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The Decoupling of Resource Consumption and Environmental Impact from Economic Growth in China: Spatial Pattern and Temporal Trend

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  • Zilong Zhang

    (Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
    Institute for Circular Economy in Western China, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Bing Xue

    (Key Lab of Pollution Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
    Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam 14467, Germany)

  • Jiaxing Pang

    (Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
    Institute for Circular Economy in Western China, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Xingpeng Chen

    (Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
    Institute for Circular Economy in Western China, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

Abstract

Unprecedented economic achievement in China has occurred along with rising resource consumption and waste productions levels. The goal of sustainability requires the decoupling of economic growth from resource consumption (resource decoupling) and environmental degradation (impact decoupling). For this paper, the performances of resource decoupling (energy and water) and impact decoupling (wastewater, SO 2 and CO 2 ) in China were evaluated, and the spatial pattern and temporal trend of decoupling performance were investigated by using the rescaled range analysis (R/S). The results indicate the following. (1) The performance of resource decoupling during the investigated period is worse than that of traditional impact (SO 2 and wastewater) decoupling, but better than that of the CO 2 emission. Additionally, the decoupling performances of energy consumption and related pollutant emission (except CO 2 ) are better than that of water usage and wastewater discharge; (2) The decoupling performance of energy consumption, SO 2 and CO 2 , has substantially improved from the 10th Five-Year Planning Period (FYP) (2001–2005) to the 11th FYP (2006–2010), which indicates that the decoupling performance is highly related the environmental policy; (3) The spatial disparities of the performance of resource and impact decoupling are declining, which indicates the existence of cross-province convergence in decoupling performance; (4) The decoupling performance of SO 2 and water usage in most of regions shows an improving trend. Inversely, the decoupling performance of energy consumption, CO 2 emission, and wastewater discharge in most regions show a decreasing trend; (5) China needs more stringent water-saving targets and wastewater discharge standards; better policy efforts to improve the water recycling level both in agricultural, industrial and municipal level are required to prevent the decreasing trend of the decoupling performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Zilong Zhang & Bing Xue & Jiaxing Pang & Xingpeng Chen, 2016. "The Decoupling of Resource Consumption and Environmental Impact from Economic Growth in China: Spatial Pattern and Temporal Trend," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:3:p:222-:d:64736
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