Investment In Pollution Control Research Articles

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.

The drivers of China’s national and regional energy consumption structure under environmental regulation

Optimizing energy consumption structure (ECS) is the key to reduce pollution emissions and develop a green economy. Understanding the effect of each influencing factor on ECS is conducive to providing theoretical reference for the formulation of energy and environmental policies, howbeit it lacks studies about the main drivers of national and regional ECS in China. With the consideration of increasingly standardized formal environmental regulation (FER), an extended LMDI model is constructed to decompose the national and regional ECS from 1998 to 2017 into ten influencing factors. The ultimate goals of this concept are to explore the dominant factors of national and regional ECS at different time stages by employing temporal decomposition model, and to investigate the primary drivers that cause the disparity between provincial ECS and national average ECS by applying spatial decomposition model. The results reveal that the effect of FER, the reciprocal of industrial pollution control investment per unit GDP and economic development are the main factors leading to the change of national and regional ECS, specifically FER has a stronger effect on resource-based regions. Also, R&D intensity and R&D efficiency are important factors for ECS change. Energy efficiency and Per capita energy production are the leading factors of ECS disparity between 30 provinces and the national average. What’s more, FER and R&D factors play important roles. Policy suggestions are put forward according to the results.

Can environmental investments benefit environmental performance? The moderating roles of institutional environment and foreign direct investment

AbstractThe contribution of environmental investments (EIs) to environmental performance (EP) is a lively topic for environmental researchers across the world. In spite of huge amount of research, there is still lack of clarity on the moderating factors that affect the role played by EI. In this study, we distinguish EI into pollution control investments (PCIs) and pollution prevention investments (PPIs). We further investigate whether institutional environment and foreign direct investment (FDI) can play their moderating effects both on the relationship between EI and EP and on the relationships between different types of investments and EP or not. The results indicate that EI has a positive effect on EP. More specifically, PPI plays a stronger positive role in EP, but PCI does not have a significant effect on EP. In addition, both institutional environment and FDI can strengthen the positive impact of EI on EP. The increase of EI in regions with better institutional environment or high FDI can lead to greater improvement in EP. These moderating effects of institutional environment and FDI are also confirmed on the link between PPI and EP. In summary, our results reinforce the existing views that EI, and specifically PPI, can improve EP but further contribute to the understanding of the positive moderating roles played by the institutional environment and FDI on the link between EI and EP.

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.

An Optimal Pollution Control Model for Environmental Protection Cooperation between Developing and Developed Countries.

With the continuous increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the world and the United States announcing withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the conflicts between environmental protection and economic growth of developing and developed countries have become increasingly challenging. In this paper, following the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” specified in the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, we develop an optimal pollution control model based on a dynamic system for both developing and developed countries. We analyze how different perspectives of the developing and developed countries affect their investments in pollution control and how to determine their responsibilities based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. Our aim is to obtain a stable equilibrium mechanism to maximize the social welfare between the developing and developed countries and explore the optimal pollution control and economic growth path. Our results show that it is optimal for the developed countries to help developing countries with pollution control in their initial stage of economic growth. Once the developing countries reach a certain economic development level, they can contribute more to pollution control, while the developed countries can reduce their environmental investment. We show that by following this optimal path, the developing and developed countries can effectively control environment pollution without significant loss of social welfare.

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.

Evaluation of Air Pollution Control Efficiency in Hebei Province Based on DEA Method

In this paper, the operation cost, the total investment in environmental infrastructure construction, the exhaust gas treatment facilities are selected as the input variables and the industrial exhaust gas emission, the industrial SO2 removal quantity, the industrial dust removal quantity and the industrial dust removal quantity as output variables of air pollution control. Besides, the efficiency of air pollution was controlled in Hebei province from static and dynamic aspects were measured from 2005 to 2015 by exploiting BC2 model. Finally, according to the analysis results, corresponding policy suggestions are given from different perspectives, including strengthening independent innovation capability, adjusting and optimizing industrial structure, increasing investment in pollution control, optimizing capital source and using structure of pollution control, and constructing reasonable and effective external supervision mechanism.

