Investment In Environmental Pollution Control Research Articles

How can the natural background and ecological & environment promote the green and sustainable development of Chinese tourist attractions?

In the context of the global carbon peak and carbon neutrality initiatives and post-pandemic, studying the green and sustainable development of tourist attractions is of great significance for the sustainable utilization of tourism resources. This study focuses on tourist attractions in 30 provinces in China from 2001 to 2019, establishes an input–output indicator system for economic efficiency and eco-efficiency, and uses the Super-SBM model in Data Envelopment Analysis to calculate the economic efficiency and eco-efficiency of tourist attractions in China. To analyze the natural background and environmental driving factors that affect eco-efficiency, as well as the interaction between these factors, using a geographic detector model, and propose a green and sustainable development path for tourist attractions. The research results indicate that the eco-efficiency of Chinese tourist attractions was higher than the economic efficiency, and both showed a downward trend. The proportion of altitude and nature reserve area to the area under the jurisdiction, as well as the total investment in environmental pollution control, have a significant impact on eco-efficiency; The interaction between temperature, precipitation, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and the proportion of nature reserves in the jurisdiction and the total investment in environmental pollution control, is significantly enhanced, indirectly affecting the eco-efficiency of Chinese tourist attractions. Among the natural factors, temperature, precipitation, and NDVI all could interact with altitude to significantly the impacts on the eco-efficiency of Chinese tourist attractions. The research aims to provide a Chinese solution for developing tourist attractions in developing countries similar to China.

Evaluation of water resources carrying capacity in China based on entropy weight TOPSIS model

Water resources carrying capacity refers to the ability of the water resources ecosystem to continuously carry the coordination relationship between human society and economy in the normal development process of a country or a region. Its self-sustaining ability, self-regulation and self-development potential often hinder sustainable development in water shortage areas. Research on water resources’ carrying capacity is a meaningful way to support regional water resources security and realize harmonious development of society, economy, and ecological environment. Correct assessment of water carrying capacity and response to government policies will contribute to improved water use and sustainable economic and social development. This study first sorts out the relevant questionnaires of water resources carrying capacity level evaluation, proposes the evaluation indicators of water resources carrying capacity level, collects and standardizes the required data, and calculates the weight of each evaluation index by entropy weight method. Then, it calculates the comprehensive evaluation value of China’s water resources carrying capacity from 2012 to 2022 in the TOPSIS model. The results show that the total afforestation area, total investment in environmental pollution control, and total industrial wastewater discharge are the third most important factors in improving the carrying capacity of water resources. From 2003 to 2010, China’s water resources carrying capacity improved year by year. From 2011 to 2021, China’s water resources carrying capacity remained stable year by year. The continuous adjustment of China’s industrial structure and strengthening environmental pollution control are inevitable measures to improve the carrying capacity of China’s water resources. This study provides a scientific basis for exploring the changing trend of China’s water resources carrying capacity and formulating reasonable optimal allocation of water resources. It also has great significance for promoting China’s water resources’ carrying capacity and sustainable development of the social economy and ecological environment.

Analysis of Change and Driving Factors of River Environmental Quality in China from 2002 to 2020

According to the river environmental quality, pollutant emission, and investment in environmental pollution control from 2002-2020, the change law and driving factors of river environmental quality in China were evaluated using canonical correlation analysis and the Spearman correlation coefficient to analyze the influence between environmental and pollutant emission/investment in environmental pollution control. The results indicated that the river environmental quality was improved significantly based on the proportion of Class Ⅰ-Ⅲ increasing from 29.1% to 87.4% and the proportion of inferior Class Ⅴ decreasing from 40.9% to 0.2% from 2002-2020. The emission of wastewater and domestic wastewater increased from 4.395×1010 tons and 2.323×1010 tons to 8.491×1010 tons and 6.598×1010 tons, respectively. However, emissions of industrial wastewater decreased from 2.072×1010 tons to 1.680×1010 tons. Investment in environmental pollution control increased from 110.66 billion yuan to 1063.89 billion yuan. The proportion of Class Ⅰ-Ⅲ in seven major river basins, river basins in Zhejiang and Fujian, southwest river basins, and northwest river basins showed a negative correlation for industrial pollutant emissions and a positive correlation for investment in environmental pollution control. The primary measure for the seven major river basins, river basins in Zhejiang and Fujian, and northwest river basins cut down the industrial pollutant emissions, in the order of COD>NH4+-N>total wastewater. The primary measure for southwest river basins increased the investment in environmental pollution control, in the order of industrial investment in environmental pollution control>urban environmental infrastructure construction investment and environmental protection investment in construction projects. These results can provide theoretical and policy suggestions for the improvement of river environmental quality during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.

