Green finance aims to intervene in investment and financing behaviors through financial means, so as to promote upgrading of heavily polluting industries. Whether it can reduce illegal pollution discharge behaviors is the focus of this paper. This paper is to explore the impact of green finance on illegal emissions of heavy polluting firms. Taking green finance pilot zones (GFPZ) in 2017 as a quasi-natural experiment, the paper measures illegal emission behaviors based on day-night difference of PM₂.₅ at the nearest atmospheric monitoring points and tests the impact of GFPZ on illegal emissions based on triple difference model (DDD). The results show that GFPZ inhibits illegal emissions. Influence path result shows that GFPZ reduces illegal emissions by increasing financing constraint, green innovation, and fulfilling social responsibility. At the same time, this paper also notes that regulatory distance has an interference effect on GFPZ. GFPZ aggravates illegal emission as heavy polluting firms — financial institution’s distance is more than 40 km. GFPZ curbs illegal pollution more significantly as heavy polluting firms — environmental protection bureau distance is within 30 km. This paper aims to reveal the guiding effect of green finance on emission behavior of polluting firms and provide policy references for reducing emission and promoting green finance.

Green consumption (GC), as one of the important initiatives to achieve the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, has attracted widespread attention from scholars in environmental and economic fields. This article reviews the literature on GC, asking two main questions: how can GC research be analyzed from macro, meso, and micro perspectives? How have the research topics in the field of GC evolved in international and Chinese academia? This study makes a visual analysis of knowledge domain based on the literature of Web of Science Core Collection and China National Knowledge Infrastructure, so as to reveal hot topics, stage division, and research trend of GC research. The results revealed the following: GC research is in a period of rapid growth, and it is mainly distributed in developed countries dominated by the USA and in developing countries dominated by China. There is a trend of interdisciplinary research on GC, such as ecology, psychology, health, systematics, politics, and economics, which indicates that GC research has become increasingly inseparable from human survival and health, psychological acceptance, and social development. For the international academia, GC research pays more attention to the transformation of consumer psychology, while the Chinese academia is more concerned with the regulation of consumer behavior and the activation of green emotions. Considering the focus and characteristics of GC supervision, this study proposes GC 3.0 with a consumer-oriented and emphasizing green emotions and proposes future application scenarios from four aspects: government supervision, social self-regulation, enterprise demonstration, and personal self-monitoring.

The digital economy, which gradually emerged with a new generation of information technologies, has become an unavoidable reality for manufacturing firms in conducting green innovation activities. In this context, using matched panel data at the province and manufacturing firm levels in China during the period 2011–2019 as the sample, this article examines the nonlinear impact of the digital economy on firm green innovation, and further identifies the moderation mechanism of government quality and the heterogeneity of its effects. The two-way fixed-effects model reveals that there is not a simple linear association between the digital economy and firm green innovation as traditionally perceived, but rather an inverted U-shaped relationship that first promotes and then inhibits, which remains robust after applying endogenous and robustness tests. And most provinces have not yet crossed the inflection point; thus, the digital economy overall positively impacts green innovation. Further analysis shows that government quality positively moderates the relationship between the digital economy and firm green innovation, statistically reflecting that the turning point shifts upwards to the right under a higher-quality government. It is worth noting that, when heterogeneity in firm ownership, scale, and region is considered, the inverted U-shaped curve still exists, but the level of the digital economy at the inflection point differs, and the digital economy plays a greater role in promoting green innovation for state-owned, large-scale, or midwestern firms. This research has significant policy implications as it establishes an inverse U-shaped relationship between the digital economy and firm green innovation and indicates that while a firm’s green patent output increases with the development of digitalization, it begins to decrease after a limit.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus adversely affected the material and mental well-being of the infected individuals and their families. The poor health system combined with lack of fear of infection has created significant negative health effects for people. The present research consider the notable models of coping with negative emotions, including ‘3Cs’ and ‘direct action and palliation approach’. With the observation method’s help, a detailed perspective was found on people’s coping processes, categorized as psychological, control, coherence, and connectedness coping. The present study considers the notable models of dealing with negative feelings, including ‘3Cs’ and ‘direct intervention and palliation strategy’. With the observation method’s support, a detailed viewpoint was found on people’s coping mechanisms, categorized as neurological, regulation, coherence, and connectedness coping. Using the ANOVA and t-tests, a significant augmentation in people’s negative emotions was found since the beginning of the pandemic. Using GMM regression technique, ‘avoidance’, ‘proactive preparedness’, ‘emotional resilience’, ‘entertainment’, and ‘spiritualism’ were highly significant techniques in curbing the negative emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the LOGIT regression found cumulative negative emotions and emotions about negative career outlooks to be the most significant to bring negative emotions to normalcy. The study suggests that policymakers design a national-level strategy to strengthen the mental health systems to boost mental well-being.

