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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 23622

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zhenhua Zhang

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Guest Editor

School of Economics, Lanzhou Univeristy, Lanzhou 730000, China
Interests: environmental economics; environmental policy; energy economics; energy policy; public policy evaluation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Yanchao Feng

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Guest Editor

Business School, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
Interests: energy economics; environmental management; innovation and entrepreneurship management; corporate governance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Bing Xue

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Guest Editor

Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 72 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110016, China
Interests: human-natural system analysis; policy & human dimensions in sustainability; industrial ecology and circular economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the world’s economic growth, rapid industrialization and urbanization have led to more and more serious climate change and environmental pollution. The remarkable achievements in economic development have caused countries around the world, especially developing countries, to discharge a large number of carbon emissions and environmental pollutants. Excessive emissions of CO₂ cause the greenhouse effect, which in turn leads to climate change. Environmental pollutants have many hazards. High levels of sulfur dioxide emissions lead to the formation of acid rain, causing considerable damage to ecosystems. High soot emissions are associated with a significant increase in PM_2.5 and an increase in the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Severe water pollution leads to high infant mortality rates (Greenstone and Hanna, 2014). Faced with the discharge of CO₂ and environmental pollutants and their harm, a real problem that needs to be solved is: how can various environmental protection regulations effectively control the discharge of carbon emissions and environmental pollutants? So far, developed and developing countries have established multi-participation environmental policy systems, including command-and-control policies, economic incentive policies, and public participation policies. It is of important theoretical value and practical significance to explore various environmental policies for the governance performance of the economy, society, environment, and health. This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) focuses on the current state of knowledge on the links between environmental policy and governance performance.

Dr. Zhenhua Zhang
Dr. Yanchao Feng
Prof. Dr. Bing Xue
Guest Editors

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Keywords

environmental policy
command-and-control policy
economic incentive policy
public participation policy
air pollution
water pollution
solid waste pollution
governance performance
economy performance
society performance
environment performance
health performance

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

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29 pages, 26156 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Coupling Evaluation and Spatial–Temporal Evolution of Land Ecosystem Services and Economic–Social Development in a City Group: The Case Study of the Chengdu–Chongqing City Group

by Qikang Zhong, Zhe Li and Yujing He

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(6), 5095; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20065095 - 14 Mar 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1601

Abstract

The Chengdu–Chongqing city group (CCCG) is one of the regions with acute human–land conflicts in China at present. The current rapid development of CCCG has caused a large negative impact on regional land ecosystem services. Land ecosystem is the basis of economic development. Reasonable economic development is also the inherent requirement of land ecosystem and an important support for land ecosystem protection. Promoting the coordinated development of the economy and land ecosystems is a prerequisite for this city group to achieve ecological protection and high-quality development. Taking CCCG as an example, this paper constructs a coupling evaluation model of economic–social development and land ecosystem service by using the entropy weight method, coupling coordination degree model, gravity center model, and standard deviation ellipse model, and explores the coupling coordination degree and spatial–temporal evolution rule of the above two systems. The study found that, from 2005 to 2020, the overall economic–social development of the CCCG showed an upward trend with a regular pattern of a ‘High in the east and west, low in the central’, and the ‘dual-core’ spatial structure with Chengdu and Chongqing as the core ; the overall performance of land ecosystem services had a gentle slope downward trend with a ‘U’-shaped spatial pattern of “high around and low in the middle”. The results also show that the coupling coordination degree of economic–social development and land ecosystem services in CCCG continues to rise steadily. Overall, the level of coupling coordination is low, and the type of coupling coordination has gradually evolved from severe and moderate imbalance to moderate coordination and mild imbalance. Therefore, the CCCG should make full use of the advantages of the “dual-core” cities to improve the level of peripheral economic linkage, increase investment in science and technology to enhance the endogenous power of economic development, establish cooperation mechanisms to narrow the urban gap, and integrate ecological resources to promote ecological industrialization to better realize the synergistic promotion of land ecological protection and high-quality economic development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Policy and Governance Performance)

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21 pages, 697 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Can Government Environmental Auditing Help to Improve Environmental Quality? Evidence from China

by Xiaoyu Li, Jiawei Tang, Chao Feng and Yexiao Chen

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(4), 2770; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20042770 - 4 Feb 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2628

