The impact of industrial land mismatch on carbon emissions in resource-based cities under environmental regulatory constraints-evidence from China.

Achieving carbon neutrality has become a global common goal. For China, to reach peak carbon emissions and long-term carbon neutrality, the transformation and development of resource-based cities are essential. This study uses data from 114 prefecture-level resource-based cities from 2008 to 2019 as a sample and empirically tests the impact of industrial land mismatch on carbon emissions using the fixed effects model. In addition, we analyze the heterogeneous influence of environmental regulation as a moderating effect on resource-based cities at different development stages. The study reveals that (1) there is a significant positive correlation between the imbalance in industrial land supply in resource-based cities and carbon emissions. The more severe the imbalance, the higher the carbon emissions. The improper supply mode of industrial land is also positively correlated with carbon emissions, although the impact is not significant. (2) Environmental regulation can significantly curb the carbon emission issues caused by the mismatch and imbalance in the scale of industrial land supply and the improper supply mode of industrial land. (3) Compared to strong resource-based cities, weak resource-security cities have a smaller impact on carbon emissions due to an imbalance in the supply of industrial land. This is mainly because resources in weak resource-security cities are becoming exhausted, making "ecology first, green and low carbon" the main tune for economic and social development. Both types of cities show a positive correlation between the improper supply of industrial land and carbon emissions, although neither is significant. (4) The intensity of the regulatory effect of environmental regulations on resource-based cities is influenced by resource abundance. The suppression of carbon emissions by environmental regulations is more apparent in strong resource-security cities than in weak resource-security cities.

Study of spatial spillover effects and threshold characteristics of the influence of urbanization on grain green production efficiency in China under carbon constraints.

Food security is a basic guarantee for maintaining social stability, and improving green and healthy grain production is the way to promote food security. China is currently experiencing rapid urbanization that has an impact on grain production and security, with reduced arable land, environmental pollution, insufficient agricultural population, and inadequate resource allocation. How to deal with the relationship between urbanization and grain production becomes the key to solve this problem. Therefore, this study constructs an evaluation system of grain green production efficiency (GGPE) with non-expected output containing carbon emissions, and uses the super-efficient SBM model to measure the level of GGPE, and constructs a spatial econometric model to examine the spatial correlation and spillover effect of urbanization on GGPE; then constructs a panel threshold model to analyze the nonlinear threshold characteristics between urbanization and GGPE. It was found that (1) from 2000 to 2019, China's GGPE showed an overall upward trend, and the performance of GGPE varied among different provinces. (2) According to the results of the spatial econometric model, China's GGPE shows obvious spatial characteristics, and the level of urbanization not only directly affects regional GGPE but also can indirectly affect neighboring regions' GGPE through spatial spillover effects, and the indirect effects among regions are larger than the direct effects. (3) Spatial threshold effect results, there is a significant non-linear threshold characteristic of the impact of urbanization rate on GGPE. In terms of the influence effects of other variables, the influence of each variable on GGPE is roughly in the same direction as the influence under the spatial spillover effect, but the degree of influence is slightly different.

Understanding the Corrective Effect of the Urban Growth Boundary Policy on Land Finance Dependence of Local Governments in China.

The preference for land urbanization of local governments promotes urban sprawl, which leads to the dilemma of land finance dependence (LFD) of local governments and the negative constraints on the ecosystem of urban areas in China. However, how the urban growth boundary (UGB) policy corrects local governments' reliance on land finance has not been discussed in depth. In July 2014, the UGB policy began to be piloted in fourteen cities in China, providing a setting to further reveal the effectiveness of the UGB policy. By constructing an evolutionary game simulation model to clarify the behavioral strategies that local governments tend to adopt in the context of the UGB policy implementation, this study proves that the effective implementation of the UGB policy, by controlling the urban land capacity, can help solve local governments' LFD dilemma in China. The UGB policy consists of a set of technical means and policy tools that controls urban sprawl. It breaks the "unlimited land capacity" situation faced by local governments in China by limiting the urban land capacity within a given period of time, and has become a new solution to the dilemma of LFD. The implementation of the UGB policy highlighted the shortage of urban land, which has led to the increasing cost of land finance for local governments and constraints on local governments' LFD behavior. The shortage has also forced local governments to adjust and optimize their fiscal revenue structure. The UGB policy induced ongoing evolution in the benefit distribution among relevant entities in land finance, motivated local governments and other entities to adjust their primary strategies, and made it possible to address the dilemma of LFD in China.

Evaluating the Sustainable Land Use in Ecologically Fragile Regions: A Case Study of the Yellow River Basin in China.

How to realize the sustainable use of land resources is extremely important for environmental protection and sustainable development in ecologically fragile regions. Nevertheless, the logic of achieving sustainable land use (SLU) in ecologically fragile regions and the corrective mechanisms for the implementation of land use efficiency systems are not fully revealed in theory. The Yellow River Basin is an important ecological barrier in China, and it holds an important position in China's economic and social development, as well as for ecological safety. However, the basin is also ecologically vulnerable. Therefore, investigating eight central cities in the Yellow River Basin of China and using municipal-level panel data from 2009 to 2018, this paper constructs a multidimensional index system and is dedicated to carrying out a comprehensive evaluation of SLU and the diagnosis of obstacle factors in ecologically fragile regions. The study found the following: (1) From 2009 to 2018, the SLU level in the central cities of the Yellow River Basin evolved from the "Unsustainable Level" to the "Initial Sustainable Level" and then to the "Basic Sustainable Level". The overall development trend was positive, and the level of SLU also rose. (2) From 2009 to 2018, there was significant geographical variation in spatial disparities in SLU in the central cities of the Yellow River Basin. In 2018, the average comprehensive score of SLU showed a pattern of downstream > upstream > midstream. (3) The obstacle factors of SLU in the Yellow River Basin of these cities in 2009 were concentrated on resource and environmental sustainability, while those in 2018 were concentrated on social acceptability. (4) In terms of the transfer process of land use types in these Yellow River Basin cities, the transfer from cultivated land to other types of land use played a major role, while construction land showed a significant expansion over the past ten years.