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Environmental regulation, pollution reduction and green innovation: The case of the Chinese Water Ecological Civilization City Pilot policy

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  • Yang, Qiuyue
  • Gao, Da
  • Song, Deyong
  • Li, Yi

Abstract

This paper treats the Water Ecological Civilisation City Pilot (WECCP) policy as a quasi-natural experiment, and integrates environmental regulation, pollution reduction and green innovation into a unified analytical framework. Based on the pollution emission index and green patent data for 283 Chinese cities from 2010 to 2018, we examine the impact of WECCP policy on urban pollution emissions and green innovation by using a difference-in-differences model. The results show that the WECCP policy has significant regional pollution reduction effects, that is, the policy significantly reduces water pollution in the pilot cities, while it has a weak impact on air quality improvement. Also, we find that the WECCP policy significantly promotes the growth of the number of green patent applications in the pilot cities, indicating that the policy can significantly improve urban green innovation capacity. The mediating effect analysis shows that the WECCP policy can improve regional environmental quality by enhancing urban green innovation ability. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the WECCP policy has more significant effects on pollution reduction and green innovation in small cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Qiuyue & Gao, Da & Song, Deyong & Li, Yi, 2021. "Environmental regulation, pollution reduction and green innovation: The case of the Chinese Water Ecological Civilization City Pilot policy," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(4).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:45:y:2021:i:4:s0939362521000595
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2021.100911
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    7. Qimeng Yue & Kate Heal & Jingshan Yu & Qianyang Wang & Yuexin Zheng & Zhanliang Zhu & Yuan Liu & Shugao Xu & Xiaolei Yao, 2023. "The Performance of the Construction of a Water Ecological Civilization City: International Assessment and Comparison," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    8. Abdelmohsen A. Nassani & Zahid Yousaf & Magdalena Radulescu & Daniel Balsalobre-Lorente & Hadi Hussain & Mohamed Haffar, 2023. "Green Innovation through Green and Blue Infrastructure Development: Investigation of Pollution Reduction and Green Technology in Emerging Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-12, February.
    9. Chaoyang Tu & Zhenyu Chen & Yasir Habib & Zheng Peng, 2023. "The Efficiency of Rural Public Finance Inputs in Promoting Rural Revitalization: Empirical Analysis Based on Henan Province, China," Review of Economic Assessment, Anser Press, vol. 2(1), pages 73-86, April.
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    12. Jing Xu & Dong Chen & Rongrong Liu & Maoxian Zhou & Yunxiao Kong, 2021. "Environmental Regulation, Technological Innovation, and Industrial Transformation: An Empirical Study Based on City Function in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-23, November.
    13. Wanli Zhang & Bin Zhu & Yongling Li & Dan Yan, 2024. "Revisiting the Porter hypothesis: a multi-country meta-analysis of the relationship between environmental regulation and green innovation," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Xin Nie & Jianxian Wu & Han Wang & Lihua Li & Chengdao Huang & Weijuan Li & Zhuxia Wei, 2022. "Booster or Stumbling Block? The Role of Environmental Regulation in the Coupling Path of Regional Innovation under the Porter Hypothesis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-20, March.
    15. Yansong Zhang & Yujie Wei & Yu Mao, 2023. "Sustainability Assessment of Regional Water Resources in China Based on DPSIR Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-20, May.
    16. Tao Ge & Jinye Li & Cang Wang, 2023. "Econometric analysis of the impact of innovative city pilots on CO2 emissions in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 9359-9386, September.
    17. Mingxing Li & Xinxing Wang & Zihao Wang & Babar Maqbool & Abid Hussain & Waris Ali Khan, 2022. "Bibliometric Analysis of the Research on the Impact of Environmental Regulation on Green Technology Innovation Based on CiteSpace," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-26, October.
    18. Sheng, Jichuan & Qiu, Wenge, 2022. "Water-use technical efficiency and income: Evidence from China's South-North Water Transfer Project," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    19. Ling Liu & Yuanyuan Zhou, 2022. "The Impact of Managers’ Environmental Cognition on Urban Public Service Innovation from the Perspective of Green Ecology," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-12, November.
    20. Chuang Li & Qingqing Liu & Qing Li & Hailing Wang, 2022. "Does Innovative Industrial Agglomeration Promote Environmentally-Friendly Development? Evidence from Chinese Prefecture-Level Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-21, October.
    21. Hui Zhang & Haiqian Ke, 2022. "Understanding the Heterogeneous Impact of Innovation Efficiency on Urban Ecological Footprint in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-16, May.
    22. Shizhong Peng & Haoran Peng & Shirong Pan & Jun Wu, 2023. "Digital Transformation, Green Innovation, and Pollution Abatement: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-18, April.

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