Adequate protection of the environment is one of the hot spots of concern for all sectors of society due to severe environmental pollution. The solution to this issue is friendly management of the environment. With the rapid growth of Chinese Manufacturing SMEs for economic development, environmental pollution and abuse of resources are arising. To resolve these issues, Chinese manufacturing SMEs are accelerating the implementation of green innovation in their industries. However, it is a complex task that involves enterprise, government, and social considerations. Therefore, it is essential to identify the green drivers for this implementation. With a focus on China\'s current situation from previous research and views from experts, this study aims to investigate how Chinese Manufacturing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are responding to resource misuse and environmental pollution by implementing green innovation, emphasising the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in improving environmental performance. This study primarily looks into the factors that influence the adoption of green innovations by analysing the growth paths of Chinese SMEs operating in highly polluting industries over a longer time frame than five years. Artificial Intelligence is a valuable tool for solving the issues of ecological degradation. A quantitative method has been implemented for the Chinese companies\' samples from the deeply polluting industries for more than five years. The findings of this paper advise that the average board size, the governing board meetings, and organizational performance are positively connected with the Chinese firms\' environmental process. Board independence and diversity of gender have irrelevant associations with ecological performance. A convenient threshold regression model has been used to accumulate the respondents\' data. It also reveals that larger board sizes and more frequent governing board meetings are positively associated with improved environmental performance among these firms. The findings state the critical implications for the firm executives, policymakers, environmental activists, and regulators. This result supports the insight drained from the resource dependence, stakeholder, firm agency, and legitimacy theories.

Balancing economic growth with environmental conservation poses a universal challenge for governments worldwide. This study investigates the intricate interplay between governments\' economic-environmental trade-offs and their implementation of policies aimed at promoting Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER). Given the discretion of Chinese local governments in economic and environmental policy, we take China as a case study. To conduct this research, we first merge critical data on China\'s economic growth targets and environmental regulations with information on listed enterprises. Then, we employ a \"U-shaped\" relationship model to examine the impact of these trade-offs on CER implementation. The results reveal that: (1)The effective fulfillment of CER by enterprises is primarily driven by stricter environmental regulations. (2) Economic growth targets can, to some extent, diminish the policy effect of environmental regulations on CER fulfillment. (3)The crowding-out effect of economic growth targets is particularly pronounced within specific subsets of enterprises, including state-owned enterprises, heavily polluting firms, and those facing high profit pressure. These findings imply that when local governments implement contradictory policies, they must consider not only enterprises\' political connections and economic contributions but also pay close attention to the survival dilemma of enterprises. This balancing act aims to harmonize conflicting policy objectives. This research deepens the understanding of how institutional and policy frameworks impact enterprise engagement in CER, especially within the context of governments\' economic-environmental trade-offs. It sheds light on the strategies employed by China and other emerging economies to effectively leverage contradictory policies to foster sustainable green growth.

In a sustainable economy, each firm perceives different levels of carbon risk, but there are few studies on the relationship between a firm\'s carbon risk perception and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance. This paper examines the impact of firm-level carbon risk perception on ESG performance using Chinese A-share listed firms during 2011-2020. We find a positive relationship between firm-level perception of carbon risk and firm ESG performance. Further analysis shows that analyst coverage and media attention exert a substantial moderating effect on the link between carbon risk perception and ESG performance. We identify three channels through which carbon risk perception affects ESG performance. First, rising carbon risk perception enables firms to take measures to reduce pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions and increases environmental (E) scores. Second, this perception encourages firms to take responsibility for social employment and increases social (S) scores. Finally, it improves firm sustainable governance and further increases governance (G) scores. Our research has an important guiding role in promoting firm ESG practice.

