Environment-biased technological progress plays a critical role in carbon reduction, while the association among environment-biased technological progress, energy consumption, and carbon emissions has not been paid enough attention. Working with a unique spatial panel dataset of APEC economies spanning the 2000–2017 period, we employed the nonspatial panel model and the spatial panel model to investigate the role of fossil energy (FE) and clean energy (CE) consumption in carbon dioxide (CO₂) abatement through environment-biased technological progress (EBTP). We decomposed EBTP into both emission-reducing biased technological progress (ErBTP) and energy-saving biased technological progress (EsBTP). The results show that the direct effect of EBTP on CO₂ emissions was significantly negative and that the direct effect of ErBTP was significantly larger than that of EsBTP. EBTP reduced CO₂ emissions through CE consumption, whereas it increased CO₂ emissions through FE consumption, that is, EBTP had a “backfire effect” on FE consumption. More into detail, ErBTP had a larger effect on CO₂ emissions in developing economies, while EsBTP played a more important role in developed economies. Furthermore, the results of the robustness test were consistent with our findings. Finally, several policy options were suggested to reduce CO₂ emissions in APEC economies.

A set of dynamic evaluation systems based on data envelopment analysis (DEA), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation II has been constructed to determine the financial performance of Chinese nuclear power-related enterprises; the evaluation indicators reflect not only current development but also future development. (1) A comparison of the competitiveness of nine companies is conducted showing that Everbright Jiabao Co. Ltd. has the strongest competitiveness, the relative competitiveness of Dongfang Electric Corporation has declined year by year, and the competitiveness of Atlantic has increased year by year. (2) According to the analysis of the overall sustainable development capability indicated by financial performance, the financial performance of DUNAN Environment and Everbright Jiabao Co. Ltd. is relatively better than that of the other companies, and that of Atlantic is the worst. (3) According to the analysis of the sustainable development capability indicated by investment efficiency and development performance, during the 10-year development period, the investment efficiency and development performance of Dongfang Electric Corporation, DUNAN Environment, Wintime Energy Co. Ltd. and Everbright Jiabao Co. Ltd. increased, while those of Shanghai Electric and Hubei Energy Group Co. Ltd. declined. In the 10-year period, the other three companies, Boasteel Group, Atlantic, and HBIS Group Co. Ltd., developed unevenly. In addition, the investment efficiency and development performance of the nine companies are unbalanced in the two short-term development stages from 2007 to 2011 and from 2011 to 2016.

This paper investigates the dynamic short-term and long-term relationships among per capita GDP, per capita energy consumption, per capita renewable energy consumption, trade openness, and per capita carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions within the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for Korea from 1971 to 2017. According to the empirical findings of the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing procedure, although increases in per capita GDP and per capita energy consumption increase per capita CO₂ emissions, per capita renewable energy consumption and trade openness decrease per capita CO₂ emissions. Furthermore, according to the empirical results, an N-shaped relationship has been identified between per capita CO₂ emissions and per capita GDP. This indicates that our empirical findings do not support the EKC hypothesis in Korea. Thus, economic growth alone is not sufficient to address environmental pollution; in response, active environmentally friendly policies should be implemented, and the energy matrix should be transformed in favor of renewable energy in Korea.