Study on the impact of green finance on low carbon development of manufacturing industry from the perspective of multidimensional space: evidence from China.

In order to test the impact of green finance on the low-carbon development level of China's manufacturing industry, this paper takes green finance as an explanatory variable, and chooses the level of fixed asset investment in the manufacturing industry, the intensity of environmental regulations, the proportion of environmental pollution control investment, and the proportion of R&D investment as four control variables. Empirical tests are carried out on the four dependent variables, including manufacturing industry's low-carbon development level, added value growth rate, industrial structure upgrading level, and environmental protection status. The test results show that green finance is positively correlated with the low-carbon development of the manufacturing industry and the growth rate of added value, and inversely correlated with industrial structure upgrading and environmental protection; green finance supports dependent variables in the following order: low-carbon development > environmental protection > economic growth > industrial structure. It can be seen that the main role of green finance is to promote low-carbon development and environmental protection, but it is not the best tool to promote the growth rate of manufacturing industry and upgrade the level of industrial structure. In addition, due to the spillover effect of green finance in the process of promoting the development of the manufacturing industry, it is necessary to increase green financial investment in a long-term and sustained manner to gradually promote the low-carbon and sustainable development of China's manufacturing industry.

Research on the Impact of Environmental Regulation on Total Factor Energy Effect of Logistics Industry from the Perspective of Green Development

This study uses the super efficiency DEA model to evaluate the logistics industry’s total factor energy efficiency in various Chinese provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, and examines the relationship between environmental regulations and the total factor energy efficiency. The results show that environmental regulations can help improve the logistics industry’s total factor energy efficiency. This study further analyzes the threshold effect of environmental pollution control investment level, quality of labor, and logistics industry development level in environmental regulations on the logistics industry’s total factor energy efficiency. The results showed that the level of investment in environmental pollution control in environmental regulations has a significant single threshold effect on logistics industry’s total factor energy efficiency. The quality of labor has a significant double threshold effect on environmental regulation’s impact on the logistics industry’s total factor energy efficiency. Logistics industry development level has a significant double threshold effect on the impact of environmental regulation on logistics industry’s total factor energy efficiency.

How to Evaluate Investment Efficiency of Environmental Pollution Control: Evidence from China.

Clarifying the efficiency of investment in environmental pollution control is conducive to better control of environmental pollution. Based on panel data of 30 provinces and cities in China from 2008 to 2017, this study combines the three-stage super-efficient SBM-DEA model and the Global-Malmquist-Luenberger index to measure the efficiency of investment in environmental pollution control in China and analyze regional differences. The results show that: First, the investment efficiency of environmental pollution control in China shows a rising trend year by year, but there are significant differences among provinces and regions; the presence of random factors and environmental variables makes the control efficiency underestimated. Second, excluding the effects of both, the national investment efficiency of environmental pollution control has improved significantly, but still has not reached the optimal effect; the gap between provinces and regions has narrowed while the investment efficiency of environmental pollution control has improved, and there is still an unbalanced situation. Third, the main driver of the year-on-year improvement in China’s environmental pollution control efficiency is technological progress; compared with northeastern China, technological progress has a more significant role in promoting eastern, central, and western China. Finally, based on the results, this paper focuses on making suggestions to promote environmental pollution control in China in terms of making regional cooperation, making good environmental protection investment and strengthening environmental protection technology research and development.

