Abstract
Energy-based economic development brings about some environmental problems, and as China’s economy shifts from rapid growth to high-quality development, the implementation of environmental regulation is crucial to achieving environmental protection and high-quality economic development. Based on the panel data of 14 prefectures and cities from 2000 to 2018 in Xinjiang, this study explored the impact of environmental regulation on high-quality economic development by constructing a comprehensive evaluation index system and using entropy method and Tobit regression model. The results show that 1) overall, each 1% increase in environmental regulation is associated with a 0.037% rise in high-quality economic development level; 2) regionally, each 1% increase in environmental regulation is associated with a 0.119% rise in high-quality economic development level in northern Xinjiang, but the effect on the southern Xinjiang is not significant; 3) each 1% increase in environmental regulation, the level of high-quality economic development decreased by 0.034% from 2000 to 2010 and increased by 0.061% from 2011 to 2018. In general, this study adds to the theoretical and empirical study on the influence of environmental regulation on high-quality economic development while providing a methodology for other economies to assess the relationship between the two.
Highlights
The consumption of a large amount of fossil energy in economic development leads to an increase in global greenhouse gas emissions (Ma et al, 2018a; Chen et al, 2022)
The results show that 1) overall, each 1% increase in environmental regulation is associated with a 0.037% rise in high-quality economic development level; 2) regionally, each 1% increase in environmental regulation is associated with a 0.119% rise in high-quality economic development level in northern Xinjiang, but the effect on the southern Xinjiang is not significant; 3) each 1% increase in environmental regulation, the level of highquality economic development decreased by 0.034% from 2000 to 2010 and increased by 0.061% from 2011 to 2018
For every 1% increase in the composite index of Environmental regulation (ER) intensity, the coefficient of high-quality economic development (HQED) increases by 0.037%, indicating that ER has notably promoted the level of HQED in Xinjiang
Summary
The consumption of a large amount of fossil energy in economic development leads to an increase in global greenhouse gas emissions (Ma et al, 2018a; Chen et al, 2022). Data from the China Statistical Yearbook show that from 2000 to 2018, the Chinese economy grew rapidly, total energy consumption increased significantly (Jing et al, 2018b; Zhao et al, 2021), and total energy consumption grew from 1469.64 to 4719.25 million tons of standard coal, with an average annual growth rate of 6.7%. The increase in energy consumption has led to problems such as energy shortages and environmental pollution, which have gradually become a constraint on China’s high-quality economic development (Zhao et al, 2020; Geng et al, 2021). There is evidence that lowcarbon energy transition has promoted green and sustainable development in China (Ma et al, 2018b; Dong et al, 2021). The mode of China’s economic development has gradually changed from extensive to intensive, and the economy has transitioned from a phase of high-speed growth to a phase of high-quality development (Zhou B et al, 2020)
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