The impact of trade openness on environment is of increasing concern to environmental practitioners, industrialists, and researchers. Unlike previous studies that only focus on the impact of trade openness on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, this study explores the relationship between trade openness and carbon productivity. To this end, we construct a dynamic nonlinear panel model using a panel sample of 76 countries for the period 1990–2021. Furthermore, we conduct a mediation effect analysis to examine the underlying impact mechanisms between trade openness and carbon productivity. Finally, by dividing the total sample into four subsamples, we analyse possible regional heterogeneity in trade openness and carbon productivity relationship. The empirical results show that: (1) Trade openness has a significant impact on carbon productivity, with a U-shaped relationship between the two variables. In other words, carbon productivity first declines and then rises after a certain threshold level of trade openness is reached. (2) Energy intensity and energy consumption structure are two important mediators between trade openness and carbon productivity. (3) The impact of trade openness on carbon productivity is heterogeneous across countries. Based on the main findings, we propose several policy implications to improve trade quality as well as global carbon productivity.

As participants in sustainable development, corporations face the important and controversial issue of whether they can promote corporate sustainability through environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices. To address this issue, we examine the relationship between ESG performance and corporate sustainability, measured by green total factor productivity (GTFP). Using a panel dataset of 17,559 firm-year observations from non-financial firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in China between 2011 and 2019, we employ fixed-effects regression models and two-stage least squares (2SLS) with instrumental variables to empirically test the impact of ESG ratings on GTFP, identify the underlying mechanisms, and examine potential heterogeneity across firms. The results show that higher ESG ratings are significantly associated with increased GTFP. Mediation analysis further reveals that this positive relationship operates through reduced financing constraints and enhanced green innovation. Notably, the mediating role of financing constraints is more pronounced for firms with greater reliance on external capital. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that ESG ratings exert stronger effects in eastern regions, pollution-intensive sectors, and state-owned enterprises. These findings provide empirical support for the role of ESG performance as an effective mechanism to advance corporate sustainability through ethics-driven financial access and innovation capability.

The rapid growth of energy demand in China’s central heating sector and the large differences in regions have posed challenges to its energy supply safety, which affected the progress of China’s energy transformation. From a supply chain perspective, this study uses the feasible generalized least squares method to conduct empirical research on the central heating data of 17 provinces in China from 2006 to 2017. The results shows that the main factors of central heating includes energy consumption structure, heat generation method, heat transport carrier, heating degree days and heating area; The main factor that increases the energy consumption of central heating in each province is the same, namely Heating area (HA). However, the main factors that reduce energy consumption in each province are different; using gas instead of coal for clean heating can reduce some greenhouse gas emissions while bringing huge gas supply pressure. According to the results, this study provides some policy suggestions.

Countries around the world have carried out digital transformations to improve their economic resilience. As the largest developing country, China put forward the “channeling computing resources from the East to the West (CCREW)” project in 2022 to balance and promote the development of various regions. This paper constructs a three-region computable general equilibrium model covering the eastern, western, and other regions and evaluates the impact of the project on economic development, social welfare, and carbon emissions in different regions. By simulating the transfer share of the CCREW project, this paper attempts to further reveal the impact of the policy both on regional differences and national development. The results show that the effects of the project are quite different among regions. Our findings can be summarized as follows. (1) In terms of carbon dioxide emissions, the policy will cause emissions to shift from the East to the West. (2) In terms of economic development, the policy will lead to an overall downward trend in the GDP of the eastern and other regions, whereas for the western region, the policy will promote the development of the regional economy. Regional differences may affect the implementation of the policy and its effects. (3) In terms of social welfare, the policy will result in an inverted U-shaped change in social welfare at the national level, which first rises and then falls, and will change from positive to negative when the transfer share exceeds 20%. At the regional level, social welfare in the eastern and other regions will decline, whereas that in the western region will show an inverted U-shaped change that first increases and then decreases. (4) In the short term, the project at the national level has reduced carbon emissions at the expense of economic development and incurred a loss in social welfare.