The study aims to investigate how political factors such as government policies and economic development impact carbon emissions and subsequently affect the fertility rates in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The study made use of the data sourced from the World Development Indicators (WDI) and World Governance Indications (WGI) covering 45 SSA countries for the period 2000 -2021. The study applied the Pooled Ordinary Least Squares, and control for endogeneity, and the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The results show that carbon footprints have the potential of reducing fertility rate in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This impact in the full sample was also reflected in most of the subregions. With respect to governance, the result shows that regulatory quality has the potential of improving fertility rate in SSA. On the other hand, government effectiveness has a reduction impact on fertility rate. The research highlights the need for sustainable development policies that take into consideration the impact of carbon footprints on fertility rates in SSA.
L\'étude vise à étudier comment des facteurs politiques tels que les politiques gouvernementales et le développement économique ont un impact sur les émissions de carbone et affectent par la suite les taux de fécondité en Afrique subsaharienne (ASS). L\'étude a utilisé les données provenant des Indicateurs de développement dans le monde (WDI) et des Indications de la gouvernance mondiale (WGI) couvrant 45 pays d\'ASS pour la période 2000-2021. L\'étude a appliqué la méthode des moindres carrés ordinaires groupés, le contrôle de l\'endogénéité et la méthode des moments généralisés (GMM). Les résultats montrent que les empreintes carbone ont le potentiel de réduire le taux de fécondité en Afrique subsaharienne (ASS). Cet impact sur l’échantillon complet s’est également reflété dans la plupart des sous-régions. En ce qui concerne la gouvernance, le résultat montre que la qualité de la réglementation a le potentiel d’améliorer le taux de fécondité en ASS. D’un autre côté, l’efficacité du gouvernement a un impact réducteur sur le taux de fécondité. La recherche souligne la nécessité de politiques de développement durable qui prennent en compte l’impact de l’empreinte carbone sur les taux de fécondité en ASS.

Environment has detrimental effects on economic activity and human survival. Climate change is increasingly conducive to natural disasters, epidemics, social conflicts, food security, financial shocks, economic hardships, and life subsistence. In pursuit of this issue, this study empirically investigates the effects in outcome variable CO2 provoked by independent variables governance, technological innovation, renewable energy, economic growth, and economic policy uncertainty in APEC economies. The APEC region accounts for 60% of global emissions, 62% of world GDP, 48% of global trade and contribute 8.7% renewable energy annually. A dynamic panel PMG-ARDL model is applied under the assumption of maximum likelihood estimation with DH causality and CS-ARDL for the period of 1996-2020. Our empirical results confirm that governance, technology innovation, and transitional energy have significant and positive effect to mitigate CO2 emissions. The region needs to design policy mechanisms supportive to promote institutional quality, enhances transparency, ensure political stability and rule of law. It develops the infrastructure that ensures the adaptation of technology innovations, promotes green growth, improves energy efficiency, and implements carbon pricing mechanism. Economic policy uncertainty has insignificant and positive effects on environmental degradation. The findings show that governance, technological development, and transitional energy have an essential role to mitigate CO2 emissions and achieve sustainable development. Moreover, this study will be helpful in understanding the implications of SDGs and achieving specific targets such as (SDG-7: Clean energy sources) and (SDG-8: Sustainable development goal) based on the largest set of emitters APEC.

Natural Resource Protection (NRP) has been on the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is considered a pathway to sustainable development. The analysis of the determinants of NRP has received the attention of policymakers in framing evidence-based policies and strategies. Renewable energy (RE) is a major contributor to natural resource protection. However, existing studies have provided inconclusive evidence on the role of renewable energy in the NRP. This study primarily focuses on the assessment of how RE influences NRP in 22 developing economies. This study considers the nonlinear association between RE and NRP. Moreover, the role of governance effectiveness, financial technology, urbanization, and FDI in the NRP were also assessed. Furthermore, the analyses also explore the NRP-Kuznets curve by examining the role of economic growth in the NRP. The study, which detected cross-sectional dependence (CSD), heterogeneity, autocorrelation, and heteroskedasticity in the data, uses pooled regression with Driscoll-Kraay Standard Errors (DKSEs) and GLS for the econometric analysis. The results revealed a U-shaped relationship between renewable energy and NRP. Moreover, governance effectiveness, FINTECH, and FDI contribute to NRP, but urbanization has a negative impact on NRP. The analysis concludes an inverted U-shaped association between GDP per capita and NRP. A Bayesian regression analysis was also performed to validate the robustness of the results. Based on these findings, this study makes policy recommendations for improving NRP. Policymakers should prioritize renewable energy and sustainable resource exploitation through incentives and investments. Improving governance, adopting environmental rules, and involving stakeholders are critical. Financial technology can facilitate long-term investment in sustainability. Sustainable urban design should reduce the adverse effects of urbanization. FDI should be aligned with long-term development goals and appropriate resource management. Balancing economic growth with environmental protection requires multifaceted measures that promote green development and resource efficiency. Policy coherence and stakeholder participation are also critical.

