Search Results (23,070)

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major One Health challenge driven by antimicrobial misuse in human medicine, veterinary practice, animal production, and polluted environments. Migratory birds move among wetlands, farms, wastewater-affected habitats, landfills, and coastal ecosystems and may acquire and redistribute antimicrobial-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) across ecological and political boundaries. This perspective synthesizes evidence on exposure sources, bacterial reservoirs, resistance determinants, cross-species interfaces, and surveillance priorities while explicitly distinguishing four claims: detection or carriage, persistence in individual birds, redistribution along migratory routes, and onward transmission to recipient hosts or environments. Published studies report multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella spp., Enterococcus spp., and Campylobacter spp., with determinants including blaCTX-M, blaTEM, blaNDM, mcr, tet, sul, and qnr genes. The eight evidence groups summarized here constitute an illustrative, non-comprehensive selection; they are predominantly observational surveys or screenings, and none reconstructs a complete source–bird–destination–recipient transmission chain. Taxon-specific ecology modifies exposure: gulls and storks frequently exploit refuse and wastewater, waterfowl and shorebirds connect aquatic habitats, whereas passerines often reflect more local point-source contamination. Current evidence therefore supports migratory birds primarily as mobile sentinels and opportunistic carriers of anthropogenic AMR, while acknowledging possible natural or ancestral resistance in avian-associated microbiota. Future surveillance should combine longitudinal sampling, baseline cohorts such as pre-migratory nestlings, paired bird–water–soil–sediment sampling, whole-genome sequencing, plasmid profiling, telemetry, environmental DNA, wastewater-based epidemiology, and interoperable veterinary reporting. Practical mitigation requires antimicrobial stewardship, wastewater and landfill control, farm biosecurity, and coordinated veterinary, environmental, and public-health action. Full article

Microplastics are increasingly recognized as prevalent contaminants in freshwater ecosystems, where they interact with a wide range of co-occurring pollutants, including heavy metals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and persistent organic pollutants. Evidence indicates that microplastics can act as vectors, enhancing pollutant mobility and facilitating trophic transfer, while also modulating toxicity through synergistic or antagonistic effects. Ecotoxicological studies reveal adverse impacts on aquatic organisms, ranging from physiological stress and impaired reproduction to altered community dynamics, with implications for ecosystem functioning and human health. Despite growing knowledge, significant gaps remain in understanding long-term environmental behavior, standardized methodologies, and risk assessment frameworks. This review synthesizes current findings on microplastic–pollutant interactions in freshwater systems, highlights emerging ecotoxicological risks, and identifies critical research needs to inform effective management and policy interventions. Full article

Abiotic stresses increasingly threaten crop productivity, whereas reliance on chemical and resource-intensive interventions can compromise environmental sustainability. Existing literature identifies Trichoderma spp. as multifunctional biocontrol agents, biofertilizers, and microbial biostimulants capable of influencing plant growth, stress signaling, and rhizosphere processes; however, evidence remains fragmented across strains, crops, formulations, and stress conditions. This review aimed to integrate current knowledge on Trichoderma-mediated resilience to salinity, drought, heavy metals, temperature extremes, and emerging pollutants, while distinguishing experimentally validated mechanisms from statistical associations and conceptual inference. It evaluates constraints governing reproducibility from controlled studies to field deployment. The synthesis shows that selected crop–strain systems improve root architecture, photosynthesis, antioxidant regulation, osmotic adjustment, nutrient acquisition, ion homeostasis, hormonal balance, and stress-responsive gene expression. Benefits arise through coordinated delivery, root colonization, metabolite and protein signaling, physiological reprogramming, and rhizosphere modulation. Nevertheless, microbiome co-occurrence patterns do not establish causal network repair, evidence for broad heat and cold protection remains limited, and biochar co-application should not be interpreted as a carrier formulation without direct validation. Future progress requires strain- and crop-specific screening, mechanistic gene and protein studies, standardized formulations, combined-stress experiments, multi-location field trials, biosafety evaluation, and farmer-level economic assessment to develop reliable precision microbial technologies. Full article

