Does the change of official promotion assessment standards contribute to the improvement of urban environmental quality?

Abstract

Official promotion assessment standards are an important factor affecting the environmental governance of local governments. The study of the Chinese government adding the evaluation of ecological civilization to the official promotion assessment standards is of great significance to promote China's environmental pollution control and eco-environmental protection. Therefore, it is necessary to explore diversified ways of environmental governance from the perspective of improving the assessment standards for official promotion. Based on this background, this paper uses a variety of econometric models to compare the impact of traditional assessment standards and new assessment standards, including environmental factors on environmental quality. The results show that: (1) Different from the negative environmental impact brought by traditional assessment, when the official promotion assessment standards change, that is, when it is included in the environmental assessment, the official promotion incentive can actively promote the improvement of regional environmental quality, and this result has a more significant effect on the improvement of environmental quality in economically underdeveloped areas and vulnerable areas. (2) The mechanism test shows that the change of assessment standards will force officials to improve environmental quality by improving regional productivity. (3) the promotion of environmental supervision, represented by the development of information technology, helps strengthen the positive effect of the transformation of official assessment standards on the environment. However, it is unstable. This paper provides a useful reference for improving official promotion assessment standards, exploring diversified ways of environmental governance, and clarifying the effectiveness of the Chinese government's ecological environment reform.