Environmental Economic Geography Research Articles

Spatio-temporal process and influencing factors of polluting enterprises' migration: an empirical study based on the Yangtze River Delta

The migration of polluting enterprises (MPE) is a crucial subject within the fields of Environmental Economic Geography and Enterprise Geography. An analysis was conducted on the temporal-spatial evolution and influencing factors of the MPE by employing the full-sample enterprises data from the "Qichacha" system. The main findings were obtained: (1) The polluting enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta have undergone an evolutionary process of proximity migration, intra-provincial proximity to intra-provincial long distance migration, with intra-provincial migration being the main focus supplemented by inter-provincial migration, and coexisting intra-provincial and inter-provincial migration. (2) The estimation results, based on the panel negative-binomial model, reveal that the variables having a greater impact on the MPE encompass environmental regulation, industrial upgrading policies, cost factors, geographical distance, coastal and inter-provincial boundaries, etc. These influencing factors display time heterogeneity and industry heterogeneity. (3) By taking the Nijiaxiang Group, which was involved in the 321 Explosion Accident in Xiangshui, as an example, it was discovered that insufficient inheritance of environmental protection concepts, corruption of officials, and social governance problems have resulted in shortcomings in the area. This has led to a lowered level of local environmental regulation, transforming the local area into a haven for polluting enterprises such as the Nijiaxiang Group. The contribution of this study lies in observing the MPE from the perspective of "inter-regional association," and within the group enterprises. It addresses the deficiencies of existing research that mainly examines the evolution of industrial geographic patterns and statically observes polluting enterprises' entry and exit behavior. Moreover, this study demonstrates that the Pollution Shelter Hypothesis is not universal and has an impact in the Yangtze River Delta region after 2012.

The pollution control effect of regional integration: An empirical study based on Urban Agglomeration Planning in China.

Regional integration is an important trend of economic development worldwide, which helps to break the restrictions of administrative divisions on economic development and pollution control. According to the relevant theories of environmental economic geography, regional integration will have an important impact on regional pollution control. Based on China's urban panel data, we empirically tested the impact of regional integration on regional environmental pollution and its mechanism by using econometric analysis methods, such as the difference-in-differences model and the mediating effect model. We found that regional integration can effectively reduce urban pollutant emissions and that the emission reduction effect of regional integration is characterized by significant heterogeneity at different pollution levels. The mechanism analysis showed that the green technology innovation effect of regional integration is an important mechanism for promoting urban emission reduction. The conclusions of this paper enrich the relevant theories of environmental economic geography and provide new ideas to implement integration strategies to promote sustainable economic development in developing countries.

The innovation effect of low‐carbon technology transfer from the perspective of carbon emission reduction demand: A case study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China

AbstractReducing carbon emissions is the only way to solve the global climate problem, which obviously requires the joint efforts of all regions. From the perspective of carbon emission reduction demand, this research obtains the data of low‐carbon patents and CO2 emissions from 2000 to 2019, and then explores the innovation effect of low‐carbon technology transfer in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). We draw the following conclusions: (1) Low‐carbon technology transfer has a positive impact on low‐carbon technology innovation. However, a large number of low‐carbon technology transfers are concentrated between developed regions in the YREB at present. (2) No matter from the perspective of total amount or efficiency, carbon emission reduction demand can play positive moderating role in the process of exerting the innovation effect of low‐carbon technology transfer, indicating that the transfer of low‐carbon technologies to regions with high demand is efficient. (3) The moderating effect of carbon emission reduction demand in different regions has regional heterogeneity. Carbon emissions per unit of GDP plays a greater role in moderating the innovation effect of low‐carbon technology transfer in the eastern region, while CO2 emissions plays a greater role in the central and western regions. Therefore, we propose to strengthen the transfer of low‐carbon technologies between developed and less‐developed regions, and adopt differentiation strategies according to the actual situation of each region. Our research has deepened the understanding of environmental economic geography on the innovation effect of low‐carbon technology transfer, and has reference significance for global low‐carbon technology cooperation.

