Search Results (12)

Against the backdrop of the accelerated transition to sustainable development in global emerging markets, the synergistic mechanism between environmental governance innovation and corporate green transformation has become a key issue in realizing high-quality development. As the world’s largest emerging economy, China’s new Environmental Protection Law (EPL), implemented in 2015, has promoted green technology innovation and performance improvement of heavily polluting enterprises by strengthening environmental regulation. This paper takes Chinese A-share listed companies as samples from 2012–2023, treats the EPL as a quasi-natural experiment, and applies the DID method to explore the path of its impact on the performance of heavily polluting firms, with a focus on analyzing the mediating effect of green technological innovation and the moderating role of firm size and regional differences. The study revealed the following findings: the implementation of the EPL significantly improves the performance of heavily polluting enterprises, which verifies the applicability of “Porter’s hypothesis” in emerging markets; green technological innovation plays a partly intermediary role in the process of policy affecting enterprise performance, indicating that environmental regulation achieves win–win economic and environmental benefits by driving the innovation compensation mechanism; and there is significant heterogeneity in policy effects, with large-scale firms and firms in the eastern region experiencing more pronounced performance improvements, reflecting differences in resource endowments and institutional implementation strength within emerging markets. This study provides empirical evidence for emerging market countries to optimize their environmental governance policies and construct a “regulation–innovation–performance” synergistic mechanism, which will help green economic transformation and ecological civilization construction. Full article

The design of a country’s nuclear energy development policy and legal system is crucial to the development of its nuclear energy industry, and thus also affects international issues such as climate change and energy green and low-carbon transformation. Under such a “Nuclear Relaunch” era that the world is experiencing, China’s nuclear power installed capacity has reached second in the world, and China’s nuclear energy policies and laws will have a significant impact on the development of civil nuclear energy worldwide. Therefore, it is crucial to reflect on the problems existing in China’s nuclear legal system and theoretical research and propose corresponding amendments based on the review of China’s existing nuclear energy policy and law and the comparison with the relevant system design of other countries. This paper first extracts the common clues of nuclear power development in the world through historical and comparative studies on the development of nuclear energy policies and laws in China and other countries in the world. Secondly, combined with relevant data such as the scale of China’s nuclear power industry, the number and focus of policies and laws, this paper comprehensively analyzes and points out the current practical difficulties faced by China’s nuclear energy policies and laws from an empirical perspective. Finally, in response to these practical difficulties, this paper will propose amendments such as promoting atomic energy legislation, improving the nuclear safety legal standard system and independent supervision system, and strengthening information disclosure in the field of nuclear energy. Full article

The issue of legal easements is a relatively rarely discussed topic among the professional public, and yet, even today, legal easements create space for the development of smart cities. Legal easements are restrictions on property rights that arise directly from the law, which means that the possible disagreement of the owner of the property concerned is irrelevant. The aim of this scientific study is to provide, based on a study of legislation, case law, and professional and scientific articles, sufficient information on this legal institution, which has its basis in the Civil Code. The scientific study also examines in detail the issue of legal easements and their role in the context of sustainable land use and infrastructure development in smart cities. In the study, we test the stated hypothesis that “Legal easements, as a legal instrument, effectively promote sustainable land use and infrastructure development in smart cities by enabling the integration of renewable energy, eco-mobility and green infrastructure without negatively impacting property rights, thus contributing to reducing conflicts between private property and public interest”. We use a number of scientific methods of research to analyse the current legal situation and the possibilities for the application of legal easements in the context of smart cities, including legal analysis, the comparative method, the method of synthesis, deduction, and historical interpretation. In particular, the methods in question were used to examine, historically describe and compare the current legislation on easements and their use in the management of urban space and infrastructure. The main results of the research include a detailed overview of the current legal status of easements and their limitations, which affect the possibilities of their application in the conditions of smart cities. The results suggest that if easements are effectively implemented they can make a significant contribution to optimising space, regulating access to public services, and protecting natural resources. This tool has the potential to enhance the quality of life in cities and promote sustainable urbanism through adaptive planning and management of urban space. Full article

Rural domestic sewage, originating from human activities that involve the extraction and utilization of natural resources, is an inherent component of the ecological cycle in nature. Therefore, its disposal methods should align and harmonize with the laws governing nature’s evolutionary processes. This study conducted a comprehensive investigation on the domestic sewage facilities in representative villages located within the water source protection area of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. Taking Village A’s domestic sewage treatment station as a case study, an analysis was performed to assess its operational status and identify existing issues. The consideration of rural domestic sewage treatment should encompass factors such as the generation and discharge of household wastewater, the characteristics of water quality, discharge regulations, the natural and social environment, as well as post-completion operations and maintenance modes. We also proposed source reduction measures for the reuse of gray water in domestic sewage treatment in Village A, along with integrated treatment approaches involving biochemical treatment, landscape integration, and farmland irrigation for black water. These measures not only achieve effective treatment outcomes but also foster harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. Moreover, they align with the principles of ecological civilization while considering rural revitalization and promoting green agricultural development. Full article

