Green Transformation of Industry and Novel Infrastructure: History
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Contributor:
Yanmei Dong
,
Yingming Zhu

In response to the huge economic impact of the new pneumonia epidemic, the “new infrastructure” has become an important hedge against the downward pressure of the economy. The “new infrastructure” projects can strongly support the green and low-carbon transformation of the economy, so whether the new infrastructure can promote the green transformation of the industry has become the focus of academic circles, whereas the existing literature has ignored the coupling and coordination between the green transformation of the sports industry (GTSI) and the novel infrastructure in the context of a low-carbon economy. 

  • novel infrastructure
  • green transformation of sports industry (GTSI)
  • coupling coordination degree
  • green total factor productivity

1. Introduction

The sports industry, on the whole, is a low-carbon industry, a resource-saving and environment-friendly industry. The development of a sports industry, especially a green sports industry, is undoubtedly a strategic choice to bring into play the advantages of domestic industry. Green sports industry refers to the innovative industry that adopts low energy consumption and no pollution in the process of producing sports material and spiritual products in the above-related industries, inhibits damage to the environment and ecology, and achieves coordinated development of industry and environment. Its development needs to be based on sustainable development theory, ecological economics theory, ecological ethics theory, benefit maximization theory, consumption theory, and so on. It is to improve the whole industrial chain from the perspective of the environment. The specific measures are to improve the energy consumption of sports product manufacturers, to improve the ecological damage brought by the construction of sports stadiums, to improve the ecological pressure brought by sports activities, and to improve the concept of mass sports consumption, and its significance is to form a green industry with sustainable symbiosis and harmony with the environment. China emphasized the need to “accelerate the green transformation of development mode “and emphasized that “promoting green and low-carbon economic and social development is crucial to achieving development of high-quality”. He advocated for “the acceleration of adjustments and optimizations in industrial, energy, and transportation structures, as well as the promotion of low-carbon production techniques and lifestyles” [1], as “The stronger sports are, the stronger China will be, and when a country is wealthy, sports will be prosperous” [2]. it is believed that a robust sports sector reflects a robust nation and vice versa. In the following decade or even longer, the percentage of the Chinese sports industry in the national economy will continue to rise, and it will become a pillar industry [3]. Therefore, for the country and the people, the green development of the sports industry is very important. In actuality, ecologically responsible growth has become a new trend in the global athletics sector. For instance, numerous athletics organizations have pledged to adhere to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change [4]. Guided by the concept of green development, the 2022 Winter Olympics held in China indirectly guides the sports industry to transform to a green, low-carbon, and circular economy mainly through the cultural and ideological values contained in the Olympic Movement and reconstructs the unsustainable development concept of high ecological input in the sports industry [5]. However, at present, extensive development with high input and low output is still common in Chinese sports manufacturing, stadiums, and competitive and mass sports. For example, in 2018, China produced 1.09 billion pairs of sports shoes with a carbon emission of 14 million tons, which is about CNY400 million (IMedia Research data) [6]. The Action Plan for Carbon Peak by 2030 suggests improvements are to be made to the industrial structure, as well as the green and low-carbon in conventional sectors in light of the considerable carbon emissions connected with particular businesses. Transportation, venue services, and infrastructure are the primary contributors to the tertiary athletics industry’s carbon footprint. According to the data of the Olympic Organizing Committee, it is estimated that carbon emissions from transportation and venue facilities during the Beijing Winter Olympic Games in 2018 were 1.637 million tons (actual emissions were 1.02 million tons), accounting for 87.2% of the total emissions [5]. For large carbon emitters, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China released the Pilot Plan for Carbon Neutrality in Large-scale Activities in 2019 [7], which incorporated the carbon emissions of large-scale athletic events into the macro-management system, and the green transformation was imperative. It is a necessary condition to promote the sports industry to transform into a pillar in the general economy and to fulfill the Chinese “3060” dual-carbon target and the “14th Five-Year Plan” and the Vision 2035 goals of “Green transformation of production and life style”.

2. Novel Infrastructure

The notion of “novel infrastructure construction” (also known as “novel infrastructure”) was initially proposed under the context of economic reform and development [8]. In the years that followed, several academics have characterized “novel infrastructure” differently. For instance, Sheng Lei et al. (2020) defined novel infrastructure as infrastructure geared toward meeting the requirements of the brand new scientific and technological revolution, on the basis of connection and centered on calculation. It supports several data-related and other operational aspects, offering the new generation of digital infrastructure systems, which is exhibited by its fast technological updates, hardware and software, and collaborative integration, among other characteristics [9]. Huang Qunhui (2020) defined novel infrastructure as the infrastructure of new industrialization, which encompasses all types of infrastructure related to greening. It is not confined to the “seven domains”; the infrastructure also enables the ongoing technological and industrial improvement [10].
In April 2020, an official definition of the idea and meaning of “novel infrastructure” was released by the official agency. The term “novel infrastructure” is used to describe a system of infrastructure that provides digital enhancement, intelligent updating, integrative innovation, and other solutions with a view toward meeting the demands of high-quality development in accordance with new development ideas and technology. Primarily, it comprises infrastructure types of information, convergence, and innovation. The first type of infrastructure includes network infrastructure, which is a type of new technology infrastructure characterized by A.I., blockchain, etc., and computing infrastructure includes data- and computing-related infrastructure; convergence infrastructure refers to an upgrade upon a conventional type of infrastructure utilizing new technologies to deliver integration and concomitant development of the old and the new; innovation infrastructural covers the infrastructure used to support scientific research, education, science, and technology [11]. The fundamental traits and standards of infrastructure still conform to Frischmann’s proposed parameters for various types of public and capital goods, and inputs of commodities as well as services [12]. The “newness” of the novel infrastructure is relative to the traditional infrastructure, and the advanced nature of technology is the biggest difference between the novel infrastructure and the traditional infrastructure [13]. “Novel infrastructure” is considered a potent drive for unleashing economic activities, a realistic road to accomplishing innovation-driven growth, and a crucial aid for promoting high-quality development [9]. Short term, it may stimulate and drive investment and consumption improvement and upgrading; mid to long term, production factors as well as business output can be optimized and enhanced, therefore driving the high-quality growth of the country [14]. Of course, the significance and breadth of novel infrastructure are not predetermined. The academic community and government will continue to increase their knowledge of “novel infrastructure” as technology and industry advance.

