Search Results (34)

Green and low-carbon development of supply chains represents a practical approach to addressing climate change and enhancing corporate competitiveness. From the perspective of the relationship between policy subsidies and channel power structures, this paper constructs Stackelberg game models under four different scenarios to conduct theoretical analyses of the optimal strategies, supported by numerical simulations. The research findings reveal the following. (1) Under the product subsidy policy, the enhancement of consumers’ green preference will lead to a green premium, and in the case of the technology subsidy policy, consumers’ green preference will inhibit wholesale prices and retail prices. However, there is a threshold in the manufacturer-led case, and a “green premium” is also claimed when this threshold is exceeded. (2) The effects of the product subsidy policy and the green technology level subsidy policy on prices are opposite, where an increase in the product subsidy will increase the wholesale price and retail price, while an increase in the green technology level subsidy will reduce the wholesale price. The technology subsidy policy has a more significant effect on the promotion of green technology. (3) The power of supply chain channels will directly affect corporate profits, and the leader of the supply chain often has higher profits. Compared with product subsidies, technology subsidies can inhibit the channel power of retailers. Full article

In recent years, global climate and environmental issues have become prominent, making green housing a major focus. However, during the development of green housing, there is a tendency to prioritize design while neglecting the operation. Meanwhile, house owners’ green rights and interests during the operation stage are not well protected. In response, some countries have promoted green housing insurance. However, this type of insurance remains immature because of insufficient public awareness, a lack of supporting policies, and limited practical application. These challenges result in low acceptance among house owners, hindering the development of green insurance and green housing sector. To address this issue, this study applies the push–pull theory to establish a driver system for house owners’ acceptance of green housing, considering internal push and external pull drivers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is then used to analyze the mechanisms that drive house owners’ acceptance. The key findings are as follows: (1) drivers in the pull dimension have a stronger impact on acceptance than drivers in the push dimension; and (2) premium subsidies and economic compensation play a crucial role in driving house owners to accept green housing insurance. This study identifies the key drivers and pathways that influence the acceptance of green housing insurance, providing valuable insights for increasing public recognition and acceptance. The findings can contribute to the development of the green housing industry. Full article

This study introduces an evolutionary game model to investigate the strategic interaction among government regulatory agencies, shopping center investors, and tenants in the global energy-saving renovation market. The focus is on three innovative aspects. Firstly, the model reveals that positive tenant behavior can stimulate investors’ participation in energy-saving renovation projects by triggering potential market demand, thereby establishing a dynamic balance between supply and demand. This viewpoint has been previously overlooked in energy renovation research. Secondly, the model demonstrates the dynamic transformation of government regulatory strategies. In the early stages of market development, direct intervention through subsidies and penalties is crucial, and investors’ decisions are constrained by both returns and costs. When returns exceed the cost premium, investors actively participate, and policy incentives lower early cost barriers to promote market expansion. As the market matures, a transition toward policy guidance optimizes sustainable outcomes. Thirdly, extensive numerical simulations have confirmed the existence of multiple stable equilibrium states under different incentive and cost conditions, providing new evidence for the stability and adaptability of the energy-saving renovation market. These findings significantly advance the theoretical understanding of multi-stakeholder interactions in green building transformation and provide practical guidance for developing adaptive and effective policy frameworks. Full article

The substitution of fast-growing biogenic materials for high-carbon footprint extractive materials is increasingly discussed as a climate change mitigation tool. This review is based on a comprehensive literature search conducted in Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases for publications, focusing on keywords such as “bamboo” and “sustainable construction”. Through this literature and bibliometric analysis, we identify the relative interest in timber bamboo as a sustainable building material and review the carbon-capturing and structural properties that underly bamboo’s growing research interest. However, this has yet to translate into any material degree of adoption in mainstream construction. Given the near absence of subsidies, regulatory mandates, and “green premiums”, timber bamboo must become fully cost-competitive with existing materials to achieve adoption and provide its carbon-mitigation promise. In addition to academic sources, the review draws on the professional expertise of the authors, who have extensive experience in the bamboo industry. Using this expertise, the main problems preventing timber bamboo’s cost competitiveness are analyzed with possible solutions proposed. The combination of rigorous research and industry insights ensures practical applicability. Finally, the beneficial climate prospects of adopting timber bamboo buildings in substitution for 25% of new cement buildings is projected at over 10 billion tons of reduced carbon emissions from 2035 to 2050 and nearly 45 billion tons of reduced carbon emissions from 2035 to 2100. Full article

