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Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) mainly originates from combustion emissions. On-road transportation is considered one of the primary sources of PM 2.5 emission. The relationship between on-road transportation and PM 2.5 concentration varies temporally and spatially, and the estimation for this variation is important for policymaking. Here, we reveal the quantitative association of PM 2.5 concentration with on-road transportation by the spatial panel Durbin model and the geographical and temporal weighted regression. We find that 6.17 billion kilometres (km) per km 2 on-road transportation increase is associated with a 1-μg/m 3 county-level PM 2.5 concentration increase in the contiguous United States. On-road transportation marginally contributes to PM 2.5 , only 1.09% on average. Approximately 3605 premature deaths are attributed to PM 2.5 from on-road transportation in 2010, and about a total of 50,223 premature deaths ascribe to PM 2.5 taking 6.49% from 2003 to 2016. Our findings shed light on the necessity of the county-level policies considering the temporal and spatial variability of the relationship to further mitigate PM 2.5 from on-road transportation.

People migrate from rural to urban areas. In the meantime, the benefits of staying in greener areas are also known. People’s preferences might be different by area that is composed of several land types. If so, the effect of particular land cover on human well-being is different spatially. The spatial analysis is required to formulate effective land-use policies. Here we show that urban land, water, and grassland are positively related to human well-being, whereas bare land is negatively associated in Japan. A 1 m 2 increase in the area of urban land per capita in a city is equivalent to an about 346 USD increase in the individual annual income of all the people in the city. Additionally, monetary values of areas of water, crops, and bare land per capita are 102, − 30, and − 268 USD / Capita m 2 . Furthermore, the spatial context matters to the relationship between land cover and human well-being. This paper investigates the monetary values of several land types and their spatial variability, which provides insights to make better usage for land cover.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is still rapidly spreading globally. To probe high-risk cities and the impacts of air pollution on public health, this study explores the relationship between the long-term average concentration of air pollution and the city-level case fatality rate (CFR) of COVID-19 globally. Then, geographically weighted regression (GWR) is applied to examine the spatial variability of the relationships. Six air pollution factors, including nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), ozone (O 3 ), PM 2.5 (particles with diameter ≤2.5 μm), PM 10 (particles with diameter ≤10 μm), and air quality index (AQI), are positively associated with the city-level COVID-19 CFR. Our results indicate that a 1-unit increase in NO 2 (part per billion, PPB), SO 2 (PPB), O 3 (PPB), PM 2.5 (microgram per cubic meter, μg / m 3 ), PM 10 ( μg / m 3 ), AQI (score), is related to a 1.450%, 1.005%, 0.992%, 0.860%, 0.568%, and 0.776% increase in the city-level COVID-19 CFR, respectively. Additionally, the effects of NO 2 , O 3 , PM 2.5 , AQI, and probability of living with poor AQI on COVID-19 spatially vary in view of the estimation of the GWR. In other words, the adverse impacts of air pollution on health are different among the cities. In summary, long-term exposure to air pollution is negatively related to the COVID-19 health outcome, and the relationship is spatially non-stationary. Our research sheds light on the impacts of slashing air pollution on public health in the COVID-19 pandemic to help governments formulate air pollution policies in light of the local situations.

In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly agreed on an agenda for sustainable development in member countries. Nations committed themselves to meeting 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), involving 169 socio-economic targets, by year 2030. To measure progress in meeting those targets, it was proposed to track more than 240 socio-economic indicators over the coming years. What is, however, missing from the list is an indicator that can be used to judge whether the policies that countries follow to meet the targets protect and promote sustainable development. We offer an account of the concept of inclusive wealth report findings that has tracked the inclusive wealth of 140 countries for the period 1992–2014.

Using original cross-sectional Internet survey data from 32 countries in six continents, we investigate the effect of intra-household education gap on the well-being of wives and husbands. According to the results, both wives and husbands with larger intra-household education gaps report a lower probability of life satisfaction. In particular, subjective wellbeing is worse for a wife or husband with longer years of schooling than their partner, compared to other groups (i.e., a couple with an equal level of education or wife or husband with a lower education level than her or his partner). The impact of intra-household education gap on well-being is greater for both wives and husbands in Asian and non-high-income countries, and only wives in Western and high-income countries. It is greater for the well-educated group than for the less-educated group for both wives and husbands. Individual income remains a satisfactory channel for both wives and husbands, while the impact of the family satisfaction channel is only confirmed for wives.

