Against the backdrop of increasingly severe global climate change and the steady advancement of China's “dual carbon” goals, the product carbon footprint, as an important tool for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions throughout a product's entire life cycle, gradually becomes a key support for promoting green, low-carbon transformation and building a green trade system. Currently, international standards are becoming increasingly complete, while China's carbon footprint management is at a crucial stage transitioning from pilot exploration to standardization and institutionalization. Using the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Web of Science Core Collection as data sources, this paper selected Chinese and English literature on product carbon footprints from 2000 to 2025 as samples, employed CiteSpace software for visual bibliometric analysis to identify research hotspots, emerging themes, and evolutionary patterns, and compared major international standards with China's latest policy documents. On this basis, typical industries such as power equipment, electronic information, transportation, building materials, and agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, and food were selected for a comprehensive comparison of their carbon footprint accounting methods, key emission stages, and practical differences. Research indicates that the field of product carbon footprint research has undergone an evolution from the introduction of theoretical methods and the construction of policy systems to industry-level application. Bibliometric results show that “life cycle assessment” “carbon footprint” and “carbon emissions” are long-term core topics, while “carbon neutrality” “circular economy” and “climate change” have emerged as hotspots in recent years, reflecting a shift in research focus from accounting techniques to policy application and low-carbon management. Industry-level comparisons reveal that all sectors generally adopt life cycle assessment method, but accounting boundaries and emission structures vary significantly: emissions in the power equipment and building materials industries are concentrated in upstream raw material and manufacturing; the electronic information industry is heavily influenced by the complexity of global supply chain; the carbon footprint of transportation industry is closely related to the regional power grid structure; and the agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, and food industries require a balanced consideration of carbon emissions and carbon sinks. Overall, product carbon footprint research is expanding from theory and methodology to policy practice and industry integration, exhibiting multi-layered interactive characteristics. In the future, emphasis should be placed on improving the standard system, enhancing data accessibility and industry comparability; leveraging digital and intelligent technologies to promote real-time and precise accounting; establishing specialized industry carbon footprint databases to achieve policy-industry synergy in emission reduction; and improving carbon labeling and information disclosure mechanisms to strengthen low-carbon guidance at the consumer end. The research results can provide references for the government in formulating low-carbon policies, for industries in promoting green transformation, and for enterprises in implementing carbon management.

Australia is a major supplier of mineral resources globally, and its critical mineral strategies are of references for other countries to optimize their mining managements and policies. This paper, based on Australia's minerals data, analyzed its resource endowment and supply status, the basis for determining critical minerals and strategic materials, and national-level resource strategy framework. Australia lists 31 critical minerals, including manganese, vanadium, nickel, tungsten, antimony, platinum group metals, lithium and rare earths, as well as five strategic metals: aluminum, copper, phosphorus, tin and zinc. On development of critical mineral industries, Australia has implemented a lot of measures on intensifying top design, conducting nationwide geological survey, disclosing mining investing projects, establishing a Critical Minerals Facilitation Office, funding the entire industrial chain and fostering international cooperation. This paper presents references for global mining management from six aspects, establishing a flexible update mechanism for critical minerals lists, setting up specialized agencies for critical minerals to systematically coordinate domestic management and international cooperation, formulating overarching policy documents covering the entire industrial chain for critical minerals, disclosing mining investing projects information for capital investment, funding in exploration, development, technological research and mine infrastructures, and looking for international partners to promote collaborative development in the entire industrial chain.