Abstract

Promoting environmental governance to achieve green and low-carbon development is the focus of attention from all walks of life. As a policy tool to control environmental pollution, the effectiveness of environmental audits remains to be verified. Based on China’s provincial data from 2004 to 2019, this paper aims to examine the impact and mechanisms of government environmental auditing on environmental quality. Results show that government environmental auditing helps to improve overall environmental quality, but there is a certain lag effect occurring. The heterogeneity test suggests that the impact of environmental auditing on comprehensive environmental quality is more significant when the government competition is smaller, the financial situation is better, and the institutional environment is weaker. Our analysis provides empirical evidence for understanding the role and function of government environmental auditing in environmental governance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Policy and Governance Performance)

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16 pages, 368 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Environmental Regulation on Regional Innovative Ability: From the Perspective of Local Government Competition

by Dongling Wang, Yuming Zhang and Xiaoyi Zhang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 418; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010418 - 27 Dec 2022

Viewed by 1500

Abstract

We empirically investigate the relationship between environmental regulation and regional innovative ability from the perspective of government competition with a dynamic spatial model, using the 2011–2020 Chinese interprovincial panel dataset as the sample. Empirical underpinnings reveal the interconnection between environmental regulation and regional innovative ability. Further, it has been substantiated as follows: (1) environmental regulation affects regional innovative ability significantly. From the national level perspective, environmental regulation is negatively correlated with regional innovative ability. Further, vigorous environmental regulation deters regional innovative ability and produces a crowding out effect; (2) Environmental regulation has a significant spatial spillover effect on regional technological innovative ability. Meanwhile, the promulgation of environmental policy in the region will affect the innovative ability of neighboring regions; (3) It has also been concluded that there is a strategic competition among local governments in promulgation of environmental regulation, specifically in eastern and central regions which has been signified through regional regressions result. Comprehensively, the current study provides recommendations to governments for allocation of environmental policy under the aegis of regional innovation for improving regional innovative ability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Policy and Governance Performance)

21 pages, 427 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analyst Site Visits and Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure: Evidence from China

by Linyan Fan and Sheng Yao

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(23), 16223; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316223 - 4 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1892

Abstract

Compared with developed countries, emerging economy countries are facing more severe environmental challenges. Therefore, effective disclosure of corporate environmental information is an important concern for emerging economies to cope with environmental issues. There is a growing volume of literature documenting that analyst site visits can urge corporations to provide high-quality financial information to investors. However, whether analyst site visits can also improve the quality of environmental information is still unclear. In the Chinese setting, where environmental information has attracted much attention, we explore the interaction between analyst site visits and environmental information disclosure. With three regression methods of the ordinary least squares model, two-stage least square model, and difference-in-difference model, we establish regressions to verify the relationships between them by using empirical data from 2012 to 2019 in China. The results show that analyst site visits are significantly positively correlated with corporate environmental information disclosure. This positive relation is more pronounced when corporations are in economically developed and highly market-oriented areas, in poor air quality areas, and for corporations with good, reasonable internal governance. In addition, we find that analyst site visits affect the quality of environmental information disclosure through the intermediary effect of media attention. In the robustness test, further evidence also indicates that the interaction between analyst site visits and corporate environmental information disclosure was more significant before the COVID-19 lockdown policy was implemented in Wuhan. Our findings suggest that governments should provide support for analysts to conduct site visits and formulate regulations on mandatory disclosure of environmental information by different regions as soon as possible. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Policy and Governance Performance)

16 pages, 988 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Avoiding Real Harm but False Good: The Influence Mechanism of Political Relations on the Effectiveness of Environmental Regulation Policies

by Bin He, Mengzhen Qi, Ning Wang and Zhenhua Zhang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(23), 15953; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315953 - 30 Nov 2022

Viewed by 1603

Abstract

In environmental authoritarian countries, environmental pollution control relies on government environmental regulation. Theoretically, the certainty and severity of environmental regulation are the key factors in achieving its political goals. According to regulatory space theory, an effective regulatory system needs regulatory power and resources. However, the effectiveness of regulation may be decreased by the desperate need for resources, and the regulated enterprises can also affect environmental regulation through their information advantage and social networks. This paper focuses on how local environmental regulation can be achieved under these conditions. The analysis is conducted from two perspectives: the deterrence effect of punishment and the political connections maintained by enterprises. An empirical test was conducted by analyzing the research data from the 12th China Private Enterprise Survey in 2016. The study found that the severity of punishment is a mediator of environmental regulation in the promotion of enterprises’ investment in pollution control, and that it is moderated by the political relationships of enterprise managers. Compared with counterparts that have a less substantial political network, enterprises with more political networks may feel more pressure from environmental regulation policies, which leads to higher pollution fines. However, the promotion effect of environmental fines on an enterprise’s investment in pollution control is weakened due to its political relationships, thus weakening the effectiveness of the punishment. This paper clarifies the mechanism through which political connections weaken the effect of environmental regulation: political connections encourage firms to avoid real harm and do false good. Regulation is supposed to use fines as an incentive to improve the environment, but politically connected companies are more willing to pay fines (doing false good), than to invest in cleaning up pollution (avoiding real harm). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Policy and Governance Performance)

