西部大开发十五年环境效率评价及其影响因素分析

西部大开发政策实施以来,西部地区实现了快于东部和中部的经济增长。正确认识西部地区经济增长中的环境成本,评价西部地区的环境效率具有重要意义。本文运用考虑非期望产出的超效率SBM模型测算了2000—2014年西部大开发以来的环境效率。研究发现:西部地区环境效率偏低,处于相对无效状态。西部地区环境效率明显低于传统效率,经济增长付出了较高的环境代价。西部大开发以来传统效率与环境效率之间的差距呈现先扩大后缩小的"倒U"型走势变化。西部地区省份环境效率在全国排名靠后,各省份的环境效率呈现出差异化的发展态势,其中重庆和四川排名不断提升,新疆排名逐步回落,内蒙古和广西在西部地区排名相对靠前且比较稳定,云南和陕西一直处于中间水平,贵州、甘肃、青海、宁夏排名相对靠后。西部地区环境效率2000—2003年上升,2004—2010年不断下降,2010—2014年趋于平稳。西部地区环境效率低于东部地区且差距大,也低于中部地区和全国平均水平。通过收敛性检验发现,西部地区各省份间的环境效率差距呈现先缩小后扩大的趋势;西部地区与东部地区间的环境效率差距逐渐扩大,与中部地区间的环境效率差距先扩大后缩小。本文同时采用了Tobit模型进行面板回归,实证分析了西部地区环境效率的影响因素。结果表明:经济发展水平、科学技术水平、能源消费结构、环保投资力度对西部地区环境效率具有显著影响;产业结构变化和对外开放程度对西部地区环境效率影响不显著;西部地区存在环境效率的库兹涅茨曲线。     

强“波特假说”存在产业异质性吗?——基于产业碳密集程度细分的视角

强"波特假说"认为严格而恰当的环境规制政策将使企业的生产效率呈现先降后升的趋势,为验证强"波特假说"及其产业异质性,首先建立产业碳密集指数,将工业部门36个细分行业划分为高碳密集产业、中碳密集产业和低碳密集产业;接着运用方向性距离函数测算2003—2014年细分行业的绿色全要素生产率,基于系统"GMM"估计方法验证三个细分行业的环境规制强度对绿色全要素生产率的影响。研究结果显示:第一,样本期间内,高碳密集产业的环境规制强度远远高于中低碳密集产业,这表明高碳密集产业一直是产业节能减排的重点对象,而碳排放情况较为严重的中碳密集产业则为"被遗忘的角落";第二,强"波特假说"在工业部门内存在产业异质性,高碳密集产业和中碳密集产业的环境规制强度与绿色全要素生产率呈"U"型关系,而在低碳密集产业中两者则呈倒"U"型关系;第三,相对于高碳密集产业,中碳密集产业因环境规制强度较容易跨越"U"型拐点而具有较大的减排空间,低碳密集产业在达到"U"型拐点之前,环境规制为其绿色全要素生产率提升的动力。本文研究结论蕴含如下的政策建议:根据产业的碳密集程度实施针对性的环境规制政策,持续加强中碳密集产业的环境规制力度,适度加强低碳密集产业的环境规制强度,高碳密集产业需根据不同阶段的经济水平设计具有针对性的环境规制政策,逐渐将三类产业的"遵循成本"效应转化为"创新补偿"效应,实现经济增长和环境保护的双赢。     

海底可燃冰开发环境风险多元共治之论证与路径展开

有效规制海底可燃冰开发伴生的多种类型生态环境风险,是保障可燃冰产业健康发展的内在需求。本文的主要目的即在中国现行法律体系规定的多元共治的环境法治理念和制度框架下,研究海底可燃冰开发环境风险多元共治的理论基础、现实必要性及其制度路径。文章主要运用类型化方法来梳理与归纳海底可燃冰开发引致环境风险的具体类型;运用理论分析与价值分析方法,论证海底可燃冰开发环境风险多元共治的必要性;运用法教义学分析、比较分析与系统分析方法,检视与剖析我国传统行政管制模式下的制度体系在规制海底可燃冰开发环境风险中的绩效与利弊,归纳与展开海底可燃冰开发环境风险多元共治的制度路径。本文的基本结论是,传统环境管制模式难以有效治理海底可燃冰开发引致的新型环境风险,当前我国所创新的环境多元共治模式,可以矫正政府单维管制海底可燃冰开发环境风险中的缺陷、弥补"监管之法"在规制海底可燃冰开发环境风险中的疏漏、克服单一行政命令方式在规制海底可燃冰开发环境风险中的困境,系统构建海底可燃冰开发环境风险多元治理体系。在完善行政监管和推进私人治理两个层面对海底可燃冰开发环境风险多元共治的基础上提出具体建议。在完善行政监管层面,我国《环境保护法》《海洋环境保护法》等法律规范经过拓展解释适用,仍然因为规制路径的间接性、零散性而产生内生弊端,亟待专门立法;在推进私人治理层面,多元共治机制分为多元主体参与机制与诉讼机制,应重视通过鼓励环保公益组织、可燃冰行业协会与私人等多元主体采取多元参与和私益诉讼方式,以发挥其在规制海底可燃冰开发环境风险中的综合效用。     

