IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i20p10719-d654966.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evolution Characters and Influencing Factors of Regional Eco-Efficiency in a Developing Country: Evidence from Mongolia

Author

Listed:
  • Bing Xia

    (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China)

  • Suocheng Dong

    (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Yu Li

    (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Zehong Li

    (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Dongqi Sun

    (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China)

  • Wenbiao Zhang

    (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China)

  • Wenlong Li

    (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    Resources and Environment Economy College, Inner Mongolia University of Finance and Economics, Huhhot 010070, China)

Abstract

The sandstorm in 2021 in East Asia demonstrated the ecological issues that culminated for decades in Mongolia. Mongolia is facing challenges to realize green and sustainable development. This article aims to increase the understanding of eco-efficiency and its influencing factors in Mongolia and to provide a reference for similar developing countries and regions to achieve green and sustainable development. This article used the Slacks-Based Measure of Efficiency (SBM) model with advantages of dimension freedom and unit variable to estimate the economic efficiency and eco-efficiency of 22 provinces in Mongolia from 2007 to 2016; energy consumption and undesirable environmental outputs were taken as ecological/environmental indicators in the input and output system of regional eco-efficiency in Mongolia, combining traditional indicators of economic efficiency to build Mongolia’s eco-efficiency input–output framework. This article applied hot spot analysis and gravity center analysis to reveal the temporal and spatial evolution characters of eco-efficiency in Mongolia. Finally, the article applied panel Tobit regression to analyze the influencing factors of eco-efficiency. We were found that Mongolia’s eco-efficiency slightly improved from 0.7379 in 2007 to 0.7673 in 2016, lower than the economic efficiency. The high eco-efficiency provinces appeared in the capital Ulaanbaatar and its surrounding areas, showing an obvious spatial spillover effect. The low eco-efficiency provinces were mainly in the undeveloped western region. The relationship between per capita GDP and eco-efficiency was U-shaped and consistent with environmental Kuznets theory. Accelerating economic growth, optimizing population distribution, and improving energy structure and green technology can improve Mongolia’s eco-efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Bing Xia & Suocheng Dong & Yu Li & Zehong Li & Dongqi Sun & Wenbiao Zhang & Wenlong Li, 2021. "Evolution Characters and Influencing Factors of Regional Eco-Efficiency in a Developing Country: Evidence from Mongolia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:20:p:10719-:d:654966
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/20/10719/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/20/10719/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yu Zhang & Wenliang Geng & Pengyan Zhang & Erling Li & Tianqi Rong & Ying Liu & Jingwen Shao & Hao Chang, 2020. "Dynamic Changes, Spatiotemporal Differences and Factors Influencing the Urban Eco-Efficiency in the Lower Reaches of the Yellow River," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Liu, Yunqiang & Zhu, Jialing & Li, Eldon Y. & Meng, Zhiyi & Song, Yan, 2020. "Environmental regulation, green technological innovation, and eco-efficiency: The case of Yangtze river economic belt in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    3. Peng, Benhong & Wang, Yuanyuan & Wei, Guo, 2020. "Energy eco-efficiency: Is there any spatial correlation between different regions?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    4. Victor Moutinho & Mara Madaleno, 2021. "A Two-Stage DEA Model to Evaluate the Technical Eco-Efficiency Indicator in the EU Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-21, March.
    5. Zhou, Haibo & Yang, Yi & Chen, Yao & Zhu, Joe, 2018. "Data envelopment analysis application in sustainability: The origins, development and future directions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(1), pages 1-16.
    6. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    7. Dariush Khezrimotlagh & Yao Chen, 2018. "Data Envelopment Analysis," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Decision Making and Performance Evaluation Using Data Envelopment Analysis, chapter 0, pages 217-234, Springer.
    8. McDonald, John F & Moffitt, Robert A, 1980. "The Uses of Tobit Analysis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 62(2), pages 318-321, May.
    9. Yuli Shan & Jiamin Ou & Daoping Wang & Zhao Zeng & Shaohui Zhang & Dabo Guan & Klaus Hubacek, 2021. "Impacts of COVID-19 and fiscal stimuli on global emissions and the Paris Agreement," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(3), pages 200-206, March.
    10. Bing Xia & Suocheng Dong & Duoxun Ba & Yu Li & Fujia Li & Haimeng Liu & Zehong Li & Minyan Zhao, 2018. "Research on the Spatial Differentiation and Driving Factors of Tourism Enterprises’ Efficiency: Chinese Scenic Spots, Travel Agencies, and Hotels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-22, March.
    11. Zhenci Xu & Sophia N. Chau & Xiuzhi Chen & Jian Zhang & Yingjie Li & Thomas Dietz & Jinyan Wang & Julie A. Winkler & Fan Fan & Baorong Huang & Shuxin Li & Shaohua Wu & Anna Herzberger & Ying Tang & De, 2020. "Assessing progress towards sustainable development over space and time," Nature, Nature, vol. 577(7788), pages 74-78, January.
