Highlights The outbreak of COVID-19 significantly affected italy with severe health, social and economic consequences. The strictness and timing of escalating and de-escalating containment and prevention measures played a major role on health and non-health outcomes. Technological interventions are far from having any impact on the outcomes considered due to delayed implementation. The production of evidence-based interventions is relevant for reducing uncertainty around the interventions, thereby maximising the resource and investment allocations. Our findings are relevant not only for italy but for all countries worldwide.

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In the past decade, researchers have shifted their interests to explore different ways to mitigate environmental degradation. In that context, the present study explores the role of solar energy and eco‐innovation in reducing environmental degradation in China. The study utilized data for the period 1990–2018 and applied the latest available econometric technique, a quantile autoregressive distributed lag model, to determine the impacts of solar energy and eco‐innovation on improving China's environmental quality. According to the empirical results, in the long term, solar energy is negatively and significantly associated with CO2 emissions at higher quantiles. Eco‐innovation has proven to be the most important channel to mitigate CO2 emissions in China. Eco‐innovation is exerting a negative and significant influence on CO2 emissions at all quantiles in the long term. In addition, the population size is causing CO2 emissions to surge significantly at lower quantiles. The empirical analysis reveals that per capita income (PI) is positively associated with CO2 emissions at all quantiles, but it is significant only at higher quantiles in China. We found evidence of unidirectional causality for eco‐innovation to CO2 emissions and solar energy to CO2 emissions. However, for population and CO2 emissions, per capita income, and CO2 emissions, we found bidirectional causality. As indicated by our empirical results, solar energy and eco‐innovation are the two most effective channels to control CO2 emissions in China. Therefore, policies based on the promotion of eco‐innovation and the initiation of new solar energy projects can control emissions and improve environmental quality in China. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:555–571. © 2021 SETAC

IntroductionSocial distancing and lockdown measures are among the main government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. These measures aim to limit the COVID-19 infection rate and reduce the mortality rate of COVID-19. Given we are likely to see local lockdowns until a treatment or vaccine for COVID-19 is available, and their effectiveness depends on public acceptability, it is important to understand public preference for government responses.Methods and analysisUsing a discrete choice experiment (DCE), this study will investigate the public’s preferences for pandemic responses in the UK. Attributes (and levels) are based on: (1) lockdown measures described in policy documents; (2) literature on preferences for lockdown measures and (3) a social media analysis. Attributes include: lockdown type; lockdown length; postponement of usual non-urgent medical care; number of excess deaths; number of infections; impact on household spending and job losses. We will prepilot the DCE using virtual think aloud interviews with respondents recruited via Facebook. We will collect preference data using an online survey of 4000 individuals from across the four UK countries (1000 per country). We will estimate the relative importance of the attributes, and the trade-offs individuals are willing to make between attributes. We will test if respondents’ preferences differ based on moral attitudes (using the Moral Foundation Questionnaire), socioeconomic circumstances (age, education, economic insecurity, health status), country of residence and experience of COVID-19.Ethics and disseminationThe University of Aberdeen’s College Ethics Research Board (CERB) has approved the study (reference: CERB/2020/6/1974). We will seek CERB approval for major changes from the developmental and pilot work. Peer-reviewed papers will be submitted, and results will be presented at public health and health economic conferences nationally and internationally. A lay summary will be published on the Health Economics Research Unit blog.