Evaluation of resource and environmental carrying capacity in rare earth mining areas in China

Rare earth elements are a nonrenewable and important strategic resource, and China is rich in these elements. However, the substantial exploitation of these resources has caused the migration, diffusion, transformation and accumulation of pollution sources, which in turn has a profound impact on the ecological environment of mining areas. Accurate evaluations of resource and environmental carrying capacity (RECC) are important for the green development of mining areas. In this paper, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method based on the combination of the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and entropy methods is used to study the RECC of mine areas in terms of both support capacity and pressure. The Bayan Obo mine in Inner Mongolia, the Longnan mine in Jiangxi, the Weishan mine in Shandong, the Mianning mine in Sichuan, the Pingyuan mine in Guangdong, and the Chongzuo mine in Guangxi, which are typical representative mines, were selected for a horizontal comparison. The results show that, with the exception of the Bayan Obo mine, the support index was greater than the pressure index in terms of mining and human activities in all mining areas. The RECC index ranked order for the mining areas was Bayan Obo > Longnan > Mianning > Pingyuan > Weishan > Chongzuo. In addition, an obstacle degree model was used to identify and extract the main factors affecting the ecological quality of the mine sites. The ratio of investment in environmental pollution control to GDP was the most important factor, of all factors, which limited the improvement in the mine support index. Through the above research, we identified the main factors affecting the ecological carrying capacity of each mining area, providing a scientific basis for formulating corresponding environmental regulations and reducing the environmental pollution caused by rare earth mining.

How do heterogeneous R&D investments affect China's green productivity: Revisiting the Porter hypothesis

Currently, China's environmental pollution control investment and R&D investment have increased at a remarkable speed, exceeding the GDP growth rate. Against this background, determining the impact of different orientations of R&D investment on green total-factor productivity (GTFP) is essential for overcoming the dual dilemma of resource depletion and environmental degradation. By applying the perpetual inventory method (PIM), meta-frontier DEA method and mediation effect test methods, this paper empirically tests the effects and mechanisms of environmentally induced R&D (ER&D) and traditional R&D (TR&D) on promoting GTFP during 2004–2019 in China at the provincial level. The results show that (1) ER&D investment has significantly promoted the growth of GTFP, while TR&D's promoting effects on GTFP are not significant; (2) ER&D promotes the growth of GTFP through the three channels of emission reduction, clean energy consumption, and green technology progress; and (3) from the perspective of regional heterogeneity, ER&D's promoting effects on GTFP in the eastern provinces are higher than the central and western provinces, and the promoting effects in the northern provinces are higher than in the southern provinces. From the perspective of pollution degree heterogeneity, ER&D's promotion of GTFP shows an inverted U-shaped characteristic as the pollution level increases. This means that, in the process of China's environmental governance, it is necessary to increase ER&D investment and guide green innovation to serve pollution control to achieve sustainable and high-quality economic development.

Temporal-Spatial Evolution and Influencing Factors of Coordinated Development of the Population, Resources, Economy and Environment (PREE) System: Evidence from 31 Provinces in China.

Facing the increasingly severe friction among the domains of population, resources, economy and environment (PREE) in a system, theoretical guidance for the sustainable development of a PREE system can be obtained by exploring the coordinated development of a PREE system during its temporal–spatial evolution process. Based on the PREE data of 31 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019, this study uses a spatial measurement method to analyze the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of the PREE systems of China’s provinces. The results show that the overall coordination level of China’s provincial PREE systems fluctuated but improved from moderate imbalance to moderate coordination. However, the differences in the regional coordination level first decreased and then increased. The distribution characteristics of the system coordination level changed from “high in the east and low in the west” to “high in the west and low in the east”, resulting in the “inversion” phenomenon of the system coordination level. The spatial correlation of the coordination level of the PREE system among provinces and cities gradually increased. The coordination level of the PREE system in the eastern, central and western regions was noticeably different, accompanied by different degrees of polarization and showing different dynamic evolution trends. In the analysis of influencing factors, it was found that seven factors, such as per capita GDP, the proportion of environmental pollution control investment to GDP and per capita energy production, promoted the coordinated development of China’s PREE system to varying degrees. The coordinated and stable development of China’s PREE system should be adjusted and optimized from the perspectives of different regions, scales and systems.

The Impact of Environmental Governance on the Development of Fishery Economy—The Intermediary Role of Technological Innovation

In the context of the “new normal” of China’s economic development, it is urgent to solve the contradiction between fishery development and environmental protection. To promote the construction of a modern fishery power, we must return to ecological priority. Based on this, the research used relevant data samples from various provinces during 2004–2017. The level of fishery economic development is measured using fishery added value and total fishery output value; the industrial pollution control investment and environmental pollution control investment represent the intensity of environmental control; the relationship between environmental governance and fishery economic development is explored, and the intermediary role of technological innovation is further analyzed. Empirical results show that environmental governance has a significant positive impact on fishery economic development, and this influence shows both spatial and temporal heterogeneity, regionally showing the distribution characteristic of “in the eastern region > in the central region > in the western region”, and the time series show the “strengthened influence − weakened influence” i.e., “inverted U” variations. In addition, technological innovation plays a certain intermediary role in the impact of environmental governance on fishery economic development. The research provides a theoretical basis for breaking through the bottleneck of fishery development and realizing high-quality and sustainable development.

Evaluation analysis on industrial green total factor productivity and energy transition policy in resource-based region

Based on the input-output panel data of industrial sectors of Shanxi Province, which is the only province-wide resource-based region in China, this paper uses the non-parametric DEA model and the Malmquist productivity index to construct the DEA-Malmquist model for evaluation analysis of the green total factor productivity (GTFP) and its decomposition value of the sub-sector, and then through fixed effect panel regression model studies the ways of energy transition of the SDG’s. The results show that the technological progress index has the greatest contribution to the growth of GTFP, while the scale efficiency index has the lowest contribution. And the amount of investment in environmental pollution control has a significant positive relationship with the GTFP of the three major polluting industries in Shanxi. Among them, investment in environmental pollution control has the greatest positive effect on the GTFP of light polluting industries characterized by high technology, high added value and low emissions; investment in environmental pollution control has the largest positive effect on the GTFP of heavy polluting industries with heavy chemical industry and pollution-intensive industries; investment in environmental pollution control has the weakest positive effect on the GTFP of the medium polluting industries that manufacture life service products and some heavy industrial products. Based on these results, the paper puts forward effective policy for the energy transition of resource-based regions.

Development Quality Evaluation of Henan Province and Zhengzhou City based on the Coupling and Coordination Relations

This paper constructs a quality evaluation indicator system of four systems: economy, society, culture and ecological civilization to measure their coupling relationship and coordination degree indicator, taking Henan province and Zhengzhou city as the research objects, and taking the panel data of 42 specific evaluation indicators from 2000 to 2019 as the evaluation sample. The results show that the biggest contributors to the development quality of economy, culture and ecological civilization of Henan province and Zhengzhou city are the total business volume of posts and telecommunications, the application number of patents, the proportion of investment in environmental pollution control in GDP respectively. During the period of 2000 to 2019, the comprehensive evaluation values of economy, society and culture development quality of Henan province and Zhengzhou city improved constantly, and the change trend were highly consistent, while the changes of that of ecological civilization development quality were far from each other. The coordination degree indicators of the four systems in Henan province and Zhengzhou city were very low, and they are in a state of low disorder at present.