The green transition of China’s cities is crucial for ecology civilization realization. Based on the driver–pressure–state–impact–response (DPSIR) framework, an integrated technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) model with entropy weight, this study achieved the comprehensive assessment of the green transition of 288 province-level municipalities and prefecture-level cities in China over 18 years from 2002 to 2019, in addition to the spatial correlations and obstacles analysis. The results indicate that major cities in China have a more significant green transition value, and the eastern region is developing fast, while the northeast region is relatively slow. There was heterogeneous spatial distribution for green transition, because of the disequilibrium sustainable development of 288 cities. Green transition has a significantly positive spatial autocorrelation in the cities of China, the high–high significant clusters greatly increased, and the main locations changed from the northeast to southeast of China. Frequent obstacles were also found, including road infrastructure construction, water resources, and the green coverage of urban built-up areas. Based on these results, several policy implications were put forward, including the optimization of environmental laws and regulations, the development of green transportation infrastructure, resource conservation and the circular economy, the establishment of a green financial system, and increasing the linkage for the green transition of different cities. Full article

The negative impact of the waste generated by long-lasting products is a pressing issue for humanity. As such, socio-economic activities worldwide must be carried out according to sustainability principles, and governments have been increasingly pressured to develop laws and policies that protect the environment. The influence of civil society can boost the impact of public policies. For Romania, an emerging country, a well-developed legislation is needed, as well as the involvement of the administrative and civil sectors, not only in raising consumers’ awareness regarding the importance of recovering and recycling waste, but also in changing their purchasing behavior in the direction of ecological products. An empirical investigation was conducted to identify the direct and mediation effects of external factors on the behavior of electrical and electronic product consumers. Data were collected from 421 respondents and evaluated with latent variable analyses in the R statistical program. The originality of the study resides in articulating a novel relationship between recovery and recycling intentions and the preference for ecological products, enhancing understanding about sustainability in relation to electrical and electronic products. The link between recovering and recycling intentions and consumers’ preferences for ecological products was validated for the first time in our investigation. The study concludes that external factors have a meaningful direct and mediating effect on Romanian consumers’ green behavior. Full article

Rural governance is an important issue that cannot be ignored in China’s modernization drive. It is not only related to the stability and development of grassroots society, but also to the rise and fall of a nation. The modernization and evolution of rural governance is the foundation of understanding rural social governance, and it is also an important part of current rural social management. Based on the simplification of the current rural traditional governance model, this paper conducts research on its innovative development based on the theory of green ecology. After more than 30 years of practice, the current rural governance model has greatly promoted the democratization of grassroots society. After profound adjustment and changes in the economic and social structure, the existing rural governance model is also faced with problems that urgently need to be solved. Rural grassroots informatization management takes the village as the center and uses modern information technology and communication technology for management. On the basis of the analysis, it can be concluded that the efficiency of rural information through digital display was as high as 60%, and the information could be conveyed to everyone more intuitively and clearly. The rural governance model would also receive a qualitative leap forward. Therefore, the work of rural governance has a long way to go. It is necessary to mobilize the masses, publicize to the masses, give full play to the enthusiasm and initiative of the masses, ensure that farmers exercise their right to participate in the environment according to the law, and implement a new model of government investment, joint participation among farmers, and the linkage of government and farmers, in order to promote rural ecological civilization, and promote the construction of beautiful countryside. Full article

Waste-contaminated areas have been reused and requalified environmentally across the globe, aiming to reintegrate them into urban dynamics with new functions such as public parks. This practice has attracted the attention of public health and environmental control agencies due to the scarcity of free areas and vacant spaces for creation of green areas, and d the need for more sustainable planning guidelines in large cities. The present work aimed to study processes of requalification of waste-contaminated areas for transformation in parks, using as study two cases located in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Method: Documentary research in environmental agencies, literature review and field visit. Results: In the two cases the process of requalification was unequal, with emphasis on three aspects: the actors involved in the case, the role of civil society and the action of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of São Paulo. Thus, it becomes evident that successful cases of waste-contaminated areas in the city of São Paulo are linked to the direct support of these aspects complemented with the private sector. Furthermore, a consensus is necessary among the public authorities regarding the laws of contaminated areas versus environmental damage full repair in the process of requalification. Full article

