Many economies are seeking new ways to improve environmental quality through international collaboration in environmental-related technology development (ICERTD). Cost reduction, green market penetration, and green technology development are central to global partnerships for sustainable development, even though no empirical study explains the ICERTD-carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions nexus. The paper fills this knowledge gap in the environmental economics literature by examining the relationship between ICERTD and CO₂ emissions in the U.S. from 1990Q1 to 2018Q4 using domestic environmental innovation, trade openness, renewable energy consumption, and gross domestic product per capita as control variables. Fully modified ordinary least squares, dynamic ordinary least squares, and correlated component regression methods were employed for testing the long-run nexus among the variables. The present study revealed that (i) a long-run cointegration existed among ICERTD, domestic environmental innovation, trade openness, renewable energy consumption, gross domestic product per capita, and CO₂ emissions; (ii) ICERTD, domestic environmental innovation, and renewable energy consumption benefited the U.S. in lowering CO₂ emissions in the long run; and (iii) trade openness and gross domestic product per capita were positively associated with CO₂ emissions. This study recommends important policy recommendations for increasing ICERTD for decarbonization.

Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental health problems in the world; accumulative studies have shown that air pollution was closely related to metabolism disorders. HbA1c is a stable indicator for blood glucose level monitoring. However, studies on the impact of ambient air pollution on HbA1c have inconsistent conclusions. The objective of the study is to explore the influence of ambient air pollution on HbA1c. By searching keywords, a systematic literature retrieval was carried out on PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Embase databases up to April 2022. Pooled percentage change (%-change) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated using random effect models for particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). A subgroup analysis of body mass index (BMI), study region, exposure period, sample size, sensitivity analysis, and publication bias detection was also performed. There were 8, 12, and 6 studies included in this meta-analysis to explore the association between PM₁₀, PM₂.₅, NO₂, and HbA1c, respectively. The results showed that for every increase of 10 μg/m³ in PM₁₀, PM₂.₅, and NO₂, the %-changes in HbA1c were 0.13%, 0.814%, and 0.02%, respectively. The subgroup analysis showed that exposure period, sample size, and BMI were associated with HbA1c in response to air pollution. PM₁₀, PM₂.₅, and NO₂ exposure were significantly associated with increased HbA1c levels.

Nigeria is experiencing continuous economic and industrial transformations, typical of many developing nations. In addition to its well-established oil industry, which is infamous for exuding various kinds of pollutants, there are increased mining operations, indiscriminate disposal and burning of wastes, illegal oil refinery and terroristic insurgency, all poised to increase the levels of heavy metal contaminants in the Nigerian environment. A recent revelation indicates that about 2 million people in South-western Nigeria alone could potentially be poisoned by lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg), emanating from illegal mining operations. This further underscores the importance of investigations of toxic trace metal levels in the country. The current review of 148 research articles was conducted to provide an understanding of the scope of heavy metals research in Nigeria and to prioritize needed research. The review recognized that the scope of heavy metals studies has been wide, covering matrices such as cosmetics, human blood, hair, medicines, foods, beverages, water, air, soil and crude oil. However, important toxic metals, especially mercury (Hg), arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb), are largely under-investigated. Also, there is a need for more studies to be conducted in the northern part of the country. Furthermore, studies need to focus on marine environments rather than the freshwater ecosystems alone. Techniques such as the inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) analyses are herein recommended to bridge the data gap and to overcome limitations in trace metals analyses in the Nigerian total environment.

The application of wastewater treatment using TiO₂ coated on the stainless-steel mesh is promising for disintegrating organic pollutants in wastewater. This research successfully coated TiO₂ particles on stainless-steel mesh for the photocatalyst process by using the dip-coating method. This method was selected due to its simplicity and low cost, as well as its extensive application prospects in wastewater treatment. The photocatalytic oxidation of real wastewater treatment was developed and designed for a photo-reactor in terms of flow rate (varied on 2.0–4.0 L/min) and light distance (varied on 5.0–15.0 cm), whereas the preparation of the material process was investigated in terms of TiO₂ catalyst dosage (varied on 1.0–3.0 g) and layers of coating (varied on 1 to 3 layers). Experiments were employed to degrade organic wastewater from methylene blue (MB) for a prelim experiment and real wastewater effluent testing for the application. The optimized TiO₂ dosage was 2.0 g with 2 layers of coating coated on the stainless-steel mesh. The designed photo-reactor was optimized with a flow rate of 2.0 L/min and a light distance of 10.0 cm to treat the organic pollutants in raw domestic wastewater effluent on photocatalytic activity. MB successfully degraded about 96% in 3 h under UV-C irradiation after adsorption equilibrium was completed (3 h), whereas the efficiency of BOD removal was 89% under UV-C irradiation in 4 h. Therefore, TiO₂ (2.0 g) coated on stainless-steel mesh with 2 layers of the coating prepared by dip-coating is a potentially effective alternative for real wastewater treatment.

