Black carbon (BC) exposure in China continues to be relatively high, prompting researchers to assess BC exposure levels using data from monitoring sites, satellite remote sensing, and models. However, data regarding the application of a combined strategy comprising the analysis of monitoring data and various types of data to simulate BC exposure levels are lacking. Hence, the current study seeks to estimate short- and long-term BC exposure levels by combining national monitoring data with data from the second Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2). Furthermore, this study attempts to improve the spatio-temporal resolution of BC exposure levels using Bayesian maximum entropy (BME). The BME model performed well in terms of estimating short- (R² = 0.74 and RMSE = 1.76 μg/m³) and long-term (R² = 0.76 and RMSE = 1.3 μg/m³) exposure. Premature mortalities and economic losses were also assessed by applying localised concentration–response coefficients simulated in China. A total of 74,500 (95% confidence interval (CI): 23,900–124,500) and 538,400 (95% CI: 495,000–581,300) all-cause premature mortality cases were found to be associated with short- and long-term BC exposure, respectively. Meanwhile, short-term BC exposure was associated with economic losses ranging from 7.5 to 13.2 billion US dollars (USD) (1 USD = 6.36 RMB on January 19, 2022) based on amended human capital (AHC) and willingness to pay (WTP), accounting for 0.06%–0.1% of China's total gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017 (1.2 × 10⁴ billion USD), respectively. The economic losses for long-term exposure varied from 53 to 93.2 billion USD based on AHC and WTP, accounting for 0.4%–0.8% of China's total GDP in 2017, respectively.

Along with the rapid socioeconomic development, air pollution in China has become a severe problem. One component of air pollution, in particular, PM2.5 has aroused wide public concern because of its high concentration. In this study, data were collected from over 900 monitoring sites of the newly constructed PM2.5 monitoring network in China. The interpolation methods were used to simulate the PM2.5 exposure level of China especially in rural areas, thus reflecting the spatial variation of PM2.5 pollution. We calculated the health benefit caused by PM2.5 in China in 2014 based on Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP), assuming achievement of China National Ambient Air Quality Standard (No. GB3095-2012). By reducing the annual average concentration of PM2.5 to the annual Grade II standard (35 μg/m3), the avoided deaths for cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and lung cancer could reach 89,000 (95% CI, 8000–170,000), 47,000 (95% CI, 3000–91,000) and 32,000 (95% CI, 6000–58,000) per year using long term health function, respectively. The attributable fractions of cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and lung cancer to all cause were 42%, 22% and 15%, respectively. The total economic benefits for rolling back the concentration of PM2.5 to the level of 35 μg/m3 were estimated to be 260 (95%CI: (73, 440) billion RMB and 72 (95%CI: (45, 99) billion RMB using willingness to pay (WTP) and human capital (HC) methods, respectively, which account for 0.40% (95%CI: (0.11%, 0.69%) and 0.11% (95%CI: (0.07%, 0.15%) of the total annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of China in 2014.

In recent years, ozone pollution has become more and more serious in China. Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated the correlation between short-term ozone exposure and several health risks including all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and respiratory mortality. In this study, the daily ozone exposure levels with 10 km × 10 km resolution were estimated based on satellite data derived from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and the monitoring data. The health impacts for potential decrease in the daily ozone concentration and the corresponding economic benefits in 2016 were estimated by applying the environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program-Community Edition (BenMAP-CE) model. By reducing the daily maximum 8-h average concentration of ozone to 100 μg/m³, the estimated avoided all-cause mortalities were 120 × 10³ (95% confidence interval (CI): 67 × 10³, 160 × 10³) cases and the correspondingly economic benefits ranged from 36 to 64 billion CNY using amended human capital (AHC) and willingness to pay (WTP) method in 2016. If the daily maximum 8-h average concentration of ozone were rolled back to 70 μg/m³, the estimated avoided all-cause mortalities were 160 × 10³ (95% CI: 98 × 10³, 230 × 10³) cases and economic benefits ranged from 54 to 95 billion CNY based on AHC and WTP methods.

Marine plastic pollution (MPP) is one of the most pressing issues especially for fast-growing economies in the Global South where addressing it involves both government and personal actions to achieve effective waste management policies. Alternative modelling strategies accounting for personal traits and beliefs (latent attitudes) which are unobservable characteristics are frequently overlooked in policy assessment studies. This study combines contingent valuation and latent traits questions to derive the willingness of Indonesian respondents to support MPP mitigation initiatives. One and two-step models are compared to test the sensitivity of results to modelling assumptions. Latent traits help to understand the willingness to pay (WTP) for MPP and one and two-step approaches produce comparable results. On average respondents are willing to pay £15, per person, per year to reduce MPP, or 2% of the average monthly salary. Local and international organizations should consider motivations and latent traits when designing MPP mitigation strategies.

This study investigates the knowledge and attitudes of the Greek public towards marine plastic pollution and the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive by interpreting the results of a questionnaire. In Greece, the issue of marine plastic pollution has been highlighted by scientists. Public consultation processes about the implementation of the Directive into the national law have been also carried out. However, the results of our study showed that participants were not informed about the issue of marine plastic pollution nor the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive. Nevertheless, they expressed positive attitudes towards it including their willingness to pay and act in order to reduce their plastic waste. Thereby, it is recommended that more initiatives should support the publicity of the Directive so that the Greek public would be able to participating in the decision-making process and support its implementation. In addition, the current study suggests that the topic of microplastics should be integrated into the context of formal education.