Will the “Pairing Assistance” Policy Trigger the Migration of Polluting Enterprises? An Empirical Study Based on the Yangtze River Delta Region

The migration of polluting enterprises and its mechanism are a recent research hotspot in enterprise geography and environmental economic geography. This paper finds that the “Pairing Assistance” policy (PAP) is an important driving force for the migration of polluting enterprises (MPE), which is widely ignored by the existing research. Based on the perspective of inter-regional correlations, this paper establishes an analytical framework for the MPE. The negative binomial regression model was used to conduct a big data analysis on enterprises based on the Qichacha database. The main findings are as follows. (1) The average number of polluting enterprises migrating between cities with a PAP relationship is 129.51% more than that between other cities. (2) This policy can also promote the MPE from cities that are not in a PAP relationship with cities that receive assistance from the policy. The average frequency of these cities accepting polluting enterprises was 63.76% more than that of other cities. (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that under the influence of the policy, highly polluting and low-tech enterprises mainly migrated from developed regions to less-developed regions. (4) The mechanism mainly includes lower environmental regulations, operating costs, inter-regional differences in industrial upgrading, and the easiness for polluting enterprises to adapt into the network of government–enterprise relationships in the assistance-accepting cities. This paper, based on China’s empirical research, provides a new mechanism for the migration of polluting enterprises.

Theoretical thinking in environmental economic geography from the perspective of economic cycle

Theoretical thinking in environmental economic geography from the perspective of economic cycle

Does Technological Innovation Promote Green Development? A Case Study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China.

The role of technological innovation (TI) in green development is controversial. Based on 2003–2017 panel data of 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), this study constructed an index system to evaluate urban green development and analyzed the role of TI on urban green development with the help of a panel econometric model. The results show that: (1) From 2003 to 2017, the levels of TI and green development of cities in the YREB have gradually improved, but the core–periphery structure is obvious, and the levels of TI and green development in the lower reaches are significantly higher than those in the middle and upper reaches. (2) TI has a significant positive role in promoting green development, showing a U-shaped nonlinear relationship, and this relationship varies from region to region. (3) TI has a significant impact on green development with direct and indirect effects. In the economic and social dimensions, TI has a positive impact on green development, while in the ecological dimension, the direct effect and indirect effect have opposite relationships. (4) TI has a significant threshold effect on green development, and there are differences in threshold characteristics between the three dimensions. These findings provide a scientific basis for policymaking about innovation-driven regional green development, and it can enrich the related theories of environmental economic geography.

Environmental change and the informal plastic recycling networks of Kolkata

This article introduces plastic recycling networks in Kolkata, India, as a case to illustrate the contradictory entanglement of economic and environmental change in urban informal contexts of the Global South. In light of the prevailing environmental critique of informal plastic recycling in India, this article discusses plastic recyclers’ environmental impact and contribution as well as the potential to enhance the environmental and economic performance of their business. Network and chain approaches in the emerging field of Environmental Economic Geography are combined with the notion of social metabolism to conceptualize the entanglement of environmental and economic processes as well as socio‐environmental inequalities entailed in recycling networks. The analysis reveals the impact that the heterogeneity and fluctuation of plastic waste supply has on the economic organization of recycling networks, giving rise to distinct forms of governance in its intermediate and down‐stream segments. Such an integrated perspective also serves to explain why environmental upgrading is hard to achieve under prevailing circumstances by plastic recyclers in Kolkata. Based on an assessment of the social and political conditions of informality under which plastic recyclers operate, the adoption of common assumptions about ecological modernization imbuing parts of Environmental Economic Geography is called into question.