Methanol is highly soluble and with spreads quickly in natural water bodies, which could bring about serious environmental risks if leaked. In the present work, the transport and diffusion behavior of methanol in an open-channel flume under controlled hydraulic conditions is investigated experimentally. A closed-loop experimental system was designed to mimic the pipeline leakage scenarios and image-based reconstruction methods were applied to quantify the spatiotemporal evolution of the methanol concentration fields. Systematic analysis was performed on the effects of flow velocity, water depth, leakage rate and leakage location. The results indicate that flow velocity is the dominant factor controlling the downstream advective transport, with increasing velocity significantly reducing the downstream extent of high-concentration zones. Water depth affects vertical mixing and dilution capacity, with deeper flows maintaining more persistent plume structures. Higher leak rates result in higher local concentrations and larger near-field contaminated regions. The position of the leakage is also very important for the plume morphology: the boundary effects lead to a limited and asymmetric dispersion when the leakage is close to the boundary, while the dispersion is more symmetric when the leakage is in the middle of the domain. The study highlights the combined roles of advection, turbulent mixing and boundary confinement in governing methanol plume evolution. The results provide experimental evidence for the understanding of soluble pollutant transport mechanisms in open-channel flows under simplified hydraulic conditions. Full article

Corporate carbon information disclosure is shaped not only by external regulatory and stakeholder pressures but also by firms’ internal strategic orientation and the prominence of environmental transformation in organizational reporting. Using 31,625 firm-year observations from Chinese A-share listed firms between 2016 and 2024, this study examines the association between green strategic orientation (GSO) and carbon information disclosure (CID) and evaluates reported green-transformation intensity (RGTI) as a statistical indirect pathway. GSO is measured using an author-constructed seven-item index based on firm-level environmental disclosure indicators. RGTI is constructed from database-provided annual-report frequencies of green-transformation-related terms and is assessed against contemporaneous and one-year-ahead green investment obtained from a separate CSMAR green-investment database. The empirical analysis employs firm and year fixed effects, firm-clustered standard errors, and a three-wave design using GSO at t − 2, RGTI at t − 1, and CID at t. The results show that GSO is positively associated with CID. A one-standard-deviation increase in GSO is associated with an approximately 4.7-percentage-point increase in the disclosure index, equivalent to about 16.5% of its sample mean. The three-wave analysis identifies a positive and statistically significant indirect association through RGTI, although its economic magnitude is modest, accounting for approximately 8.0% of the total association. The findings remain robust to alternative measures of GSO and CID, fractional-response estimation, industry-year fixed effects, controls for general reporting propensity, and one-year-ahead disclosure specifications. Industry-based estimates indicate a weaker GSO–CID association among heavy-polluting firms, although this pattern is not reproduced when pollution exposure is measured using firm-level carbon intensity. Overall, the findings link internal environmental strategy and reported organizational attention to corporate carbon transparency while indicating that most of the GSO–CID association operates through channels beyond the measured indirect pathway. Full article