Against the backdrop of the in-depth advancement of Digital China strategy, the construction of digital government has become a key force in promoting governance modernization and regional coordinated development. Focusing on the western region of China, this paper systematically examined the impact, mechanism, and heterogeneity of digital government construction on urban economic development, aiming to provide theoretical support and policy reference for achieving high-quality development through digital governance in this region. Based on panel data from 69 prefecture-level cities in the western region from 2017 to 2023, a digital government evaluation index system was constructed from digital infrastructure, government transparency, and online government service levels, and comprehensive measurement was conducted using the entropy method. The research finds that digital government construction significantly promotes urban economic development in the western region. This conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests, including the instrumental variable method. Mechanism testing shows that digital government indirectly empowers economic development through three pathways: optimizing the business environment, stimulating technological innovation, and improving public service. Heterogeneity analysis further reveals that the economic effects of digital government are more pronounced in cities with net population inflow, non-resource-based cities, and non-old industrial cities, demonstrating significant conditional dependence. Digital government construction exerts a multidimensional driving effect on economic development of the western region, delivering direct governance dividends and indirectly releasing economic potential by improving the market environment, enhancing innovation momentum, and boosting service efficiency. In advancing digital government construction, differences in urban development stages, industrial structures, and population characteristics should be fully considered, with precise policy guidance. The western region should continuously strengthen the construction of digital infrastructure and government platform, improve the support system for technological innovation, enhance the digitization level of public services. Differentiated support policies should be formulated for special types of cities, such as old industrial bases, resource-based cities, and areas with population outflows, to fully release the economic dividends of digital governance and promote high-quality and sustainable development in the western region of China.

Promoting the synergy of regional pollution and carbon emission reduction is an important measure to ensure the effective implementation of the “dual carbon” goals, and a key path to coordinating ecological environmental protection with high-quality development. Amid the global wave of green transformation, artificial intelligence, with its powerful data mining, precise simulation, and intelligent optimization capabilities, has become a core engine driving the transition of energy structure towards clean and low-carbon sources and empowering the iterative innovation of green technologies. Systematically investigating the impact of artificial intelligence on the synergy of regional pollution and carbon emission reduction is significant for achieving a deep integration of green development and digital technology. Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2022, this study first used the coupling coordination model and principal component analysis to measure the synergy of regional pollution and carbon emission reduction as well as the level of artificial intelligence development in each region. Then, regression models were employed to empirically test the effect of artificial intelligence on the synergy of regional pollution and carbon emission reduction in China, as well as the moderating roles of public environmental concern, human capital, and green finance. Finally, heterogeneity analysis was conducted based on resource endowment, and environmental rebound model was used to measure each province's carbon and pollutant rebound intensity.The findings indicate that the development of artificial intelligence technology significantly enhances the synergy of regional pollution and carbon emission reduction, a conclusion that remains robust after a series of tests. Further analysis reveals that the low-carbon transformation of the energy consumption structure driven by artificial intelligence, industrial co-agglomeration, and the correction of resource misallocation are the main pathways through which artificial intelligence promotes this synergistic enhancement, while public environmental concern, human capital level, and green finance serve as important moderating factors. Moreover, compared with non-resource-based regions, the empowering effect of artificial intelligence is relatively weaker in resource-based regions. From the perspective of environmental rebound measurement, there are notable spatial and temporal differences in artificial intelligence's empowerment of this synergistic effect. As an important technological means to empower the synergy of regional pollution and carbon emission reduction, the application depth of innovative technologies in environmental governance needs to be strengthened in the future. In this regard, accelerating the low-carbon transition of energy consumption structure, narrowing the gap in artificial intelligence development levels among provinces, and simultaneously strengthening the supervisory function of the government are essential. This study provides new empirical evidence for artificial intelligence-driven synergy of regional pollution and carbon emission reduction and offers decision-making references for optimizing energy structures, promoting industrial green transformation, and formulating precise environmental governance policies

