Forecasting synergistic pathways between rare earth elements, renewable energy, and product and economic complexities in achieving a low-carbon future.

Recent decades have witnessed an unprecedented transformation in the global energy landscape, driven by environmental concerns and the quest for sustainable economic growth. As the world grapples with the urgent need for decarbonization, the utilization of renewable energy technologies with the instrumental role of rare earth elements (REEs) has come to the forefront. However, empirical investigations into their synergistic pathways for product and economic complexities concerning achieving a low-carbon future remain scarce. Therefore, we forecast synergistic pathways between the REE supply, renewable energy, economic and product complexities, and GDP growth using a panel dataset of 11 REE-producing countries from 1990 to 2023. We used Common Correlated Effects and Temporal Causal Models as primary methods to estimate panel long-run elasticities and subsequently forecast mutual causal synergies between the variables. The results indicated that REE supply led to renewable energy and economic growth that further elevated the countries' product and economic complexities rankings. GDP growth increased REE production, economic complexity, and renewable energy directly, and consequently, product complexity and REE production through them. This underscores the positive role of REE production coupled with renewable energy technologies in achieving a low-carbon future based on economic diversification, enhanced industrial capabilities, and technological sophistication.

Ecological challenges in the economic recovery of resource-depleted cities in China.

The depletion of resource reserves will cause stagnation of socio-economic development in resource-based cities. The formation of new sources of economic growth in resource-depleted cities can profoundly change the structure of human activities and affect the environment. The Chinese government has established a list of resource-depleted cities in three batches since 2008 to support these cities in finding new sources of economic growth. The article analyzes the impact of the regeneration process of resource-based cities on ecosystem quality. The paper constructs an inter-city panel dataset covering 281 cities from 2003 to 2018. The article valued the habitat quality of Chinese cities. Habitat quality index and normalized vegetation index were used to measure the long-term and short-term ecological impacts of economic recovery in resource-based cities. Using a difference-in-difference technique, the results show that the central government's economic support for resource-based cities significantly improves the condition of urban ecosystems. However, the long-term ecological effects are still smaller than the short-term changes in ecosystems. The transmission path of support policies affecting the ecological quality of cities depends on the shift in industrial structure and economic scale at the provincial level. In addition, urban-rural differences, regional distribution, and resource endowment also significantly affect the ecological effects of supportive policies.

Spatiotemporal Evolution and Regional Differences in the Production-Living-Ecological Space of the Urban Agglomeration in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River.

The urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which is the second largest urban agglomeration in China, represents a typical land space range of ecological vulnerability in China. Large differences occur in economic development mode between resource- and non-resource-based cities in this basin area. Accurate identification of the evolution and regional differences in the production-living-ecological space (PLES) is very important in order to elucidate the development and utilization of land space in the region. At present, relevant research has largely focused on the classification and determination of PLES temporal and spatial patterns. Temporal and spatial pattern research has mainly considered a single scale of administrative division, whereas fewer studies have analyzed the temporal and spatial patterns and regional differences in the PLES in ecologically fragile natural watersheds. Therefore, based on PLES classification, the regional differences in the PLES between two types of cities in the basin are measured via the Theil index and exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA). First, the ecological space (ES) of these two types of cities in the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is compressed by the production space (PS) and living space (LS), in which the ES of resource-based cities is compressed for a longer period, and the phenomenon involving PS compression by the LS and ES mainly occurs in non-resource-based cities within the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Second, the PLES of these two types of cities exhibits the characteristics of spatial aggregation, and high- and low-density areas of the PLES remain relatively stable. Third, the regional differences in the PLES of the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River mainly originate from intraregional differences. The PLES of these two types of cities in the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is more sensitive to changes in economic development than to those in the population distribution.