Hong Kong (HK) is confronted by increasing problems of solid waste disposal, as it is an overpopulated city with limited land resources. Currently, solid waste disposal mainly relies on three landfills located in the New Territories. However, the current waste treatment facilities and policies cannot appropriately control and manage increments of solid waste. The primary reason is the increased amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) caused by the growth of the population and the economy, with food waste accounting for the largest proportion of MSW in HK. The secondary reason is that the capacity of existing landfills will be exhausted in the near future as the level of waste generated continues to grow. To deal with these problems, in this paper, we propose five approaches with the aim of identifying the most sustainable strategy for efficient solid waste disposal in HK: a food waste recycling program; an MSW charging scheme; the implementation of incineration plants (i.e., waste to energy); black soldier fly bioconversion and a waste trading scheme; and black soldier fly bioconversion and a hybrid anaerobic digestion system. This is followed by a detailed demonstration of each approach, particularly focusing on the benefits, limitations, and implementation of each in the case of HK. The results of this study may shed light on how to effectively and sustainably manage the increasing amount of solid waste in HK.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles are widely used in some domains (cosmetics, pharmaceuticals optical devices, and agricultural field) due to their physical, optical, and antimicrobial properties. However, the release of ZnO-NPs into the environment may affect organisms like fish with potential consequences for human health. Histological approaches of the acute effects of these materials on fish are scarce; thus, the present study aimed to investigate the potential toxic effects of acute exposure to ZnO particles in marine environments, by assessing histological changes in the gills, liver, spleen, and muscle of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) juveniles. Thus, fish were exposed for 96 h, via water, to 1 mg L⁻¹ of ionic zinc and zinc oxide particles (1.1, 1.2, and 1.4 μm of size). Histological examination revealed gills as the most affected organ, followed by liver, muscle, and spleen. In the gills, histopathological changes included hyperplasia of epithelial cells, fusion of the secondary lamellae, and lifting of the lamellar epithelium with edema. In the liver, lipid vacuolation of several degrees, necrosis of hepatic and pancreatic tissues, blood congestion in sinusoids and hepatoportal vessels, presence of cellular infiltrate, and melano-macrophages diffusion was found. Muscle showed degeneration, atrophy, thickening and necrosis of muscle fibers with edema between them, and presence of melano-macrophages in the muscle layer. Spleen was the less damaged organ, displaying congested blood, white pulp increase/rupture, and bigger and darker melano-macrophage aggregates in the splenic stroma. These results underline that the size of particles plays a determinant role in their potential pernicious effects. A short-term exposure caused major histopathological changes in relevant organs of S. aurata juveniles, possibly affecting their function.

Animal studies indicated that bisphenol A (BPA) exposure during pregnancy may disrupt thyroid function which is critical for fetal development. However, few epidemiological studies have examined this topic and the results were inconsistent. We aimed to evaluate whether prenatal BPA exposure is associated with thyroid hormone levels in Chinese mothers and newborns with stratification by maternal body mass index (BMI). BPA concentration were measured in urine samples collected from 555 women at late pregnancy. Maternal serum free thyroxin (FT4), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPO-Ab) concentrations at the third trimester were abstracted from medical records. Cord serum-free triiodothyronine (FT3), FT4, TSH, and TPO-Ab levels were measured in 398 newborns. Prenatal urinary BPA was detected in 98.5% of mothers with a geometric mean of 1.32 ng/mL (95% CI 1.17–1.49 ng/mL). With each 10-fold increase in BPA concentrations, maternal log10_(TSH) mIU/L was 0.10 lowered (95% CI − 0.20, − 0.005, p < 0.05) among pre-pregnancy BMI > 23 kg/m², with adjustment for maternal age, maternal education, gestation diabetes mellitus (GDM), husband smoking during pregnancy, parity, and gestational age at thyroid parameters measured, but no association was observed in pre-pregnancy BMI < 18.5, or 18.5–22.9 kg/m² stratum. No BPA-associated changes were observed in maternal FT4 level or odds of positive TPO-Ab in all BMI stratum. Also, no associations were observed between prenatal urinary BPA concentration and cord serum FT4, FT3, TSH levels, and odds of positive TPO-Ab in both male and female newborns among pre-pregnancy BMI < 18.5, 18.5–22.9 or > 23 kg/m² stratum. In this study, prenatal urinary BPA concentration was associated with lower maternal TSH among women with overweight, but not associated with other maternal thyroid parameters or cord serum thyroid parameters across maternal BMI categories. More research on pregnant women and newborns cohort with BPA exposure are warranted.

Benzophenone-3, benzophenone-8, and 4-methylbenzylidene camphor are used in sunscreens because they can protect the skin from UV radiation. The widespread use of organic UV filters may mean that they directly or indirectly enter seawater during recreational activities or through sewage discharge. In this study, a simple and efficient method using 1-octanol:isooctane (2:8, v/v) as an extraction solvent and liquid chromatography–electrospray tandem mass spectrometry was developed to measure trace levels of organic UV filters in seawater samples. This proposed method proved to be a highly sensitive, low-cost, and green analytical tool that requires minimal sample preparation. The method was validated and it exhibited favorable performance as well as acceptable accuracy (67 to 115%), precision (2.1 to 7.3%), coefficients of determination (0.9952 < R² < 0.9987), sensitivity (limits of quantification [3.3 to 5.7 ng L⁻¹]), and an acceptable matrix effect (87 to 99%). This methodology was successfully applied to analyze seawater taken from Kenting National Park located in the Hengchun Peninsula of southern Taiwan. Benzophenone-3 was detected at all sampling sites and at a higher concentration than the other organic UV filters. The highest concentration of benzophenone-3 was 514.6 ng L⁻¹ in a sample collected from Baisha Beach.

