Environmental protection investment is crucial to achieving an environment-friendly society. This study explores the influence and mechanism of Confucianism on corporate environmental protection investment (EPI) from a long-term-oriented perspective. Calculating the density of Confucian academies in prefecture-level cities and using data on Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2020, this study finds that Confucianism plays a considerable role in promoting corporate environmental protection investment by stimulating corporations to assume social responsibility and ameliorate corporate accounting information quality. The positivity of Confucianism shows strong robustness. Further analysis shows that when environmental regulation is weak or industry competition is fierce, Confucian cultural values have a more positive influence on EPI. This study provides empirical evidence on incentivizing corporate environmental responsibility and comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development during the sustainable development phase.

Driven by comparative returns, non-grain use of cultivated land (NGUCL) has intensified, posing risks to food security. This study approaches the problem by employing a risk transfer valuation framework, integrating a multi-regional input–output model with a synthetic risk index to establish China’s virtual cultivated land risk transfer network. Complex network analysis was utilized to explore its features while a temporal exponential random graph model was used to identify driving factors of its formation. Results indicate that fewer provinces took on additional pressures and risks. Despite differing motifs, transfer patterns showed little variation. Block analysis showed increasing net recipient relationships (from four to nine) and variable block divisions. Economic development and industrial structure are negatively associated with outgoing transfers, whereas population, production capacity and resource endowment are positively associated with them. The network exhibits time-dependent stability, with few new risk transfer paths forming. This study provides a theoretical basis and new ideas for optimizing land resource efficiency, re-shaping risk transfer patterns and maintaining food security.

Megacity clusters are the key battlegrounds for carbon emission reduction in China, and the polycentric spatial structure of these clusters has a profound impact on their carbon emission intensity. This paper focuses on five major megacity clusters: the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), Pearl River Delta (PRD), the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (MRYR), and the Chengdu–Chongqing (CY) City Clusters. We construct an inter-period panel dataset spanning from 2002 to 2023 and utilize an index of polycentric spatial structure, which equally considers both morphology and functionality. A fixed-effects model is employed, and the Lind–Mehlum U-shape test is applied to identify the nonlinear relationship. Additionally, a two-step approach is used to examine the mediating effect of industrial agglomeration, while interaction terms help identify the moderating effects of technological innovation and transport infrastructure. The results indicate a significant U-shaped relationship between the polycentric structure of megacity clusters and carbon emission intensity. When the polycentric spatial structure index reaches a specific threshold, carbon emission intensity is minimized, suggesting that a moderate degree of polycentricity is most conducive to carbon reduction. Mechanism analysis reveals that industrial agglomeration functions as a significant mediator, whereas technological innovation and transport infrastructure serve as critical moderators in this relationship. Based on these findings, we propose several policy recommendations: to guide the moderate adjustment of the polycentric structure of city clusters with stage-specific targets, optimize the mechanism of industrial synergy and transfer, differentiate the allocation of innovation resources, and achieve a fine-tuned alignment between the transport system and spatial structure. These measures will support the high-quality, low-carbon transformation of city clusters.