The removal of phenol from contaminated effluents presents an industrial challenge owing to its toxicity at trace concentrations. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have been studied as adsorbents for this purpose, given their high adsorption capacity and ease of separation. This work presents a theoretical phenomenological and numerical analysis of mass transport coupled to phenol adsorption on MWCNTs (external diameter $d_{ext}=50$ nm), parameterized using published experimental equilibrium data acquired under neutral pH conditions at 298 K. The mathematical model incorporates an effective pore diffusivity ($D_e=3.213\times {10}^{-10}$ m²/s) derived from pore structure parameters and describes three distinct scenarios: (1) pure physical adsorption via a modified Fick’s Second Law; (2) coupled diffusion–reaction with 0.5-order kinetics, herein treated as an empirical kinetic ansatz with phenomenological divergence from lumped empirical models (PFO/PSO); and (3) a parametric and sensitivity analysis on particle size (1–100 nm) and inlet concentration (1–5 mg/L). Numerical solutions confirm a Thiele modulus $\varphi \ll 1$ across the tested range, indicating a kinetically controlled regime with effectiveness factor $\eta \approx 1.0$, and validate the theoretical scaling $\varphi \propto C_s^{-0.25}$. During effluent polishing operations (reduction from 5 to 1 mg/L), the relative diffusive resistance increases by 49.5%, suggesting proportional increases in contact time or adsorbent dosage are required. A one-at-a-time (OAT) sensitivity analysis on $D_e$, $\kappa$, and $k_{obs}$ confirms that the kinetically controlled regime is preserved across plausible parameter ranges. The nanoscale architecture of MWCNTs reduces theoretical intraparticle diffusional resistance by several orders of magnitude relative to macroscopic granular adsorbents. We emphasize that these conclusions describe theoretical mass-transport advantages; experimental and pilot-scale validation under realistic, multi-component wastewater conditions remains an essential step before industrial deployment. Full article

Green finance can support sustainable urban transition, but its effectiveness depends on local institutions and cross-city interactions. Using balanced panel data for 260 Chinese cities from 2010 to 2022, this study examines the effects of green finance on total carbon emissions and carbon emission intensity using two-way fixed-effects, moderation, and spatial Durbin models. The results show that green finance significantly reduces total emissions and carbon intensity, with coefficients of −0.0954 and −0.1797, respectively. The effects are heterogeneous: green credit and green bonds reduce both outcomes, green funds mainly reduce carbon intensity, and green insurance has no significant effect; eastern cities mainly exhibit total emission reduction, central and western cities mainly exhibit intensity reduction, and northeastern cities benefit in both dimensions. Environmental regulation strengthens both effects, whereas financial governance and public participation mainly strengthen total emission control. The investment environment weakens intensity reduction, while government environmental attention weakens total emission control but strengthens intensity reduction. Spatial analysis finds significant local reductions, but the indirect effect on neighboring cities’ total emissions is positive (0.465), consistent with a cross-city pollution transfer effect. These findings show that green finance can advance sustainable urban development when instrument design, institutional governance, and regional coordination prevent the transfer of carbon burden between cities. Full article

As China transitions to a higher development stage, the environmental dividends of smart-digital upgrades are growing more prominent. Boosting green total factor productivity (GTFP) in manufacturing is critical for fostering emerging quality-driven productive forces. Employing provincial data from 30 regions (2013–2023), this research utilizes the super-efficiency SBM, fixed-effects, mediation, and moderation models to investigate both the impact and operative pathways of digital-intelligent transformation on manufacturing GTFP. The empirical evidence suggests that: (1) The positive effect of digital-intelligent transformation on manufacturing greening proves robust across endogeneity corrections and various sensitivity tests. (2) Heterogeneity tests indicate that the promotional effect is more pronounced in eastern provinces and areas with weaker pollution loads. (3) Mechanism analysis identifies a dual-edged pathway: while technological innovation serves as a positive conduit, labor structure optimization unexpectedly acts as a suppression channel, weakening the overall positive impact. (4) Moderating effect analysis demonstrates that factor market development strengthens the positive relationship between digital-intelligent transformation and manufacturing GTFP. (5) Threshold analysis based on environmental regulation intensity indicates that the marginal effect of digital-intelligent transformation gradually declines as environmental regulation becomes more stringent. Overall, the findings suggest that the green effects of digital-intelligent transformation are not automatic but depend on regional industrial structures, factor market conditions, and environmental regulatory intensity. Crucially, this study reveals a potential “green paradox” in China’s manufacturing digitalization process: although digital-intelligent technologies stimulate innovation and labor upgrading, their contribution to emission reduction is partially offset by a misalignment in labor allocation and technological orientation, resulting in a net weakening of the green transformation effect. Therefore, policymakers should promote the coordinated development of digital infrastructure, factor market reform, and environmental regulation, while actively guiding skilled labor toward green innovation activities to accelerate manufacturing green transformation and foster new quality productive forces. Full article

