Industrial Pollutant Emissions Research Articles

Analysis of spatio-temporal distribution characteristics and socioeconomic drivers of urban air quality in China

Having high spatio-temporal resolution data of pollutants is critical to understand environmental pollution patterns and their mechanisms. Our research employs the hourly average concentration data on the air quality index (AQI) and its six component pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, CO, and O3) in 336 Chinese cities from 2014 to 2019. We analyze annual, seasonal, monthly, hourly, and spatial variations of different air pollutants and their socioeconomic factors. The results are as follows. (1) Air pollutants' concentration in Chinese cities decreased year by year during 2014–2019. Among the primary pollutants, PM2.5 dominated pollution days, accounting for 38.46%, followed by PM10. Monthly concentration curves of AQI, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, and CO showed a U-shaped trend from January to December, while that of O3 presented an inverted U-shaped unimodal pattern. Regarding daily variation, urban air quality tended to be worse around sunrise compared with sunset. (2) Chinese cities' air quality decreased from north to south and from inland to coastal areas. Recently, air quality has improved, and polluted areas have shrunk. The six pollutant types showed different spatial agglomeration characteristics. (3) Industrial pollution emissions were the main source of urban air pollutants. Energy-intensive industries, dominated by coal combustion, had the greatest impact on SO2 concentration. A “pollution shelter” was established in China because foreign investment introduced more pollution-intensive industries. Thus, China has crossed the Kuznets U-curve inflection point. In addition, population agglomeration contributed the most to PM2.5 concentration, increasing the PM2.5 exposure risk and causing disease, and vehicle exhaust aggravated the pollution of NO2 and CO. The higher China's per capita gross domestic product, the more significant the effect of economic development is on reducing pollutant concentration.

Financial Development, Environmental Regulations and Green Economic Transition

With the global deterioration of ecology and the widening of inequality, achieving green, inclusive and sustainable economic growth has received worldwide recognition. The essence of green transition is the revolution of development mode, which requires a large amount of environmental investment, including enterprise pollution control and green RD on the other hand, the supply capacity of green funds by the financial sector also needs to be improved, so as to reduce the environmental financing constraints faced by enterprises. Therefore, financial development and environmental regulations can produce synergy at both ends of supply and demand of environmental investment and have a coordination effect on green economic transition. This paper exploits a comprehend dataset on the information of industrial production, pollution emission and green innovation of 284 cities in China from 2004 to 2015 to test the coordination effect. In recent years, the innovation and development of China’s financial system are reflected in local small financial institutions, in which the development of city commercial banks (CCB) has become an important symbol. With information advantages, more flexible supervision and diversified ownership structure, CCB can reduce information asymmetry in the lending process and alleviate the financing constraints faced by enterprises. Measuring the urban financial development based on the increase in the branches of CCB, this paper finds that local financial development can significantly reduce the industrial SO2 emission, the main pollutant in cities, in coordination with environmental regulations. The mechanism analysis shows that financial development and environmental regulations can synergistically promote industrial pollution control and green technological innovation, which reduces the emission intensity of industrial pollution and promotes the rise of green industry, thus promoting industrial green transition, without significant reduction of production. The conclusions remain stable after a series of endogenous and robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis also reveals that environmental information asymmetry, the shortage of market intermediary service agency and the weak of the ability of technology commercialization will impair the coordination effect. The contributions of this paper are mainly reflected in two aspects: First, it reveals the factor of financial development in affecting green economic transition, which enriches the existing literature on financing constraints, financial development and economic green transition, and also provides useful policy enlightenment for the development of green economy. It is necessary to not only strictly implement environmental regulations, but also pay attention to the financial support and guidance role of the financial sector, so as to promote enterprises’ pollution control and green R&D innovation. Second, to improve the supply capacity of green funds, China needs to not only deepen the reform of the financial system and make up for the shortcomings existing in the financial system, but also further improve the relevant supporting systems required for the development of green finance, including improving the enterprise environmental information disclosure and sharing mechanism, developing green financial intermediary service agency, and cultivating professional technical management talents, so as to improve the operational ability of green financial business during the supply of green funds.