Regional industrial dynamics under the environmental pressures in China

This study investigates how air pollution affects industrial path creation and industrial dynamics in China. Moving beyond existing literature that pays more attention to environmental effects of industrial development, this paper focuses on how industrial development path changes due to environmental pollution. Using the data from Chinese Customs Trade Statistics (CCTS) which covers the export trade data of prefecture level cities in China during 2002–2006 and 2012 to 2016, this paper probes into the effect of air pollution on industrial dynamics. Econometric model and instrumental variable (IV) regression are used in empirical analysis given the potential endogeneity issue. Results suggest that the interaction term between air pollution and density is negatively related to new industries entry. It means that air pollution can reduce the effect of relatedness on industrial diversification and lead to path breaking. Further, a channel for how air pollution affects industrial dynamics is examined. In order to respond to air pollution, local government conducts environmental regulation to lower the negative influence of air pollution, which can lead to path breaking during industrial diversification process. Finally, this paper seeks to bridge two strands of literature: environmental economic geography and evolutionary economic geography.

Environmental economic geography and environmental inequality: challenges and new research prospects

Abstract The environmental dimension and sustainability-related issues have increasingly gained momentum in Economic Geography. This paper argues that integrating the inequality perspective into Environmental Economic Geography (EEG) and trying to disentangle the manifold interrelationships between economic, social, and environmental disadvantage could be worthwhile efforts. Based on three case studies – the debate on urban environmental justice in German cities, the spread of alternative food systems and food-sharing initiatives in Germany, and the socially selective migration in hazard prone areas in rural coastal Bangladesh – we demonstrate that aspects of social inequality indeed matter for EEG thinking.

Globalization and the water-energy-food nexus – Using the global production networks approach to analyze society-environment relations

The interrelation of the water-energy-food nexus and processes of globalization has to be understood thoroughly in order to address socio-economic inequalities and environmental change. However, unravelling the complexities of the water-energy-food nexus in the context of globalization poses conceptual and empirical difficulties. Economic globalization, e.g. through transnational trade and foreign direct investment, results in a global conjunction of actors, interests and impacts, strongly affecting patterns of resource extraction and environmental degradation, and local capabilities for its governance. In environmental economic geography, the global value chain and global production networks approaches have proved useful for the analysis of interrelations between governance structures, value, institutional contexts, and modes of resource consumption. In this paper, we discuss the potential of the global production networks approach to analyze society-environment relations in the context of the water-energy-food nexus and processes of globalization. To make our argument, we will use the case of manure and digestate, which results from meat and bioenergy production in the Oldenburger Münsterland, the center of livestock farming in Germany. The region is Germany’s best developed agribusiness cluster, which is integrated into a transnational network of animal producers, feedstuff producers and meat processors. And it is also home to many biogas plants and several market leaders in bioenergy technology, strongly related to the livestock husbandry business. The case is an example of the three-way-mutual interactions among food, energy and water. The analysis will combine the perspective of the water-energy-food nexus with the analytical categories of the global production networks approach to provide a nuanced understanding of the socio-environmental implications of the global integration of a regional agri-food production cluster.

Natural resource industries as global value chains: Frontiers, fetishism, labour and the state

Despite 30 years of research on global value chains, the appropriation of nature in general and natural resource industries in particular remain marginal both theoretically and empirically. There is a parallel ecological deficit in labour process theory and a lack of applied research on natural resource industries. But since historical capitalism is based on the expanding appropriation and transformation of nature by labour, these lacunae must be redressed. Contributing to an emerging body of work in environmental economic geography and the international political economy of the environment, this article theorises global value chains through the lens of the circuit of capital as a tool to unravel some distinctive features of natural resources industries. We propose a framework for the study of natural resource industries as global value chains based on five propositions: (a) commodity frontier theory, (b) the fetishism of natural resources, (c) the socio-ecological indeterminacy of the labour process, (d) distance and durability in the production of time and (e) the contingency of the capitalist state in (re)producing global value chains. While far from exhaustive, we argue that this original synthetic framework provides crucial bases for a research agenda on global value chains in natural resources.