In Tangshan Mine, there are four engineering problems, including the layout of multiple seam mining system, serious environmental damages caused by gangue accumulation and surface collapse, nearly 100 million tons of three under coal (coal trapped under buildings, water bodies, and railways) to be released, and the control accuracy of stratum formations to be improved. The work developed the integrated green mining technology of coal mining, gangue washing-backfilling, strata control, and system monitoring. First, a production system was designed for surface-underground transportation of backfilling materials, underground gangue separation, multiple-seam combined backfilling, and mining. Second, key backfilling equipment was developed at mining heights of 2.2 and 3.5 m by backfilling system layout and precise stratum control methods in Tangshan Mine. After real-time monitoring of stope pressure, backfilling effect, and surface deformation, we evaluated the implementation effect of mining, washing, and backfilling technology. The integrated coal mining in seams 5, 8, and 9 of Tangshan Mine showed that the four backfilling surfaces of T3281, T3292, F5001, and F5002 recovered 946,000 t of raw coal and 1.18 million tons of filled gangue, with a net profit of 363.20 million yuan. The maximum land subsidence values (18, 119, 64, and 47mm) were far lower than the deformation extremes based on the requirements of surface building protection.

Alternative methods are needed to replace chemical nematicides because they have the potential to damage beneficial soil microbial diversity. Therefore, the present work was done to elucidate the soil ameliorative, plant-growth-promoting, and nematicidal properties of fly ash. A random block-designed pot experiment was conducted during the period, December 2018–February 2019. Seeds of carrot (Daucus carota L.) were sown under natural conditions in clay pots containing a growth medium comprising of field soil amended with different levels of fly ash. Plants were inoculated with Meloidogyne incognita that were molecularly characterized using 18S and D2/D3 fragments of 28S rDNA and morphologically through perineal pattern arrangement. The results revealed that fly ash application improved the soil’s important physicochemical characteristics. The inoculation of M. incognita significantly reduced the plant growth, yield, and pigment content of carrot compared to the untreated uninoculated plants. Carrot grown in 15% fly ash (85:15 w/w field soil:fly ash) growth substrate had significantly (P ≤ 0.05) improved plant growth, yield, and pigment content as compared to the untreated inoculated plants. Moreover, the proline content and the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were enhanced by applying 15% fly ash. Fly ash amendment to the soil not only improved plant growth and yield but also reduced the gall index and egg mass index per root system of the carrot as well. Our results, therefore, suggest that 15% fly ash can be used in a sustainable way to improve the growth, yield, and resistance of carrot against the infection of M. incognita.

Urban afforestation can mitigate the effects of air pollution, but the suitability of plant species for this purpose needs to be determined according to pollution intensity and climate change. The goal of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of different phytotoxicity endpoints using two native Brazilian plant species as models, Aroeira (Schinus terebinthifolius) and Cuvatã (Cupania vernalis). The sensitivity parameters evaluated could help in selecting the most air-pollution-tolerant plant species for use in urban afforestation programs. The two plant species were exposed, in a greenhouse, to the combustion gases of a diesel engine for 120 days, with daily intermittent gas exposure. Every 30 days, leaf injury (chlorosis and necrosis), biomass, and physiological/biochemical parameters (proteins, chlorophyll, and peroxidase enzyme activity) were evaluated for both plant species. For the two selected species, the endpoints studied can be ranked according to their sensitivity (or inversely the tolerance) to diesel oil combustion gases in the following order: peroxidase > biomass ≈ chlorophyll > protein > leaf injury. The endpoint responses of higher plants can be used to assess the suitability of particular plant species for use in urban afforestation areas with relatively intense vehicle traffic.

