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The rationality of the selection and application of policy instruments in current policy schemes for promoting the development of low-carbon eco-cities in China is examined and, in view of existing problems, effective suggestions for scientifically and reasonably organizing and designing policy instruments are proposed, which is of great significance to optimize the policy system for the development of low-carbon eco-cities in China and thereby promote sustainable urban development.

In the study, using 117 policy documents focusing on the development of low-carbon eco-cities issued by the Chinese central government as well as the relevant ministries and commissions between 2010 and 2019 and comprehensively adopting bibliometric and content analysis methods, the contents of policy documents are quantitatively analyzed from three dimensions: policy instrument, policy area and policy target.

The study finds the following. Ecological environment and low-carbon development are the focus of policy attention. Policy-promulgating institutions have formed a core subnetwork, that is, an “iron triangle.” There exists a structural imbalance in the use of policy instruments, and the distribution of policy instruments in different policy areas exhibits significant differentiating characteristics. Driven by different policy targets, the proportion of the policy instrument types adopted by the government is constantly changing. According to these findings, suggestions are put forward to optimize China's low-carbon eco-city development policy.

(1) A three-dimensional policy analysis framework is conducted from the perspective of policy instrument, which is innovative in theory. (2) This paper finds the selective utilization rationality and evolution rule of China's low-carbon eco-city development policy instruments. (3) Recommendations on optimizing China's low-carbon eco-city development policies are discussed systematically, which plays a theoretical guiding role in optimizing the development policies of low-carbon eco-cities in China.

Williamson's systematic treatment of transaction costs in explaining governance structures has rarely been applied to the field of environmental economics. The aim of this chapter is to address this oversight by analysing how transaction cost economics can help choose among environmental policy tools.

We apply the analytical framework of discrete structural alternatives – market, hybrid forms and hierarchy – to the choice of environmental policy instruments. Environmental-related transactions, which differ in their attributes, are aligned with categories of policy instruments, which differ in their cost and competence, so as to effect a discriminating – mainly transaction costs economizing – result.

First, we suggest defining the transaction as the trading of property rights to the use of natural resources. Second, the characteristics of the transaction are described as mainly measurement costs. Third, we determine the conditions under which a particular ‘governance structure’ that is a policy instrument is chosen.

A major contribution of our analysis is to question the relevance of many economists’ prescription in favour of incentive-based instruments. Indeed, in some plausible circumstances a command-and-control instrument may be more efficient by economizing on transaction costs.

Environmental economics has employed the seminal contribution of Ronald H. Coase (1960) intensively but has remained relatively unaffected by the contributions of perhaps his most influential follower, Oliver E. Williamson. Our chapter is a first step towards an operationalization à la Williamson of Coase's (1992, p. 778) ‘fundamental insights’ in the environmental realm.

Biodiversity conservation tax incentives were inserted into the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 in terms of the Revenue Laws Amendment Act 60 of 2008 and are now contained in section 37C. The objectives of this study were to quantify the maximum potential revenue loss, to National Treasury, as a result of these tax incentives granted to landowners in the Western Cape; to identify and discuss alternative policy instruments to encourage conservation; and to investigate the perceptions of landowners in the Western Cape on the tax and alternative incentives available for conservation. The study found that the maximum tax revenue foregone should amount to a tiny percentage of total estimated revenue income for the 2008/2009 fiscal year, while projected future losses could also be insignificant. Landowners prefer direct financial incentives and exemption from property taxes, and contend that direct assistance with conservation activities would also be beneficial. The use of municipal value in the valuation of land would promote objectiveness and consistency. Finally, only a third of the landowners indicated that tax incentives would encourage them to commit more land for conservation.

Based on an empirical study, proposes requirements for and measures of the formation of internal incentive systems as instruments for internal innovation management. Uses the knowledge of experience of individuals taking an active part in innovation for the formulation of such proposals. The necessity for the implementation of integrated incentive systems, which allow for material fundamental demands beyond those peculiar to individual career expectations, becomes obvious.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the policy instruments used by the China's Government on prefabricated construction (PC) development, with the aim to clarify the pattern and discover the focus of the policy instruments using the methods of bibliometric analysis and content analysis.

Through a thorough screening by all researchers, 25 policies were identified from 1995 to 2021 were selected and analysed. The external attribute analysis clarified the issuing year, organisation, and the format of each policy. The content analysis was adopted firstly to analyse the policy instrument. An analysis framework including environmental instruments, supply instruments and demand instruments was applied in categorising and counting of each policy instrument. The bibliometric analysis was then carried out to extract keywords of the policy instruments, construct a co-word network and complete the cluster analysis.

The results indicate that the policies lack consistency and had relatively low authority. The results of content analysis show that the policy system relies heavily on environmental and supply instruments, whilst the use of demand instruments seems to be grossly inadequate. The results of the bibliometric analysis identify the core ideas of each policy instrument category, discuss the existing problems and then put forward the corresponding countermeasures.

This study comprehensively and systematically analysed the policy instruments on facilitating the development of PC in China which broaden the research perspectives of the PC development by introducing the methods of political science. The research findings afford helpful information for future policy adjustments and elucidate the effective delivery of policies to facilitate PC development for developing countries.

This study provides an in-depth understanding of policy instruments used by China's Government on PC development. By integrating the policy instrument analysis framework into the mixed methods of content analysis and bibliometric analysis, this study provides an innovative way to conduct policy instrument analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and classify the various initiatives developed and implemented across the globe for the abatement of maritime air emissions.

In this paper, an extensive survey of various sources was conducted, including the official reports of international and regional institutions, government policy documents, port authority websites, classification society pages, private firms’ sites and the academic literature. The initiatives were then categorized in accordance with the classification of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and analyzed using the SPSS Statistics software to give some insight into their frequencies and the interrelationships between them.

