Zhiming Liao

Along with the development of urbanization and informationization, an increasing attention has been attracted to CO₂ emissions of China’s transportation sector and its influencing factors. Such researches mainly utilize single indicator or two indicators to represent technology process. This research aims to verify the influence of technology-environmental innovation indicator system on CO₂ emissions of China’s transportation sector by decoupling elasticity and econometric model. We firstly recognize the decoupling status of CO₂ emissions of China’s transportation sector from social economic development and aggregate China’s 30 provinces into two groups according to the varied decoupling status, namely expansive coupling and weak decoupling groups. Then, we develop a relatively comprehensive technology-environmental innovation indicator system to measure technology process. Finally, the multi-region comparison of emission drivers is studied among overall China and the two groups. The result shows that the decoupling elasticity of China’s transportation has experienced an evolution process trending to desired development status and all the provinces have experienced expansive coupling and weak decoupling from 2001 to 2016, except Qinghai. Innovation performance indicators exert most important influence on the CO₂ emissions of transportation sector. Finally, the influences of technology-environmental innovation indicators are similar across groups with different magnitude, suggesting that common but differentiated strategies should be provided when mitigating CO₂ emissions with technology process. Graphical abstract

Globally, acceptance among the general public of waste-to-energy (WtE) incinerators is a crucial factor in implementing national waste-to-energy policies. This study aims to shed light on the acceptance of WtE incinerators, with a focus on anti-incinerator sentiment and the influence and interactions of place-, trust-, and fairness-based factors, with a case study in China. A total of 338 residents in the Asuwei area in North Beijing completed a survey on a proposed WtE incinerator in the vicinity. Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that place attachment positively enhances anti-incinerator sentiment through direct effects, as well as moderation and mediation effects between risk perception and opposing willingness. Furthermore, institutional trust negatively moderates the impact of perceived risk on anti-incinerator sentiment, in addition to directly reducing perceived risk. Trust also influences anti-incinerator sentiment via risk perception, attesting to the effectiveness of a casual model of trust. Likewise, fairness perception acts as another determinant of opposing sentiment, similarly to trust. These findings demonstrate the importance of using a range of instrumental and more effective strategies to promote the acceptance of renewable energy infrastructure.

Globally, public acceptance of waste-to-energy (WtE) incinerators is a crucial factor in implementing national waste-to-energy policies. This study adds to the literature on anti-incinerator sentiment by drawing upon an extended psychological-emotional model that integrates place-, trust-, and fairness-based pathways. A total of 338 residents in the Asuwei area in North Beijing completed a survey on a proposal to construct a WtE incinerator in the vicinity. Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that place attachment positively enhances anti-incinerator sentiment through direct effects, as well as through moderation and mediation effects between risk perception and opposing willingness. Further, institutional trust negatively moderates the impact of perceived risk on anti-incinerator sentiment, in addition to directly reducing perceived risk. Trust also influences anti-incinerator sentiment via risk perception, attesting to the effectiveness of a casual model of trust. Likewise, fairness perception acts as another determinant of opposing sentiment, similar to trust. We further reveal that procedural fairness plays a more significant role in predicting anti-incinerator sentiment than does distributional fairness. These findings demonstrate the importance of using a range of instrumental and more affective strategies to promote social acceptance of renewable energy infrastructure.