This research explores the production of activated carbon from a lignocellulosic precursor, corn cobs, as a potential method for the removal and adsorption of phenolic and nitrophenolic compounds. Colombia is a major corn producer, with a national production of 1,559,194 tons in 2024. Currently, approximately 0.5 to 3.2 kg of corn residue per kg of product is not commercially utilized. The objective is to focus on the removal of phenol, 2-nitrophenol, 4-nitrophenol, and 2,4-dinitrophenol from simulated solutions to evaluate the adsorption capacity under optimal conditions. Phenolic and nitrophenolic compounds are considered highly toxic molecules for the environment, especially in the plastics and agrochemical production sectors. These compounds are pollutants in wastewater due to their impact on aquatic life and human health. This not only contributes to the utilization of residual biomass but also to the circular economy by promoting its valorization in environmental remediation processes. The diameter and average volume of the pores are large enough to promote rapid diffusion kinetics of the phenolic compounds within the pore structure, which varies from 0.207 to 0.544 cm³ g⁻¹, and their adsorption capacity. The most adsorbed phenol was found to be 4-nitrophenol, with up to 97 mg of contaminant (4-nitrophenol) adsorbed per gram of activated carbon (sample designated AC-TK), at initial concentrations ranging from 0.0 ppm to 3.0 ppm. Furthermore, magnetite plays a crucial role in the adsorption of 2-nitrophenol. With this compound, up to 86 mg of 2-nitrophenol per gram of activated carbon was adsorbed at a concentration of 14 ppm, whereas without magnetite, a smaller amount was adsorbed at lower initial concentrations (ppm) for the same compound. Full article

Drawing on a panel of Chinese A-share listed firms covering 2007 to 2024, we construct a firm-level measure of climate risk exposure based on textual analysis of annual reports. Employing a three-way fixed effects model combined with endogeneity corrections and a battery of robustness checks, we empirically identify the causal effect of climate risk on the cost of debt, as well as its underlying transmission mechanisms and heterogeneous boundary conditions. Our analysis yields three core findings. First, climate risk exerts a statistically significant and economically meaningful positive effect on the cost of debt, indicating that greater climate risk exposure amplifies firms’ debt financing burdens. Second, the impact operates through two parallel transmission channels. On the one hand, climate risk erodes corporate financial fundamentals by disrupting production and operations and elevating default risk. On the other hand, it damages non-financial reputation by triggering downgrades in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings and weakening long-term financing credibility. Third, the relationship between climate risk and the cost of debt is significantly moderated by firm- and industry-level characteristics: high-quality information disclosure attenuates the adverse financing impact of climate risk, while affiliation with heavily polluting industries strengthens this positive association. These findings remain robust to alternative measures of climate risk and the cost of debt, alternative clustering specifications, high-dimensional interactive fixed effects, and subsample tests with restricted sample windows. To address endogeneity concerns stemming from reverse causality and omitted variable bias, we adopt two complementary identification strategies: using one-period lagged values of the core explanatory variable and conducting instrumental variable estimation via two-stage least squares (2SLS). Estimates from both approaches remain statistically and economically consistent with our baseline results. Further heterogeneity analyses show that the cost-increasing effect of climate risk is more pronounced for firms without ESG fund ownership, non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs), and firms located in non-eastern regions of China. Overall, this study provides novel firm-level evidence on the microeconomic consequences of climate risk in emerging economies, develops a dual transmission framework integrating financial fundamentals and non-financial reputation, and offers actionable implications for policymakers, financial institutions, and firms to improve climate risk governance and optimize the financing environment amid the low-carbon transition. Full article