    12. Aleh Cherp & Vadim Vinichenko & Jale Tosun & Joel A. Gordon & Jessica Jewell, 2021. "National growth dynamics of wind and solar power compared to the growth required for global climate targets," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(7), pages 742-754, July.
    13. Noor Ramli & Susila Munisamy & Behrouz Arabi, 2013. "Scale directional distance function and its application to the measurement of eco-efficiency in the manufacturing sector," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 211(1), pages 381-398, December.
    14. Weizhen Ren & Zilong Zhang & Yueju Wang & Bing Xue & Xingpeng Chen, 2020. "Measuring Regional Eco-Efficiency in China (2003–2016): A “Full World” Perspective and Network Data Envelopment Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-15, May.
    15. Jiali Huang & Robert E Ulanowicz, 2014. "Ecological Network Analysis for Economic Systems: Growth and Development and Implications for Sustainable Development," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(6), pages 1-8, June.
    16. Yonglong Lu & Nebojsa Nakicenovic & Martin Visbeck & Anne-Sophie Stevance, 2015. "Policy: Five priorities for the UN Sustainable Development Goals," Nature, Nature, vol. 520(7548), pages 432-433, April.
    17. Victor Moutinho & Mara Madaleno, 2021. "Assessing Eco-Efficiency in Asian and African Countries Using Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    18. Yueming Qiu & Matthew E. Kahn, 2018. "Better sustainability assessment of green buildings with high-frequency data," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(11), pages 642-649, November.
    19. Deng, Xi-Ping & Shan, Lun & Zhang, Heping & Turner, Neil C., 2006. "Improving agricultural water use efficiency in arid and semiarid areas of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(1-3), pages 23-40, February.
    20. Ouyang, Wendi & Yang, Jian-bo, 2020. "The network energy and environment efficiency analysis of 27 OECD countries: A multiplicative network DEA model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    21. Puthearath Chan, 2020. "Assessing Sustainability of the Capital and Emerging Secondary Cities of Cambodia Based on the 2018 Commune Database," Data, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-36, September.
    22. Shuaiyu Yao & Mengmeng Chen & Dmitri Muravev & Wendi Ouyang, 2021. "Eco-Efficiency Analysis for the Russian Cities along the Northern Sea Route: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach Using an Epsilon-Based Measure Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-16, June.
    23. Gansukh, Zolboo, 2021. "Mongol dream beyond fossil fuels: Prosperity of greenification," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 95-102.
    24. Chen, Nengcheng & Xu, Lei & Chen, Zeqiang, 2017. "Environmental efficiency analysis of the Yangtze River Economic Zone using super efficiency data envelopment analysis (SEDEA) and tobit models," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 659-671.
    25. Adrien Deroubaix & Inga Labuhn & Marie Camredon & Benjamin Gaubert & Paul-Arthur Monerie & Max Popp & Johanna Ramarohetra & Yohan Ruprich-Robert & Levi G. Silvers & Guillaume Siour, 2021. "Large uncertainties in trends of energy demand for heating and cooling under climate change," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.
    26. Tsaples, G. & Papathanasiou, J., 2021. "Data envelopment analysis and the concept of sustainability: A review and analysis of the literature," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    27. Kirti Richa & Callie W. Babbitt & Gabrielle Gaustad, 2017. "Eco-Efficiency Analysis of a Lithium-Ion Battery Waste Hierarchy Inspired by Circular Economy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(3), pages 715-730, June.
    28. William W. Cooper & Lawrence M. Seiford & Kaoru Tone, 2007. "Data Envelopment Analysis," Springer Books, Springer, edition 0, number 978-0-387-45283-8, December.
    29. Li Yue & Dan Xue & Muhammad Umar Draz & Fayyaz Ahmad & Jiaojiao Li & Farrukh Shahzad & Shahid Ali, 2020. "The Double-Edged Sword of Urbanization and Its Nexus with Eco-Efficiency in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-20, January.
    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. Jing Zhang & Bing Xia, 2024. "Carbon Emissions and Its Efficiency of Tourist Hotels in China from the Supply Chain Based on the Input–Output Method and Super-SBM Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-27, October.
    2. Wenqiang Jiang & Baocai Su & Shuisheng Fan, 2023. "Spatial Disequilibrium and Dynamic Evolution of Eco-Efficiency in China’s Tea Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, June.
    3. Jiantao Peng & Yihua Liu & Chong Xu & Debao Chen, 2024. "Unveiling the Patterns and Drivers of Ecological Efficiency in Chinese Cities: A Comprehensive Study Using Super-Efficiency Slacks-Based Measure and Geographically Weighted Regression Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-23, April.
    4. Zhongfang Zhang & Lijun Hou & Yuhao Qian & Xing Wan, 2022. "Effect of Zero Growth of Fertilizer Action on Ecological Efficiency of Grain Production in China under the Background of Carbon Emission Reduction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Gabriella Esposito De Vita & Cristina Visconti & Gantuya Ganbat & Marina Rigillo, 2023. "A Collaborative Approach for Triggering Environmental Awareness: The 3Rs for Sustainable Use of Natural Resources in Ulaanbaatar (3R4UB)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-24, September.