Coal-based fuels are effective alternative vehicle fuels in coal-rich countries, but whether it is beneficial to the environment and carbon neutrality has always been a concern. This study evaluates the energy efficiency, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water footprint (WF), and environmental impact of coal-based diesel, coal-based synthetic natural gas, coal-based hydrogen, and coal-based electricity pathways from the life cycle perspective. Furthermore, scenario analysis predicts the impact of coal-rich countries on energy and emissions by adjusting vehicle fuel ratio. The results show that the coal-based diesel fuel pathway has lower energy efficiency and emits more GHGs. And GHGs are concentrated in fuel production stage. In terms of WF, the coal-based electricity pathway has the greatest benefits, which gray WF is dominant. From environmental impact perspective, a single vehicle fuel pathway cannot satisfy all impact categories. But the coal-based electricity pathway has the lowest value for the end-point environmental impact categories. Scenario analysis shows that the USA, India, and the European Union can significantly save energy and water resources and reduce GHG emissions with the increase in the proportion of alternative fuel vehicle in 2030. However, even a complete ban on the use of conventional gasoline vehicle in Norway will not reduce water consumption.

Acetonitrile (AN), tetrahydrofuran (THF), and Cr(VI) are toxic pollutants found in industrial wastewater and groundwater. The reducing sugar fructose separates AN and THF from water, at either neutral or acidic pH (pH = 4), either with or without Cr(VI) (as observed in bottle tests). This is because it preferentially hydrogen bonds water, inhibiting its interactions with AN and THF. When HCl is added to solutions of Cr(VI) and fructose in AN-water or THF-water, it induces Cr(VI) migration from the water to the separated THF- or AN-rich layers. Cr(VI) partitioning in the AN- and THF-rich phases is evident from their discoloration (from transparent to orange). Therefore, when fructose and HCl are used together, they enable the simultaneous removal of Cr(VI) and organic solvents from water. Other acids (e.g., H₂SO₄) enable Cr(VI) migration to AN or THF only in the presence of chloride salts, demonstrating that pH and chloride ions are both responsible for Cr(VI) migration in AN or THF.

Biogenic silver nanoparticles (bNAg) have been suggested as a less toxic alternative to ionic silver (Ag), and also a more ecological alternative to synthetic silver nanoparticles (sNAg). However, the differences between the sublethal effects caused by bNAg and silver nitrate (AgNO₃) are hardly known, especially in native fishes of the Neotropical region. Most researchers have only compared the effects of sNAg and AgNO₃. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of bNAg, produced by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, and to compare these with the effects of AgNO₃ in the Neotropical fish Prochilodus lineatus. The animals were exposed for 24 and 96 h at nominal concentrations of 10 and 25 µg L⁻¹ of Ag. At the end of the exposures, Ag accumulation, metallothionein concentration, hematological parameters, plasma glucose and ion concentrations, activity of the main ATPases and carbonic anhydrase in the gills, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, lipid peroxidation, and neurotoxic effects were evaluated. Both bNAg and AgNO₃ caused Ag accumulation in the blood, gills, and brain, in addition to neurotoxic effects on muscle, alterations in reduced glutathione concentration in the gills, and increased glutathione-S-transferase activity in the liver. Hyperglycemia, ionic imbalances, and alterations in the activity of ion transport enzymes in the gills were also observed. As the effects of bNAg were similar to the effects of AgNO₃, it is concluded that animals exposed to the highest concentration of silver were the most affected, regardless of the form of silver used in the exposure medium.