Evaluation of Green Development Efficiency of the Major Cities in Gansu Province, China

Rongrong Liu,Suchang Yang,Yang Chen,Dong Chen

doi:10.3390/su13063034

Abstract

Green development (GD) has become a new model of sustainable development across the world. However, our knowledge of green development efficiency (GDE) in Gansu province is poor. In remedy, this study, based on the panel data of 12 major cities in Gansu from 2010 to 2017, employed the super-efficient Slack-based measure (SBM) to analyze and evaluate GDE from the input–output perspective. Furthermore, we analyzed the input redundancy and output deficiency of identified inefficient cities in 2017 and conducted spatial autocorrelation analysis of GDE of the cities under study. Results show differences in the GDE of the major cities in Gansu, with an average value of 0.985. Green development efficiency in Lanzhou, Qingyang, Jinchang, Jiuquan, and Tianshui was relatively higher than in other cities. Green development efficiency in Zhangye, Wuwei, Jiayuguan, Baiyin, Dingxi, Longnan, and Longnan was less than one due to their redundant labor and capital input and excessive pollutant emission output. The overall GDE in Gansu depicts “high east and low west” zones. Each city in Gansu needs to formulate targeted policies and regulations to improve resource utilization, innovation capacity, reduce pollutant emission, optimize the industrial structure, and promote inter-city cooperation to construct a sustainable green economy.

Highlights

Our results show differences in green development efficiency (GDE) of the cities under study in Gansu province in 2017 (Table 3)
The GDE in Zhangye, Wuwei, and Jiayuguan city averaged in Gansu province, and the indexes ranged from 0.9091 to 0.9636
The difference between Lanzhou city and Pingliang city, corresponding to the highest and lowest green developed cities, reached 0.85. This finding agrees with earlier reports that the GDE of the cities within the Pearl River Delta (PRD) [4] and Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region [23], as well as the countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative [24], differ

Summary

Introduction

Since the outbreak of the international financial crisis in 2008, the United Nations have been advocating for a “Green New Deal” In this regard, the forces of GD in global cities and towns are gaining unprecedented recognition [8], with the hope of protecting the environment and sustainably promoting economic recovery. The forces of GD in global cities and towns are gaining unprecedented recognition [8], with the hope of protecting the environment and sustainably promoting economic recovery These have led to reduced pollution emission [9] and increased efficiency of natural resource-use for social [10], environmental [11], and economic wellbeing of humans [4]. There is variation in the GD status of countries at the national [9], regional [12,13], and global levels [8]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion