The Progress and Framework of Ecological Welfare Performance Within the Context of the “Dual Carbon” Goal: A Comprehensive Literature Review

Meijuan Hu, Gong Chen and Zaijun Li ()
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Meijuan Hu: School of Tourism and Cuisine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China
Gong Chen: School of Tourism and Cuisine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China
Zaijun Li: Research Institute of Central Jiangsu Development, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 2, 1-22

Abstract: The “dual carbon” goal has become a major national strategy, an inherent requirement for high-quality economic development. As a crucial indicator of measuring sustainable development capabilities, ecological welfare performance has emerged as a core tool for enhancing human welfare, achieving sustainable development, advancing ecological civilization construction, and promoting green development. This study focuses on the “dual carbon” goal appeal, clarifies the concept connotation of ecological welfare performance, assesses the research progress of ecological welfare performance, deeply analyzes the internal relationship between the “dual carbon” goal and ecological welfare performance, builds a research framework for ecological welfare performance, and points out the marginal contribution, research prospects, and shortcomings of ecological welfare performance research under the “dual carbon” goal. The findings are as follows: (1) Research on ecological welfare performance has shifted from a single dimension to a multi-dimensional and multi-level comprehensive consideration, involving multiple disciplines. Literature research focuses on four aspects, namely, the connotation and representation of welfare, the interaction between ecosystems and welfare, ecological welfare performance research, and “dual carbon” target and ecological welfare performance research. (2) From the perspective of research hotspots and historical evolution, most scholars pay more and more attention to empirical research and application-oriented research, and it is still necessary to constantly explore new theoretical frameworks and methodologies in the future to better understand the changing rules and driving mechanisms of ecological welfare performance. (3) From the perspective of the ecological welfare performance research framework, an in-depth analysis of the relationship between natural ecological consumption, economic growth, and welfare is carried out. Based on the change in research paradigm, a two-stage ecological welfare performance evaluation framework is constructed to promote the realization of the “dual carbon” goal and the continuous optimization of ecological welfare performance, so as to provide a reference basis for the scientific assessment of sustainable development capacity.

Keywords: ecological welfare performance; “dual carbon” goal; research progress; enlightenment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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