In this study, we conducted an experimental panel survey in Norway, Germany and Portugal to explore consumers' willingness to pay more for products that are certified microplastic free. This is placed within the context of private certification schemes and private governance as mechanisms to increase consumer conscientiousness, establish a higher environmental standard in terms of microplastic and reduce marine pollution. We find that consumers in general are very conscious about the issue, would generally prefer products that are microplastics free, but would seldom choose these when there is a price premium on the label. This had a geographical offset though, with the results aligning with that of political trust in the nation, with Norwegians being less likely to purchase items with price premiums for private governance labels, and Portugal being most likely to – even with a price premium.

A contingent valuation study is conducted in three locations in Turkey using a total of 1362 observations to elicit willingness to pay (WTP) to avoid the acute respiratory illness (three days of severe coughing and throat pain). This is the first research of this kind in Turkey, and also one of a few studies conducted in developing countries. Median WTPs are estimated as 65, 51, and 83 PPP-adjusted 2012 USD for Afsin-Elbistan, Kutahya-Tavsanli and Ankara, respectively. Income elasticities of WTP are derived as 0.8 for Afsin-Elbistan and tested statistically indifferent from 1.0 for Kutahya-Tavsanli, and Ankara, and are found to be greater than the cases in existing studies conducted both in developed and developing countries. We also find that 60 to 90 percent of WTP are devoted for avoiding pain and discomfort/restricted activity days, and much less weights are given for avoiding possible financial losses. As for the determinants of WTP, university graduates, those who have experienced coughing within one month, have spent out-of-pocket medical expenses and actually lost some part of their income due the last experienced minor symptoms are willing to pay more to avoid the future acute respiratory illness while women and the household using coal as the main source of home-heating are willing to pay less in one or more study areas. New air quality standard for PM10 (transition from 150 μg/m3 to 40 μg/m3 by 2019) causes the reductions in minor respiratory symptoms by 11, 8, and 4.4 per person, and the resulting welfare gains are calculated as 157 million, 123 million, and 1464 million PPP-adjusted 2012 USD for Afsin-Elbistan, Kutahya-Tavsanli and Ankara, respectively.

Coral reefs constitute the most biologically productive and diverse ecosystem, and provide various goods and services including those related to fisheries, marine tourism, coastal protection, and medicine. However, they are sensitive to climate change and rising temperatures. Taiwan is located in the central part of the world's distribution of coral reefs and has about one third of the coral species in the world. This study estimates the welfare losses associated with the potential damage to coral reefs in Taiwan caused by climate change. The contingent valuation method adopted includes a pre-survey, a face-to-face formal survey, and photo illustrations used to obtain reliable data. Average annual personal willingness to pay is found to be around US$35.75 resulting in a total annual willingness to pay of around US$0.43 billion. These high values demonstrate that coral reefs in Taiwan deserve to be well preserved, which would require a dedicated agency and ocean reserves.

Farmland not only provides human being with food and industrial materials, but also has non-market value. However, few studies have explored the impact of livelihood capital configuration and their willingness to pay (WTP) for the farmland non-market value, from farmers’ perspective. Based on the field survey data of 434 households in Jianghan Plain, China, this paper divided the research process into two stages to explore the impact of farmers' livelihood capital on their WTP by using binary logistics model and qualitative comparative analysis method of fuzzy sets (fsQCA). The results show that (1) The total livelihood capital of farmers was 2.667, with psychological capital 0.649, natural capital 0.621, social capital 0.127. 79.49% of the households were willing to pay for the farmland non-market value, and the most concentrated range of it is 50–200 yuan/hm². (2) Both social capital and psychological capital had positive impacts on farmers' WTP for the non-market value of farmland protection. (3) There were two livelihood capital configurations that could improve the WTP of farmers. When lacking of human capital, physical capital and psychological capital, the improvement in farmers’ financial capital and social capital will improve farmers’ WTP. When the natural, financial, and psychological capital are poor, the rich human capital, physical capital and social capital will also increase farmers’ WTP. In view of the results, policy implications on livelihood capital structure optimization and ecological compensation system differentiation were proposed.

The promotion and use of green products is an important way to improve the living environment and reduce resource consumption and waste. Green products often have higher prices than general products due to its green attributes. According to the signal theory, purchasing green products can effectively convey the pro-social signals of the consumers. Therefore, based on the price premium characteristics of green products, this study constructed a theoretical and quantitative research model of the public’s WTP (willingness to pay) a price premium for green products and conducted an in-depth study on the consumers’ acceptability of premium for green products. A total of 991 valid questionnaires were analyzed, and the following results were obtained: (1) The public’s WTP a price premium for green products was generally low, with only 30.1% of respondents. (2) The influencing factors of the WTP a price premium for green products were conditional value>green value>functional value>value expression form>price importance. Economic factors were still the main reason that hinders the public’s WTP a price premium for green products. When the premium conveys public’s pro-social and pro-environmental signal characteristics, it could effectively improve the public’s acceptability of premium for green products. (3) The public’s WTP a price premium for green products varied with marital status, education level, working years, monthly income, and occupation characteristics. The public who were married, had a master’s degree or above, and had worked for 1 year or less and whose disposable monthly income was more than 50,000 yuan and whose occupation was engineers and technicians had the highest WTP a price premium for green products. (4) Policy guidance and media publicity had a positive moderating effect on the path of influencing factors on the WTP for green products. On this basis, this study proposes to deepen the exemplary leading role of the government and attach importance to the education and publicity function of green consumption consciousness. Enterprises should give full play to the influence of reference groups, highlight the value of green products, and popularize green products through appropriate price discount activities, so as to promote the public to participate more actively in the purchase of green products. At the same time, it can also provide reference and enlightenment for the formulation of relevant policies.