This study aims to evaluate the effect of electricity production on industrial development and sustainable economic growth. In this context, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS), countries which have the highest increase in electricity production in the period of 2000–2018, are included in the scope of this study. Annual data of these variables in the period of 1991–2018 are used and three different models are created by using Vector Auto Regression (VAR) methodology. The findings state that electricity production in BRICS countries has a positive effect on both industrial production and sustainable economic growth. Hence, electricity production needs to be increased for them. For this purpose, it is important to encourage investors with tax advantages, location orientation and financing. Moreover, BRICS countries should give importance to renewable energy investments in order to increase electricity production. These issues have a contributing effect to sustainable economic growth.

The advancement of the big data industry is playing a pivotal role in urban land management refinement. Recently, China initiated a big data strategy, establishing national big data comprehensive pilot zones (NBDCPZs) across diverse regions. These initiatives present substantial opportunities for enhancing the urban land green use efficiency (ULGUE). Consequently, in this study, we utilized the super-efficiency slack-based measure (SBM) model with undesirable outputs to assess the ULGUEs across 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2021. Subsequently, leveraging the NBDCPZ establishment as a quasi-natural experiment, we employed the difference-in-differences (DID) method to empirically explore the impact of the NBDCPZ policy on the ULGUE for the first time. The findings revealed the following: (1) The implementation of the NBDCPZ policy significantly enhances the ULGUE; (2) the effects are mediated through mechanisms such as fostering technological innovation, mitigating resource misallocation, and promoting industrial agglomeration; (3) the heterogeneity analysis emphasizes the increased policy effectiveness in cities characterized by fewer natural resources, lower economic growth pressures, stable development stages, and moderate digital infrastructure and human capital levels; and (4) further analysis demonstrates the significant positive spillover effects of the NBDCPZ policy on the ULGUEs of neighboring non-pilot cities, with a diminishing impact as the proximity between pilot and non-pilot cities decreases. Overall, this study contributes to the literature on the relationship between the digital economy and land utilization, offering valuable insights for achieving sustainable urban development.

The impact of population aging on economic growth is a very important issue in the process of population structure change. This paper first proposes research hypotheses based on a systematic literature review and theoretical analysis of the negative and positive effects of population aging on economic growth. Then, based on the data of 30 provinces in the Chinese Mainland from 2000 to 2019, this paper empirically tests the impact of population aging on economic growth and its impact mechanism using a static panel data model, a dynamic panel data model and a mediating effect model. Our empirical analysis leads to the following conclusions. First, population aging has a significant inhibitory effect on economic growth. Second, the industrial structure upgrading plays a mediating role in the process of population aging affecting economic growth; that is, population aging inhibits economic growth by affecting the overall upgrading of the industrial structure as well as the industrial rationalization and optimization. Last, some policy implications are proposed based on the research conclusions.

In the context of high-quality economic development in China, it is important to promote green innovation development by protecting intellectual property rights (IPR). Taking the pilot policy of the intellectual property courts in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou for example in a quasi-natural experiment, this article examines the effect of IPR protection on the development of corporate green innovation and its mechanisms by using a difference-in-differences model and a mediating effect model based on Chinese enterprise data from 2011 to 2019. The study found that first, IPR protection promotes enterprise green technological innovation; second, IPR protection affects green innovation through enterprise financing constraints and R&D investment; that is, increasing enterprise R&D investment and alleviating enterprise financing constraints are two important channels through which IPR protection promotes enterprise green technological innovation.

In the context of addressing climate change, the uncertainty of climate policies has intensified the environmental and regulatory risks faced by enterprises, forcing them to adjust their strategies for fulfilling ESG responsibilities in pursuit of sustainable development. This paper uses panel data from listed non-financial enterprises on China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets from 2011 to 2022, employing a fixed-effects panel model to examine the impact of climate policy uncertainty on corporate ESG performance. The findings indicate that climate policy uncertainty significantly hampers the ESG performance of enterprises. The mechanism analysis reveals that climate policy uncertainty negatively affects ESG performance by deepening corporate financing constraints and increasing short-term financial performance. The heterogeneity analysis shows that in terms of ownership structure, the negative impact of climate policy uncertainty on the ESG performance of state-owned enterprises is relatively weaker. In terms of industry heterogeneity, climate policy uncertainty suppresses the ESG performance of enterprises in technology-intensive industries. From a regional perspective, climate policy uncertainty has a stronger inhibitory effect on the ESG performance of enterprises in eastern China. This study provides valuable insights for both national climate policy formulation and corporate efforts to enhance ESG performance.

Corporate environmental responsibility (CER) is an important component of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) report, and an important carrier for enterprises to disclose environmental protection information. Based on the corporate micro data, this paper evaluates the effect of a mandatory CSR disclosure policy on the fulfillment of corporate environmental responsibility by adopting the difference-in-differences model (DID) with the release of a mandatory disclosure policy of China in 2008 as a quasi-natural experiment. The study draws the following conclusions: First, a mandatory CSR disclosure policy can promote the fulfillment of CER. Second, after the implementation of a mandatory CSR disclosure policy, enterprises can improve their CER level through two channels: improving the quality of environmental management disclosure and increasing the number of patents. Third, the heterogeneity of the impacts of mandatory CSR disclosure on CER is reflected in three aspects: different CER levels, different corporate scales and a different property rights structure. In terms of the CER level, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the CER level and mandatory CSR disclosure effect. In terms of the corporate scale, mandatory disclosure of CSR plays a greater role in large-scale enterprises. In terms of the structure of property rights, mandatory CSR disclosure has a greater effect on non-state-owned enterprises.