This paper introduces a tontine-like annuity fund designed to provide lifelong income to its participants. Initially, each member contributes a lump-sum payment into a trust fund as a joining premium. Participants then receive benefits over time, based on their survival. As members pass away, their share of payouts is redistributed among the survivors, resulting in increased payouts for those remaining. Differing from traditional tontines, which assume a uniform mortality risk, this fund accommodates participants of various ages and allows new members to join during its operation. To accommodate these features, the authors utilize age-structured models (ASMs) to determine fair premiums for new entrants and to analyze the dynamics of benefit distribution. The core objective of this paper is to develop a pension model using ASMs, recognizing its significant potential for adaptation and expansion. The primary mathematical approach employed is the Maximum Principle from optimal control theory, which helps in deriving explicit solutions for the optimal subsidy strategy. Through numerical examples and detailed illustrations, the paper demonstrates that participants who remain in the cohort longer receive greater subsidies. Additionally, the study finds that adverse shocks lead to a smaller population and thus fewer subsidies. Conversely, starting with a larger initial cohort population tends to increase the overall population, resulting in more subsidies. However, higher costs associated with subsidies lead to their reduction. Our analysis reveals the complex interplay of factors influencing the sustainability and effectiveness of the proposed annuity model. Full article

The collaborative promotion of agricultural green technology innovation and adoption (AGTIA) is essential for achieving green agriculture. However, there remains a need to raise both innovation and adoption levels, necessitating explorations of the effects of government subsidies and collaborative mechanisms. To this end, this paper builds an evolutionary game model to analyze the collaborative promotion of AGTIA. By introducing relevant parameters, such as government subsidies for AGTIA, dividends and liquidated damages within industrial technology innovation alliances (ITISAs), and cost reduction coefficients, this paper explores the impacts of the technology spillover effect, price premium of green agricultural products, and government subsidies on the strategic choices of related participants. The main findings are as follows: (1) The key factors influencing AGTIA are different and the government can implement different combinations of dynamic and static subsidy mechanisms at distinct stages of agricultural green development. Government subsidies play a major role at the initial stage, while ITISAs should take fuller advantage of AGTIA as green agriculture matures. (2) Increasing subsidies can promote AGTIA at the initial stage. However, an optimal range of subsidies exists, and when subsidies are higher than a certain threshold, government subsidy willingness fluctuations may lead to decreased stability. (3) There is a threshold of liquidated damages within ITISAs. Only when liquidated damages exceed the threshold can they facilitate the development of durable ITISAs and discourage free-rider behavior. The above findings can provide theoretical support for relevant government sectors when issuing policies to promote AGTIA and agricultural green development. Full article

China has invested substantial financial subsidies to promote the development of crop insurance; however, the insurance demand among farmers remains notably low, resulting in significant welfare loss. Based on a field survey conducted in 2021 in seven major grain-producing counties in Jiangsu Province, this study analyses the relationship between premium subsidy rates and the welfare effects of subsidies through theoretical model derivation and explores the impact of farmer heterogeneity on the results. This study innovatively introduces a power law distribution model to elucidate the distributional characteristics of farmers’ crop insurance demand, demonstrates the significant limitations of the linear demand model in welfare research, and effectively analyzes the welfare effects of China’s current crop insurance premium subsidy policy. The results indicate that: (1) the actual crop insurance demand of farmers aligns more closely with a power law distribution, and its long-tailed characteristics refute the assumption of linear distribution; (2) there exists an inverted “U”-shaped relationship between the subsidy ratio and the welfare effect, and an excessively high subsidy ratio produces substantial unnecessary losses; (3) variations in welfare effects exist among farmers in different regions, risk attitudes, and cultivation scales, but the range of differences between groups is limited. Full article

