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Government Environmental Information Disclosure and Environmental Performance: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaoya Zhu

    (Collaborative Innovation Center for New Urbanization and Social Governance In Jiangsu Province, School of Politics and Public Administration, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China)

  • Yunli Zhu

    (Huai’an Industrial Park Management Service Center, Jiangsu Guoxin Investment Group, Huai’an 223005, China)

  • Xiaohua Meng

    (Collaborative Innovation Center for New Urbanization and Social Governance In Jiangsu Province, School of Politics and Public Administration, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China)

Abstract

Government environmental information disclosure ( GEID ) is a key policy instrument in environmental governance. Local governments in China are improving the disclosure level of environmental information, but does the environmental information disclosed by local governments reflect the existing state of the local ecological environment? This paper analyzes the correlation between GEID and environmental performance and verifies whether or not the environmental information disclosed by local governments can reflect actual local ecological environment conditions. Based on data from Chinese cities, this paper adopts a multiple regression method, and the results show that the environmental information disclosed by governments can reflect the local environmental performance as a whole, and the higher the level of GEID , the better the local environmental performance; but the relationship between the two has significant regional differences. In eastern China, the higher the level of GEID , the better the local environmental performance. In central and western China, the correlation between GEID and environmental performance is not significant. In addition, it should be noted that the correlation between the level of GEID and the emission intensity of water pollutants is not significant in all regions. This study contributes to further clarifying the effectiveness of GEID policy and identifying a breakthrough for the optimization of environmental policies faced with the dilemma of serious environmental pollution and urgent economic development needs.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoya Zhu & Yunli Zhu & Xiaohua Meng, 2021. "Government Environmental Information Disclosure and Environmental Performance: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-22, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:12:p:6854-:d:576781
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    2. Zhang, Hua & Xu, Tiantian & Feng, Chao, 2022. "Does public participation promote environmental efficiency? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of environmental information disclosure in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
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    4. Xiaowei Ding & Lyu Ye & Yueying Yang & Olga Efimova & Alina Steblyanskaya & Junfeng Zhang, 2022. "The Impact Mechanism of Environmental Information Disclosure on Corporate Sustainability Performance—Micro-Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, September.

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