IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/streco/v57y2021icp279-291.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Coordination between sulfur dioxide pollution control and rapid economic growth in China: Evidence from satellite observations and spatial econometric models

Author

Listed:
  • Jiang, Lei
  • He, Shixiong
  • Zhou, Haifeng
  • Kong, Hao
  • Wang, Jionghua
  • Cui, Yuanzheng
  • Wang, Lei

Abstract

China has not only witnessed unprecedented economic success but has also suffered from severe sulfur dioxide (SO2) dominated air pollution for years. However, satellite observations show that SO2 concentrations have been substantially reduced in recent years, while the economy in China still grows at a rapid pace. In this study, we explored the possible reasons behind such coordination by using satellite observations and economic model simulations. The findings are as follows. (1) Since 2011, SO2 pollution over China has been substantially reduced and the most highly polluted area is mainly observed in the North China Plain. (2) The Moran's I test results show that SO2 pollution presents positive spatial autocorrelation. (3) Industrial upgrades, foreign direct investment and technological progress are the principal contributors to the significant reductions of SO2 concentrations, which helps explore the mechanism behind the coordination between SO2 pollution control and rapid economic growth in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiang, Lei & He, Shixiong & Zhou, Haifeng & Kong, Hao & Wang, Jionghua & Cui, Yuanzheng & Wang, Lei, 2021. "Coordination between sulfur dioxide pollution control and rapid economic growth in China: Evidence from satellite observations and spatial econometric models," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 279-291.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:57:y:2021:i:c:p:279-291
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2021.04.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X21000357
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.strueco.2021.04.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matthew A. Cole & Robert J.R. Elliott & Jing Zhang, 2011. "Growth, Foreign Direct Investment, And The Environment: Evidence From Chinese Cities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 121-138, February.
    2. Elliott, Robert J.R. & Sun, Puyang & Chen, Siyang, 2013. "Energy intensity and foreign direct investment: A Chinese city-level study," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 484-494.
    3. He, Jie, 2006. "Pollution haven hypothesis and environmental impacts of foreign direct investment: The case of industrial emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in Chinese provinces," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 228-245, November.
    4. Wang, Zhaohua & Yin, Fangchao & Zhang, Yixiang & Zhang, Xian, 2012. "An empirical research on the influencing factors of regional CO2 emissions: Evidence from Beijing city, China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 277-284.
    5. Anselin, Luc & Bera, Anil K. & Florax, Raymond & Yoon, Mann J., 1996. "Simple diagnostic tests for spatial dependence," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 77-104, February.
    6. Maoliang Bu & Marcus Wagner, 2016. "Racing to the bottom and racing to the top: The crucial role of firm characteristics in foreign direct investment choices," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(9), pages 1032-1057, December.
    7. Jiang, Lei & Folmer, Henk & Ji, Minhe & Zhou, P., 2018. "Revisiting cross-province energy intensity convergence in China: A spatial panel analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 252-263.
    8. Li, Lei & Chi, Ting & Wang, Shi, 2016. "Is energy utilization among Chinese provinces sustainable?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 198-206.
    9. Li, Huanan & Mu, Hailin & Zhang, Ming & Li, Nan, 2011. "Analysis on influence factors of China's CO2 emissions based on Path–STIRPAT model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 6906-6911.
    10. Liu, Hongwei & Wu, Jie & Chu, Junfei, 2019. "Environmental efficiency and technological progress of transportation industry-based on large scale data," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 475-482.
    11. Jiang, Lei & Folmer, Henk & Ji, Minhe, 2014. "The drivers of energy intensity in China: A spatial panel data approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 351-360.
    12. Cheung Kui-yin & Lin, Ping, 2004. "Spillover effects of FDI on innovation in China: Evidence from the provincial data," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 25-44.