Mathematical Multivariate Statistical Analysis and Big Data Information System Establishment on Urban Pollutant through Intelligent Computational Method

This paper mainly adopts the actor analysis and correspondence analysis in multivariate statistical analysis., for 6 indicators of the main pollutant contents emission in waste gas by 31 cities in China. The results of Factor Analysis showed that with cities in 6 indicators were controlled by two independent factors. The 2 factors, which were determined and named, were f 1, domestic waste gas pollutant emission factor, and f 2, factor of Industrial waste gas pollutant emission. The percentage of accumulated contribution of variances was 85.51%. The result s of correspondence analysis showed that, six indicators and cities which had significant or close relationships with 31 cities.

Exploring the spatial effects and influencing factors of PM2.5 concentration in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations of China

The haze pollution caused by PM2.5 is a prominent environmental pollution issue in China, which seriously affects socioeconomic development and human health. However, previous studies ignored the heterogeneity among the different categories of cities in investigating the spatial effects of PM2.5 concentration and its influencing factors at the level of urban agglomerations. Therefore, this study takes 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations of China as a case study to identify the key influencing factors and their direct and spatial effects on PM2.5 in different categories of cities. The results indicate that a 1% increase in population density, energy intensity, industrial pollution emission, and public transport density causes the PM2.5 concentration to rise 0.264%, 0.088%, 0.021%, and 0.085%, respectively, in the whole urban agglomerations. In addition, a 1% increase in economic development and foreign direct investment decreases the PM2.5 concentration by 0.814% and 0.019%, respectively. In the first category, the main influencing factors of PM2.5 are population density, economic development, energy intensity, industrial pollution emission, and public transport density. In the second category, the main factors are economic development, energy intensity, and public transport density. In the third category, the major factors are industrial pollution emission, public transport density, and foreign direct investment. Moreover, population density, energy intensity, and public transport density have significant spatial spillover effects on PM2.5 in the first category. The population density, economic development, energy intensity, industrial pollution emission, and foreign direct investment have significant spatial spillover effects on PM2.5 in the second category. Population density and foreign direct investment have significant spatial spillover effects on PM2.5 concentration in the third category.

Tobacco Industry Agglomeration and Industrial Pollution Emission: Nonlinear Test Based on Panel Data

In the past 40 years, the agglomeration of tobacco industry plays a vital role in economic growth in China. Meanwhile, the rapid economic development has paid serious environmental and energy costs.Based on the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2005 to 2015, this paper uses the differential GMM method to empirically test the relationship between the agglomeration of tobacco industry and industrial pollution emissions. The study found that the spatial agglomeration of the tobacco industry has a significant negative impact on industrial wastewater, sulfur dioxide and industrial dust emissions. Capital labor, enterprise scale, and pollution control investmentall have a significant impact on pollution emissions.Therefore, the increase in the agglomeration of China’s tobacco industry is conducive to reducing industrial pollution emissions.

Market failure, tradable discharge permit, and pollution reduction: Evidence from industrial firms in China

Several features of an imperfect market, such as transaction costs and market power, and strategic behaviors of firms may adversely affect the performance and efficiency of tradable discharge permit systems. However, empirical studies regarding this subject are few. To address this research gap, this study investigated the impact of market failure and strategic behaviors of firms on pollution reduction using China's sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions trading policy as a quasi-natural experiment. Based on the micro-data matching the Chinese Industrial Firm and the Chinese Industrial Firm Pollution Emission databases, the difference-in-difference-in-differences method was employed to determine if the implementation of the policy can promote emission reduction and identify its specific influencing mechanism. The benchmark regression results indicated that the tradable discharge permit policy significantly reduced SO2 emissions in regions with high degrees of marketization. Furthermore, the mechanism analysis showed that firms would take strategic behaviors to deal with the emission reduction requirements of environmental policies under an imperfect market environment. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis revealed that the discharge permit policy exhibited a distinct emission reduction effect due to market failure and strategic behaviors of firms. This study suggests that the Chinese government should establish systematic permit trading laws and regulations, actively build a permit trading platform, formulate a clear trading mechanism, and strengthen information disclosure.