Effects of China’s market-oriented economic reform, FDI inflows on electricity intensity

China’s reform and open-up policy has been implemented since 1978 that have reshaped China from many aspects. On the road to economic transformation from planned economy to market-oriented economy, foreign direct investment (FDI) has been regarded as a kind of ‘power engine’ in China’s economic growth. Based on the provincial panel data from 2000 to 2017, this paper contributes to conduct the impact of China’s market-oriented economic reform, foreign direct investment (FDI) on electricity intensity. The progress of China’s market-oriented economic reform was measured by NERI index (degree of marketization) developed by National Economic Research Institute Reform Foundation. We then construct a new set of indicators of FDI to measure its quantity and characteristics, which are the degree of FDI participation in host country, technological level of FDI, import-oriented foreign-invested enterprises and share of FDI invested in manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, in order to examine the degree of marketization on electricity intensity, the whole sample was divided into coastal and inland groups based on their development stage. The findings concluded that marketization is an important determinant in decreasing China’s electricity intensity. FDI can be a source of innovation that promotes energy efficiency in manufacturing sector. The high degree of FDI participation in host country will hinder the improvement of energy efficiency. While in general, it has the potential to advance energy efficiency with the progress of China’s marketization. The high-quality of FDI symbolized by technological level is an important contributor in improving energy efficiency, and its effect in China’s inland area is significantly greater than that in the coastal area. Trade liberalization shows a reverse impact on electricity intensity in coastal area and inland area. The investment in environmental pollution control has no significant impact in decreasing electricity intensity. As expected, the expansion of secondary industry will increase energy consumption per unit of GDP.

Research on the influence of environmental pollution control on regional economic growth and labor market

The rapid economic development has made environmental problems increasingly serious. In order to ensure the quality of residents’ life, environmental governance investment has been continuously strengthened in China. This paper studies the influence of investment in environmental pollution control on regional economy and labor market in 31 provinces and cities (except Xinjiang Corps) from 2000 to 2018. It is concluded that the impact of environmental pollution control investment on regional economic growth and the local employed personnel average wage is significantly negative, and the impact of environmental pollution control investment on local unemployment rate is significantly positive. In view of this conclusion, some suggestions are put forward from the perspective of the government.

Convergence of Efficiency of Environmental Pollution Control Investment in the Coastal Areas of China

Zhu, X. and Li, B., 2020. Convergence of efficiency of environmental pollution control investment in the coastal areas of China. In: Hu, C. and Cai, M. (eds.), Geo-informatics and Oceanography. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 105, pp. 171–175. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Based on the Slack Based Measure model of unexpected output, this paper estimates the efficiency of environmental pollution control investment in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and eight economic regions including coastal areas of China for the time period 2003–15. According to the difference of efficiency in different economic regions, convergence theory is used to study the convergence of efficiency difference. The efficiency of environmental pollution control investment in the northern coast, the eastern coast, the middle reaches of the Yellow River, and the nationwide show obvious σ convergence trend. The internal differences in the southern coast shows an m-type σ convergence trend; NE China shows a tail divergence trend; and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, NE China, and NW China show a periodic σ convergence trend. Absolute β convergence and conditional β convergence of the efficiency in the nationwide and eight economic regions including coastal areas occurs.

Evaluation and diagnosis of obstacles to land-based ecological security in resource-based cities: A case study of Xingtai city.

To provide a theoretical basis for sustainable land resource utilization and a reference for areas with similar natural conditions, an evaluation index for land-based ecological security was constructed based on the Driving force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model and the improved analytic hierarchy process (IAHP) and entropy methods, and the land-based ecological security status of Xingtai city from 2006 to 2017 was evaluated. Then, the obstacles to land-based ecological security were diagnosed. The results show that the values of the comprehensive evaluation index of land-based ecological security were 0.28–0.66 in the period from 2006 to 2017. The value of the index of land-based ecological security was low in the first seven years and gradually improved in the last five years of the study period. However, the overall situation was grave, and the ecological security conditions were poor. The main obstacles to land-based ecological security were the usage of pesticides, investment in environmental pollution treatments, the degree of machine cultivation, the rate of cultivation and the usage of fertilizer in Xingtai city. Based on the results of the land-based ecological security evaluation and the main obstacles identified in Xingtai city, this paper proposes management strategies and suggestions for improving land-based ecological security in Xingtai city. The specific proposals are as follows: vigorously develop green agriculture, increase investment in environmental pollution control, increase input in science and technology, and strengthen supervision and management of land use.

