In April 2023, the government of Changshu City, in Jiangsu Province, China, announced that it would officially use digital Chinese Yuan (E-CNY) as a method of wage payment to the government and state-owned enterprises staff starting in May. With the gradual improvement and application of E-CNY technologies, such as no electricity, no internet payment (offline payment), and the programmability of smart contracts, E-CNY will be officially used in China. CNN said China is on the verge of a cashless society. The advantages of E-CNY have a positive role in promoting the Chinese government’s implementation of the development goals of a low-carbon and sustainable economy. However, artificial intelligence (AI) trust concerns are the primary bottleneck in the current development based on intelligent algorithms and digital information technology. AI trust concerns are affecting the scope of use of E-CNY, and it may need to achieve effective scale-use, making it promote low-carbon and sustainable development. From the industry perspective, this article selects the housing rental enterprises, which are challenging to develop and energy-intensive, to analyze the theoretical approach and practical impact of E-CNY in promoting the low-carbon and sustainable development of China’s rental housing economy. Meanwhile, from the perspective of Chinese consumers, the impact of AI trust concerns on E-CNY in promoting low-carbon and sustainable development is analyzed in this article.

Urbanization plays a crucial role in facilitating the integration of population growth, industrial development, economic expansion, and energy consumption. In this paper, we aim to examine the relationships between CO2 emissions and various factors including economic growth, urbanization, financial development, and energy consumption within Pakistan’s building sector. The study utilizes annual data spanning from 1990 to 2020. To analyze the cointegration relationship between these variables, we employ the quantile autoregressive distributed lag error correction model (QARDL-ECM). The findings of this research provide evidence supporting the presence of an asymmetric and nonlinear long-term relationship between the variables under investigation. Based on these results, we suggest the implementation of tariffs on nonrenewable energy sources and the formulation of policies that promote sustainable energy practices. By doing so, policymakers and architects can effectively contribute to minimising environmental damage. Overall, this study offers valuable insights that can assist policymakers and architects in making informed decisions to mitigate environmental harm while fostering sustainable development.

This paper reviews and compares the opportunities and challenges in terms of port and intermodal development in China and India—the two fast-growing economic giants in the world. The study analyzes the future direction of these two countries’ port-hinterland intermodal development from the sustainability perspective. Both China and India face some major opportunities and challenges in port-hinterland intermodal development. The proposal of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, also known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), offers plentiful opportunities for China. A challenge for China is that its development of dry ports is still in the infancy stage and thus it is unable to catch up with the pace of rapid economic growth. As compared with China, India focuses more on the social aspect to protect the welfare of its residents, which in turn jeopardizes India’s port-hinterland intermodal development in the economic sense. The biggest challenge for India is its social institution, which would take a long time to change. These in-depth comparative analyses not only give the future direction of port-hinterland intermodal development in China and India but also provide references for other countries with similar backgrounds.