Exploring the deep integration of new urbanization and green development is a key approach to regional high-quality development. This paper, based on Jiangsu's 2013 to 2023 provincial panel data, established a new urbanization evaluation index system from economy, population, space and society, and a green development evaluation index system from resources utilization, environmental governance, green lifestyle and growth quality, and used entropy to measure their comprehensive development levels. The coupling coordination degree model was utilized to analyze their interactive relationships, and the obstacle degree model was applied to identify key factors impeding coordinated development. From 2013 to 2023, Jiangsu's new urbanization and green development show rising trend on their comprehensive levels, with new urbanization level rising to 0.530 from 0.324, and green development level waving within the range of 0.464 to 0.615, consistently higher than new urbanization level in the same period. Their coupling coordination rises from 0.612 to 0.738, suggesting a leap from general coordination to moderate coordination. The number of cities in the transitional phase significantly decreased, with the running-in coordination type gradually becoming dominant. The spatial pattern is characterized by the coexistence of “widespread growth” and “significant north-south differences.” Obstacle analysis indicates that the major obstacles against Jiangsu's new urbanization and green development coupling coordination are proportion of the third industry's added value to GDP, proportion of energy conservation and environmental protection expenditure in general public budget expenditure, urban population density, and ratio of built-up area to total urban area. This paper presents suggestions on adhering to a people-centered approach to new urbanization with improving educational, medical and social security services, guiding the orderly concentration of population towards the regions with higher resource and environmental carrying capacity,  on advancing green low-carbon transformation of industrial structures, on optimizing land developing pattern, and on boosting regional coalition.

China is a major agricultural country and also a major emitter of agricultural carbon. Ensuring food security and achieving low-carbon agricultural development need to be promoted synergistically, and the digital economy provides a new path to solve this dilemma. Based on panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2012 to 2022, this study used the entropy weight-TOPSIS method and EBM-GML method to measure the development level of digital economy and the efficiency of agricultural carbon emissions, respectively. The dual fixed effects model, threshold effects model, and spatial Durbin model were employed to empirically test the impact of the digital economy on agricultural carbon emission efficiency and its mechanism. The research shows that digital economy significantly improves agricultural carbon emission efficiency. This conclusion remains valid after robustness tests excluding policy shock samples, samples from major public health event years, and samples from municipalities, as well as endogeneity tests using the lagged one-period digital economy as an instrumental variable. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the promoting effect of the digital economy on agricultural carbon emission efficiency varies across regions: in areas with a lower aging population, the improvement effect of the digital economy is more significant due to labor quality; in regions with higher fiscal support for agriculture, the government provides strong resource support for the digital economy to empower the low-carbon transformation of agriculture, resulting in a stronger impact of the digital economy. Threshold effect analysis reveals a double threshold effect of urbanization level in the impact of the digital economy on agricultural carbon emission efficiency. After urbanization crosses the corresponding threshold, the empowering effect of the digital economy significantly strengthens. The digital economy has a significant spatial spillover effect on agricultural carbon emission efficiency. It is proposed to accelerate the digital empowerment of agriculture to support rural revitalization, promote integrated urban-rural development to foster regional balance, and strengthen regional collaboration to achieve mutual progress.

Enhancing green total factor productivity is a core pathway for enterprises to achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement, fulfill social responsibilities, and enhance sustainable competitiveness, which is crucial for high-quality economic development. Data element sharing is an important means to boost enterprises' green total factor productivity, and the launch of public data open platforms provides a significant policy experimental platform for exploring data element sharing. To study the impact of data element sharing on enterprises' green total factor productivity, this paper first used the SBM directional distance function with undesirable outputs and the Malmquist-Luenberger index to measure enterprises' green total factor productivity. Then, based on data from Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2022, the launch of government-promoted public data open platforms was regarded as a quasi-natural experiment, empirically tested using a multi-period difference-in-differences model. The research finds that public data openness significantly enhances corporate green total factor productivity. Mechanism analysis reveals that public data openness primarily functions through enhancing corporate credit availability and reducing uncertainty risks. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the impact of public data openness on corporate green total factor productivity is more significant in cleaner production industries, non-state-owned enterprises, regions with stronger intellectual property protection, and highly competitive industries. Further analysis shows that public data openness helps improve corporate business performance, and public data open platforms focusing on economic construction have a more prominent promoting effect on corporate green total factor productivity. Based on these conclusions, it is recommended to accelerate the construction of high-quality and real-time public data open platforms, optimize financial policies and promote green financial instrument innovation, and formulate differentiated policies.

