Analysis of SO2 Emission Reduction Effect of Smart City Construction Based on a Multi-period DID Model

Abstract

Along with the acceleration of urbanization and industrialization, the problem of environmental pollution in China has become increasingly prominent, putting forward new requirements for city construction. In 2012, the Chinese government proposed to build smart cities. This policy not only strengthened the urban informatization construction, but also provided valid solutions for China's environmental governance. However, there is little literature about the effect of smart city construction on pollution emission. Based on this, this paper used panel data from 284 cities in China during 2003–2019 to evaluate the effect of smart city construction on SO2 emissions by constructing a multi-period DID model. The findings are as follows: (1) The smart city construction could significantly reduce the emission of SO2 and the conclusion was robust. (2) There was a temporal hysteresis in the response of SO2 emissions to the smart city construction, and SO2 emissions began to decrease significantly in the third year after smart city construction. (3) Industrialization could significantly increase SO2 emissions, while opening up to the outside world and the concentration of population could significantly decrease SO2 emissions.