    13. Wang, Yuan & Zhang, Chen & Lu, Aitong & Li, Li & He, Yanmin & ToJo, Junji & Zhu, Xiaodong, 2017. "A disaggregated analysis of the environmental Kuznets curve for industrial CO2 emissions in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 172-180.
    14. Zhang, Na & Lior, Noam & Jin, Hongguang, 2011. "The energy situation and its sustainable development strategy in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 3639-3649.
    15. Yin, Jianhua & Zheng, Mingzheng & Chen, Jian, 2015. "The effects of environmental regulation and technical progress on CO2 Kuznets curve: An evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 97-108.
    16. Stern, David I., 2004. "The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1419-1439, August.
    17. Yang, Xue & Wang, Shaojian & Zhang, Wenzhong & Li, Jiaming & Zou, Yafeng, 2016. "Impacts of energy consumption, energy structure, and treatment technology on SO2 emissions: A multi-scale LMDI decomposition analysis in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 714-726.
    18. Herrerias, M.J. & Cuadros, A. & Orts, V., 2013. "Energy intensity and investment ownership across Chinese provinces," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 286-298.
    19. Yang, Mian & Ma, Tiemeng & Sun, Chuanwang, 2018. "Evaluating the impact of urban traffic investment on SO2 emissions in China cities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 20-27.
    20. Zhang, Ning & Kong, Fanbin & Choi, Yongrok & Zhou, P., 2014. "The effect of size-control policy on unified energy and carbon efficiency for Chinese fossil fuel power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 193-200.
    21. Jing Zhang & Xiaolan Fu, 2008. "FDI and environmental regulations in China," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 332-353.
    22. Sadorsky, Perry, 2013. "Do urbanization and industrialization affect energy intensity in developing countries?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 52-59.
    23. Ma-Lin Song & Wei Zhang & Xiao-Ming Qiu, 2015. "Emissions trading system and supporting policies under an emissions reduction framework," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 228(1), pages 125-134, May.
    24. Wang, Yuan & Han, Rong & Kubota, Jumpei, 2016. "Is there an Environmental Kuznets Curve for SO2 emissions? A semi-parametric panel data analysis for China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1182-1188.
    25. Lei Jiang & Henk Folmer & Minhe Ji & Jianjun Tang, 2017. "Energy efficiency in the Chinese provinces: a fixed effects stochastic frontier spatial Durbin error panel analysis," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 58(2), pages 301-319, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qiangyi Li & Lan Yang & Shuang Huang & Yangqing Liu & Chenyang Guo, 2023. "The Effects of Urban Sprawl on Electricity Consumption: Empirical Evidence from 283 Prefecture-Level Cities in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-27, August.
    2. José Abel Espinoza-Guillen & Marleni Beatriz Alderete-Malpartida & Jimmy Hans Cañari-Cancho & Dennis Libio Pando-Huerta & David Fernando Vargas-La Rosa & Sadyth Jhocelú Bernabé-Meza, 2023. "Immission levels and identification of sulfur dioxide sources in La Oroya city, Peruvian Andes," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(11), pages 12843-12872, November.
    3. Thi Thuy Hang Le & Van Chien Nguyen & Thi Hang Nga Phan, 2022. "Foreign Direct Investment, Environmental Pollution and Economic Growth—An Insight from Non-Linear ARDL Co-Integration Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-14, July.
    4. Sudipa Majumdar & Cody Morris Paris, 2022. "Environmental Impact of Urbanization, Bank Credits, and Energy Use in the UAE—A Tourism-Induced EKC Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-14, June.
    5. Chunji Zheng & Feng Deng & Chengyou Li, 2022. "Energy-Saving Effect of Regional Development Strategy in Western China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-22, May.
    6. Lei Jiang & Yuan Chen & Hui Zha & Bo Zhang & Yuanzheng Cui, 2022. "Quantifying the Impact of Urban Sprawl on Green Total Factor Productivity in China: Based on Satellite Observation Data and Spatial Econometric Models," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-17, November.