Taking a typical ultra-low energy-consuming residential building in Beijing as a case study, and based on the emission factor method combined with the “Donghe” building carbon emission analysis software, this paper constructed a carbon emission accounting model covering four stages: production and transportation of building materials, construction, operation and maintenance, and demolition and recycling. The carbon emissions at each stage were calculated with precision. The results show that the building's average annual carbon emission intensity over its full life cycle is 25.42 kg CO₂ e/(m² · a), which is lower than the national average for urban residential buildings, demonstrating good low-carbon performance. The operation and maintenance stage is the largest source of carbon emissions, contributing 52.71%, mainly due to long-term energy consumption by HVAC and domestic hot water systems; This is followed by the production and transportation stage of building materials, accounting for 45.17%, with the production of concrete and metal materials being the key emission sources. The construction and demolition and recycling stages account for smaller proportions, at 1.26% and 0.86%, respectively. Moreover, the demolition stage achieves approximately 70% carbon reduction through material recycling and reuse, highlighting the carbon reduction potential of a circular economy. Compared with similar cases, although the higher use of prefabricated components in this project leads to relatively higher carbon emissions during the materialization stage, the adoption of high-performance building envelopes and energy-efficient equipment significantly reduces carbon emissions during the operation stage. This validates the feasibility of the “front-end incremental investment, long-term energy-saving and carbon-reduction” pathway. Based on these findings, collaborative emission reduction strategies are proposed: promoting the use of low-carbon materials incorporating industrial solid waste and establishing localized supply chains to reduce transportation emissions; promoting electric machinery and prefabricated processes to reduce on-site energy consumption; strengthening the integration and application of renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics and heat pumps to enhance energy self-sufficiency; improving the classification, recycling, and resource utilization systems for waste. Empirical analysis reveals the carbon emission structure of ultra-low energy-consuming buildings, identifies key emission reduction links, and provides technological pathways and decision support for promoting green and low-carbon transformation in the construction industry.

With the advancement of ecological civilization, environmental regulation has gradually become an important policy tool for balancing economic growth and environmental protection, and its long-term impact on industrial structure adjustment deserves in-depth study. Using panel data from 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in China from 2012 to 2022 as the research sample, this paper distinguished between formal and informal regulations and established an econometric model with two-way fixed effects for provinces and years. The level of industrial structure adjustment wad measured by the ratio of the added value of the tertiary industry to that of the secondary industry, and innovation capability was reflected by the number of invention patent applications, while control variables such as capital market development, foreign direct investment, and infrastructure level were introduced. The stepwise regression method was used for mediation effect analysis, the system GMM method was employed to control for endogeneity issues, and robustness checks were conducted through variable substitution and regional group analysis. The results show that there is an inverted “U”-shaped nonlinear relationship between formal environmental regulation and industrial structural adjustment. Moderately strengthening formal regulation can effectively force industrial upgrading, but exceeding a specific threshold may inhibit structural optimization due to excessively increased corporate compliance costs. The positive effect of informal environmental regulation is somewhat lagged; its initial effect is limited, but as public awareness of environmental protection increases, its positive push for green transformation of industry gradually becomes apparent. Technological innovation plays a significant mediating role in the process through which both types of environmental regulation affect industrial structure, indicating that regulatory pressure can be transformed into corporate innovation impetus, thereby promoting improvements in production methods and industrial upgrading. The development of capital markets and the improvement of infrastructure significantly promote technological innovation and industrial structure optimization, while foreign direct investment is associated with pollution-intensive industries in some regions, showing a suppressive effect on structural upgrading. Regional heterogeneity analysis shows that the policy effects of environmental regulation vary significantly. The eastern region, due to its solid economic foundation and market mechanisms, has the strongest policy synergy and the most sensitive response in structural upgrading; the central region shows a steady upward trend; while the effect in the western region is not statistically significant. Therefore, we should implement differentiated and precise environmental policies; the eastern region should optimize its regulatory structure by increasingly utilizing market-incentive instruments, while the central and western regions should enhance implementation capacity and innovation capability. It is proposed that we  strengthen the systemic synergy among environmental policies, technological innovation, and financial support policies, improve the green finance and innovation support systems, and foster an institutional environment conducive to innovation diffusion and structural optimization. The research conclusions provide a scientific basis for refining the environmental policy system and promoting coordinated regional development.

