How does local policy attention reshape environmental justice?

Environmental justice is likely to be affected by local policymaking strategies towards environmental protection due to the uneven economic and social development throughout China. This paper examines whether and how local environmental protection policy attention reshapes environmental justice across the country. Utilizing data from prefecture-level cities spanning 2014 to 2020, and accounting for within-province variations, we construct the Theil index, based on 24-h SO₂ concentration and population data, to assess the environmental (in)justice. The empirical findings demonstrate that strong policy attention significantly increases environmental injustice. The induced environmental injustice associated with policy attention is stronger in regions characterized by low degrees of political and economic institutions. Geographically, the effects of policy attention are pronounced in western region and non-Yangtze River Economic Belt zones. Moreover, the policy attention-induced injustice is associated with a 0.3 % decline in per capita GDP or CNY130 on average. These findings reveal the substantial economic costs associated with uneven policy implementation and underscore the importance for policymakers to design a more inclusive and resilient economic and social landscape, mitigating unintended distributional consequences and advancing sustainable development goals.