Financial globalization has been argued to contribute to the increase/decrease in greenhouse gases and hence global temperature. India, according to International Energy Agency (IEA), is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases globally, where the consumption of the few rich produces about seven times carbon emissions when compared with the poorest households. This current research explores the asymmetric effect of financial globalization on carbon emissions, while controlling for non-renewable energy utilization, renewable energy consumption, and economic expansion. The study uses yearly data stretching from 1970 to 2018 and batteries of econometric approaches in order to investigate these associations. The outcomes of the NARDL unveiled that (i) a positive (negative) shock in non-renewable energy utilization increases (decrease) carbon emissions; (ii) favorable (unfavorable) variations in renewable energy consumption decrease carbon emissions; (iii) a favorable shock in financial development contributes to carbon emissions; and (iv) a positive shock in growth impacts carbon emissions positively. Based on the empirical outcomes, we are of the opinion that policymakers should intensify efforts in putting in place appropriate environmental policy (green economy) that emphasizes the importance of renewable driven economy via energy-saving and energy-efficient technologies. Else, increased consumption on non-renewable energy sources among the few rich in India and any other countries struggling with implementing green economy would be devastating to both the immediate and future generations.

Based on the environmental awards granted by credible third parties to recognize firms’ devotion to environmental protection, this study examines the impact of environmental awards on firms’ green technology innovation by using a data sample comprising Chinese A-shares listed firms for a period of 2007 to 2019. Our results show that environmental awards can significantly promote corporate green technology innovation. This finding remains valid after endogenous and robustness testing, including the alternative measure of green technology innovation, and the replacement of the estimation method with the Poisson regression and the negative binomial regression. Additional tests reveal that this influence is exerted through increased long-term loans and government environmental subsidies. Moreover, our study reveals that this effect only exists among non-state-owned enterprises, companies with high financial risk, and heavily polluting enterprises. Compared to extensive studies on how environmental regulation forces companies to conduct green technology innovation, this study provides essential guidance on the role played by positive incentives in driving corporate green technology innovation from the perspective of environmental awards.

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is commonly used as an indicator for odorous gas emission monitoring in wastewater treatment plants. The H₂S emission estimations can be performed using algebraic mathematical models or carrying out measurements at the source, with the dynamic flux chamber, for example. This work brings together these two methodologies in a computational fluid dynamics analysis. Fifteen liquid-phase mass transfer coefficient ([Formula: see text]) models were initially evaluated in establishing, at the liquid–gas interface in a flux chamber, an H₂S emission flux based on the friction velocity field from three different inlet flows (2, 5, and 10 L min⁻¹). Ten [Formula: see text] models were fully simulated, and the numerical results were compared with available experimental data. The higher the inlet flow, the higher the friction velocity at the interface, and the higher the H₂S emission. The H₂S emission was also strongly dependent on the constant coefficients of the existing [Formula: see text] models. Small variability on those coefficients generates considerable changes in emissions at the interface. Few and different models performed well in describing the available concentration data at the outlet sampling probe for different inlet flows, which shows there is still no single model capable of representing all simulated friction velocity ranges (0.005 to 0.017 m s⁻¹).

Arsenic (As) is very common pollutant of the environment categorized as class-I human carcinogen. Rice crop is inherently efficient at accumulating As that is also triggered by conventional cropping methods (flooded conditions). A pot experiment was conducted with the objectives to (i) determine the accumulation of As in rice grains and shoots and As species in rice grains, (ii) determine the effect of As concentrations on physiological and agronomic characteristics of the rice crop, and (iii) assess the changes in fractions of As within the soil under different water regimes. Water regimes included flooding, intermittent, intermittent + aerobic, and aerobic irrigation. Grain As concentration from flood-irrigated rice was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) reduced in rice grown in 10 and 50 mg kg⁻¹ As-contaminated soil with less applied irrigation. Water management techniques have influenced As speciation in rice grains. As the irrigation techniques were shifted from flooding to intermittent, intermittent + aerobic, and aerobic irrigation, a significant decrease in concentration of inorganic species (11.98–76.81% at 10 mg kg⁻¹ and 66.04–93.61% at 50 mg kg⁻¹) was observed. Aerobic irrigation has effectively reduced the concentration of arsenic in rice grain as compared to other irrigation techniques in both the As-contaminated soils. This study indicated that irrigation management techniques other than flood irrigation have significantly affected the As (total and speciation) concentration within the rice grains and non-significantly affecting crop yield and this must be considered if regulations are based on inorganic As percentage of total As concentration.

Extracts of copoazu (Theobroma gramdiflorum), canangucha (Maurita Flexuosa), and coffee (Coffea arabica) were explored as enhancers of the solar photo-Fenton process to eliminate acetaminophen, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine, and diclofenac in raw municipal wastewater. The process, at pH 6.2 and 5 mg L⁻¹ of iron without the presence of extracts, had a very limited action (~35% of the pollutants degradation at 90 min of treatment) due to the iron precipitation. Interestingly, the extract addition increased the soluble iron forms, but only copoazu extract improved the pollutant degradation (~95% of elimination at 20 min of the process action). The copoazu extract components acted as natural complexing agents, maintaining the soluble iron up to 2 mg L⁻¹ even after 90 min and, consequently, enhancing the pollutant degradation. The effect of copoazu extract dose on the process performance was also assessed, finding that an iron:polyphenols (from the copoazu extract) at a molar ratio equal to 1:0.16 was the most favorable condition. Then, the process improved by copoazu extract was applied to raw municipal wastewater. Remarkably, the process led to ~90% of total pharmaceuticals degradation at 20 min of treatment. This work evidenced the feasibility of amazonian fruit extracts to improve the solar photo-Fenton process to degrade pharmaceuticals in aqueous matrices at near-neutral pH.