We aimed to comprehensively investigate the associations of air pollutants with hospital admissions for critical illness in ED. Patients with critical illness including level 1 and level 2 of the Emergency Severity Index admitted in ED of Changsha Central Hospital from January 2016 to December 2020 were enrolled. Meteorological and air pollutants data source were collected from the National Meteorological Science Data Center. A Poisson generalized linear regression combined with a polynomial distributed lag model (PDLM) was utilized to explore the effect of air pollution on hospital admissions for critical illness in ED. Benchmarks as references (25th) were conducted for comparisons with high levels of pollutant concentrations (75th). At first, lagged effects of all different air pollutants were analyzed. Then, based on the most significant factor, analyses in subgroups were performed by gender (male and female), age (< 45, 45–65, and > 65), disorders (cardiovascular, neurological, respiratory), and seasons (spring, summer, autumn, and winter). A total of 47,290 patients with critical illness admitted in ED were included. The effects of air pollutants (PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, O₃ and CO) on critical illness ED visits were statistically significant. Strong collinearity between PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ (r = 0.862) was found. Both single-day lag and cumulative-day lag day models showed that PM₂.₅ had the strongest effects (lag 0, RR = 1.025, 95% CI 1.008–1.043, and lag 0–14, RR = 1.067, 95% CI 1.017–1.120, respectively). In both PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀, the risks of critical illness in male, > 65 ages, respiratory diseases, and winter increased the most significant. Air pollutants, especially PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ exposure, could increase the risk of critical illness admission.

Singapore has been ranked in the most dynamic financial market and the highest ecological deficit country, indicating that the trade-off hypothesis may exist. The main goal of the present study is to probe the impact of financial development, economic growth, and human capital on ecological footprint in Singapore from 1980 to 2016. The outcomes obtained from the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method have failed to provide a clear impact of financial sector development on ecological footprint. However, the Bayesian analysis reveals that both financial development and economic growth have a harmful influence on EF, while the impact of human capital is beneficial. A theoretical conclusion derived is that monetary expansion policies should be associated with improving human capital to achieve the United Nations SDGs in the context of Singapore. The findings of the study are of particular interest to policymakers for developing sound policy decisions for sustainable economic progress which is not at the cost of environment.

Last few decades, several economic uncertainty challenges have emerged in the energy market. This study newly contributes to existing research by inspecting the asymmetric effect of economic policy uncertainty and financial development on renewable energy consumption in China. We employ a nonlinear ARDL approach by using a time-series dataset spanning from 1990 to 2019. Our symmetric model shows that economic policy uncertainty matters in the short run, as it increases renewable energy consumption while exhibiting a negative impact on renewable energy in long run in China. Our asymmetric results in the short and long run have deviated from the symmetric results. Our asymmetric results of the short and long run are similar in direction but different in magnitude. The results show that positive change in economic policy uncertainty has increased 3.216% and negative change in economic policy uncertainty has decreased 1.461% in renewable energy consumption in long run in China. Financial development does not matter in renewable energy consumption in China. Based on these outcomes, we can draw some robust economic policies in China as well as for other pollutant economies. Policymakers should be made economic policies more predictable in the modern era.

Creosote is a complex mixture containing mainly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The remediation of creosote-contaminated sites becomes a challenge due to the numerous compounds and the specific soil properties. Treatability tests using advanced homogeneous (HM system) and heterogeneous (HT system) oxidative processes were applied with sandy soil artificially contaminated with creosote. The creosote was collected in a contaminated site in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Sodium persulfate (SP) was the reaction oxidizing agent used. For the HM system, SP was activated by ferrous ions (Fe²⁺) chelated by citric acid (C₆H₈O₇) and in the HT system, clay-based iron catalyst (CAT) was used for the SP activation. These two methods can be applied for in situ processes, without generating waste and effluents that need further treatment. Experimental designs were applied to determine the appropriate reagent concentrations to provide better removal efficiency for the total of 9 selected PAHs. As far as we know, this is the first study comparing homogeneous and heterogeneous systems while applying CAT to remediate PAH-contaminated soils. The results indicated that the HT system was more efficient than the HM system, with PAH removal of 97% and 61%, respectively. The treatability tests performed provide an efficient application of in situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) in tropical regions, such as Brazil, for the remediation of areas contaminated by PAHs.

In this study, the smoke from a 3R4F research cigarette and the aerosol generated by the Heated Tobacco Product IQOS, also referred to as the Tobacco Heating System (THS) 2.2 in the literature, were compared. The objective was to characterize the gas and suspended particulate matter compositions in the mainstream smoke from a combusted 3R4F cigarette and in the aerosol generated by IQOS during use. The results indicated that the determined aerosol emissions from IQOS were notably lower than in the cigarette smoke under a Health Canada Intense puffing regimen. As an interesting detail in this study, the maximum nicotine concentrations within a puff were practically the same in both the 3R4F smoke and the IQOS aerosol, but the average concentration was lower for the IQOS aerosol. For both products, water constituted a significant proportion of the particulate matter, although it was substantially higher in the IQOS aerosol. Furthermore, combustion-related solid particles observed in the 3R4F smoke contained elements such as carbon, oxygen, potassium, calcium, and silicon. In contrast, IQOS aerosol particulate matter was composed of semi-volatile organic constituents with some minor traces of oxygen and silicon. The particulate matter found in the IQOS aerosol was volatile, which was especially noticeable when exposed to the electron beam of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM).

As global warming has severely threatened the ecosystem and sustainable development of human beings, carbon trading scheme is introduced to mitigate global warming and consumer environmental awareness (CEA) is gradually enhanced. Government regulation and consumer supervision have required firms to seek efficient strategies of product rollover and emission abatement in order to sustain and increase market share. This paper constructs a two-period analytical model in the context of intertemporal carbon emission regulation to investigate how carbon emission regulations and CEA affect the optimal strategies of product rollover, emission abatement, and social welfare. The results reveal that without consumer supervision, the firm prefers to adopt dual product rollover strategy and the optimal product rollover strategy depends on costs and benefits when product recycling is considered. When CEA is high, welfare and emission abatement regulated by hybrid policy is lower than those regulated by carbon trading scheme. When CEA is low, emission abatement under hybrid policy is superior to those regulated by carbon trading scheme. These findings help provide implications for improving carbon emission management efficiency and prompting sustainable development.