Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management

Since January 1, 2020, Thailand has implemented a campaign to stop giving free single-use plastic bags in 75 major retail stores. This study aims to (1) understand the status quo and effectiveness of the plastic bag ban campaign by estimating the number of plastic bags used in Bangkok and Phuket (2) understand the consumers’ behavioural on plastic bag consumption and management by integrating a knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) model (3) provide policy recommendation to strengthen the country plastic waste management roadmap. The results showed that the ban on plastic bag campaign is effective, especially in the supermarkets and convenience stores in Bangkok. The numbers of plastic bags used per visit at supermarkets and convenience stores are approximately 1.9 bags and 1.7 bags, respectively, whereas the plastic bags used at fresh markets, restaurants, and food delivery services are, on average, up to 3.7, 3.1, and 2.8 bags per visit, respectively. On average, people in Bangkok use approximately 1.2 bags/person/day, while only 0.7 bags/person/day are used in Phuket. According to the KAP model, attitude is more crucial than knowledge towards pro-environmental behaviour. Bangkok residents’ trend to show more pro-environmental behaviour than Phuket residents. For policy implication, it is important to continuously communicate the environmental impact of plastics and emphasise the proper knowledge and attitudes toward plastic bags among people to encourage their cooperative behaviours in reducing the use of plastic bags and sorting waste for recycling.

As the climate change risks’ effects on social development increase, how to deal with these challenges has become extremely urgent, and it is necessary for companies to adapt to the changing circumstances. This paper estimates the impact of climate policy uncertainty on corporate innovation using unbalanced panel data with 2,449 listed companies from 2009 to 2020. The findings show a significant positive correlation between climate policy uncertainty and corporate innovation investment. Specially, two possible mechanisms are explored. Government environmental regulations force companies to produce cleanly. Optimistic market expectations encourage firms to shift to a green development model. Further, the renewable energy industry and state-owned enterprises’ powers of innovation are more robust. Jointly, our findings offer the government a clear direction for policy making by identifying the effects of climate policy uncertainty on corporate innovation.

Considering two theories of Halo and Haven and annual data from 1994 to 2021 for the country of Vietnam, this paper has tried to consider two types of foreign direct investment (to Vietnam from abroad and from Vietnam to abroad) to study the impact factor of investment on carbon dioxide emissions in this country. The significant findings reveal that FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), both inward and outward, is an efficient factor in mitigating carbon emissions in the short term in Vietnam. The enhancements in the inward and outward flows of FDI in Vietnam will likely lead to a reduction in carbon emission increase which is in line with the environmental protection policy. In addition, it confirms the Halo pollution hypothesis in Vietnam, meaning that the Vietnamese government can mitigate CO₂ emissions by improving FDI flows (both inward and outward).

This study investigates the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis under natural resources (NRs) constraint in nine Asian-Pacific countries with data spanning from 2000 to 2019. Using Pooled OLS estimations, results show that economic growth is on a pathway from which environmental quality is improved. Hypothesising that NRs exploitation is a potential factor that can exacerbate environmental quality, the study shows that the Asian economic structure is on a “green-resilience” path when controlling for total and each NRs component. The magnitude of each NR component in the ability of increasing CO₂ emissions is characterised. Results are robust with different methods of estimations (control variables, alternative dependent variable, Two Stages Least Squares (2SLS)-3SLS Instrumental Variables strategies, Panel-Corrected Standard Error (PCSE) and Driscoll and Kraay methods). As policy implications, Asia-Pacific countries should amplify eco-innovation, development of renewable energies and fiscal policies as they positively impact FDI on green growth.

To test the dynamical linkage between inequality and green growth in China, the green growth index is gauged and the inequality–green growth nexus is detected by employing panel data from 2004 to 2017. The concrete impact channel of urbanisation is further tested in the inequality–growth nexus. The primary findings are presented as follows: (i) China’s green growth is improving, and widening income gap is reversing this active effect; (ii) the inhibiting effect of income inequality on green growth is mainly manifested in the promoting impact of inequality on economic growth and its deteriorative impacts on households’ wellbeing and the ecological environment; and (iii) the intermediary transmission role of urbanisation construction has been strongly proved; in other words, the widening income gap will further optimise the green and clean economy by boosting the construction of urbanisation. Following the above three findings, a series of policy recommendations are presented.