中国FDI环境效应的再检验

改革开放以来,外商直接投资(FDI)的涌入为中国经济发展注入了新活力,并成为中国经济高速增长的重要引擎之一。然而,随着康菲石油渤海漏油事故、江苏启东王子造纸排污和阿玛尼污染投诉等涉外污染事件报道频出,学术界对于FDI涌入可能带来的负面环境效应表现出一定担忧。现有文献多聚焦于整体层面的FDI环境效应检验,而对其区域差异及原因产生机制的系统探究并不多见。为此,本文从理论判断和命题推演出发,利用2003—2014年中国省际面板数据,以改进熵值法拟合环境污染综合指数,并构建普通面板模型,实证检验了FDI流入对中国环境污染的影响及其区域差异。结果表明,总体而言,"污染光环"假说在中国基本成立,即FDI流入在一定程度上改善了中国环境质量,但不同地区FDI的环境效应有所不同,其主要表现为沿海和内陆地区FDI具有显著的"污染光环"效应,且前者强于后者,而沿边地区FDI具有不明显的"污染天堂"效应。在此基础上,构造面板门槛模型,进一步系统考察了FDI对中国环境污染影响的4种主要吸收能力因素的门槛效应。门槛回归结果表明,FDI对中国环境污染的影响显著存在基于经济发展、环境规制、人力资本和金融发展水平的双门槛效应。经济发展、人力资本和金融发展水平越高,FDI的"污染光环"效应越明显,而适度的环境规制才更有利于FDI环境技术溢出的发挥。基于此,本文建议应进一步全方位地提高对外开放水平,一如既往地积极引进并监督FDI;同时地方政府也需认清地区发展的不平衡性,进而采取差异化的引资政策。     

Measurement of public awareness of climate change in China: based on a national survey with 4,025 samples

Just before the new round of UN climate change conference in Bonn, a survey report, named as the Climate Change in the Chinese Mind 2017, was released in Beijing. The investigation was conducted in the form of a computer-assisted telephone survey with a sample size of 4,025 samples, covering 332 prefecture-level administrative units and four municipalities in China. Urban-rural proportion and sex proportion were specially taken into account, so as to demonstrate the Chinese public awareness objectively. The investigation measures the public awareness from six aspects, which includes climate change beliefs, impacts, response, policies, actions, and the assessment of the effectiveness of climate communication. This article presents the key findings of the survey and provides further insights behind the data.     

Best Practices in Environmental Communication: A Case Study of Louisiana's Coastal Crisis

This mixed-method case study of environmental communication best practices in Louisiana, USA, identifies trends and approaches as informed by environmental psychology. The results provide key insights for environmental communicators, especially communicators in coastal regions. In-depth interviews with both environmental psychologists and environmental communicators showed that both groups emphasized knowing the audience, telling local stories, building relationships with target audiences and targeted messaging. Both psychologists and communicators also frequently mentioned general messaging concerns of source credibility, avoiding controversial terms and talking about issues, impacts and solutions to which the target audience can relate. A representative survey revealed that Louisiana residents are most interested in hearing about how environmental issues such as climate change, coastal land loss and flooding are affecting their own communities. This finding supports the idea that environmental communicators could do a better job tapping into strong place attachment and sense of community among coastal residents to promote action.     

Sources and Framing of Fracking: A Content Analysis of Newspaper Coverage in North Carolina,New York,and Pennsylvania

Research across several decades has mapped the way complex environmental issues with complicated policy implications are often differentially framed within the media, public, and policy agendas with major implications for how they are understood, discussed, and decided. Building on this work, this this study compared news coverage of the debate over natural gas “fracking” in New York, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina between the period 2008 and 2013. Examining state newspapers, the analysis evaluated the types of sources used, the assertions of these sources, and how the issue of fracking was framed. From a general perspective, this study reveals how differences in framing of an environmental and scientific controversy can be attributed to the locally relevant sources used in reporting, as well as the political, economic, and social factors that might be unique to a state. Specific to the debate over natural gas “fracking,” this study adds to our understanding of how such state-based factors influence the portrayal of the issue in the news media.     

Adaptation policy and community discourse: risk,vulnerability, and just transformation

How can public engagement assist in the development of just processes and outcomes in adaptation discourse and policymaking? A concern with justice is at the center of thinking about adaptation that is not only resilient, but also public, engaging, and transformative. Theoretically, the intersection of adaptation, transformation, and environmental and climate justice is examined, before exploring the specific concerns and normative foundations for adaptation policy articulated by local governments, environmental groups, and local residents engaged in adaptation planning in Australia. Despite a discursive disconnect between governmental focus on a risk or resilience-based approach and a community concern with the vulnerability of basic needs and capabilities of everyday life, deliberative engagement in adaptation planning can both address issues of justice and represent a transformative practice.     

Metagovernance and policy forum outputs in Swiss environmental politics

Policy forums are lightly institutionalized and stable forms of governance networks that include administrative authorities, interest groups, and scientists. They are said to produce different types of outputs, from simple actor coordination to position papers and implementation documents, but their productivity has also been questioned. Metagovernance strategies can improve the capability of policy forums to produce outputs. To determine how different metagovernance strategies influence the capability of forums to produce joint position papers, 29 policy forums in the Swiss environmental sector are compared through a qualitative comparative analysis. Results indicate that metagovernance strategies such as state actors as forum members or majority decision rules need to be combined with small forum size or low actor heterogeneity. Furthermore, forum foundation by the state complicates the production of position papers.     

The Tea Party versus Agenda 21: local groups and sustainability policies in U.S. cities

As local governments have moved toward adopting sustainability policies, there have been some cases where local Tea Parties have emerged as aggressive and strident opponents of such changes. Looking broadly at the Tea Party movement across the United States and systematically measuring its influence in urban America, we assess each Tea Party chapter’s capacity – its ability to convert resources into meaningful political advocacy. Data is derived from surveys of political elites in 50 cities as well as from determining the level of sustainability programming in each of these same cities. Evidence demonstrates that the Tea Party has not had a significant impact on city policymaking in the area of sustainability. Rather, the typical Tea Party chapter appears to be at best a modest presence in local politics.