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19 pages, 1571 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Booster or Killer? Research on Undertaking Transferred Industries and Residents’ Well-Being Improvements

by Xuhui Ding, Yong Chen, Min Li and Narisu Liu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(22), 15422; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215422 - 21 Nov 2022

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2286

Abstract

Inter-regional industrial transfers would change the economic, societal, and ecological environment of the undertaking area profoundly. Some experts have recognized the ecological and environmental problems caused by industrial transfers. However, there are few studies on whether undertaking an industrial transfer will ultimately improve the well-being of residents. There is a strong application value for exploring this issue under the domestic cycle in China. This paper uses the shift-share analysis method to measure China’s inter-provincial industrial transfer from 2004 to 2019. According to the subjective and objective indicators, the article measures the level of residents’ well-being. A spatial econometric model is used to empirically test the impact of undertaking transferred industries on residents’ well-being and its mechanism. The results show that: 1. There is a significant spatial positive correlation between the well-being of residents at the national level. The empirical results also indicated significant spatial correlations at the level of the three major economic belts in the east, central, west, and northeast; 2. From the perspective of China as a whole, the inter-regional industrial transfer improved the well-being of the residents significantly, but the indirect negative effect reduced the total effect; 3. From the regional perspective, undertaking a transferred industry could significantly improve the well-being of residents in the central and eastern regions. However, in the northeast and western regions, it showed a serious negative effect. We should enhance the orderly transfer of industries deeply, considering the ecological and environmental capacities of the undertaking area fully and strictly limiting the inter-regional transfer of polluting industries. Only in this way could the government improve the well-being of residents in the industrial transfer-out areas and undertake areas effectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Policy and Governance Performance)

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20 pages, 1001 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Environmental Information Disclosure Policy and Trade on Chinese Paper Industry Environmental Effects

by Shuo Feng and Ke Chen

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(18), 11614; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811614 - 15 Sep 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1917

Abstract

While participation in the international division of labor has led to rapid economic development, it has also resulted in pressing environmental issues in China. In the context of “building a resource-saving and environment-friendly society” and the current sustainability requirements, research on the environmental impact of Chinese paper companies from the perspective of Environmental Information Disclosure (EID) policy and trade has not yet reached a consensus. This study constructs an analytical framework for the EID policy impact mechanism and trade on the environmental effects of the paper industry and enterprises. It explores the direct and indirect effects of EID policy and import-and-export trade on the paper industry environmental effects using the Propensity Score Matching and Difference-in-Differences (PSM-DID) model. EID positively impacts the pollution reduction of enterprises mainly through the technical effect. Export trade positively impacts the reduction of enterprises’ emissions through the technology effect. However, the demand of the international market increases the pollution from the paper industries, which has a negative impact. Importing will enable enterprises to obtain greater price advantages which can alleviate and transfer the costs brought by EID. This study analyzes the impact of trade on the environmental effects of Chinese paper enterprises and identifies the impact of China’s EID policy and trade on enterprises’ pollution emissions. It provides a theoretical and practical foundation for the Chinese government to formulate environmental and trade policies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Policy and Governance Performance)

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23 pages, 4716 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analyzing the Characteristics of Policies and Political Institutions for the Prevention and Control Governance of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from China

by Mingniu Dong, Cheng Zhou and Zhenhua Zhang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(17), 10980; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710980 - 2 Sep 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2614

Abstract

This study explores the institutional reasons for and logical mechanism of the Chinese government’s rapid positive results and major strategic achievements in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic prevention and control. Based on the ROST Content Mining System version 6.0 (ROST) and VOSviewer V1.6.1 (VOSviewer), we conduct an econometric visualization analysis of COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control policies to explore which strengths of Chinese political institutions have been brought into play by the Chinese government and how to systematically analyze the approaches by which these strengths support effective public governance. The findings show that: (1) “institutional strength”, “medical terminology”, “policy content”, “policy implementation object”, “policy implementation requirement”, and “policy-making and implementation actor” are the six groups of high-frequency keywords in prevention and control policies. (2) The occurrences, links, and total link strength of the seven Chinese institutional strength keywords are very high. These results mean that the Chinese government has made full use of its institutional strengths to prevent and control COVID-19. These findings indicate that institutional strengths are critical to public health crisis prevention and control. They also illustrate that institutional strength is the prerequisite and key factor for achieving effective governance in the policy process. Scientific policymaking, efficient policy implementation, and strict oversight are undeniably necessary for effective governance during public health crises. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Policy and Governance Performance)

