Rongwu Zhang

The increasing global population and rapid technological advancements are driving a surge in energy demand. Meanwhile, fossil fuel dependence as a primary energy source is contributing to environmental issues, including greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. These challenges underscore the urgent necessity of transitioning to sustainable energy solutions. Renewable energy systems (RES) are critical alternatives that can facilitate sustainable development goals. Nevertheless, the selection of the most suitable RES for specific geography, particularly within Industry 4.0, poses substantial decision-making complexities due to the intricate criteria involved. This paper introduces a robust method for evaluating RES. The proposed approach integrates f, g, h-fractional fuzzy sets (f, g, h-FrFS) into multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), enhancing the decision-making process. The f, g, h-FrFS framework effectively captures decision-makers’ preferences by considering membership degrees (MB), non-membership degrees (NMB), and indeterminacy degrees (ID). Initially, the importance of evaluation criteria is determined through the improved Criteria Importance through Inter-Criteria Correlation (CRITIC) method. Following this, the WASPAS model is used to provide an accurate ranking of the RES. Geothermal energy is recognized as the most reliable RES option. To test the robustness of the proposed approach, a sensitivity analysis is conducted, demonstrating the stability of the model under varying conditions. The effectiveness of this framework is further validated through a comparative study analysis. Ultimately, this technique offers significant value for policymakers, energy managers, and organizations involved in renewable energy systems. In Industry 4.0, energy planning and development is complicated, so this tool can assist them in navigating the complexities.

Based on a the micro dataset set of private Chinese-listed companies, this study examines the in detail the impact of hometown connections between chief executive officers (CEOs) and chairmen on CEO compensation–performance sensitivity. The empirical results suggest that a hometown connection prompts both the chairman and the CEO to pay more attention to their reputations, which improves CEO compensation–performance sensitivity. This hometown effect is more pronounced when the hometown culture is strong and the degree of marketization is high. The mechanism test reveals that an externally hierd CEO strengthens the influence of a hometown connection on CEO compensation–performance sensitivity, however, this influence weakens with increasing CEO tenure. Overall, this study enriches the literature on informal institutions and compensation contracts and provides valuable insights for company managers and policymakers in emerging markets.

This paper examines the impact of digital economy on corporate energy conservation and emission reduction (CECER) using China’s A-share listed heavily polluting enterprises from 2012 to 2019 as a sample. Our results show that: (1) Digital economy can significantly increase CECER, and this effect is significant for mining and manufacturing enterprises, and less significant for power, heat production and supply enterprises; (2) Mechanism research shows that digital economy promotes CECER through enhancing the green technology innovation capability, easing the financing constraints, and boosting market competition; (3) Heterogeneity research indicates that the promotion of digital economy to CECER is more significant in economically developed regions and regions with less financial pressure from local governments. This paper clarifies the factors influencing CECER and provides empirical evidence for achieving digital economy development and government goals for CECER.

The agricultural sector faces a food crisis and major challenges in green and sustainable development, and digital technology is an important countermeasure. In this paper, “digital technology” is used as a keyword to construct a regional digitalization level indicator. China's provincial panel data from 2013 to 2020 are adopted as samples to explore the impact of regional digitalization levels on agricultural total factor productivity and its mechanism. The study found the following: (1) Regional digitalization can significantly raise agricultural total factor productivity. (2) Regional digitalization can significantly raise agricultural total factor productivity in economically underdeveloped areas but not in economically developed areas. (3) The mitigation of factor market distortion and large-scale production can strengthen the role of regional digitalization in raising agricultural total factor productivity.

Fulfilling social responsibilities in order to sustain development has increasingly become a strategic choice for companies. Good corporate governance can guarantee high corporate social responsibility performance. This paper selects state-owned enterprises listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-Share market from 2013 to 2019 as samples and uses a panel data OLS regression model to empirically test the impact of the governance of non-state shareholders on the social responsibility performance of state-owned enterprises from two aspects of shareholding: structure and high-level governance. The results show that, first, the governance of non-state shareholders helps to improve the social responsibility performance of state-owned enterprises; second, that mechanism analysis indicates that non-state shareholders improve the social responsibility performance of state-owned enterprises by improving the internal control quality; and third, the impact of the governance of non-state shareholders on the social responsibility performance of state-owned enterprises is heterogeneous in three aspects: the degree of marketization, the level of product market competition, and the corporate profitability. This paper not only helps to clarify the factors which influence the social responsibility performance of state-owned enterprises, but also enriches studies on the economic consequences brought by non-state shareholders through participating in the governance of state-owned enterprises.