordinated regional development are key objectives of China’s economic and social development in the new era. The eastern, western, and northern regions of Guangdong (hereafter referred to as “the Regions”) possess abundant agricultural resources and serve as significant agricultural development zones within the province. A critical challenge for Guangdong’s high-quality development lies in how to enhance farmers’ income (FI) through agricultural industrial agglomeration (AIA), reduce economic disparities across regions, achieve coordinated regional development, and promote common prosperity. This study employs panel data from 12 prefecture-level cities in the Regions from 2012 to 2022 to examine the dynamic evolution of AIA and its impact on (FI). It focuses on the mechanisms through which industrial agglomeration influences income growth and explores the heterogeneity in its effects. The findings indicate that the impact of AIA on FI follows a stage-specific U-shaped pattern. Agricultural productivity mediates this relationship, demonstrating that industrial agglomeration enhances FI by improving production efficiency. However, the level of regional industrialization weakens the positive effect of AIA on income growth. To fully leverage the benefits of AIA in the Regions, this study recommends optimizing the spatial distribution of agricultural industries, integrating regional development advantages, advancing industrialization, improving rural infrastructure, and implementing region-specific policies. These measures aim to increase FI, narrow regional economic disparities in Guangdong, and achieve common prosperity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effectiveness Evaluation of Sustainable Climate Policies)
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