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13 pages, 3469 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impoverishment Effect of Hydatid Disease and Precision Medical Assistance Pattern of Government: Evidence from Yushu in China

by Yaozu Xue

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 9990; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169990 - 13 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1395

Abstract

Hydatid disease is one of the 17 neglected tropical diseases recognized by WHO and causes a huge global disease burden. Hydatid disease poses a great threat to local medical poverty alleviation. In efforts to break the vicious circle of poverty, Hydatid disease has been widely concerned and discussed. In the practice of poverty alleviation in China, medical poverty alleviation is regarded as the double goal of getting rid of poverty and promoting the construction of a healthy China. On the basis of on-the-spot investigation in Yushu Prefecture, this paper conducts a follow up study on the poverty-causing effect of Hydatid disease and the precision medical assistance pattern of government using a field investigation method. The results show that Hydatid disease led to the increase of poverty in the population in Yushu Prefecture, precision medical assistance played an obvious role in treating Hydatid disease and poverty alleviation, the health service in the study area continues to improve and the medical backbone team further expanded. The main conclusion is that the three-level diagnosis and treatment framework can effectively reduce local poverty and improve people’s living environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Policy and Governance Performance)

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Review

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18 pages, 5594 KiB

Open AccessReview

Review on Eco-Environment Research in the Yellow River Basin: A Bibliometric Perspective

by Lina Liu, Jingjing Zeng, Xinnian Wu, Jiansheng Qu, Xuemei Li, Jing Zhang and Jinyu Han

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 11986; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191911986 - 22 Sep 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2223

Abstract

The Yellow River Basin (YRB) is an important economic zone and ecological barrier in China. The analysis of its research characteristics and hotspots has been helpful to grasping the future research direction. This work carried out text mining and analysis on scientific papers related to eco-environment research in the YRB from English and Chinese publications. It showed that: there was a fluctuating upward trend over the past 30 years, which was closely related to major events in the YRB during the same period. Chinese research institutions have a closer cooperation with the USA, Australia and other developed countries. More articles were from high-quality journals in ecology, the environment, and others. Interestingly, research institutions with more Chinese articles were mainly located around Beijing or the YRB. Additionally, from a research object perspective, both the English and Chinese articles have mainly focused on large areas such as the lower Yellow River, the middle reaches of the Yellow River, and the upper reaches of the Yellow River, then turning to small areas such as the Yellow River estuary and the source area of the Yellow River. Eco-environment research in the YRB has involved multiple disciplines, and “water–soil–vegetation–ecological protection” has been widely concerned. From the evolution law of hot topics, it has shown a transformation from quantity to quality, from utilization to management, from macro to micro, from construction to high-quality development. It suggests that future research should focus on water, soil, the ecological environment and local high-quality development in small regions and small watersheds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Policy and Governance Performance)

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21 pages, 783 KiB

Open AccessEssay

The Impact of Environmental Regulations on Pollution and Carbon Reduction in the Yellow River Basin, China

by Chengqing Liu, Dan Yang, Jun Sun and Yu Cheng

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 1709; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20031709 - 17 Jan 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1720

Abstract

Based on data from 69 cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2006–2018, this paper examines the impact of environmental regulations on the integrated management of air pollution and CO₂ emissions and its mechanism of action using a two-way stationary model. The results found that: (1) The impact of environmental regulations on air pollution and CO₂ emissions in the Yellow River Basin has an inverted U-shaped trend, the intensity of regulation is still on the left side of the inverted U-shaped curve, and the inflection point has not yet appeared. (2) Environmental regulations suppressed air pollution and CO₂ emissions by adjusting industrial structure, promoting technological innovation, and improving energy efficiency, but the current intensity of regulation is not sufficient to make the three paths fully effective. (3) The pollution and carbon reduction effects of environmental regulations are more significant in areas with higher marketization and resource dependence, national urban agglomerations, and the middle reaches of the Yellow River Basin. However, environmental regulations in other regions only show significant pollution reduction effects, and there is still more room for improving carbon reduction governance. Therefore, the Yellow River Basin should strengthen environmental regulations to promote ecological governance and high-quality development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Policy and Governance Performance)

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