Research on the Calculation and Influencing Factors of the Green Development of Regional Industry in China

From the perspective of input, this paper focuses on the link of resource conservation in the development of industry, and regards the reduction of the amount of resources consumed under the same technical conditions as the development of green industry. The expected energy consumption, power consumption and water consumption calculated on the basis of the technical level in the base period are compared with the actual consumption, and the difference between the obtained resource consumption and the actual consumption is used to represent whether the industrial development is green, and the monetization treatment is carried out to quantitatively measure the proportion of the green part in the industrial added value, so as to measure the output of 30 provinces (municipalities, autonomous regions) in 2004-2017 Green development effect and level of the industry. Then, according to the measured industrial green value, the panel data regression model is used to analyze the influencing factors. The empirical research results show that the economic development level, the proportion of the tertiary industry, the high-tech level and the total investment in environmental pollution control have a significant role in promoting the development of industrial green. It shows that there are some differences in the level of green development of industries in all provinces (cities and autonomous regions), so we can improve the overall level of green development of regional industries by adjusting measures to local conditions and classifying measures.

Total factor productivity of cultivated land use in China under environmental constraints: temporal and spatial variations and their influencing factors.

The continuous decline in the resource and environment-carrying capacity of cultivated land resources has seriously threatened the sustainable supply of cultivated land resources in China. Using the Hicks-Moorsteen total factor productivity index method, we examine the total factor productivity of cultivated land use (CL-TFP) in China from 2003 to 2017 under environmental constraints. We further use a panel Tobit model to estimate the effect of its influencing factors. The results show that the CL-TFP presents a fluctuating upward trend and reaches data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficiency during the sample period. The regional results reveal a significant spatial difference, especially in the mid-west region, which fails to reach DEA efficiency. China's main cultivated land did not realize economies of scale. The phenomenon of spatial polarization in what we refer to as very low-value areas and very high-value areas is clear, and the changes are gradual. Regarding the determinative influencing factors, results from the panel Tobit model show that cultivated land usage tax and environmental pollution control investment have no significant effect on CL-TFP, while income level and agricultural intermediate consumption do have a positive effect on CL-TFP. The empirical evidence can help policymakers craft and frame effective policies that improve the utilization efficiency of China's cultivated land resources.

Study on the dynamic relationship between environmental pollution control and tourism economic growth -- a case study of China

Environmental pollution control is closely related to the growth of tourism economy. Based on relevant data of China from 2000 to 2017, a vector error correction model was established to test the dynamic relationship between investment in environmental pollution control and tourism economic growth in China. The results show that there is a co-integration relationship between investment in environmental pollution control and tourism economic growth. Through impulse response and variance decomposition analysis, it is found that the fluctuation of tourism economic growth is mainly affected by investment in environmental pollution control. According to the result of causality test, investment in environmental pollution control is the gran cause of tourism economic growth. Therefore, in order to play a role of environmental pollution control investment in promoting the growth of tourism economy, on the one hand, we should attach importance to the improvement of laws and regulations related to tourism environmental protection, on the other hand, we should improve the investment mechanism of environmental protection, and finally, we should strengthen the supervision system of environmental protection and the construction of environmental protection agencies.

Multi-perspective influence mechanism analysis and multi-scenario prediction of China's carbon emissions

Due to the mandatory push to meet the carbon emission reduction commitments proposed in the Paris Agreement, an analysis of the peak carbon emission production times in China is required. This paper focuses on the peak production times of the total carbon emissions (TCEs) and carbon emissions intensity (CEI) in China. According to the development of China's carbon emissions and related targets in the 13th Five-Year Plan, the peak production times of TCE and CEI in different scenarios are predicted based on an influence mechanism analysis of China's carbon emissions from the perspectives of energy, economy, and society. Considering the development characteristics of China at this stage, this paper introduces several new indicators including the full-time equivalent of research and development (R&D) personnel and the investment in environmental pollution control. Based on the results of the study, several policy recommendations are put forward to fulfil China's carbon emission reduction commitments.