This study explores the relationship between inclusive wealth, economic growth, and productivity of natural capital (including forestry, fishery, fossil energy reserves and minerals) for 140 countries between 1990 and 2014. For this objective, a Malmquist productivity index is developed, and regression analysis is performed. The results are threefold. First, we found that natural capital deterioration constituted the main driving force of declining wealth per capita following fossil fuel extraction. Second, the adjustment to a conventional productivity growth measure depends on GDP growth and an endowment growth shift of natural capital relative to other input factors. Third, we also found that the initial phase of GDP growth was accompanied by slower natural capital utilization followed by a phase of deterioration as these countries continue to develop economically. With further economic development, enhanced technology and effective natural resources utilization limit the material basis and result in reduced natural capital extraction. These results imply that natural capital extraction management for a broader income level can be implemented for sustainability in both the short and long term.

In this study, we investigate the relationship between consumption and subjective well-being (SWB). There is clear evidence in the literature that the income–SWB relationship depends on the SWB measure, but the reasons are not fully clear yet; however, the main reason may be related to consumption because most income is used for that. This study is the first to examine directly whether the consumption–SWB relationship differs between affective, cognitive, and eudaimonic SWB measures. We adopt the following four SWB indices: life satisfaction, the Cantril ladder, affect balance, and eudaimonia. In addition, on the consumption side, we consider both material and relational consumption. Nonparametric analysis of our uniquely collected survey results in Japan suggests that total consumption contributes to cognitive measures of SWB and eudaimonia, while there is a certain threshold for affective measures. However, once material versus relational consumption is considered in total consumption, we find that relational consumption contributes to any SWB measure without clear upper bounds, while material consumption contributes to all SWB measures only to certain thresholds. Our results also show that the marginal effects of total consumption, material consumption, and relational consumption on cognitive measures of SWB and eudaimonia are greater than on affective measures. In addition, our results show that the marginal effects of relational consumption tend to be greater than those of material consumption for all SWB indices. Based on the findings, we expect relational consumption to be key for improving well-being.

Since energy consumption became an important contributor to climate change owing to carbon emissions, energy-saving behavior and expenditure at the household level have been attracting scholars’ and policymakers’ attention. This study identified whether greenhouse gas emissions at the household level can be reduced through purchase of energy-saving goods and whether the energy-saving behavior enhanced with household income increase. We conducted a large-scale survey across 37 nations using internet-based and face-to-face approaches, collecting 100,956 observations. The wealth effect on energy consumption expenditure at the household level was found to be positive across countries, confirming that energy consumption increases with household wealth improvement. Furthermore, households show a positive association between household energy expenditure and life satisfaction in 27 out of 37 countries, including China, India, the United States, and Germany. Additionally, the favorable effects of household energy-saving behavior are confirmed. However, purchase of household energy-saving products has a limited effect on energy consumption expenditure, compared with that of energy-curtailment behavior. In conclusion, achieving a carbon–neutral household by reducing energy consumption expenditure at the household level is challenging; thus, along with the use of energy-saving goods, alternative energy sources, such as renewable energies, are recommended.

Improved economic growth and environmental protection are necessary to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. This study examines the relationship between people’s education levels and sustainable lifestyles in protecting the environment and economic growth, as expressed by the increase in household equivalent income. We conducted an original cross-sectional survey, which yielded 100,956 valid observations in 37 countries. The factors included educational level, sustainable lifestyle with natural resource consumption, and household equivalent income for economic development. We used logit and ordered logit model and applied an ordinary linear regression model after confirming the association between education and income. Our analyses found that higher educational levels were associated with an increase in specific environmentally friendly behaviors and sustainable energy consumption. Individuals in the higher educational level group tended to consume recycled goods, purchase energy-saving household products, conserve electricity, and separate their waste. Additionally, higher levels of education were positively associated with equivalent household income in all 37 countries, indicating better economic development. Thus, our study underscores the importance of improving education at the broad population level to promote economic development and establish cooperative human behaviors necessary to sustain the environment.

Economic valuation of nature’s contribution guides the decision-making process for sustainable resource management. As a pioneer effort to calculate nature’s contribution to the Himalayan plateau, this study uses an inclusive wealth method and geographic information system. The statistical analysis estimates the natural capital (NC) of Ladakh, India, and discusses the policy to ensure sustainable management of the natural resources. The economic value of nature’s contribution in Ladakh is increasing from the year 1990 to 2018. These economic valuations for nature’s contribution include different attributes, such as forest, agricultural land, animal husbandry, fishery, minerals and fossil fuels. Nature’s contribution to the economy of the study area is mainly from fossil fuels (91%) and minerals (6.9%) driven. This trend is not sustainable for long-term sustainable growth of the area. The results suggest several policies to ensure sustainable NC management in Ladakh, India.