The transport sector has emerged as a significant source of greenhouse gases and airborne pollutants. However, few studies have carried out a comprehensive assessment of the synergistic benefits between air pollutant and carbon emission reductions that account for the unique regional characteristics of individual provinces. In this study, we establish nonlinear prediction models for future activity levels of on-road mobile sources by integrating economic and demographic drivers. We then dynamically quantify the co-benefits of simultaneous air pollutant and CO₂ abatement under diverse mitigation scenarios. Environmental tax rates and carbon trading prices are combined with conventional elasticity coefficients and coordinate-based methodologies to convert emission cuts into economic advantages. The results show that under the most optimistic scenario, 47.86% of the CO₂ emissions could be mitigated, while emissions of NO_X may increase by 60.49% in the absence of mitigation strategies (BAU scenario). Marginal CO₂ emissions under the ELC scenario indicates a peak around 2027. Elasticity coefficients for all pollutants gradually converge toward 1, indicating that more stringent mitigation efforts enhance co-benefits. Findings in this study could provide essential insights for the co-management of CO₂ and air pollutants from road mobile sources in Guangxi and other key regions along the Belt and Road Initiative. Full article

The Central Environmental Protection Inspection (CEPI) represents a landmark institutional arrangement for the centralization of environmental supervision authority from local governments to the central government. It has played a significant role in correcting the distortion of local government incentives for environmental governance under decentralized management. However, the persistence and spatial heterogeneity of its policy effects remain to be further examined. This paper treats the CEPI, which was progressively implemented from 2016, as a quasi-natural experiment of centralizing environmental supervision authority. Using daily city-level panel data from 333 Chinese cities over the period 2015–2022, we employ a multi-cutoff time regression discontinuity design in time to evaluate its policy effects. The findings are threefold. First, the CEPI significantly reduces urban concentrations of AQI, PM_2.5, PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, and CO, while O₃ concentrations increase significantly over the same period, indicating that the centralization of supervision authority is effective in mitigating conventional primary pollutants but faces limitations in addressing secondary pollutants. Second, the policy effects vary across inspection rounds, with the first round and the “look-back” generating larger short-run coefficients than the second round. These differences in short-run inspection-period coefficients across rounds indicate that marginal policy responsiveness diminishes as the inspection program becomes institutionalized. Third, the policy effects display significant spatial heterogeneity: cities in northern regions, resource-based cities, and cities with historically moderate air quality experience more pronounced improvements, while the grouping effect of administrative hierarchy is not statistically significant for most pollutants. This indicates that the governance effects of centralizing supervision authority vary across city characteristics but do not simply follow an administrative hierarchy gradient. This study provides empirical evidence for understanding the boundary of the effectiveness of centralizing environmental supervision authority and offers policy implications for optimizing the vertical allocation of environmental governance responsibilities. Full article

Given the widespread contamination of water bodies by diverse pollutants, particularly heavy metal ions and organic dyes, there is an urgent need to develop efficient and sustainable biomass adsorbents. Lignin is rich in active groups such as phenolic hydroxyl and carboxyl groups, making it a natural adsorbent. However, its application is still hindered by limitations, including restricted solubility and low reactivity. Converting lignin into three-dimensional porous hydrogels not only overcomes the inherent structural brittleness of lignin-based materials but also accelerates the diffusion kinetics of pollutants through well-developed pore structures, thereby fully exposing the active adsorption sites. This paper systematically reviews the latest progress in lignin-based hydrogels for water treatment and discusses in depth the underlying logic of “structure construction–micromorphology–adsorption performance.” First, this review summarizes synthesis strategies ranging from molecular-level modification to morphology regulation, including nano-reinforcement, magnetic functionalization, and interpenetrating polymer networks. It then provides a pollutant-specific analysis of the adsorption mechanisms of lignin-based adsorbents. For heavy metal ions, such as Pb²⁺ and Cr(VI), removal is mainly associated with coordination/complexation, ion exchange, and redox reactions. For typical organic dyes, adsorption is primarily driven by π–π interactions, hydrogen bonding, and electrostatic attraction. The effects of environmental factors, such as pH, are also systematically discussed. Finally, considering current challenges related to mechanical strength, regeneration performance, and practical application, this review outlines future research directions for the development of multifunctional, integrated, and stimuli-responsive lignin-based adsorbents. Full article

