This paper examines the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) using panel data for 228 Chinese mineral listed firms from 2010 to 2013 with Pooled Least Squares regression analysis. Our study considers five different sublevel CSR issues—shareholder responsibility, employee responsibility, environmental responsibility, public responsibility, and supplier, customer and consumer responsibility—in capturing the effects of CSR elements on CFP. The estimation results show the different effects of each sublevel CSR issue on CFP. Overall, shareholder, employee responsibility, environmental responsibility, supplier, customer and consumer responsibility have significant relationships with CFP, which are the stakeholders who have the closest linkage with firm operations. Meanwhile, public responsibility outside the firm does not show significant interaction with CFP, which is why many mineral firms ignore the public interest and this leads to conflicts. Shareholder responsibility has the most significant positive effect on CFP. Supplier, customer and consumer responsibility and environmental responsibility usually have negative effects on CFP as costs increase. Moreover, all 228 listed mineral firms that were selected in this paper have been classified into five sub-sectors: the extractive industry, metal fabrication industry, oil and gas industry, gas and water-related industry, and oil-producing equipment industry, based on the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB). Our study shows that the differences in the relationship between CSR and CFP for five sublevel industries are due to industry characteristics. If the government wants to solve these conflicts and positively encourage firms to adopt CSR, it is necessary to create a mining development environment whereby firm profits are closely tied to CSR.

Scientific water resource carrying capacity (WRCC) evaluations are necessary for providing guidance for the sustainable utilization of water resources. Based on the driving-pressure-state-impact-response feedback loop, this paper selects 21 indicators under five dimensions to construct a regional WRCC comprehensive evaluation framework. The projection pursuit clustering (PPC) method is implemented with the matter-element extension (MEE) model to overcome the limitations of subjective deviation and indicator attribute incompatibility in traditional comprehensive assessment methods affecting the accuracy of evaluations. The application of the integrated evaluation model is demonstrated in Baoding city in the Jing-Jin-Ji area from 2010 to 2017. The results indicate that the economic water consumption intensity is the most influential factor that impacts the WRCC change in Baoding, and the pressure subsystem and response subsystem are dominant in the entire system. The WRCC in Baoding significantly improved between 2010 and 2017 from a grade V extremely unsafe state to a grade III critical state. Natural water shortages and large population scales are the main negative factors during this period; however, the existing measures are still insufficient to achieve an optimal WRCC status. Considering the future population and industry inflow, additional actions must be proposed to maintain and promote harmonious conditions.

Welcome to the WIT Press eLibrary - the home of the Transactions of the Wessex Institute collection, providing on-line access to papers presented at the Institute's prestigious international conferences and from its State-of-the-Art in Science & Engineering publications.

【目的】建立有效的多目标协同机制，发挥生物质资源利用的能源替代、碳减排和农村经济振兴多重功能，是中国生物质能产业发展亟待解决的现实问题。【方法】本文基于动态市场均衡模型与多目标规划方法，以福建省为例，构建了一个省域农林生物质资源利用与“经济-能源-环境”系统多主体多目标协同发展模型，旨在模拟求解2017—2030年的最优技术与政策实施策略。【结果】①生物质资源利用只有兼顾能耗双控约束和经济增长目标，才能实现碳排放与能源利用、经济增长的强脱钩状态。②模拟期内生物质能利用累计可替代化石能源81.56万t标煤，碳减排330.79万t，实现降碳效益2.28亿元，增加就业5.13万人，提高农民收入36.14亿元，实现污水减排效益4.15亿元、化肥节约效益16.63亿元。地方政府可通过新建补贴、电价补贴等措施推进生物质能产业向市场化过渡。③通过在全省分布式建设476个小型气化发电项目、83个沼气发电项目，将一定程度上解决生物质原料分散、收储运困难等问题，配合产业绿色转型可实现中长期生物质能利用、乡村振兴与降碳效益等多目标的协调发展。【结论】本文通过情景分析与动态模拟，证实了引入包含资源利用技术和政府规制的政策组合，能够实现生物质能利用、乡村振兴与降碳效益等多目标协调发展，为在中国普及生物质资源利用提供了政策启示。