This study reports the effect of anolytic nitrite concentration on electricity generation and electron transfer in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Anolytic nitrite enhanced the electricity generation capability of the MFCs at relatively low concentrations (< 60 mg·L⁻¹) but inhibited the activity of anodic electrogenic bacteria at high concentrations. In the anode chamber of the MFC, nitrite was converted to nitrate-releasing electrons before being quickly removed through denitrification. Nitrite alone (in the absence of organic matters) could not perform as an electricity production matrix but promoted electricity production as a co-matrix in the MFC. At an influent nitrite concentration of 60 mg·L⁻¹, the coulombic efficiency of the MFC was minimized at approximately 5.4%, and the charge transfer resistance was also lowest, while the concentrations of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and cytochrome c were both maximized. Higher anolytic nitrite concentrations (> 60 mg·L⁻¹) inhibited the production of cytochrome c and EPS and increased the charge transfer resistance, thereby reducing the efficiency of electron transfer in the anodic biofilm. The results provide valuable guidelines for MFC applications in wastewater treatment processes with nitrite-containing influents.

Achieving the seventh Sustainable Development Goal which is clean energy at affordable prices depending on technological innovation is one of the most strategic objectives of Egypt, aiming at mitigating carbon dioxide emissions and enhancing sustainable economic growth (IRENA 2018b). Based upon this goal, the study explores the relationships among carbon dioxide emissions, technological innovation, alternative energy resources, economic growth, and financial development in Egypt over the period 1971–2014. Auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL), fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), Stock and Watson dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS), and Toda-Yamamoto approaches are employed. The results show the existence of cointegration among the variables. Moreover, empirical results show that while technological innovation and alternative energy resources improve environmental quality, financial development and economic growth deteriorate it. The findings obtained from Toda-Yamamoto approach reveal the existence of bi-directional causal relation between environmental degradation and economic growth. Also, environmental degradation causes technological innovation and financial development causes environmental degradation and economic growth. Thus, several policy implications should be suggested to policymakers as enhancing the development of technological innovation especially in renewable energy sector to improve environmental quality.

The characteristics of subfractions of soil fulvic acid (FA₃, FA₅, FA₇, FA₉, and FA₁₃) using stepwise elution from XAD-8 resin with pyrophosphate buffers were investigated by differential absorption spectroscopy (DAS) and differential fluorescence spectroscopy (DFS) combined with mathematical deconvolution and spectral indices. The log-transformed absorbance spectra (LTAS) exhibited three regions for both acidic-buffer-eluted subfractions (AESF) and neutral-buffer-eluted subfraction (NESF) and four regions for basic-buffer-eluted subfractions (BESF) according to the differences in spectral slopes. The DAS spectra of FA subfractions were closely fitted with seven Gaussian bands with maxima location at 199.66, 216.18 ± 1.50, 246.20 ± 3.85, 285.22 ± 7.26, 345.64 ± 5.30, 389.27, and 307.37 nm, respectively (R² > 0.993). The content of salicylic-like and carboxyl groups in FA subfractions decreased, while the phenolic chromophore increased with elution sequence. From the 11 spectral indices, AESF had greater molecular weight, condensation, polymerization, hydroxyl radical production, humification degree, and terrigenous contribution, as well as contained more conjugated aromatic structures and less N-containing groups than NESF and BESF. The humification degree and humic characters of FA subfractions were closely associated to the aromaticity, molecular condensation, and DOM–metal-bound functional groups. The proper separation of FA into subfractions is beneficial for reducing its complexity and heterogeneity, which helps us to further explore its chemical properties and interactions with various contaminants in soil environments. Graphical abstract