Building a Sustainable Future: Assessing China’s Development through Human, Global, and Environmental Indicators

Building a Sustainable Future: Assessing China’s Development through Human, Global, and Environmental Indicators | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Building a Sustainable Future: Assessing China’s Development through Human, Global, and Environmental Indicators Xing Wang, Jiayu Huang, Yaobin Wang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6912519/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Natural resources are vital for sustainable development as they provide essential inputs for economic growth, social well-being, and environmental sustainability but must be managed wisely to prevent depletion and ensure intergenerational equity. On the other hand, the high-tech industry plays a pivotal role in sustainable development by driving technological innovation that enhances resource efficiency, reduces environmental impacts, and supports the transition to a low-carbon, circular economy. In this context, this study investigates the long-run, short-run, and causal impacts of natural resource depletion, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, renewable energy consumption, high-tech industry, and urbanization on sustainable development in China, covering the period from the first quarter of 1990 to the fourth quarter of 2022. For this purpose, we have made an index for sustainable development by taking three important indicators: the human development index (HDI), the environmental score, and the sustainable development goal score. Moreover, we employed advanced econometric techniques, including the bounds test of co-integration, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, and wavelet coherence analysis (WCA). The results reveal that natural resource depletion, GHG emissions, and urbanization negatively affect sustainable development in both the short run and the long run. Conversely, renewable energy consumption and high-tech industry contribute positively to sustainable development. The wavelet coherence analysis further highlights the substantial interplay between sustainable development and the independent variables studied. In addition, this study provides the policies that will help China to achieve certain SDG goals, such as SDG-7 (clean energy sources), SDG-8 (sustainable development goal), and SDG-9 (climate action). Business and commerce/Economics Social science/Development studies Social science/Economics Sustainable development natural resource depletion high-tech industry human development sustainable development goals Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6912519","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":592163636,"identity":"977d3ff7-79e8-4617-a79a-22e030a4e7f4","order_by":0,"name":"Xing Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shangdong Agriculture and Engineering University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xing","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":592163637,"identity":"89482c2f-1754-4b5e-a02d-b91c316450fa","order_by":1,"name":"Jiayu Huang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Krirk University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jiayu","middleName":"","lastName":"Huang","suffix":""},{"id":592163638,"identity":"27c7451d-4a88-43a4-9f8a-7627cf2198c7","order_by":2,"name":"Yaobin Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA4ElEQVRIie3RPQrCMBTA8VcC7RJ0jYN3iBREUOxVXhDqIs4ODgGhjs7ewiNECnWpdhU62MnZ1UVM6+IU4yaY/xZ4P/IF4HL9YG0SKCUeIwAFqNfkM+msqagqPwbIbAkvIOxVfloTsCOQQsyQFlHrIq8MFkMhg6MyCm/lZQxZKbaZtpBPhaRzNBJC6l14ibwmXpIKySg3Ep9AnyGeohd5WBBKIOSolLdriLQgjOhHFnKi74KTAWbTMKEzM4mKg9rf5Thqpbk435bD7ibIzeT9jNh8pm87rwvUF8Mul8v1Tz0BYrRFtpllUg0AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Shandong Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yaobin","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-06-17 09:08:32","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6912519/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6912519/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108473180,"identity":"5940cbef-239b-4adb-a250-c5c6a5e6eafe","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-05 06:11:50","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":620322,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6912519/v1_covered_675a8a0b-e7b7-4dab-9a10-fa0f1d95f092.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Building a Sustainable Future: Assessing China’s Development through Human, Global, and Environmental Indicators","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Sustainable development, natural resource depletion, high-tech industry, human development, sustainable development goals","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6912519/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6912519/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eNatural resources are vital for sustainable development as they provide essential inputs for economic growth, social well-being, and environmental sustainability but must be managed wisely to prevent depletion and ensure intergenerational equity. 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