Decomposition analysis of industrial pollutant emissions in cities of Jiangsu based on the LMDI method.

Cities are faced with various kinds of pollution issues in the process of economic development, among which industrial pollution has become the most terrifying environmental issue in recent years, so that industrial pollution control should be emphasized. Finding out the key factors influencing industrial pollutant emissions is the basis of taking corresponding measures. Previous studies only focused on one pollutant without a comparative analysis of the contribution of influencing factors to multiple pollutants. Therefore, this study aims to identify the key influencing factors of industrial pollutants in Nanjing, Suzhou, Xuzhou, and Taizhou in Jiangsu Province during the years 2008-2018 by using the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method. The results from decomposition indicate the following. (1) Emission intensity (EI) and energy efficiency (EE) are negative factors for decreasing industrial pollutant emissions, while the economic output (EO) and population (P) are positive factors for increasing industrial pollutant emissions. (2) Emission intensity has the most significant influence to industrial wastewater in decreasing emissions; energy efficiency makes the biggest contribution to industrial solid waste in decreasing emissions, economic output and population contribute the most to industrial solid waste in increasing emissions. (3) Nanjing has the highest contribution rate of emission intensity and population, and the contribution rate of energy efficiency and economic output to Taizhou is the highest. Identifying the key driving factors of different pollutants can serve as evidence and guidance for urban environmental governance, therefore reducing emissions ulteriorly, and achieving sustainable development.

Spatial Distribution Pattern and Influencing Factors of Industrial Pollution Emissions in Yangtze River Economic Belt

The development of Yangtze River economic belt emphasizes the strategy of "no large-scale development, joint efforts in large-scale protection". The restoration of the Yangtze River environment has become an important part of the development of the region. Therefore, it is important to explore the spatial distribution of industrial pollution emissions and its influencing factors in the Yangtze River economic belt. Using industrial SO2, wastewater, and soot emission data from 102 cities in the Yangtze River economic belt, from 2013 to 2017, this study analyzes the spatial distribution of industrial pollution emissions in the Yangtze River economic belt. This was achieved using spatial autocorrelation analysis and Getis-Ord Gi* methods, and by adopting the logarithmic mean Divisia index model to decompose the influencing factors of industrial pollution emissions in the Yangtze River economic belt. The results show that from 2013 to 2017, the emissions of industrial SO2, wastewater, and soot in the Yangtze River economic belt exhibited a downward trend, with a decrease in the number of high-emission cities and an increase in the number of low-emission cities. The spatial correlation of industrial pollutants increased with time, and technological improvements had the most significant inhibitory effect, making it the most important factor affecting industrial pollution emissions in the Yangtze River economic belt.

Does Public Interest Litigation Promote the Performance of Urban Environmental Governance? An Empirical Study Based on Micro-data of 287 Prefecture-level Cities