Path Analysis of Beijing’s Dematerialization Development Based on System Dynamics

Dematerialization is a phenomenon in which resource consumption and pollutant discharge decrease during economic development. In order to explore the optimal paths of Beijing’s dematerialization, this study combines material flow analysis method and the Tapio decoupling model to construct a city dematerialization evaluation model, and establishes a system dynamics model to simulate the comprehensive dematerialization levels and the dematerialization levels of eight materials under four scenarios. The results show that the key factors affecting the dematerialization levels of resource and discharge end were non-metals consumption and CO2 emissions respectively. During 2016–2030, Beijing would achieve weak decoupling state under four scenarios, but the degree of dematerialization would be different. For the comprehensive dematerialization level, during 2017–2024, an industrial restructuring (IR) scenario, which would strengthen R&D investment and optimize the industrial structure, would be the optimal choice. During 2025–2030, an environmental governance (EG) scenario, which means increasing the investment in pollution control, would bring about the best dematerialization level. There would be differences in the optimal dematerialization paths for eight materials. For example, economic sustainable degrowth (ESD) and EG scenarios would be the optimal paths for dematerialization of atmospheric pollutants in the period 2017–2021 and 2022–2030, respectively.

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.

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.

The Impact of Marine Pollution Control on the Output Value of Marine Fisheries Based on the Spatial Econometric Model

Li, X.; Tian, Y.; Xu, C., and Cheng, B., 2019. The impact of marine pollution control on the output value of marine fisheries based on the spatial econometric model. In: Li, L.; Wan, X., and Huang, X. (eds.), Recent Developments in Practices and Research on Coastal Regions: Transportation, Environment and Economy. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 98, pp. 381–384. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.This study proposes that the input of marine environmental pollution control affects the output value of the marine fishery. Based on panel data from Marine Fisheries for China's coastal areas, model setting and data testing were performed. Through the spatial econometric model, the model results were estimated and analyzed and showed that the marine fishery economy in China is greatly affected by the total investment in environmental pollution control. Proper total investment in environmental pollution control will promote an increase in marine fishery output value, but with the change in the regional environment, excessive control of environmental pollution will also have a negative effect on the marine fishery output value. In addition, the number of people employed in the fishery labor force, the local per capita gross domestic product (GDP), and marine fishing productivity will have a significant positive effect on the fishery output in China.

Analysis on the coordinated development of ecology-economy-society in coal resource cities: A case study of Huainan, China

We constructed a multi-dimensional indicator system of "economic-social-ecological" with Huainan City, a typical coal resource-based city, as an example. The development of the system from 2002 to 2016 was examined by entropy weight method, coupled coordination development model and grey correlation coefficient. The coordinated development of multi-dimensional relationship in Huainan City was analyzed from a macro perspective. The results showed that the ecological subsystem had the largest weight, whose development level being U-shaped as a whole, first decreasing and then increasing, with significant impact on the comprehensive development level. The ternary coupling system was generally on the rise, with low absolute level of coupling. With the increases of ecosystem pressure, it would restrict the economic and social development and counteracted the coordinated development level. Economic development and economic vitality had a positive impact on social and ecological development, while social development had a greater impact on ecological subsystems. The improvement of environmental status had a supporting effect on economic and social development. In the transformation process of Huainan, it should maintain stable and rapid economic development, increase investment in social development and environmental pollution control, as well as pay attention to ecological support capacity to avoid restricting social and economic development.

Exploring the effect of carbon trading mechanism on China's green development efficiency: A novel integrated approach

In this study, we propose a novel integrated approach incorporating super-efficiency slack-based measure with undesirable outputs, difference-in-difference and propensity score matching difference-in-difference to explore the effects of carbon trading mechanism on green development efficiency in terms of impact direction, impact degree and impact mode. Taking the provincial data of China from 1999 to 2017 as an example, the empirical results show that China's green development efficiencies have upward, downward and U-shaped trends. Carbon trading mechanism, research and development intensity, and pollution control investment have a positive effect on green development efficiency. However, population capital, urbanization and degree of openness have a negative effect on green development efficiency.

Occurrence of total phosphorus in surface sediments of Chinese lakes and its driving factors and implications

In contrast to instantaneous concentration of phosphorus in water columns, sediments record valuable information on occurrence and sources of phosphorus for a long period associated with human activities and environmental protection. However, much less attention has been paid to phosphorus in sediments. To date the relative contributions of driving factors for TP concentration in sediments has not been elucidated. We investigated the occurrence and driving factors for TP in 270 surface sediments of 83 lakes in the catchments of two large rivers (Yangtze River and Huaihe River) in China, identified the relative contributions of the driving factors, and discussed the implication. The average TP concentration in the surface sediments of these lakes was 0.82 ± 0.04 mg gdw−1. The average TP concentration in the surface sediments of the urban lakes was larger than that in the rural lakes. Mitigation measures, human activities, and lake characteristics contributed 59.0%, 20.5%, and 20.5% to the variation in sediment TP concentration. The average TP concentration in the surface sediments significantly decreased with the percentage of annual investment in pollution control to GDP of the cities where the lakes are located. For the first time we find mitigation measures have exceeded human activities, and lake characteristics to dominate the variation in TP concentration in surface sediments of Chinese lakes. Given the annual investment in pollution control only accounted for 1.14% ± 0.06% of GDP in China from 1991 to 2018, higher percentage would be beneficial to reduce TP concentration in sediments of Chinese lakes.