This exploratory review resulted in the establishment of a comprehensive global database of initiatives encouraged by the whole range of shipping stakeholders and decision-makers for the reduction of shipping air emissions. According to the findings, economic incentives that provide motivation for the adoption of less environmentally damaging practices are the most commonly used initiative, followed by infrastructure investments and informative policies.

The results provide implications for further research that include an in-depth analysis of ports’ policies, as well as an evaluation of initiatives applied on a large scale to map their emissions reduction potential for shipping.

The main contribution of this paper is the identification and analysis of all the diverse initiatives implemented globally in a comprehensive way and its dealing with air pollution from shipping as a whole.

Although principal–agent theory has gained a prominent place in research, its negative image of self-serving managers is frequently criticized. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine how existing theories of agency and stewardship can be combined by using behavioral characteristics.

This study reviewed articles on the behavior of agents and stewards from the domains of finance, economics, management, corporate governance and organizational research. Additional theoretical and meta-analytical empirical literature from the fields of psychology and sociology was used to account for general patterns of human behavior.

The results indicate that goal congruency and the perception of fairness can serve as moderators distinguishing agency theory and stewardship theory. Goal congruency can be achieved by stipulating psychological ownership. The perception of distributive and procedural fairness is demonstrated by two major corporate governance mechanisms: performance-based compensation and board monitoring. The results are summarized in six hypotheses that allow a situational, customized corporate governance. These hypotheses can be tested in future research.

Prior work either focused on the merits of principal-agent theory or advocates the utilization of positive management theories, such as stewardship theory. However, little work has been done on bridging the gap between both constructs and develop a more extensive view of management theory.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the expected cost of a large-sized photovoltaic (PV) system (= 1 MW) in reaching grid parity, not taking into account any type of government incentives (now quite uncommon in industrialized countries). A PV system located in Southern Italy will be the subject of this assessment.

The paper presents the case of a 1 MW ground-mounted PV system. The data regarding solar radiation on the surface of the modules and the relative solar diagrams were simulated and reported using PVSYST® 5.21 software. To evaluate the profitability and solvency of the project, a number of factors were taken into consideration: profitability indicators of net present value and internal rate of return, the debt service coverage indicators of debt service cover ratio and loan life cover ratio and their mean annual values (annual debt service cover ratio and annual loan life cover ratio, respectively). A sensitivity analysis with respect to the most critical element (weighted average cost of capital) gave strength to the results.

The achievement of grid parity for 200 kW PV systems is happening globally in areas with higher irradiation, but it clearly refers to residential utilities and is not applicable to large systems. The case study considers a power plant (= 1 MW) to assess the total cost that it would need to have to be economically advantageous.

This is an assessment made using a case which, given an average irradiance value in the area and the energy produced, can be used in all countries lying in the temperate zone. For other areas, a scaling coefficient would be needed.

The paper is useful for understanding the order of cost, which must catch up to PV technology to make investments in power plants profitable in the absence of government incentives. It is also helpful for those who make government policies so that these may propose possible incentives commensurate with the actual difference between the value of the technology and the value of the investment. The study is also useful for a possible comparison with a system sharing the same characteristics (size, energy production) for off-grid use and customers.

The study can be a valuable support for government policies to incentivate PV systems that contribute to a reduction of greenhouse gases and that help contain climate change. The case study represents a real case taken directly from a real project. This case study and its sustainable features have not been previously presented in a scientific journal.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the enablers of creating a viable environment for a sustainable housing industry and investigate the barriers limiting this progress.

A literature review is carried out to explore the four‐angle enablers (technological, institutional, internal action and market influence) which are crucial to create an industry which is prone towards sustainable construction. Based on the interviews and surveys conducted on Malaysian developers, the findings point to various challenges for each enabler.

The paper highlighted that the government's lack of incentive programmes and the slow progress in revising related regulations are major hindrances for institutional enablers. For technological aspects, the problem lies in the cost of importing products because of the lack of locally‐produced green technology. The cost factor and lack of “urgency” are the core problems in encouraging internal action, while the low demand by the potential buyers affects market influence.

Actions towards transforming the conventional industry into a sustainable one require resolute actions and drive from various parties. This paper provides an insight into the key enablers for a sustainable housing industry and the current problems associated with each enabler. Although the research was carried out in Malaysia, the results may be applicable to other countries as well.

The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the methodological approach and the results of the investigation of greenhouse gas emission abatement costs in Upper Austria.

The assessment covers the quantification of marginal abatement costs (MACs) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the emission reduction potentials of various energy efficiency and fuel switch measures with a special emphasis on the heat, electricity and transport sectors in Upper Austria during the period from 2010 to 2030.

The expert‐based assessment in Upper Austria shows negative abatement costs for 19 of 56 evaluated strategies. While these measures are very efficient from an economic point of view, the remaining 37 measures are associated with higher costs. The evaluation reveals a significant reduction potential of 5.2 million tons CO₂e (which represent 21 per cent) of the current GHG emissions in Upper Austria for the examined period.

MACs are generally limited to a certain time frame. Furthermore, the expert‐based approach is based on several assumptions and neglects behavioural and learning aspects.

This contribution uses a multi‐criteria approach that reveals the economic efficiency and the ecological effectiveness of the considered strategies/technologies with regard to greenhouse gas emission reductions, the improvement of the overall energy efficiency, and the competitiveness of a fuel switch towards renewable energy sources. Drawing upon the findings of this study, policy recommendations can be elaborated and the necessary improvements of the regulative framework can be implemented.