The frequency and economic damage of natural disasters have increased globally over the last two decades due to climate change. This increase has an impact on the disaster insurance field, particularly in the calculation of premiums. Many regions have a shortcoming in employing insurance because the premium is too high compared with their budget allocation. As one of the solutions, the premium calculation can be developed by applying the cross-subsidies mechanism based on economic growth. Therefore, this research aims to develop premium models of natural disaster insurance that uniquely involve two new variables of an insured region: cross-subsidies and the economic growth rate. Another novelty is the development of the Black–Scholes model, considering the two new variables, and it is used to formulate the premium model. Following the modeling process, this study uses the model to estimate the premiums for natural disaster insurance in each province of Indonesia. The estimation results show that all new variables involved in the model novelties significantly affect the premiums. This research can be used by insurance companies to determine the premium of natural disaster insurance, which involves cross-subsidies and economic growth. Full article

New energy vehicles (NEVs) offer a sustainable private transportation alternative. Charging points are the source of power for NEVs; thus, their construction can significantly lower the costs associated with their use, thereby encouraging their adoption. This could potentially impact the subway demand, which is reflected by the relationship between housing prices and subway proximity in this paper, leading to a decrease in the premium for properties near subway stations. Utilizing a comprehensive data set of 599,916 housing transactions in Beijing and a difference-in-differences approach based on the hedonic price model, we found that China’s NEV charging point subsidy policy significantly decreases the subway premium of housing prices and mitigates housing price disparities. Furthermore, we explored the spatial heterogeneity of this impact, finding that the policy has less influence on residents living near the city center. Our findings indicate that the policy has resulted in a considerable decrease in the subway premium, ranging from ¥19,217 to ¥55,936 ($2745 to $7991) per transaction, which is equivalent to the annual income for an average individual at the time of the policy. The results address the far-reaching implications and significant role of NEV development in urban transportation. Full article

Organic agriculture is a sustainable form of farming that can protect the environment. However, the high production costs of organic agriculture deter farmers from switching to organic farming. To support the development of organic agriculture, many governments offer subsidies to farmers or retailers. We develop an evolutionary game model to investigate the effect of government subsidies on organic agriculture and the conditions under which the government should subsidize farmers or retailers. We find that subsidizing farmers or retailers can promote agricultural development. Government subsidies lower the requirement for social responsibility and the premium that retailers offer. Furthermore, if the consumer’s social responsibility is sufficiently low, the government’s best choice is to subsidize retailers. If the social responsibility premium is medium, the government’s best choice is to subsidize farmers. Finally, higher subsidies motivate more farmers to produce organic products when the government subsidizes retailers. Conversely, if the government subsidizes farmers, it is more conducive to reducing the burden on retailers to purchase organic products. Full article

This paper presents a new economic profitability model for a power-to-gas plant producing green hydrogen at the site of an existing wind power plant injected into the gas grid. The model is based on a 42 MW wind power plant, for which an optimal electrolyzer of 10 MW was calculated based on the 2500 equivalent full load hours per year and the projection of electricity prices. The model is calculated on an hourly level for all variables of the 25 years of the model. With the calculated breakeven electricity price of 74.23 EUR/MWh and the price of green hydrogen production of 99.44 EUR/MWh in 2045, the wind power plant would produce 22,410 MWh of green hydrogen from 31% of its total electricity production. Green hydrogen injected into the gas system would reduce the level of CO₂ emissions by 4482 tons. However, with the projected prices of natural gas and electricity, the wind power plant would cover only 20% of the income generated by the electricity delivered to the grid by producing green hydrogen. By calculating different scenarios in the model, the authors concluded that the introduction of a premium subsidy model is necessary to accelerate deployment of electrolyzers at the site of an existing wind power plant in order to increase the wind farm profitability. Full article

Natural disasters are increasing due to climate change, which is causing economic losses for countries affected by them. Disaster management funds need to be provided, including through purchasing insurance. Determining natural disaster insurance premiums needs to involve consideration of the geographical conditions of the country. The aim of this research was to develop a model for determining natural disaster insurance premiums using the jumping processes method and a cross-subsidy system. The model takes into account the level of economic growth and the natural disaster potential index. The data analyzed relate to cases of natural disasters and losses that occurred in each province in Indonesia. From the results of the analysis, it was found that through a cross-subsidy system, the principle of mutual cooperation can be applied in managing natural disasters. Regions with a high level of economic growth and a low natural disaster potential index need to provide subsidies to regions with a low economic growth rate and a high natural disaster potential index. It was also found that the cost of insurance premiums was influenced by the size of losses and the frequency of natural disasters in the province. The greater the potential for disasters and economic losses experienced by a province due to disasters, the greater the premium burden that must be borne, and vice versa. Based on these conditions, insurance premiums vary in each province in Indonesia. It is hoped that the results of this research can provide a reference for the government in determining policies for providing funds for natural disaster management using a cross-subsidy system. In addition, this research can provide a reference for insurance companies in determining natural disaster insurance premiums in Indonesia. Full article