In the context of the“new normal”of China’s economy, serious environmental pollution is hindering the high-quality development of China’s economy. Environmental governance is inseparable from the protection of the rule of law, but in China’s traditional environmental governance, the administrative department and the judicial department perform their respective duties, which easily leads to environmental pollution governance as a mere formality. Promoting the effective linkage of environmental administration and environmental justice is the inherent requirement of improving the ecological environment and promoting the green and high-quality development of economy. Based on the data of 287 prefecture-level cities in China from 2010 to 2018, this paper uses the multi-period DID method to empirically test the pollution emission reduction effect of the public interest litigation system by procuratorate. First of all, we test the impact of the public interest litigation system by procuratorate on industrial emissions as a whole. The numbers of civil, administrative and criminal incidental civil cases are chosen as the dependent variables to test the implementation of the system. Secondly, we use the mediation effect model to explore the internal mechanism of the public interest litigation system by procuratorate to improve the performance of urban environmental governance. Thirdly, we test the heterogeneity of all prefecture-level cities. Finally, the parallel trend test and the placebo test are used to test the robustness of the results. The findings are as follows: Firstly, the public interest litigation system by procuratorate can effectively reduce the emissions of industrial pollutants and improve the performance of urban environmental governance. Secondly, its main mechanism is to promote the governance of urban environmental pollution through environmental supervision of procuratorial organs, judicial and administrative linkage, and enhancing the participation of citizens in environmental governance. Thirdly, the public interest litigation system by procuratorate has a better emission reduction effect in the central region. At the same time, the system has a good implementation effect in key environmental protection cities. Based on the above, this paper believes that we should strengthen the linkage between environmental administration and environmental justice from the construction of the ecological co-governance system of multiple administrative and judicial subjects, and the construction of the communication and cooperation mechanism between procuratorial organs, the public and environmental protection organizations.

Sources of and Control Measures for PTE Pollution in Soil at the Urban Fringe in Weinan, China

The environment of the urban fringe is complex and frangible. With the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the urban fringe has become the primary space for urban expansion, and the intense human activities create a high risk of potentially toxic element (PTE) pollution in the soil. In this study, 138 surface soil samples were collected from a region undergoing rapid urbanization and construction—Weinan, China. Concentrations of As, Pb, Cr, Cu, and Ni (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, ICP-MS) and Hg (Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry, AFS) were measured. The Kriging interpolation method was used to create a visualization of the spatial distribution characteristics and to analyze the pollution sources of PTEs in the soil. The pollution status of PTEs in the soil was evaluated using the national environmental quality standards for soils in different types of land use. The results show that the content range of As fluctuated a small amount and the coefficient of variation is small and mainly comes from natural soil formation. The content of Cr, Cu, and Ni around the automobile repair factory, the prefabrication factory, and the building material factory increased due to the deposition of wear particles in the soil. A total of 13.99% of the land in the study area had Hg pollution, which was mainly distributed on category 1 development land and farmland. Chemical plants were the main pollution sources. The study area should strictly control the industrial pollution emissions, regulate the agricultural production, adjust the land use planning, and reduce the impact of pollution on human beings. Furthermore, we make targeted remediation suggestions for each specific land use type. These results are of theoretical significance, will be of practical value for the control of PTEs in soil, and will provide ecological environmental protection in the urban fringe throughout the urbanization process.

The effects of emission trading scheme on industrial output and air pollution emissions under city heterogeneity in China

Ecological degradation has become one of the constraints on the development of human society. To deal with pollutant emissions, governments around the world have implemented emission trading schemes (ETS). However, although the effectiveness of ETS policies has been widely acknowledged, it is unclear whether the policy effects depend on regional characteristics. To address this research gap, this study integrated the propensity score matching method and multi-period difference-in-difference model (PSM-DID) to examine the impacts of ETS on industrial output and pollution emissions, and the influence of city heterogeneity on policy effects. The results showed that the ETS positively affected industrial output and negatively affected pollutant emissions in the pilot cities. Furthermore, implementation of the ETS was more conducive to increasing industrial output while reducing emissions in cities with larger populations, higher financial development levels, and worse air quality. Nevertheless, in lower industrialized cities, the ETS implementation was more prominent in promoting industrial output. In this case, the environmental effect was lower than that in cities with higher industrialized. The findings provide a better understanding of city heterogeneity of ETS policy effects.

