The Ecological Functional Zone of the Upper Yellow River (EFZUYR) is a critical water-catching area in the Yellow River Basin, the ecological security of which affects the sound development of the ecosystem in the entire basin. Recently, significant land use changes have aggravated regional ecological risks and seriously affected the sustainable development of EFZUYR. In this context, this paper provides an in-depth study of the ecological risks caused by land use landscape changes. With the help of land use data and dynamic degree analysis, the land use transfer matrix, and the landscape pattern index, this paper quantifies the distribution trends of land use landscape patterns in EFZUYR from 1990 to 2018. In addition, this research explores the temporal and spatial dynamic distribution characteristics of landscape ecological risks in this functional zone. The research results show the following: (1) The transfer of land use in EFZUYR from 1990 to 2018 mainly occurred among cultivated land, grassland, and woodland, with the transferred area accounting for 87.16% of the total changed area. (2) The fragmentation degree of built-up areas is 0.1097, 0.1053, 0.0811 and 0.0762 in 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2018, respectively, with a decreasing trend. The dominance degree of grassland has been maintained at the highest level for a long time, with all values above 0.59. The separation degree and the interference degree of built-up areas were the highest and the values of the four periods were above 1.2 and 0.44, respectively. The loss degree of water was the highest, with a value above 0.67, while the value of other land use was mostly below 0.4. (3) The landscape ecological risk of EFZUYR presented a fluctuating rising, falling, and then rising trend. The spatial distribution characteristic of EFZUYR presented “high in the north and south, low in the middle.”, which has been maintained for a long time. The proportion of low-risk areas is as high as 70%, and the overall ecological risk of the region was low. However, the ecological risk of some areas, such as Linxia City and Magu County, increased. These findings can provide theoretical support for land use planning and achieving sustainable development of EFZUYR.

With the interaction of global change and human activities, the contradistinction between supply and demand of ecosystem services in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is becoming increasingly tense, which will have a profound impact on the ecological security of China and even Asia. Based on land cover data on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in 1990, 2005, and 2015, this paper estimated the supply capacity of ecosystem services using the value equivalent method, calculated the demand for ecosystem services using population density and economic density, established an ecosystem risk index based on the idea of an ecosystem service matrix to reveal the spatio-temporal pattern of the supply and demand of ecosystem services in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and identified the potential ecological risk areas arising from the imbalance between supply and demand. The results showed that: (1) In terms of the spatio-temporal pattern of land use change, the desert area of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau decreased the most with 26,238.9 km², and other types of land use increased, of which construction land increased by 131.7%; (2) In terms of the supply and demand of ecosystem services, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was mainly dominated by low-level surplus areas, accounting for 64.0%, and the deficit in some areas has worsened significantly; and (3) In terms of division pattern of ecological risk areas, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau presented characteristics of high risk in the east and low risk in the west. The high-risk area accounted for 1.1%, mainly distributed in the Huangshui Valley and the “One River and Two Tributaries” (Yarlung Zangbo River, Lhasa River, Nianchu River). The research results can provide reference for ecosystem management and policy formulation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and have important significance for realizing the coupling and coordinated development of human–land relationship in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

To develop effective strategies to reduce CO₂ emissions from electricity systems, this study accounted for carbon emissions from power systems (production, transmission, consumption) in Gansu Province based on life cycle theory. We used LMDI and SDA decomposition methods to analyze the driving force of carbon emissions and quantified the influence effect and action intensity of various factors on carbon emissions in corresponding links. Several results were found: (1) Direct carbon emissions during the stage of electricity production had the largest share of the entire electricity life cycle. (2) From the perspective of the cumulative contribution rate, electricity consumption and the electricity trade promoted carbon emissions in the stage of electricity production; the power structure, electricity efficiency, and fuel structure had opposite effects. (3) In the stage of electricity transmission, the higher the voltage level, the lower the net loss rate; high-voltage-level transmission lines effectively reduced the growth of implied carbon emissions. (4) Industrial restructuring and technological advances effectively offset the growth in carbon emissions due to population, economy, and electricity consumption. The results can provide a scientific basis for energy-saving and emission reduction policies in provincial government departments and the electric industry.

Poverty reduction is an important driving force for the global realization of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the building of a global community with a shared future for mankind. This paper takes the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a quasi‐natural experiment. Based on the panel data of 134 countries in the world from 2000 to 2018, this paper uses the difference‐in‐difference (DID) model to examine the impact of the BRI on poverty reduction in countries along the route and to study its internal mechanism from the dual perspectives of trade openness and investment openness. The results show that (1) the BRI can significantly reduce the incidence of poverty with the impact coefficient stable at −0.26, and the empirical conclusion has passed the parallel test, placebo test, and instrumental variable test; (2) the mediating effect test model shows that the BRI can achieve poverty reduction through the dual openness of trade and investment, and the intermediary effect of trade openness is greater than investment openness; and (3) from the perspective of heterogeneity analysis, geographically, the BRI has a slightly higher role in promoting poverty reduction in landlocked countries than in coastal countries. In terms of economic location, the effect of poverty reduction has a certain “pro‐poverty” characteristic, that is, the BRI promotes poverty reduction in low‐ and middle‐income countries far more than other types of income countries. Therefore, we believe that the continuous deepening of the BRI high‐quality construction and the strengthening of cooperation among countries along the route will play a key role in promoting the international cycle of trade, investment, and other factors, as well as the cause of poverty reduction in the region and the world.

The electric power industry is a key industry for the country to achieve the double carbon target. Its low carbon development has a double effect on this industry and helps other industries to achieve the carbon peak target. This paper firstly uses the IPCC inventory method to calculate carbon emissions in the production phase of the power industry in Gansu Province from 2000 to 2019, followed by the ridge regression method and the STIRPAT model to analyse the quantitative impact of six major drivers on carbon emissions, and finally, the scenario analysis method is used to forecast carbon emissions in this phase. The results show that the carbon emissions of Gansu Province show a trend of rising and then falling, and reached a peak of 65.66 million tons in 2013. For every 1% increase in population effect, urbanisation level, affluence, clean energy generation share, technology level and industrial structure, carbon emissions will grow by 4.939%, 0.625%, 0.224%, − 0.259%, 0.063% and 0.022% respectively. Because of the clean energy advantage in Gansu Province, the low-carbon development scenario will continue to have low carbon emissions during the scenario cycle, which can be reduced to 53.454 million tons in 2030; the baseline scenario will achieve a carbon peak in 2025, with a peak of 62.627 million tons; the economic development scenario has not achieved carbon peak during the scenario cycle, and carbon emissions will increase to 73.223 million tons in 2030.

Faced with the dual challenges of environmental pollution and climate change, it is of great significance to study the impact of relevant environmental regulations on the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction and their influence mechanisms. Based on a theoretical analysis using the panel data of 30 provinces in China, a spatial econometric model and an intermediary effect model are used to investigate the impact of environmental regulations on the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction and the transmission mechanisms potentially responsible for these effects. The empirical results show the following: (1) The three kinds of environmental regulation effectively facilitate the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, taking the following order when ranked according to the intensity of their effects: command-type environmental regulation (ER1) > market-based environmental regulation (ER2) > voluntary environmental regulation (ER3). (2) Environmental regulation effectively promotes the synergistic effect of pollution and carbon reduction through the three transmission mechanisms of stimulating technological innovation (TI), industrial structure upgrading (ISU), and restricting foreign direct investment (FDI), which take the following effectiveness order: TI > FDI > ISU. Based on the results of the study, policy suggestions to facilitate pollution reduction and carbon synergies are proposed to help China’s green and low-carbon development.