Frontiers in Environmental Science | New and Recent Articles

Artificial intelligence (AI) exposure, defined as the extent to which occupational tasks can be performed, substituted, or augmented by AI, provides a task-based way to study the environmental consequences of technological change. We construct total, substitution-oriented, and empowerment-oriented AI exposure measures and examine their relationship with industrial carbon emissions using an unbala…

Ponds in urban green spaces, including those in private gardens and public areas, are important biodiversity refuges in otherwise ecologically constrained landscapes, and are significant nodes in the UK’s freshwater biome network. These ponds also represent diverse instances of complex ecosystems created and managed by people who have decisive roles in their construction and maintenance. The Gene…

Treated wastewater (TWW) is increasingly used as an alternative irrigation source to alleviate water scarcity in agriculture; however, its effects on soil microbial communities and potential microbial contamination remain a concern. This study evaluated the chemical and microbial quality of TWW for irrigation and its effects on selected soil chemical properties and microbial communities using tom…

IntroductionDependence on fossil fuel rents can impede economic performance by hindering diversification, diminishing innovation incentives, and entrenching rent-seeking distortions. Conversely, artificial intelligence (AI) possesses the potential to alleviate some of these constraints through enhanced productivity and improved production coordination.MethodsThis study employs an unbalanced panel…

Microplastic pollution has emerged as a critical environmental issue, extending beyond aquatic systems to significantly impact soil ecosystems and pose potential risks to human health. This research aims to analyze the global evolution of microplastic risk assessment research through a scientometric approach. Data was collected from the Scopus database using a structured search strategy, and anal…

IntroductionOperational decarbonization in prefabricated construction requires decision support that links factory production, transport logistics, energy prices, grid carbon intensity, and carbon-trading rules. This study develops an environmental systems engineering framework for carbon-management decision support in prefabricated component production and delivery.MethodsThe framework represent…

This study investigated the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of vegetation coverage (NDVI) in the Kekeya project area and its response to meteorological factors over the past 3 decades. On the basis of Landsat remote sensing data from 1993 to 2023 and meteorological variables including air temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, and wind speed, this research aimed to reveal the spa…

IntroductionMaritime Antarctic meltwater lakes are highly sensitive to atmospheric variability, yet their short-term hydrothermal responses remain poorly understood because most studies rely on seasonal or daily observations that cannot resolve sub-daily atmosphere–lake interactions.MethodsThis study investigated Yanou Lake, a shallow maritime Antarctic meltwater lake, using continuous 5‐min mete…

IntroductionCold region agriculture is an important component of the global food security system. In recent years, cold regions have experienced significant warming and increasingly frequent extreme events. However, the propagation characteristics and driving mechanisms of different drought types across agricultural regions in cold regions remain insufficiently understood. Therefore, this study f…

IntroductionTighter environmental regulations and stiffer competition are subjecting an increasing number of firms to environmental performance pressure.MethodsThis study draws on the Theory of Firm Behavior, Upper Echelons Theory, and the Red Queen Effect to examine how environmental performance industry gap affects corporate green collaborative innovation, using panel data from Chinese listed f…

Peatlands in Eurasian permafrost regions are among the world’s most important soil carbon reservoirs and may strongly influence future climate through carbon release. Runoff-mediated dissolved carbon export represents a critical carbon-loss pathway in permafrost peatlands, yet observations from the southern margin of Eurasian permafrost remain scarce. Here, we investigated dissolved carbon export…

Peat extraction contributes to habitat loss, lowers water tables in peatlands, and releases stored carbon into the atmosphere. Rising awareness about the unsustainable use of peat as a growing medium has led to the search for more environmentally friendly alternatives. Leaf mould (also known as leaf compost), derived from deciduous leaves and characterised by a soft, porous structure, represents …

Accelerated innovation in renewable energy technologies drives the energy transition, but it can also intensify end-of-life material risks and expose the transition to a form of systemic fragility. This conceptual paper examines those ethical tensions across photovoltaic modules, wind-turbine blades, and lithium-ion batteries. It advances a normative argument grounded in Hans Jonas’s imperative o…

Green credit is a market-oriented financial instrument. Green subsidies are government-led fiscal instruments. Both are important policy instruments for directing resources toward green sectors. However, existing studies have generally examined the two instruments separately, with few comparing their target recipients and low-carbon resource allocation characteristics within a unified framework. …

IntroductionRural e commerce is widely promoted in China to expand market access and increase rural incomes. However, its rapid development also creates environmental pressures through logistics related emissions and packaging waste. This study aims to identify and prioritize public investment packages that can support rural income growth while promoting low carbon development.MethodsAn integrate…

In recent years, the rapid evolution of information and communication technology (ICT) has profoundly influenced various sectors of the economy. Nevertheless, it is crucial to underscore the environmental ramifications of the rapid expansion of information and communication technology. This research aims to examine the asymmetric effects of information and communication technology, renewable ener…

IntroductionThe Water-Energy-Food and Health (WEFH) nexus has gained prominence as an approach for improving policy coherence across interconnected sectors. In low- and middle-income countries, donor agencies play a central role in shaping WEFH policies and interventions. However, the influence of donor-recipient interactions on local-level WEFH governance remains underexplored, despite implicati…

Accurately characterizing the spatio-temporal evolution of urban air pollution and its meteorological response remains challenging because public multi-source observations are often asynchronous, incomplete, and heterogeneous. To address this issue, this study proposes UWMR-Net, an uncertainty-aware and wind-guided spatio-temporal framework that integrates public remote-sensing products, meteorol…

In environmental criminal justice, defendants who restore the damaged ecosystem often receive more lenient sentences. Restoration in judgment documents, however, comes from two institutionally distinct sources: pre-judgment voluntary restoration initiated by the defendant, and court-ordered restoration imposed in the operative verdict. Whether the two are associated with sentencing leniency to a …

Regarding the synergetic progression of high-quality development and China’s “dual carbon” objectives, the relationship between new-quality productivity (Npro) and firms’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings has become an important issue in corporate sustainability research. A key practical concern is that firms’ technology investment may not necessarily translate into improved ESG…