Monitoring dan Kontrol Gas CO Dalam Ruangan Berbasis Pemrograman LabVIEW dan Mikrokontroler

Carbon dioxide is gas produced by industrial pollution and motor vehicle exhaust emissions. The air is declared clean and healthy for human activities if the CO level does not exceed 15 ppm. Industrial pollution or motor vehicle pollution does not only pollute the outdoor air, but it is very likely to pollute the indoor air. For this reason, a system that is able to monitor and control CO levels in the room has been designed so that it is safe for users while doing this activities. The research stage is carried out by making a series of sensors to detect CO gas and then the sensor circuit is connected to the Arduino UNO microcontroller as an interface with a PC. The program used is LabVIEW programming as a neural programming for displaying Virtual Instruments as display media. The output system is an air purifier system that cleans the indoor air when the CO level is more than 15 ppm. Based on the results of trials and analyzes, the response of the sensor system is able to detect changes in CO gas within 7 seconds. The average monitoring of CO levels result when observed 30 times was 11.47 ppm. The air purifier response time is able to restore indoor CO levels to the maximum threshold of 15 ppm in the fastest time of 3 minutes and 22 seconds.

The Environmental Effects of International Trade in China: Measuring the Mediating Effects of Technology Spillovers of Import Trade on Industrial Air Pollution

China is in a strategic phase of an industrial green transformation. Industrial air pollution is a key environmental target for governance. Because import trade is a core channel through which advanced environmental protection technology is absorbed, the question of whether technology spillovers brought about by import trade can reduce industrial air pollution emissions is a topic worth exploring. This paper uses a generalized spatial two-stage least-square (GS2SLS) model to explore the impact of import trade technology spillovers on industrial air pollution emission intensities using panel data from 30 provinces and cities between 2000 and 2017. Economic scale, industrial structure, and technological innovation are used as intermediary variables to test whether they play mediating effects. The results show that: (1) capital and intermediate goods technology spillovers directly reduce industrial air pollution emission intensity and (2) import trade technology spillovers indirectly reduce emission intensities by expanding economic scale, optimizing industrial structure, and enhancing technological innovation through mediating variables. Furthermore, industrial structure optimization and technological innovation have the largest mediating effects on industrial SO2, while economic expansion has the most significant mediating effect on industrial smoke and dust. The mediating effects of technology spillovers from intermediate goods exceed those of capital technology spillovers. Finally, industrial air pollution emission intensity demonstrates both spatial agglomeration and time lag effects. Environmental regulations and energy structure are shown to increase industrial air pollution emissions, while urbanization and foreign direct investment reduce industrial air pollution. Based upon these research results, some pertinent policy implications are proposed for China.

Collaborative Governance Mechanism of Climate Change and Air Pollution: Evidence from China

Since entering the industrialized era, China’s greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutant emissions have increased rapidly. China is the country with the most greenhouse gas emissions, and it is also facing serious local air pollution problems. China’s industrial sector is the largest contributor to CO2 and air pollutants. The resulting climate change and air pollution issues have caused China to face double pressures. This article uses the CO2 and comprehensive air pollutant emission data of China’s industrial sector as a starting point and uses econometric research methods to explore the synergy between China’s industrial carbon emission reduction and industrial comprehensive air pollutant emission reduction. The synergistic effect between industrial carbon emissions and industrial comprehensive air pollutant emissions has been quantified, and the transmission path of the synergistic effect has been explored. The empirical results show that there are benefits of synergistic governance between climate change and air pollution in China’s industrial sector. Every 1000 tons of carbon reduction in the industrial sector will result in 1 ton of comprehensive air pollutant reduction. The increase in R&D expenditure in the energy and power sector can significantly promote the reduction of air pollutants in the industrial sector. Increasing the intensity of environmental regulations is the main expansion path for synergy. However, in eastern, central, and western China, the synergy is not the same. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate regionally differentiated emission reduction policies. The research conclusions of this article can provide policy references for the coordinated governance of climate change and air pollution in China.

