Based on the panel data of 30 Chinese province in 2005–2018, this paper quantifies agricultural carbon reduction efficiency (CRE), using the slack-based measure (SBM)-data envelopment analysis (DEA) model with undesired outputs (SBM-DEA), and empirically tests that development of land circulation market directly affects agricultural CRE, and indirectly affects agricultural CRE via scale operation of farmland. The results show that the following: (1) In the observation period, China’s agricultural CREs generally evolved from a low level to a high level, with an annual growth rate of 8.0%, but there is still a large space of carbon reduction. (2) Overall, land circulation significantly promoted agricultural CRE, but the promoting effect varied from region to region: the promoting effect was significant in eastern and central regions, and insignificant in western region. (3) Scale operation of farmland had a nonlinear, partial mediation effect on how land circulation influences agricultural CRE; land circulation greatly accelerated the scale operation of farmland, while the growing scale of farmland utilization had an inverted U-shaped influence on agricultural CRE. Our research results imply that promoting land circulation directly drives the low-carbon transformation of agriculture in China, but excessive scale operation of farmland might hinder agricultural carbon reduction.

Since the industrial revolution, the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs)has been increasing steadily. It is to be noted that China emitted 27% of the world’s GHGs in 2019, making it the world’s most significant contributor to climate degradation. The key objectives of this investigation are to ascertain the N-shaped association between CO₂ emissions and economic growth in the presence of energy use and domestic government health expenditures. In addition, the research inspected the role of Belt and Road Initiative through economic globalization in China. This study utilized the autoregressive distributed lag model and found that an N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve exists in China. Furthermore, the study discovered that economic globalization improves ecological excellence in the short run. Nonetheless, energy consumption and health expenditures considerably amplify the intensity of CO₂ emanation in China in the long run. The research suggested that installing green industries through economic globalization can imperatively lessen environmental degradation. Moreover, installing technological firms will be more beneficial in the long run to overcome environmental degradation rather than importing from other countries. The study elaborated momentous causation effects among the study variables through the Granger causality test.

The gentle development of the economy is an important link to realize sustainable development in a holistic way. In recent years, due to the notable decline in the scale of exports and investment, China’s economic growth has decreased significantly, and consumption has become the main force driving economic growth. Promoting sustainable economic development is an important problem in the current development of China. In this study, the ELES model was adopted to analyze how the consumption structure is affected by the income structure among rural residents in China. The results show the following: (1) The income structure of rural residents has a significant impact on the consumption structure, and their consumption behaviors conform to the “mental accounting” hypothesis. (2) Net property income and net transfer income account for a small proportion, but marginal propensity to consume (referred to as MPC) is relatively large. Net operating income and wage income form a large proportion of disposable income with low MPC. (3) In the future, expenditures on food, tobacco, and alcohol will slow down remarkably, and more money will be spent on healthcare, transportation and communication, and housing, forming an increasing proportion of expenditures. In summary, this study suggests that scientific and effective policy measures should be issued to boost the income level of rural residents in a targeted manner, optimize the income structure, and improve the rural consumption environment, so as to comprehensively promote rural consumption.

Based on theoretical analysis, this study empirically analyzes the mediating mechanism of how land rentals work on large-scale farmers to enhance soil conservation with survey data of 425 large-scale farmers in Shandong and Anhui Provinces, the main grain-producing regions of China, and further examines the moderating effect of agricultural extension services. The results show that: (1) The higher the land rentals, the greater the probability that large-scale farmers enhance soil conservation. (2) The mediating effect demonstrates that in a highly market-oriented rural land transfer market in China, the land lease term of large-scale farmers is longer with the increase of land rentals, thus motivating large-scale farmers to engage in soil conservation. (3) As shown by the moderating effect, agricultural extension services can further positively moderate the contribution of land lease term to large-scale farmers enhancing soil conservation. In order to encourage large-scale farmers to enhance soil conservation, on the one hand it is necessary to standardize the land transfer market and proactively guide large-scale farmers to extend the land lease term. On the other hand, it is indispensable to strengthen agricultural extension services and further broaden the access to soil conservation technologies for large-scale farmers.