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Environmental Economic Geography

environment. Likewise,modern (post-1960) economic geography largely sub-disciplined itself around aninterest in employment (e.g. industrial geography) or in nature (e.g. environmentalgeography). Fortunately, the nature of the debate is changing rapidly andpolitical, business and environmental leaders have recognized that economicdevelopment and environmental sustainability, the two central challenges facingthe world in the twenty-first century, depend on each other as potentially mutuallycompatible imperatives. Recognition that economic evolution is driven byinnovations of all kinds that restructure relations between economy and environmentsupports this view. If these restructurings have been overwhelmingly negative forthe environment in the past, a re-calibration of institutional and technologicalinnovation towards a Green Paradigm that seeks to realize positive sum relationshipsbetween economy and environment is feasible. Moreover, a Green Paradigm needsto be both global in scope and sensitive to geographically uniqueness. Economy–environment relationships are distinctive in particular places and connected acrossspace; climate warming, for example, is a global phenomenon in which processesand outcomes are locally varied. The vital role for environmental economicgeography is to assess how place and space influence economy–environmentrelations that are site-specific, globally interdependent and multi-scalar, and toprescribe (local–global) relations that will realize economic and environmentalvalues. Normatively, with respect to the achievement of economic and environ-mental values: How should innovation systems be organized globally and locally?What is the proper distribution of economic activities? How should cities andresource peripheries be remapped? How should value chains that directly andindirectly link multi-faceted (resource, manufacturing and service activities)activities in the supply of goods and services for consumers best be organizedlocally and globally? These are some of the fascinating questions facing environmentaleconomic geography.

Environmental Economic Geography

AbstractThis article advocates evolutionary institutionalism as a conceptual platform to launch a systematic approach to environmental economic geography. Evolutionary institutionalism interprets industrial transitions through the lens of innovative behaviour that is shaped by reciprocal economic and non‐economic processes and periodically restructures economies in the form of new techno‐economic paradigms (TEP). In this approach, environment–economy relations need not be zero‐sum games, as is often assumed. Rather, as a result of innovation and choice, these relations have been recalibrated historically and can be redefined again towards developing a green TEP in which development and sustainability are co‐imperatives. It is argued that the mandate of environmental economic geography is to assess and prescribe how place makes and should make a difference to a green TEP and the article sketches a research agenda to promote this goal. This research agenda focuses on the themes of regions as institutions, remapping resource use and sustainable value chains.

Environmental economic geography: A sympathetic critique

In this article I examine the objectives and substantive claims of a body of work that has come to be known as ‘environmental economic geography’ (EEG). I characterize this loose grouping of research activities as a topical contrivance: often what unites EEG researchers is simply a desire to apply the theories and methods of economic geography to environmental issues. The article explores an alternative rationale for doing EEG: the development of a distinctive intellectual project out of the encounter between economic geography and environment. Such a project extends beyond an assessment of the environmental impacts of economic activity, to examine the ways in which many ‘economic’ processes are environmentally constituted.

A theoretical framework for a ‘spatially conscious’ economic analysis of environmental issues

This paper proposes a theoretical framework for the integration of economic aspects and environmental aspects into the decision-making process for sustainable development strategies. The aim is integrate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and environmental valuation methods in the structure of a cost–benefit analysis (CBA) in order to better evaluate spatial concerns. The conceptual approach is augmented by a modest case study of a marina development in Santa Rosaliita on the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. This marina project is part of the proposed ‘Escalera Nautica’ an ambitious regional development scheme, which has caused controversy concerning its social, economic and environmental implications. The paper outlines the necessity to develop spatially conscious methodologies for a policy relevant research regarding sustainable regional development. Additionally, the paper contributes a spatial analytic perspective based on normative economic principles to the recent discussion on environmental economic geography.

Prospects for an Environmental Economic Geography: Linking Ecological Modernization and Regulationist Approaches

Although the “new”economic geography has explored links between the subdiscipline’s traditional areas of study and cultural, institutional, and political realms, environmental issues remain comparatively underresearched within the subdiscipline. This article contends not only that the environment is of key importance to economic geography, but also that economic geographers can make an important contribution to environmental debates, through providing not just a better analysis and theoretical understanding, but also better policy proscription. Rather than claim new intellectual territory, the intention is to suggest potential creative opportunities for linking economic geography’s strengths with those insights from other theoretical perspectives. In particular, this article focuses upon linking insights from ecological modernization theory, developed by environmental sociologists, with regulationist approaches.