Eco-Efficiency Trends and Decoupling Analysis of Environmental Pressures in Tianjin, China

Zhe Wang,Guozhu Mao,Lin Zhao,Ben Wu

doi:10.3390/su71115407

Zhe Wang, Guozhu Mao + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su71115407

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Abstract

This study analyzes Tianjin’s eco-efficiency trends during the period 2001–2013 and reasons for their changes, with the aim of contributing to efforts to ensure the city’s sustainable development. While eco-efficiency of all of the indicators that we analyzed showed improvements during the study period, a gap remained in comparison to the more advanced eco-efficiency observed both domestically and internationally. We subsequently introduced decoupling indices to examine the decoupling relationship between environmental pressure and economic growth. This analysis demonstrated that some progress occurred during the study period resulting from the implementation of existing policies and measures entailing resource conservation and reduction in the emission of pollutants. The latter applied, especially, to sulfur dioxide (SO2) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), which both retained strong decoupling states from 2006 to 2013. Other indicators showed an apparent tendency toward decoupling, but most displayed weak decoupling. These findings indicate that further efforts are urgently required to promote strong decoupling. At the end of the twelfth Five-Year Plan period, Tianjin should consider formulating policies from the perspectives of resource consumption and pollutant emissions reduction to promote further sustainable development.

Highlights

In light of reforms and the opening up of its economy in 1978, China has been experiencing rapid economic development
“Changing Course” of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in 1992, the term eco-efficiency envisions the production of economically-valuable goods and services while reducing the ecological impacts of production, in other words, producing more with less [25,26]
During the study period (2001–2013), the annual growth rate was 14.9% which was much higher than the national average

Summary

Introduction

In light of reforms and the opening up of its economy in 1978, China has been experiencing rapid economic development. While this process has propelled China into becoming the world’s second largest economy, it has been accompanied by a range of resource-related and environmental problems, such as depletion of water resources and extensive smog. The need to find efficient ways of balancing economic growth and environmental protection to pursue sustainability in China is, a pressing issue for policymakers. Eco-efficiency strategies are frequently discussed as possible contributions to lower resource consumption and emissions while maintaining or increasing the value of economic output, namely,

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