By identifying the powers, responsibilities, and risks of relevant entities within the principal-agent mechanism, this paper proposes countermeasures to address existing issues, aiming to provide references for the effective management, fair allocation and sustainable development of mineral resources in China. Based on current national laws and regulations and relevant research findings, the paper elaborates on the ownership of mineral resources and the principal-agent mechanism, subsequently proposing suggestions for establishing a new principal-agent mechanism for ownership responsibilities. The research focuses on the definition of rights, division of responsibilities, and risk management in the principal-agent process of mineral resources ownership, and reveals prominent problems in current practice. These include  conflicts between rural land rights and state mineral rights, due to differing ownership entities, which restrict the effective implementation of the principal-agent mechanism.  Additionally, ambiguous boundaries of rights within the principal-agent relationship make it difficult for parties to clarify their own rights and responsibilities regarding the specific scope of mining rights exercise, benefit distribution methods, and decision-making authority. Uneven distribution of economic benefits leads to interest gaming, exacerbated by disparities in rights and responsibilities among entities and information asymmetry. Insufficient information transparency hinders effective supervision by the public and oversight institutions, thereby affecting the effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation. In response to these issues, the following countermeasures are proposed: establishing an equal coordination mechanism to ensure the equal status of farmers' land rights and state mineral rights as rights holders, thereby promoting the implementation of the principal-agent mechanism; improving laws and regulations related to the principal-agent mechanism for mineral resources and establishing a clear mechanism for defining rights boundaries to clarify the rights and responsibilities of each entity; establishing a multi-party consultation mechanism involving governments, enterprises, community and resident representatives, and independent experts, thereby building an effective consultation platform to coordinate interests among different entities; and enhancing information disclosure and transparency to facilitate supervision and participation by regulatory agencies and the public.

Revealing the spatiotemporal evolution patterns and attribution mechanisms of land use is of great significance for regional land resource optimization and spatial governance.Taking Handan City, Hebei Province as an example, this study employed Landsat remote sensing images in 2001, 2010 and 2020 and a method combining supervised classification and visual interpretation. Land use types are divided into six categories: cropland, forest land, grassland, water area, construction land and unused land. The dynamic degree model, transfer matrix and geographic detector were utilized to analyze the evolution characteristics and driving factors of land use in Handan City from 2001 to 2020. The results show that cropland has always been the largest area, but its area continuously decreases from 8 643.11 km² in 2001 to 7 790.44 km² in 2020. Construction land expands most significantly, increasing from 1 277.36 km² to 2 109.52 km², far exceeding planning expectations. Spatially, distinct differences among land types are evident, primarily influenced by topography and socio-economic activities. Unused land, construction land and cropland exhibits relatively high change rates. The comprehensive land use dynamic degree first accelerates and then slows down, reflecting the phased characteristics of land use change. Cropland and construction land contributes most to land transfer. The outflow area of cropland and grassland is large, with net decreases of 851.46 km² and 22.24 km², respectively; the inflow area of construction land, forest land, water area and unused land increase significantly, with net increases of 832.03 km², 11.48 km², 9.94 km² and 20.25 km², respectively. Factor detection shows that land use change in 2001 is mainly influenced by slope, while after 2010, population density becomes the core driving factor. Interaction detection results show that the interactions between any two factors exhibit an enhanced effect, with the interactive influences of population density with elevation, temperature and slope being particularly prominent. This reflects that land use change in Handan City is significantly driven by multiple factors. Overall, the land use change in Handan City over the past 20 years has exhibited clear phase, structural, and spatial heterogeneity. The evolution process has been driven by multiple factors including topographic conditions, population aggregation, industrial transformation and policy regulation. Currently, the contradiction between the continuous expansion of construction land and the protection of cropland resources remains prominent. Future efforts should be made to strengthen territorial spatial use control, optimize land use structure, and promote regional coordination and sustainable development.