    7. Zhenbo Zhang & Mengfan Yan, 2022. "Reexamining the Environmental Kuznets Curve in Chinese Cities: Does Intergovernmental Competition Matter?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-15, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bu, Maoliang & Li, Shuang & Jiang, Lei, 2019. "Foreign direct investment and energy intensity in China: Firm-level evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 366-376.
    2. Yongqing Nan & Qin Li & Haiya Cai & Zhou Qin, 2020. "Are there industrial SO2 convergences in China’s prefecture-level cities? New evidence from a spatial econometric perspective," Energy & Environment, , vol. 31(3), pages 440-460, May.
    3. Lutao Ning & Fan Wang, 2018. "Does FDI Bring Environmental Knowledge Spillovers to Developing Countries? The Role of the Local Industrial Structure," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 71(2), pages 381-405, October.
    4. Huang, Junbing & Lai, Yali & Hu, Hanlei, 2020. "The effect of technological factors and structural change on China's energy intensity: Evidence from dynamic panel models," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Imad Moosa, 2019. "The Environmental Effects of FDI: Evidence from MENA Countries," Working Papers 1321, Economic Research Forum, revised 21 Aug 2019.
    6. Lee, Sanghoon & Oh, Dae-Won, 2015. "Economic growth and the environment in China: Empirical evidence using prefecture level data," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 73-85.
    7. Jiang, Lei & Folmer, Henk & Ji, Minhe, 2014. "The drivers of energy intensity in China: A spatial panel data approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 351-360.
    8. Adom, Philip Kofi & Adams, Samuel, 2018. "Energy savings in Nigeria. Is there a way of escape from energy inefficiency?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2421-2430.
    9. Lv, Yulan & Chen, Wei & Cheng, Jianquan, 2020. "Effects of urbanization on energy efficiency in China: New evidence from short run and long run efficiency models," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    10. Zhang, Qianxue & Liao, Hua & Hao, Yu, 2018. "Does one path fit all? An empirical study on the relationship between energy consumption and economic development for individual Chinese provinces," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 527-543.
    11. Huang, Junbing & Hao, Yu & Lei, Hongyan, 2018. "Indigenous versus foreign innovation and energy intensity in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 1721-1729.
    12. Zhang, Chuanguo & Zhou, Xiangxue, 2016. "Does foreign direct investment lead to lower CO2 emissions? Evidence from a regional analysis in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 943-951.
    13. Sun, Huaping & Edziah, Bless Kofi & Kporsu, Anthony Kwaku & Sarkodie, Samuel Asumadu & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2021. "Energy efficiency: The role of technological innovation and knowledge spillover," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    14. Wu, Shu & Ding, Song, 2021. "Efficiency improvement, structural change, and energy intensity reduction: Evidence from Chinese agricultural sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    15. Lei Jiang & Henk Folmer & Minhe Ji & Jianjun Tang, 2017. "Energy efficiency in the Chinese provinces: a fixed effects stochastic frontier spatial Durbin error panel analysis," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 58(2), pages 301-319, March.
    16. Yan, Huijie, 2015. "Provincial energy intensity in China: The role of urbanization," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 635-650.
    17. Rongping Chang & Bei Wang & Yan Zhang & Lingxue Zhao, 2022. "Foreign Direct Investment and Air Pollution: Re-Estimating the “Pollution Haven Hypothesis” in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, October.
    18. Yuping Deng & Helian Xu, 2015. "International Direct Investment and Transboundary Pollution: An Empirical Analysis of Complex Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-25, April.
    19. Adom, Philip Kofi, 2015. "Business cycle and economic-wide energy intensity: The implications for energy conservation policy in Algeria," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 334-350.
    20. Hong, Junjie & Shi, Fangyuan & Zheng, Yuhan, 2023. "Does network infrastructure construction reduce energy intensity? Based on the “Broadband China” strategy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:57:y:2021:i:c:p:279-291. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/525148 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.