In the present study, the air pollution dynamics of the metropolitan cities of Balıkesir, Bursa, Istanbul, Kocaeli, Sakarya and Tekirdağ in the Marmara Region, which is the geographical region with the highest urban and industrial activity in Turkey, were examined for the time period between 2016 and 2019. Annual changes in the cities in terms of air pollution, which was examined with a focus on the PM₂.₅ parameter as indicated by United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); differences in the cities by years; and the seasonal changes in air pollution in the cities were investigated. Additionally, mortality rates attributed to air pollution were calculated with the AirQ + software based on integrated exposure–response function recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN using city-scale statistics of fatal disease cases that can be attributed to air pollution. It was determined that all cities in the Marmara Region study area exceeded the limit PM₂.₅ values specified by the European Union (EU) in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 while only Kocaeli and Tekirdağ were below the limit values in 2019. The limit values specified by the WHO were exceeded in all cities in each year. A total of 46,920 premature deaths attributed to the exceedance of WHO limit values were calculated for the years 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 with 11,895, 13,853, 11,748 and 9,429, respectively. Determining national limit values for the PM₂.₅ parameter, which is among the most important factors of air pollution, and monitoring it in a sustainable manner using a sufficient number of well-equipped stations is of great importance. This way, national, regional and urban action plans regarding the impact of air pollution on human health, as indicated by UN SDGs, can be prepared.

Treating the green credit policy issued in 2012 as a quasi-natural experiment, this study has investigated the impact of green credit policy on total factor productivity of the manufacturing firms in China by using the panel data of the A-share firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges during 2008 and 2020, with the consideration of the mediating role of debt financing and the moderating role of environmental regulation simultaneously. The results show that green credit policy has a negative effect on total factor productivity of the manufacturing firms in China. Empirical evidence also shows that debt financing could oppositely mediate the nexus between green credit policy and total factor productivity of the manufacturing firms in China by both inhibiting long-term loans and promoting short-term loans. In addition, the moderating role of environmental regulation is partially and conditionally established. Furthermore, the regional heterogeneity and the property rights heterogeneity are proved. Finally, conclusions and policy implications are provided to improve the quality of green credit policy in the future.

Overutilized hydro-energy production through non-sustainable mode is detrimental for both the economy and the environment. Intermittent consumption of hydro-energy from non-sustainable production methods may induce deleterious impacts in terms of rapid pollution in the economy. This paper investigates the impacts of hydro-power consumption upon pollution for 5 BRICS countries from 1965 to 2019. Our balanced panel model shows that infrequent usages of hydro-power consumption led to more pollution over the year. This relation is also further explained by considering several macroeconomic factors, in the context of the growth scenario. Our empirical findings show that an increase in population and consequent rise in per capita income have exhibited positive impacts on pollution. Even, improved industrialized led production and investment in these economies contribute heavily towards pollution and declined environmental standards. Our results further state that intermittent usages of natural resources by population in terms of rising ecological footprint have resulted in higher emission intensity over the year. These findings underscore how rising hydro-power energy consumption has led to the rising pollution amidst the growth scenario in BRICS economies.

Enydra fluctuans Lour. (Asteraceae) is an edible semi-aquatic floating or trailing herbaceous plant widely distributed in tropical Africa, South and South East Asia, and Australia. Its leaves, which are consumed as a vegetable, are also used in traditional medicine to treat several diseases. The efficacy of this plant in removal of copper and lead from aqueous medium was tested in the present study. The plants were exposed to graded measured concentrations of 0.55–10.2 mg Cu L⁻¹ and 11.5–50.2 mg Pb L⁻¹ in hydroponic systems. Controls without added Cu and Pb were maintained under identical conditions. Cu and Pb were estimated by atomic absorption spectrometry, and the bioconcentration factor (BCF) and the translocation factor (TF) were calculated for each element at the different concentrations. Accumulation of both Cu and Pb was significantly higher in root than that in leaf and stem. Though all the bioconcentration factor (BCF) values were greater than unity, none of the translocation factor (TF) values was greater than unity, indicating that this plant could not be considered a hyperaccumulator of these metals. Nevertheless, E. fluctuans could remove Cu from aqueous medium at rates ranging from 98.8 to 99.7%, with a mean reduction of 99.2% after 96-h exposure at various concentrations. The removal of Pb ranged from 97.1 to 99.1%, with a mean reduction of 98.2%. Thus, E. fluctuans showed high potential for removal of Cu and Pb from aqueous medium and has the prospect of being used in phytoremediation of these metals.

The aim of this paper is to examine immigration and environmental degradation using bibliometric analysis. This paper also analyzes sources of publication, authorship, citations, distributions publications and other bibliometric indicators. The study focuses on a total of 1372 articles published from 2000 to 2020. These articles were collected through an automated process from the Scopus database and later analyzed using techniques such as bibliometric indicators analysis, VOSviewer, and Perish or Publish. The research identified 991 articles from varieties of published sources. The topic of immigrants and environmental degradation has been an emerging topic since 1981. Starting in 2000, most of the scholars actively producing an articles pertinent to this topic. Most of the articles were published in journals, and English is the primary language of research. United States is the leading country in contributing the publications. Meanwhile, the most significant fields in which the sources were produced were environmental science, agricultural and biological sciences, arts and humanities and earth and planetary sciences. However, some limitations has been found. It has been suggested for future research, to lengthen this work to other databases, as well as bibliometric analyses of immigration and environmental degradation in developed and developing countries by adding a new keyword such as energy consumption and climate change. This paper aims to assess recent trends in the expansion of academic literature on immigration and environmental degradation using the bibliometric analysis method. Network visualization and bibliometric indicators are used in this paper to present the results.