As one of the world’s largest energy consumers, China is facing the challenge of growing energy demand. Under this background, China is actively implementing the concept of green development and sustainable development route. As inexhaustible green energy, solar energy, has been established as an independent energy type by the Renewable Energy Law and has a broad development prospect. At present, the industrialization level of photovoltaic manufacturing in China is constantly improving, and the efficiency of photovoltaic power generation is constantly improving. However, from the perspective of the system, China’s photovoltaic industry supporting legal system is not perfect. There is a mismatch between the existing laws and industrial development needs, which restricts the future development of photovoltaic power generation in China. The legal environment is crucial to the development of a country’s relevant industries. Only with a good supporting legal system can the development and utilization of solar energy be carried out reasonably and orderly. The PV industry legislation should be adjusted and responded to in a timely manner according to the development situation of the PV industry and the PV market, so as to speed up the introduction of core laws in the PV field, continuously improve the supporting legal system, and effectively play the role of institutional protection of the law. Full article

Tourism eco-efficiency is an important indicator that has often been applied to measure the quality of green tourism development. This paper takes the 31 provinces of China as examples to analyze regional tourism eco-efficiency. By constructing multiple input and output indicator systems for regional tourism, we estimated the eco-efficiency of 31 provinces in 1997–2016 using an undesirable output model of a slack-based model (undesirable-SBM) for data envelopment analysis (DEA). Then, we analyzed the spatial–temporal evolutionary trends and patterns of the eco-efficiency over 20 years by using the Hot Spot Model and Spatial Center of Gravity Model. Finally, we explored the driving forces internal and external to the tourism eco-economic system using the Panel Tobit Regression Model and Geodetector Model, respectively. The results show that: In the last 20 years, the tourism eco-efficiency of provinces in China declined, though tourism has experienced rapid but extensive development. The western regions of China, which have better eco-environmental conditions, and the southeastern coastal regions, which have higher levels of economic development, have higher tourism eco-efficiency. Regions with lower tourism eco-efficiency show diffusion trends, while regions with higher tourism eco-efficiency are characterized by a lack of obvious space spillover effects. Technology is the core driving force of regional tourism eco-efficiency, while traffic conditions and social civilization levels are key external influence factors leading to improvement of tourism eco-efficiency. The research results reveal the great significance of laws for sustainable green tourism development with different economic levels in the different regions. Our work could provide a reference for similar countries and regions in the world with the rapid growth of tourism or obvious spatial differentiation in socioeconomic development. Full article

Environmental protection is mainly the focus of environmental law in China, but as China has started to pursue ecological civilization, its civil law has begun to respond to environmental problems as well, which is called the “greening of civil law”. As a result, the newly passed General Provisions of Civil Law adopted a “Green Principle” requiring private actors to contribute to resources conservation and environmental protection in civil activities. Through normative and comparative analysis, this article explores the establishment of the “Green Principle”, the rationales for civil law’s response to environmental problems in China, the progress already made, and the further efforts that are needed. It argues that the major challenge for the greening of China’s civil law at present is the modification of the subsequent sections of the forthcoming civil code. Despite the progress that has already been made, further efforts are needed regarding the following aspects: environmental and resources protection should be taken into account in contract rules concerning the validity, performance, and interpretation of contracts, and rules on emission trading contracts should be added; the property section should stipulate the unified exercise of state ownership over natural resources; and the “personality rights” section should stipulate environmental rights so as to clarify the right that is violated in environmental public interest litigation. Full article

This research assessed the role of public interest litigation in the achievement of sustainable waste management in the Addis Ababa Administration (AAA) of Ethiopia. It employed a single country case-oriented comparative research design, and data triangulation was used to establish the validity of the findings. The research first shows Ethiopia’s commitment to sustainable waste management, implementing environmental tax and the command-and-control instruments of the polluter-pays principle and public interest litigation within the context of environmental justice. Secondly, it shows that public interest litigation is one of the innovative techniques in the struggle against waste mismanagement across all legal systems. Thirdly, it demonstrates the potential role of public interest litigation in Ethiopia in encouraging the federal and regional environmental protection and management organs to implement environmental tax and command-and-control instruments. Fourthly, it uncovers that public interest litigation is not fully compatible with the Civil Procedure Code of Ethiopia. Fifthly, it shows the failure of the judiciary system of Ethiopia to accommodate environmental courts and tribunals that flexibly and innovatively adopt public interest litigation. Sixthly, it reveals that, in Ethiopia, the scope of public interest standing is highly restrictive for Civil Society Organizations (CSO). Finally, it implies that the legal viability and administrative feasibility of environmental public interest litigation in Ethiopia is in its infancy, and its crystallization is partly contingent on the cautious review of the Civil Procedure Code and CSO laws and on greening the judiciary system. Full article