Does the Green Industry Policy Reduce Industrial Pollution Emissions?—Evidence from China’s National Eco-Industrial Park

As a regional green industrial policy, the construction of national eco-industrial parks is of great significance to the realization of industrial green transformation, while its environmental effects and mechanisms have not yet been clarified. Using panel data from 308 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2017, this study takes the establishment of 3 national-level ecological industrial parks as a quasi-natural experiment, also using a time-varying difference in difference model to examine how green industrial policies affect industrial pollution emissions. The study found that the establishment of a national eco-industrial park has significantly reduced industrial sulfur dioxide emissions, and the emission reduction effect has a lag effect and long-term impact. In cities with strong environmental regulations, provincial capitals and municipalities, and cities with a high degree of marketization, eco-industrial parks have better emission reduction effects, while, in cities with greater economic growth incentives and fiscal pressures, eco-industrial parks are difficult to achieve emission reduction effects. The establishment of national eco-industrial parks can reduce industrial pollution emissions by improving pollution treatment efficiency and energy efficiency, as well as promoting industrial agglomeration. China should continue to promote the implementation of green industrial policies, to strengthen the construction of national-level eco-industrial parks at this stage.

How public and government matter in industrial pollution mitigation performance: Evidence from China

Every country must face the problem of controlling industrial pollution during industrialization. Although low-carbon development has become important to global economic development, industrial pollution remains a problem in rapidly industrializing developing countries. With China as a case study, this paper utilizes the Malmquist index based on game cross-efficiency to measure the industrial pollution mitigation performance (IPMP) in each province of China. Labor and money variables related to industrial pollution mitigation are taken as the input indexes, and the reduction rate of various industrial pollution emissions are taken as the output indexes. From the perspectives of the public and the government, this paper further explores the influencing factors on the IPMP. Considering that there may be a nonlinear relationship between the influencing factors and the IPMP, nonparametric kernel regression is employed to explore the effect by the influencing factors, and the nonparametric bivariate density estimation is used to verify the regression results. The main conclusions of this study are as follows: (1) Due to the concentration of heavy industry, the IPMP is low in northern China. In contrast, the IPMP in central and western China is relatively high. (2) Public supervision has a positive impact on the IPMP. However, the results of heterogeneity analysis show that this effect is different in eastern, central and western China. As a result, under a high degree of public supervision, the regional IPMP will be significantly improved. (3) Public concentration has a positive “U”-shaped impact on the IPMP. The heterogeneity analysis shows that eastern China also has this “U”-shaped characteristic, while the public concentration of central and western China has a positive impact on the IPMP; that is, similar to the public supervision, under a high degree of public concentration, the regional IPMP will be significantly improved. (4) In areas where the enforcement of environmental law is strict, government supervision has a positive impact on the IPMP. By contrast, in areas where environmental law enforcement is not strict, government supervision does not have a positive impact on the IPMP. (5) Due to the failures of policy design and implementation, government concentration has a negative impact on the IPMP. China is the largest developing country in the world. It is of great significance to study its IPMP and the roles of public and government, as it provides other developing countries with insights regarding the experience of industrial pollution control.

Analysis of China's Industrial Green Development Efficiency and Driving Factors: Research Based on MGWR.

With increasingly severe constraints on resources and the environment, it is the mainstream trend of economic development to reduce industrial pollution emissions and promote green industrial development. In this paper, a super-efficiency slacks-based measure (SBM) model is adopted to measure the industrial green development efficiency (IGDE) of 289 cities in China from 2008 to 2018. Moreover, we analyze their spatiotemporal differentiation pattern. On this basis, the multiscale geographical weighted regression (MGWR) model is used to analyze the scale differences and spatial differences of the driving factors. The results show that the IGDE is still at a low level in China. From 2008 to 2018, the overall polarization of IGDE was relatively serious. The number of high- and low-efficiency cities increased, while that of medium-efficiency cities greatly decreased. Secondly, the IGDE presented an obvious spatial positive correlation. MGWR regression results show that the technological innovation, government regulation, and consumption level belonged to the global scale, and there was almost no spatial heterogeneity. Other driving factors were urbanization, industrial structure, economic development, and population density according to their spatial scale. Lastly, the influence of economic development and technological innovation had a certain circular structure in space; the influence of population size mainly occurred in the cities of the southeast coast and northeast provinces; the influence of urbanization was more obvious in the most northern provinces of the Yangtze River, while that of industrial structure was mainly concentrated in the most southern cities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). Spatially, the influence of consumption was manifested as a distribution trend of decreasing from north to south, and the government regulation was manifested as increasing from west to east and then to northeast.

