Improving the logistics industry’s resource efficiency (LIRE) is one of the most significant measures for ensuring sustainable development. We offer a data-driven technique for analyzing and optimizing the LIRE to improve it and achieve sustainable development. A LIRE index system is built based on relevant data gathering and a complete examination of the economy, society, and environment. The Super-EBM-Undesirable model was used to calculate the LIRE; the Global Malmquist–Luenberger index model was used to calculate the LIRE’s dynamic change characteristics, and ArcGIS and spatial autocorrelation models were used to analyze the LIRE’s spatial evolution pattern. The LIRE in 30 Chinese provinces and cities from 2011 to 2019 is used to illustrate the method implementation process. The results indicate the following: (1) The overall LIRE is low, with an average value of 0.717, and there are regional variances with a decreasing gradient pattern of “East–Northeast–Central–West”. (2) Changes in pure technical efficiency have a bigger impact in general; increasing technical efficiency is the LIRE’s principal motivator. (3) Improving the LIRE should take spatial spillover and inhibitory effects into account. This study provides theoretical and methodological support for the evaluation and optimization of the LIRE and a theoretical foundation for the logistics industry’s sustainable development (LISD).
Evaluating the degree of coordination among regional carbon emission systems is key to achieving an earlier carbon peak and carbon neutrality. However, quantifying the co-evolution of carbon emissions among regions is challenging. Therefore, we propose a data-driven method for evaluating the synergetic development of the regional carbon emission composite system. First, the proposed method employs relevant data to calculate the carbon emissions and carbon emission intensity of each subsystem within the region to describe the temporal trends. The inverse entropy weight method is then used to assign weight to each order parameter of the subsystem for data processing. Then, we perform synergetic development assessment of the composite system to measure the order degree of each subsystem, the degree of synergy among subsystems, and the overall synergetic degree of the temporal evolution of carbon emissions between regions. Finally, the evaluation results can be used to suggest measures for the regional coordinated reduction of carbon emissions. In this study, we used data from the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region from 2010 to 2019 to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the method. The results show that there is still a long way to go to reduce carbon emissions in the Yangtze River Delta region. Economic development still relies heavily on fossil energy consumption, and the regional carbon emission reduction synergy is not high. This study provides theoretical and methodological support for regional carbon emission reduction. Moreover, the proposed method can be applied to other regions to explore low-carbon and sustainable development options.
Coordinating regional innovation–economy–ecology (IEE) systems is an important prerequisite for overall continuous regional development. To fully understand the coordination relationship among the three, this study builds a data-driven multimodel decision approach to calculate, assess, diagnose, and improve the regional IEE system. First, the assessment indicator system of the regional IEE system is established. Secondly, the range method, entropy weight method, and weighted summation method are employed to calculate the synthetic developmental level. Thirdly, a multimodel decision approach including the coupling degree model, the coordination degree model, and the obstacle degree model is constructed to assess the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of the regional IEE system coupling coordination and diagnose the main obstacles hindering its development. Finally, the approach is tested using Anhui Province as a case study. The results show that the coupling coordination degree of the Anhui IEE system presents a stable growth trend, but the coupling degree is always higher than the coordination degree. The main obstacle affecting its development has changed from the original innovation subsystem to the current ecology subsystem. Based on this, some countermeasures are put forward. This study, therefore, offers decision support methods to aid in evaluating and improving the regional IEE system.