The role of cash holding towards cleaner production in China’s manufacturing sectors: A financial constraint perspective

Abstract China’s manufacturing sector has been growing with increasingly strict environmental regulations. The sector’s sustainable growth depends on how firms might best reduce the financial constraints, such as high costs of external financing involved in cleaner production. To address this challenge, this study explores how the financing behavior of Chinese firms impacts production-generated pollution by illustrating financial constraint mechanisms. We argue that cash holdings significantly finance pollution control investment with a marginal contribution of 0.1%, which can be explained by the low financial cost of cash holdings. Furthermore, our empirical results indicate that a) financially-constrained firms are more likely to use cash to smooth financial constraints to finance pollution control investment; b) internal cash flow only supports pollution investment in financially-constrained firms, i.e., firms with a poor ability to pay debt and higher debt costs prefer to use cash to smooth their pollution control investment activities. Notably, debt significantly curbs the high cost of pollution control investment at a general level of 0.04%. In addition, the effect of cash-backing pollution control investment is particularly compelling in industries that are more pollution- and labor-intensive, with respective marginal contributions of 0.14% and 0.63%. Finally, we find that fixed asset investments and intangible asset investments crowd out pollution control investment at 0.11% and 0.52%, respectively.

Research on the green total factor productivity and its influencing factors based on system GMM model

The entropy method is used to calculate pollution comprehensive index reflecting provincial environmental pollution level. On this basis, the Malmquist productivity index is used to study the regional green total factor productivity (GTFP) in China, and the system generalized moment method is used to explore the influencing factors of GTFP. Firstly, the results show that the provinces with lower environmental pollution comprehensive index are mainly in the western and eastern regions, while the provinces with higher pollution comprehensive index are mainly distributed in the central inland areas. Secondly, GTFP shows an N-type upward trend, which is basically consistent with the trend of total factor productivity. The overall GTFP in the east is on the rise, which is promoted by technical efficiency. The GTFP in the central and west has declined, and the main factor restricting their improvement is technological retrogression. The expansion of production scale in the east and west can contribute to the improvement of GTFP. The central region is at a stage where the scale of returns is not economic, and it is more important for promoting technological progress. Lastly, the industrial structure can significantly inhibit the increase of GTFP, however, the energy consumption structure, FDI and pollution control investment have a significant role in improving GTFP.

Challenges for contact recreation in a tropical urban lake: assessment by a water quality index

Water pollution control is challenging in catchments affected by ‘informal’ urban development. Lake Pampulha, an impoundment that is a major tourist focus within the municipality of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, provides an example of degradation of aquatic environments by disorganised urbanization. We evaluated the current recreational suitability of the lake using state government monitoring data (2012-2017) with reference to Brazilian legislation and a water quality index for contact recreation in Brazilian freshwaters, considering E. coli (indicating faecal pollution and microbial hazards), cyanobacterial density (health risks and aesthetic quality), turbidity (aesthetics and safety associated with visual clarity), and pH (safety and eye-comfort). Our results show that, despite investments in pollution control, the recreational water quality of Lake Pampulha remains very poor. Contact recreation was most limited by persistent cyanobacterial blooms, but also faecal contamination and low visual water clarity. The effects of high phosphorus loading and faecal contamination from unsewered domestic wastewater is exacerbated by a tropical climate, promoting stable thermal stratification (favouring cyanobacterial dominance) and turbid wet-season runoff. Water quality indexing is a powerful tool not just for interpreting and communicating multiple metrics affecting water resources, but also for guiding rehabilitation efforts and tracking progress.

The Significance of Emission Trading System from the Perspective of Environmental Regulation— Based on the Analysis of China’s Environmental Pollution Control Data

Since the reform and opening up 40 years ago, China’s economy has been growing rapidly, but the continuous GDP growth occurs at the expense of natural environment. Based on the analysis of China’s environmental pollution situation and investment in pollution control since the 21st century, it can be found that there are some problems, such as serious air pollution and water pollution, deepening environmental damage, increasing economic losses caused by environmental pollution and insufficient investment in industrial pollution control. Emissions trading system, as an efficient system of pollution control, compared with the traditional pollution charge system, can effectively solve the problem of China’s air pollution and water pollution. Air pollution and water pollution to realize control of total pollution so that it is likely to achieve industrial upgrading,optimize allocation of environmental resources and reduce the cost of pollution control. It is more conducive to achieving the coordination between environmental protection and economic development.