A reverse distribution between synergistic effect and economic development: An analysis from industrial SO2 decoupling and CO2 decoupling

Abstract

Under the dual pressure of global ecological degradation and economic downturn, an important task for emerging industrialized countries is to balance the connection between the economy and the environment. To achieve CO2 reduction and pollution reduction in China, the trend and causes of decoupling both CO2 and SO2 from economic growth were evaluated. Then, the synergistic effect of two decoupling indices was investigated by spatial econometric model, i.e., Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR). The analysis results show that: (1) Per capita GDP and energy intensity were the main positive contribution and negative contribution, severally. (2) There have been variations within the ranking of the sensitivity of two decoupling indices to each influencing factor. Emission coefficients, energy mix and energy intensity are highly sensitive in most regions. For decoupling index of CO2, the sensitivity was higher in eastern regions, however, the sensitivity of decoupling index of SO2 was the contrary. (3) There was spatial and temporal heterogeneity within the synergistic effect. The effect in the western region is higher than that in the eastern region, different from economic development, especially in Xinjiang province, where increasing the decoupling effort of CO2 by 1 unit can reduce the decoupling index of SO2 by 0.50 in 2018. (4) According to the trend of the synergistic effect, six sectors could be defined, where sector “e” should be the focus of attention, with an average coefficient of −0.33. After 2016, the effect in sector “d”, sector “e” and sector “f” tends to increase. The findings not only facilitate the present literature on synergistic reduction of environmental pollution, but also be of interest to policy-makers in emerging industrialized countries.