In the international context of pursuing green development, a good connection between the production and consumption ends is a necessary condition for forming a diversified governance interaction system. The academic community has conducted in-depth discussions on green behavior among enterprises and the public. However, few studies have focused on the docking process between the subjects. Therefore, this paper takes Chinese participants as an example to design a game experiment, considering the role of government regulation. From a dynamic, interactive perspective, it explores the motivation for green behavior between the public and enterprises, as well as the effectiveness of government subsidies. The research results indicate that: (i) The public is willing to burden a premium for the green behavior of enterprises, which has significant differences in substantive and symbolic green behavior. (ii) In green consumption scenarios, public purchasing information can be transmitted to enterprises, but the reverse path has not yet been verified. (iii) Government subsidies have a strong incentive effect on public green behavior. (iv) There are significant differences in the impact of public environmental awareness on public green behavior, but there is no significant difference in the green behavior of enterprises. The research conclusion provides theoretical support for the study of public and enterprise behavioral variables and provides a practical basis for enterprise management and government governance. This will facilitate the construction of a systematic and effective environmental governance framework, thereby promoting coordinated green development among entities. Full article

Organic agriculture (OA) is a continuously growing global concept that emphasizes the use of sustainable and environmentally-friendly practices. By adopting OA, it is possible to improve ecosystems services, increase biodiversity, decrease environmental pollution, reduce carbon footprints and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, generating food that is free from harmful residues of agrochemicals, thereby enhancing food safety and security. This study provides a comprehensive review of the latest insights on the global utilization of land resources in OA, focusing particularly on some EU countries that experienced a notable and rapid progress in organic farming during the past two decades. With negligible 1.6% (75 Mha) of global cropland is currently dedicated to OA, there is ample opportunity to expand the adoption of OA and realize its multi-beneficial potential for farmers (by premium prices), and consumers (by healthier and nutritious food). The importance of OA has been recognized by the most recent EU agro-environmental policies and green strategies, with an ambitious goal to have at least 25% of agroecosystems under organic management by 2030. Despite numerous financial supports and a multifold increase in OA land area, many member states are unlikely to achieve this goal, including Croatia, which currently has a share of only 8% (~109,000 ha) of lands in OA. Furthermore, converting conventional land to organic farming has not always led to an increase in value-added final OA products. EU policies related to OA have been focused on the area of land cultivated organically, rather than overall production performance, and financial subsidies have been essential to achieve this policy. Therefore, some of critical obstacles and challenges for OA under rising pressures due to global climate change, public health and geopolitical crises need to be managed by specifically designed policies and regulations, which would contribute to more sustainable OA, i.e., food safety and security. Full article

High atmospheric temperatures can reduce maize production in different parts of Asia. Heat stress is the major driving force behind the need for varietal development that confers a heat tolerance trait (drought + heat tolerant) to maize hybrids. CIMMYT has developed heat-tolerant maize hybrids and deployed them in the market in collaboration with NARS partners. This study was conducted to estimate farmers’ willingness to pay for heat-tolerant maize hybrids in the Terai region of Nepal. A socioeconomic survey of 404 randomly selected maize-growing households was conducted to estimate farmers’ willingness to pay using the contingent valuation method. Given the economic importance of heat-tolerant maize hybrids in maize cultivation, the survey showed that the average WTP for heat-tolerant maize hybrids was 71% more than that for the current varieties in the market, including overall seed sources and subsidized seed. Without a subsidy, the farmers’ WTP price was at a 19% premium compared to the average price paid for conventional hybrids. Factors such as education, owning land, the interaction of hybrid adopters and owning land, soil depth, the number of goats/sheep, and the semi-pucca homes of households influenced the WTP for heat-tolerant maize hybrids. Heterogeneous demand was observed with respect to years of hybrid maize cultivation, farmers’ association with the network group, and the gender of the head of the household. In the context of climate change and global warming scenarios, Nepal’s agriculture policy should prioritize increasing domestic seed production and the distribution of heat-tolerant maize hybrids through a public–private partnership model. Full article