3. Green Transformation of Sports Industry

The root of green transition research is green growth [15]. Green growth was originally publicly advocated as a new social improvement approach by British environmental economists Pearce et al. in their 1989 paper, “Blueprint for Green Economy” [16]. Green growth refers to a social improvement approach and acts as the transformation to a low-carbon and resource-saving world, fostering economic development, lowering environmental strain, and enhancing well-being and equality in society [17]. As a future pillar industry of the national economy, the proportion of the sports industry increases year by year, but the challenges of widespread expansion, limited size, and poor structural advantages remain constant [18]. For instance, “business forms without systems”, “chains without being smooth”, “uncoordinated parts”, and “high input and poor efficiency” are significant paradoxes [19]. However, existing research covering sports industry advancement concentrates primarily on the sports industry’s linear expansion [20][21], without tying the growth of the sports sector to carbon emissions. As the percentage of the service sector within the athletics business rises, some academics believe it to be a green industry nonobjectively. Considering the declining marginal benefit of emission reduction in the primary and secondary sectors, a significant opportunity exists in fully utilizing the emission reduction in the tertiary industry [22]. Current research on the green transformation of the sports industry (hereinafter referred to as GTSI) is in its infancy and consists mostly of qualitative descriptions devoid of rigorous economic theory and empirical study [23]. To encourage GTSI, it is vital to learn from the strategies utilized in other industries. Research on green transition focuses mostly on three areas. First, in examining the quantification of ecological transition, parametric and non-parametric methodologies are generally used. Examples include the use of data envelopment analysis (DEA), as well as stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). The latter approach mostly emphasizes a unique production function paradigm to evaluate the allocative efficiency of components [24], and it has been extensively used in several research studies to analyze ecological transition [25][26]. In contrast to SFA, the DEA approach operates without the assumption of a production function, hence eliminating estimate bias caused by an inappropriate distribution of hypothesis error terms. Tone (2001) [27] created the non-radial SBM-DSE model, which is frequently used in the assessment of green transition [28][29][30]. It is the most-used DEA approach. Second, investigate the attributes of green transformation. Green transformation is a dynamic process whose properties should be represented in time and place [31].

4. The Novel Infrastructure Impact on the Green Transformation of Sports Industry

The novel infrastructure offers systematic and technical endorsement for the Chinese athletics sector, which is advantageous to the industry’s long-term growth. The theoretical foundation for its impact dates back to the 1950s. Solow and Swan’s neoclassical economic growth theory investigated the multiplier effect on economic production in relation to the investment in infrastructure. The 1980s saw a surge of interest from economists studying the correlation among improved infrastructure, rising levels of human capital, and new technical developments. Krugman and other new economic geographers complemented the economic consequences of infrastructure with a geographical distribution viewpoint in the 1990s. A multitude of theoretical investigations into infrastructure and industrial growth have arisen since then. Previous research has examined the effects of environmental legislation [32], technical advancement [33], and industrial concentration [34] on industrial green transformation. Regarding the influence of novel infrastructure on industrial green transformation, the majority of experts feel that infrastructure building encourages energy-efficiency improvement [34] and has a beneficial impact on green transformation [35][36]. Nonetheless, a number of studies indicate that its future function is unknown and may be altered by government size [37], income level [38], and other variables. In addition, a number of researchers have shown that a rise in infrastructure investment would have an impact on energy consumption and consequently increase pollution emissions [39].
In terms of the sports industry, existing research mainly focuses on the application of new infrastructure in the sports industry. For example, big data, 5G, blockchain, and other technologies in the new infrastructure can constantly reshape the organizational structure, management mode, and consumer value of the sports industry when they become key production factors [40]. With the help of new infrastructure, the operation process of traditional sports venues, live events, mass consumption, and other fields can be replaced and transformed to provide a more convenient, comfortable, environmentally friendly, and participatory venue service experience [41]. With the help of internet of things technology, users, coaches, and fitness equipment can be connected, which helps to improve the coaching efficiency and fitness effect of users. It meets users’ personalized fitness needs [42], does not discuss its impact on the GTSI, and does not carry out economic theoretical and empirical analysis on its impact mechanism and path. However, the application of novel infrastructure in the development of the sports industry still has some problems, such as insufficient effective supply, unreasonable resource allocation, and a low degree of industrial integration [42]. Whether novel infrastructure will enable the GTSI and to what extent, the key lies in the degree of coupling and coordination between it and the green development of the sports industry [43]. Coupling coordination degree can reflect the overall balanced development degree of coordination and development level among different systems in a region [44]. The coupling coordination degree of novel infrastructure and GTSI can not only directly reflect the fit degree and trend of the “novel infrastructure” embedded in the GTSI, but also further reflect the direction and path of its empowerment of green development of the sports industry. Therefore, it is necessary to study the current situation and characteristics of coupling coordination and coupling mechanism and the influence mechanism between the two.

This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/su15064872

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