Spatial and temporal variation characteristics of atmospheric NO2 and SO2 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region before and after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Emergency response mechanisms were activated throughout China during the COVID-19 outbreak. It is different from the temporary, partial, and limited pollution control measures taken to ensure the regional environmental quality during several important events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). During the COVID-19 epidemic period, extensive movement of people and almost all unnecessary industrial production (necessary industrial production refers to the production of food, epidemic prevention materials, etc.) have been severely restricted, so transportation and industrial production have been greatly reduced. This is a rare extreme emission reduction scenario that presents a unique opportunity for atmospheric research. In this study, based on hourly mass concentration data of NO2 and SO2 from atmospheric monitoring sites in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region during the COVID-19 epidemic period, the changes in transportation and industrial production in the region, data statistics, and spatial analysis were used to analyze the pollution changes and their causes. The results indicate that the NO2 and SO2 concentrations in the BTH region decreased significantly during the epidemic period. The spatial distribution pattern of NO2 pollution in the BTH region was “high in the southeast and low in the northwest,” and SO2 pollution in the BTH region was high in the southern and eastern parts of Hebei. The initiation of emergency response level 1 had an obvious effect on reducing NO2 and SO2 pollution in the region, while the impact of emergency response level 2 and below was limited. Compared with the single traffic control, the comprehensive control, similar to the emergency response, had a better effect on reducing NO2 pollution in the region. The control of major large cities in the region also had a certain effect on alleviating NO2 and SO2 pollution in the entire region. Moreover, for activities under short-term control, it is particularly important to guard against the “retaliatory growth” after the control is lifted. By reducing and controlling some polluting industries in industrial production, the degree of NO2 and SO2 pollution in the region can be effectively reduced. The manufacturing industry of chemical raw materials and the chemical products and non-metallic mineral products industry made a great contribution to the change in industrial source pollution emissions in the BTH region during the COVID-19 epidemic. Road traffic emissions remained an important source of NO2 emissions in the BTH region during this period. NO2 emission reduction can be effectively achieved by controlling road traffic and transportation.

The Role of Land Use Transition on Industrial Pollution Reduction in the Context of Innovation-Driven: The Case of 30 Provinces in China

With the world calling for environmental protection, China has to follow an innovation-driven development path in order to achieve its own high-quality and sustainable development. During this period, the problem of inefficient land use resulting from rapid progress in urbanisation is difficult to ignore. This study uses data from 30 provinces in mainland China to analyse the environmental protection effects of land use transition towards innovation-driven development, using spatial econometric models and entropy method. The results show that the innovation-oriented land use transition in four dimensions, human capital, material capital, urban function and government, is conducive to reducing industrial pollution emissions in the region, but this effect does not have a spillover effect. The results of this study provide some insights into the “triple-win” (environmental protection, innovation and land-use optimisation) approach to economic development in China.

Research on Advanced Available Techniques of Air pollution Prevention and Control in Building Ceramics Industry in China

The flue gas emission of the building ceramics industry accounts for 85% of the whole ceramic industry in China, and it is the critical sector of air pollution control in the ceramic industry. The advanced available techniques (AAT) of air pollution prevention and control are of considerable significance to promote the upgrade of pollution prevention measures and technological progress. The paper studied and established the method of screening and evaluating the AAT for the prevention and control of air pollution in the building ceramics industry. Through collection and analysis of three normal pollutant emission concentrations of ten available techniques (AT), to select the AAT that meet at least one pollutant of all the plants was lower than 50% of the national standard emission concentration threshold in China. Based on the experience of the European Union and the comprehensive evaluation of industry associations, research institutions, and pollution control experts, five AAT were selected. The findings will provide an essential reference for the building ceramics industry to select advanced techniques, and provide significant technical support for the revision of the ceramic industrial pollutant emission standard for and selection of pollution prevention and control techniques (PPT and PCT) for pollutant discharge permission management.