Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation, Spatial Spillover and Agricultural Green Development—Taking 30 Provinces in China as the Research Object

In the face of increasingly severe resource and environmental constraints, accelerating the transformation of agricultural green development through agricultural science and technology innovation is an effective measure to reduce agricultural pollution and improve agricultural production efficiency. From the perspective of multidimensional proximity, this paper expounds the mechanism of agricultural science and technology innovation on agricultural green development through spatial spillover from two perspectives: factor spillover path and product spillover path. Based on panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2019, using the gray correlation analysis method, the level of agricultural green development in China was measured, and its spatial–temporal evolution trend was analyzed. The spatial economic matrix was selected as the spatial weight matrix, and the spatial econometric model was used to analyze the spatial spillover effect of agricultural science and technology innovation on agricultural green development. The results showed the following: (1) Agricultural green development had distinct spatial characteristics. The development level of green agriculture in eastern and northwestern China showed a trend of fluctuation decline, while that in southwest China showed a trend of fluctuation increase. The overall spatial distribution of green agriculture was high in the east and low in the west. (2) The spatial distribution of agricultural science, technological innovation and the agricultural green development level showed a significant positive global spatial autocorrelation, and the local spatial pattern characteristics of a number of provinces showed high-value agglomeration (HH), low-value agglomeration (LL), low-value collapse (LH) and high-value bulge (HL) as the auxiliary local spatial distribution. (3) Under the economic matrix, the improvement of the agricultural science and technology innovation level not only had a significant promoting effect on agricultural green development within each province but also promoted agricultural green development in neighboring provinces through positive spillover effects. This study provides insights that can help make up for the lack of regional agricultural science and technology investment, formulate scientific regional agricultural science and technology innovation policies and promote agricultural green development.

Nexus of Political Connections with Green Financial Development and Fiscal Performance

Green finance is an important guarantee to promote the development and structural transformation of green industries in China and is also the power source to implement the concept of green development during the "13th Five-Year Plan". The development of green finance is inseparable from the support of financial and taxation policies. Based on this background, there is a certain connection between green finance and corporate values. When companies strengthen their political relations, there will be certain positive and negative effects on the company's future development. Green development should be the goal, and the financial and tax performance of companies should be enhanced in strengthening the development of green finance. The most important thing for companies, regardless of the industry, is to interact with the government to improve their development goals and performance, maintain their rights and interests through political relations and policies, and obtain government support to achieve sustainable development of the company. Therefore, this study focuses on the political relationship between green finance development and financial performance and examines the intervention of political ties on corporate green investment and corporate performance. The results confirm that politically connected companies have more resources and protect the natural environment while improving their financial performance.

Analysis of Several Problems in the Construction of Sponge City

Sponge city refers to a new urban construction concept used to solve urban flood disasters and water ecological problems. It is important for the construction of ecological civilization. It plays an important role in the green development and livability of the city. In the construction of a sponge city, it is necessary to make special urban planning and improve the top-level design. In recent years, China has developed a number of sponge city pilot projects. The numerous experiments act as important references for the urban construction in China. This paper mainly analyzes the requirements for the construction of sponge city and discusses several problems as well as solutions in the construction.

The Measurement of Sustainable Regional Manufacturing Industry: The Case of China

Since the introduction of Made in China 2025 and its focus on sustainable development and manufacturing industry transformation, appropriate evaluation methods to accurately assess the development of China’s manufacturing industry have become essential. Therefore, this research constructed an innovative evaluation index system for manufacturing development based on seven dimensions: innovation, structural optimization, economic benefits, efficiency enhancements, green development, international competition, and social benefits. An objective combination weighted-gray correlation-TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) evaluation model was applied to the Sichuan Province manufacturing industry data from 2009 to 2018 to create a representative sample, in which the overall development level from 2009 to 2016 took on an inverted U-shaped curve that reached its maximum in 2013, fell to its lowest point in 2016, and then began a steady upward trend marked by innovation and efficiency improvements; however, sustainability fell. Based on these results, this research provides a scientific reference for policy-makers with recommendations for innovation-driven development strategies, green development promotion, and social benefit improvements with the aim of promoting more sustainable development of China's manufacturing industry.

How to Evaluate the Green and High-Quality Development Path? An FsQCA Approach on the China Pilot Free Trade Zone

In today’s world, green development has become an important trend, and many countries regard the development of green industry as an important measure to promote economic restructuring. Green development is consistent with sustainable development in ideology. China’s economy is in the stage of high-quality development. As an important foundation for China’s external economic development, the free trade zone can play a good role in promoting its green and high-quality development. Based on the data of 18 free trade zones in China in 2020, this paper explores the green and high-quality development path of the China Pilot Free Trade Zone. Firstly, the green development index is constructed according to the existing research and experience, and then the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method is used to evaluate the green and high-quality development path. The results show that the development of pilot free trade zones is not the result of a single condition but the result of a combination of green policy effectiveness, foreign investment participation, green production growth rate, and other conditions. Combined with the green and high-quality development path, this paper further provides enlightenment for the development of the China Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Research and Optimization of the Coupling and Coordination of Environmental Regulation, Technological Innovation, and Green Development

Environmental regulation and technological innovation play important strategic roles in green growth, and the three systems interact and influence each other. Herein, we used a comprehensive development level evaluation model for calculating the environmental regulation and technological innovation indices for 17 cities in Shandong Province. We used the slack-based measure-data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) model to measure green development efficiency. The coupling coordination degree model was used to determine the coordination of environmental regulation, technological innovation, and green development; we divided the cities into three systems: green economy lagging, environmental regulation lagging, and technological innovation lagging. We used grey correlation analysis to explore the factors affecting system development. Eastern coastal cities were better developed in the three systems and the degree of coupling and coordination, like Qingdao and Weihai, and the observed level of technological innovation development, a critical factor in the coordinated development of cities, was lowest in Shandong Province. The grey correlation analysis illustrated that the level of economic development and the level of foreign economic development impacts cities labeled green economy lagging; the impact of pollutant emissions is greater than pollution control expenditure in environmental regulation lagging cities; and the government’s attention and the cultivation and attraction of talent are foundational for technological innovation in lagging cities. Considering these factors, we make recommendations for the optimal development of cities and coordinated development of regions.