Fully tapping the rich connotations of geo-cultural resources in rural areas of China and developing the geo-cultural industry is an effective method to empower rural revitalization with new quality productive forces. Taking the Ahetan geo-cultural village along the Yellow River in Hualong County, Qinghai Province as an example, this paper explores the role and implementation paths of the geo-cultural industry in rural revitalization, systematically reviewing its construction process and outcomes, aiming to provide references for similar regions in China to develop geo-cultural villages and promote comprehensive rural revitalization. Through field surveys, chronological testing (such as OSL and ¹⁴C dating), and geochemical analysis, the rich connotation of geo-cultural resources within Ahetan village was explored. Based on this, a multi-level science popularization interpretation system was constructed, including interpretive signboards, a geo-cultural corridor, an exhibition hall, and short science videos. Furthermore, geo-education travel routes and distinctive industries were planned and designed. The construction of the Ahetan geo-cultural village achieved remarkable results. Relying on seven typical geo-resources, including the three-level Yellow River river terrace, ancient spring, the Ahetan ancient city, and a hollow ancient elm tree, it successfully created a geo-cultural village under the “geo-ecology+tourism” model. It was rated as a four-star geo-cultural village, the only one in West China and one of the only five nationwide. The annual number of visitors increased by nearly 40 times, effectively driving the development of local tourism and characteristic industries, while enhancing the rural cultural connotation and visibility. The successful case of the Ahetan geo-cultural village demonstrates that using the geo-cultural village as a carrier can systematically explore and disseminate geo-culture, expanding the multidimensional space for rural cultural revitalization. Through geo-tourism, science education, and other industries, it promotes the comprehensive development of the rural economy, achieving the empowerment of rural revitalization from both cultural and industrial dimensions. The successful creation of the Ahetan geo-cultural village provides replicable and referable experience for other regions in China to utilize the geo-cultural industry to empower rural revitalization.

Global climate change and environmental pollution caused by greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO₂, represent one of the most severe and urgent global challenges today. As a key technology for addressing climate change and achieving carbon neutrality goals, CO₂ geological storage involves multi-source, heterogeneous, and complex data systems. Knowledge graphs can effectively integrate the aforementioned data, providing support for systematic knowledge management and helping researchers deepen their understanding and application. Using the Web of Science Core Collection database as the data source, combined with the CiteSpace visualization tool and bibliometric methods, this study systematically reviewed the research progress in the field of CO₂ geological storage, uncovered foundational knowledge and research hotspots, and revealed its development trends. The results indicate that the annual number of publications in this field has remained high since 2020, but the growth rate has slightly slowed, marking the field's entry into a mature stage, transitioning from theoretical exploration to practical application. In recent years, China's publication output has grown rapidly, ranking among the top globally, with research content covering various aspects from fundamental theory to field trials. Research primarily focuses on fields such as chemistry, microbiology, geosciences, ecology, earth science, and oceanography, making deeply integrated multidisciplinary collaborative innovation an inevitable choice. While there is a diverse range of research institutions, interdisciplinary and cross-regional cooperation remains insufficient, and a core group of authors has not yet formed. Strengthening collaboration is necessary to enhance academic innovation and influence. With the continuous advancement of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) technologies, driven by multiple demands including global climate governance, energy structure transformation, and resource security assurance, the development and utilization of unconventional energy sources, as well as heat extraction-energy storage utilization and microbial transformation during CO₂ geological storage, are increasingly becoming research hotspots. Large-scale simulation studies of pressure buildup and fluid migration induced by CO₂ injection under different reservoir conditions have become a shared international research hotspot. Furthermore, achieving scientific and accurate prediction of CO₂ migration patterns in carbon storage projects by combining numerical simulation with geophysical techniques represents another important future research direction. It is recommended that countries explicitly incorporate CCUS into their national carbon neutrality policy frameworks, establish sustainable business models and incentive mechanisms, improve relevant laws, regulations, and standards, plan “carbon capture-transport-storage” industrial clusters, cultivate specialized technical services and equipment manufacturing industries, and promote transparent communication and public participation. Researchers should break down disciplinary barriers, construct deeply integrated research paradigms, and enhance the overall impact of the discipline through data sharing, model coupling, and consensus decision-making, thereby promoting the development of CCUS technology towards large-scale, commercial, and socialized implementation.