Along with command-and-control and market-incentive environmental regulation policies, environmental information disclosure (EID) is an important measure used by the Chinese government to implement environmental governance. In the context of advocating for corporate sustainable development and green governance, this study uses data from China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies in heavily polluting industries spanning 2008–2019 to empirically explore the relationship between corporate EID and green innovation (GI). The results reveal the following: (1) high-quality EID significantly promotes the absolute GI level and the relative GI level of enterprises. (2) An intermediary model found that the internal mechanism of corporate EID used to promote GI mainly comes from the government’s energy-saving innovation subsidy effect and the social media attention effect. (3) Corporate EID has a more evident promotional effect on green patents for energy conservation and green patents for inventions. (4) The EID of state-owned enterprises is more conducive to GI than to the activities of private enterprises. (5) The EID of enterprises in high-level administrative cities has no significant impact on GI. However, it has a significant promoting effect in low-level administrative cities. The research not only provides an empirical basis for China to improve the environmental information disclosure system of listed companies but also to offer guidance for companies to pursue green and sustainable development.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence consumers’ consumption behavior with regard to green aquatic products from a social cognitive theory perspective. Design/methodology/approach: A web survey was used to collect the data. The survey subjects were citizens of Ningbo City in Zhejiang Province. A total of 403 subjects were obtained through the sampling service, and 337 subjects were retained after strict examination. The data were used to construct a partial least squares structural equation model. Findings: The cognition of green aquatic products significantly positively affects outcome expectancy, self-efficacy, perception of others’ behavior, and socio-structural conditions. Self-efficacy and outcome expectancy significantly positively influence consumption intention. Self-efficacy, perception of others’ behavior, and consumption intention significantly positively affect consumption behavior. Practical implications: The concept, connotations and benefits of green aquatic products should be widely publicized through diversified channels to increase people’s knowledge of these products and to encourage people to distinguish them from regular aquatic products and to believe in their benefits. In addition, measures should be taken to guarantee that only genuine green aquatic products can enter the market because the false claims of some products have damaged consumers’ belief in these products. Originality/value: To test the effect of the cognition of green aquatic products, the construct “the cognition of green aquatic products” was added to the model based on social cognitive theory. This paper contributes to the existing literature by further exploring how cognitive aspects affect consumption behavior with regard to green food.

After the reform and opening up, China’s economy has developed rapidly. However, environmental problems have gradually emerged, the top of which is air pollution. We have used the following methods: In view of the shortcomings of the current spatio-temporal evolution analysis of the Air Quality Index (AQI) that is not detailed to the county level and the lack of analysis of its underlying causes, this study collects the AQI of all counties in China from 2014 to 2021, and uses spatial autocorrelation and other analysis methods to deeply analyze the spatio-temporal evolution characteristic. Based on the provincial panel data, the spatial econometric model is used to explore its influencing factors and spillover effects. The research results show that: (1) From 2014 to 2021, the AQI of all counties in China showed obvious spatial agglomeration characteristics, and counties in central and western Xinjiang, as well as Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, were high-value agglomeration areas; (2) the change trend of the AQI value also has obvious spatial autocorrelation, and generally presents a downward trend. However, the AQI value in a small number of regions, such as Xinjiang, shows a slow decline or even a reverse rise; (3) there are some of the main factors affecting AQI, such as GDP per capita, percentage of forest cover, total emissions of SO₂, and these factors have different impacts on different regions. In addition, the increase of GDP per capita, the reduction of industrialization level, and the increase of forest coverage will significantly improve the air quality of other surrounding provinces. An in-depth analysis of the spatio-temporal evolution, influencing factors, and spillover effects of AQI in China is conducive to formulating countermeasures to improve air quality according to local conditions and promoting regional sustainable development.

In the context of sustainable development, how the digital economy affects the development of new-type urbanization is a matter of concern. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, this article empirically explores the effect of the digital economy on the quality of new-type urbanization development. The results show the following. (1) The digital economy can significantly improve the development quality of new-type urbanization, which is still significantly valid after a series of robustness tests. (2) The mechanism analysis shows that the upgrading of industrial structures is an important transmission path for the digital economy to improve the quality of new-type urbanization development. (3) The spatial effect analysis shows that the development of the digital economy can not only significantly improve the quality of new-type urbanization development in this region, but also improve the quality of new-type urbanization development in surrounding areas through spillover effects. (4) The heterogeneity analysis shows that the development of the digital economy in the central and western provinces of China and in the big data pilot provinces plays a greater role in promoting the quality of new-type urbanization development. It is clear that the construction of new-type urbanization should fully consider the development trend of the digital economy, seize the policy and the technological dividends brought about by the digital economy, and explore more development opportunities.

To resolve the environmental problems of China’s aquaculture industry, we must examine the current situation and comprehensively consider aquaculture growth, resource conservation and environmental protection. Using the unit investigation and evaluation method to evaluate the nonpoint source pollution of each province, this paper calculates eco-efficiency to evaluate the coordination of environment and aquaculture growth based on the slacks-based measure directional distance function dealing with undesirable outputs. The results reveal that the eco-efficiency of aquaculture in China from 2003 to 2018 is 0.70 and obviously lower than the industry’s economic efficiency, indicating aquaculture development has not been coordinated with resources and the environment. Environmental pollution brings great loss to the economic efficiency of aquaculture. Specifically, eastern China, with the highest aquaculture output, shows the best degree of coordination, followed by western China. Six provinces or province-level municipalities, including Fujian, Shanghai, Beijing, Hainan and Tianjin, are growing soundly and rapidly, while central China exhibits the most obvious imbalance among the environment, resources and aquaculture development.