Africa, over the past years, has put various measures in place in the fight against carbon emissions. Achieving net zero carbon has caused the continent researchers to investigate various conditions required for a successful transition. Therefore, the political system cannot be left out since it plays a major role in decision-making. This study contributes to previous literature analyzing the empirical effect of financial development and governance quality on carbon emissions. The study is focused on 52 African countries with data from 1996 to 2021. Panel quantile and generalized method of moments are used for the analysis. The result indicates that financial development contributes to environmental degradation, government effectiveness, rule of law, and political stability which promote environmental pollution; however, control of corruption, renewable energy, and economic growth promote ecological sustainability. According to the aforementioned, it is crucial for governments to include financial development plans in national environmental strategies, particularly for those in African nations. Furthermore, governments should put restrictions on trade to control the trade of high-carbon technologies.

Environmental pollution has aggravated the climate change issues posing unusual challenges to the survival and growth of humanity, including extreme weather, loss of species, and sustainability of the ecosystem in developing countries. Unlike previous studies, this paper adds new dimension to the literature by incorporating corruption into agriculture production-environment nexus. This study adds new dimension to the literature by examining corruption, agriculture, and renewable energy on CO2 emissions. The study therefore examines the effects of governance (corruption) and agriculture production on CO2 emissions in 20 countries in Africa from 1990 to 2019. The study employed recent panel econometric approach which accounts for cross-sectional dependence in the variables. The findings of the fixed effect model and panel dynamic ordinary least squares (PDOLS) show that forest and renewable energy consumption decrease CO2 emissions. However, corruption, agriculture production, export, and urbanization escalate CO2 emissions in African countries covered in the paper. Moreover, the Dumitrescu-Hurlin Granger causality indicates a bidirectional causality between agriculture production and CO2 emissions, renewable energy use, agricultural output, and forest. Also, unidirectional Granger causality runs from corruption to forest and agriculture production. On these premises, consented efforts by governments should be made to support good institutions in order to promote good governance to avert pervasive consequences of corruption on the environment.

Vaccine hesitancy has dramatically decreased the speed of vaccination and stalled global health development. While the factors influencing vaccine hesitancy and mitigation measures have been explored in depth by existing studies, research from the perspective of human interaction is lacking. Based on the theory of collective action, this paper analyzes how free riding behavior affects vaccine hesitancy and how the vaccine hesitancy caused by free riding behavior can be solved. Using 2,203 survey data sets from China, this paper examines the influence of the collective action dilemma - represented by free riding behavior - on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. The empirical results show that the existence of free riding behavior is an essential cause of vaccine hesitancy. Based on this conclusion, this paper discusses how to further alleviate the problem of vaccine hesitancy caused by collective action dilemmas by promoting cooperation. The findings of this paper may be helpful to promote various types of vaccines and further suggest that countries should assume the perspective of solving the collective action dilemma to achieve increased vaccination rates.

In recent years, novel coronavirus has been rampant all over the world, and environmental pollution has increasingly become an unavoidable problem. The history of human development seems to be always accompanied by environmental pollution. In 1858, the appearance of the big stink in London reflected the serious pollution of Thames River in the process of industrialization. The pollution of the Thames River has aroused widespread concern of all groups in Britain, and the long road of pollution control in Britain has brought profound historical lessons. However, what future generations need to really learn from it is to get rid of the dilemma of pollution before treatment. This study takes the Thames River as an analogy, positioning human destruction of nature as the intertwined of history, and pushing the debate on environmental science, peace science, and history to a climax in order to reach wise recommendations on environmental protection, which is very necessary on the contemporary stage. While promoting the progress of human civilization, strengthening the protection of the environment may be the best way to break the traditional dilemma.