Wastewater treatment is undergoing a transition from pollutant removal toward resource recovery, creating opportunities to integrate environmental remediation with circular bioeconomy principles. Filamentous algae have attracted increasing attention as multifunctional biological platforms because their attached growth habit facilitates biomass harvesting while supporting nutrient recovery and biomass valorization. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the roles of filamentous algae in wastewater treatment, with emphasis on nutrient and contaminant removal, biomass production, and the generation of bioenergy, biofertilizers, aquafeeds, and cellulose-based biomaterials. It highlights how filamentous algae differ from conventional suspended microalgae through improved biomass retention, simpler harvesting, and compatibility with attached-growth systems such as algal turf scrubbers and biofilm reactors. The review also examines the ecological interactions between filamentous algae and associated microbial communities that underpin nutrient cycling and treatment performance. Beyond wastewater treatment, it critically evaluates the opportunities and challenges associated with downstream biomass valorization, including biofuel production and the recovery of high-value products within integrated biorefinery frameworks. In addition, the review discusses the principal barriers to large-scale implementation, including limited field-scale validation, variability in biomass quality, contaminant safety, downstream processing requirements, regulatory uncertainty, and the need for comprehensive techno-economic and environmental assessments. Finally, it highlights emerging research directions involving systems biology, advanced process monitoring, artificial intelligence-assisted process control, and integrated biorefinery concepts that may support future development. By integrating biological, engineering, and sustainability perspectives, this review provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the potential of filamentous algae to support resilient wastewater treatment systems and accelerate the transition toward circular resource management. Full article

High-altitude regions are known as corridors assisting exchange among communities, and the implementation of economic corridors in these regions provides connections and networks based on two geographical territories. For example, the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), established as an infrastructural development project with wide-reaching socioeconomic and environmental implications, is regarded as a significant driver of regional transformation, with the potential to generate several businesses, build institutional resilience, reduce poverty, foster a circular economy, and create job opportunities. The current study explores the perceptions and attitudes of educated adult residents in selected mountain districts regarding CPEC, which is vital to ensure wide-ranging and sustainable infrastructure development in alignment with the SDG goals, explicitly SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), and SDG 15 (Environmental Protection). Grounded in Social Exchange Theory, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to assess local perceptions concerning the costs and benefits linked with infrastructural development projects and concentrating on its socioeconomic and environmental outcomes in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. The questionnaire was self-administered by respondents, who documented their own responses to all items. The researcher remained present throughout data collection to distribute the questionnaires, provide verbal explanations or translations into the local language for specific terms upon request, and collect completed forms; in total, 384 respondents completed the survey. Findings revealed that surveyed educated adult respondents perceived sustainable infrastructural development favorably, particularly regarding anticipated improvements in quality of life, job creation, alleviating poverty, and the current education system, with 59.9%, 53.1%, 53.1% and 41.7% agreement, respectively. Respondents also expressed concerns about environmental protection, such as health and safety, environmental risks, and construction/transportation-related pollution at 39.8%, 37.5% and 36.7%, respectively. Backed up by SEM direct path analysis, which showed significant positive relationships between infrastructural development and educational development (H1: β = 0.439), quality of life (H2: β = 0.638), job opportunities (H3: β = 0.603), poverty alleviation (H4: β = 0.534), and environmental protection (H5: β = 0.267). Thus, all hypotheses H1-H5 were supported. This study recommends that officials and policymakers promote stakeholder investment for regional sustainability transitions, formulate regional environmental policies and governance for sustainable development to enhance the benefits of CPEC. Full article