Regional high-quality coordination plays a crucial role in promoting high-quality national development. Guangdong province is a trailblazer in China’s reform and opening-up policies and high-quality development. This study analyzes the high-quality development of the economic, social, and ecological environments from 2010 to 2019 in Guangdong with the entropy weight TOPSIS model. Meanwhile, the coupling coordination degree model is used to investigate the spatial-temporal pattern of the coupling and coordinated development of the three-dimensional system in 21 prefecture-level cities. The results show that the high-quality development index of Guangdong increased from 0.32 to 0.39, a 21.9% increase during 2010–2019. The Pearl River Delta had the highest value of the high-quality development index, whereas Western Guangdong had the lowest level in 2019. Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Dongguan are the core cities in the high-quality development of Guangdong, with the index decreasing from the Pearl River Delta estuary cities to the province’s edge. We also found that the coupling degree and coupling coordination of high-quality development of the three-dimensional system grew slowly during the study period. Half of the cities in Guangdong entered the stage of benign coupling. Except for Zhaoqing, all cities in the Pearl River Delta have a high coupling coordination degree of high-quality development of the three-dimensional system. This study provides valuable references for the high-quality, coordinated development of Guangdong province and some policy suggestions for other regions.

Promoting urban green growth necessitates a dual focus on reducing carbon emissions and fostering high-quality development. However, the body of research on the coupling relationship between high-quality urban development and carbon emissions remains remarkably limited. Taking Guangdong province as an example, this study strived to establish a comprehensive evaluation system for high-quality urban development encompassing economic, societal, and ecological dimensions and further conducted an in-depth examination of the spatiotemporal pattern and driving forces of coupling coordination degree between high-quality urban development and carbon emission intensity during 2000–2017. The coupling coordination degree in Guangdong province has shown continuous growth, transitioning from moderate incoordination to moderate coordination. The coupling coordination degree showed the overall spatial distribution characteristics of “high in southeast and low in others”, with Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Shenzhen as the core. Notably, technological advancement, environmental governance, and economic development emerge as pivotal factors that positively affect carbon emission intensity reduction, environmental quality improvement, and coupling coordination enhancement. This research provides valuable insights for achieving harmonized high-quality development in Guangdong province involving policies of regional differences, industrial competitiveness, and new-type urbanization.

The rapid expansion of trade involving Eurasian low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is reshaping global patterns of biomass appropriation, yet its long-term consequences for human-induced biomass appropriation remain unclear. Here, we investigate how trade networks redistribute the human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP)-a critical indicator of ecological pressure-between 2004-2050 under Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) and food demand scenarios. We show that trade across Eurasian LMICs has diverted 30% of global HANPP burdens to low-income resource exporters, while major economies, including China and India, externalize land-use pressures through distant supply chains. By 2050, under trade expansion scenarios, consumption-based HANPP in Eurasian LMICs is projected to be 25.5%-46.2% (10.80-18.56 Pg C/a) higher than in 2017, reflecting a spatial redistribution of ecological burdens driven by increasing demand for agricultural products and processed food. Under trade growth scenarios, consumption-based HANPP in Eurasian LMICs is projected to surge from 6.38 Pg C/a (2017) to 37.29 Pg C/a under SSP5-A1 (resource-intensive trade with high animal-based food consumption), while SSP1-B1 (sustainable pathway with high plant-based food consumption) predicts a more moderate increase to 29.20 Pg C/a. However, this growth is unevenly distributed. Resource-exporting nations like Kazakhstan and Indonesia are projected to experience average annual growth rates of 3.55% and 2.87% in HANPP exports, while China and India will see annual growths of 1.98% and 2.57% in HANPP imports. Compared to neighboring countries, trade with distant countries amplifies disparities by shifting ecosystem burdens from large economies to smaller, resource-rich exporters. These findings reveal that trade among Eurasian LMICs is not only intensifying ecological pressure but also exacerbating intra-regional inequalities in biomass appropriation. Our study provides a systemic framework to track ecologically unequal exchange, offering actionable insights for achieving SDGs in an era of re-globalization.