    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. Kai He & Nan Zhu & Wu Jiang & Chuanjin Zhu, 2022. "Efficiency Evaluation of Chinese Provincial Industrial System Based on Network DEA Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-24, April.
    2. Ioannis E. Tsolas, 2023. "Efficiency Measurement of Lignite-Fired Power Plants in Greece Using a DEA-Bootstrap Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-10, February.
    3. Rui Wang & Bing Xia & Suocheng Dong & Yu Li & Zehong Li & Duoxun Ba & Wenbiao Zhang, 2020. "Research on the Spatial Differentiation and Driving Forces of Eco-Efficiency of Regional Tourism in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-23, December.
    4. Trinks, Arjan & Mulder, Machiel & Scholtens, Bert, 2020. "An Efficiency Perspective on Carbon Emissions and Financial Performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    5. Victoria Vicario-Modroño & Rosa Gallardo-Cobos & Pedro Sánchez-Zamora, 2023. "Sustainability evaluation of olive oil mills in Andalusia (Spain): a study based on composite indicators," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 6363-6392, July.
    6. Leonidas Sotirios Kyrgiakos & Georgios Kleftodimos & George Vlontzos & Panos M. Pardalos, 2023. "A systematic literature review of data envelopment analysis implementation in agriculture under the prism of sustainability," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 1-38, March.
    7. Georgios Tsaples & Jason Papathanasiou & Andreas C. Georgiou, 2022. "An Exploratory DEA and Machine Learning Framework for the Evaluation and Analysis of Sustainability Composite Indicators in the EU," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(13), pages 1-27, June.
    8. Fengyi Lin & Sheng-Wei Lin & Wen-Min Lu, 2018. "Sustainability Assessment of Taiwan’s Semiconductor Industry: A New Hybrid Model Using Combined Analytic Hierarchy Process and Two-Stage Additive Network Data Envelopment Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-16, November.
    9. Bing Xia & Suocheng Dong & Zehong Li & Minyan Zhao & Dongqi Sun & Wenbiao Zhang & Yu Li, 2022. "Eco-Efficiency and Its Drivers in Tourism Sectors with Respect to Carbon Emissions from the Supply Chain: An Integrated EEIO and DEA Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-26, June.
    10. Qingwei Shi & Hong Ren & Weiguang Cai & Jingxin Gao, 2020. "How to Set the Proper CO 2 Reduction Targets for the Provincial Building Sector of China?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-22, December.
    11. Shih-Heng Yu, 2019. "Benchmarking and Performance Evaluation Towards the Sustainable Development of Regions in Taiwan: A Minimum Distance-Based Measure with Undesirable Outputs in Additive DEA," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 1323-1348, August.
    12. Qu, Jingjing & Wang, Baohui & Liu, Xiaohong, 2022. "A modified super-efficiency network data envelopment analysis: Assessing regional sustainability performance in China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PB).
    13. Svetlana Ratner & Andrey Lychev & Aleksei Rozhnov & Igor Lobanov, 2021. "Efficiency Evaluation of Regional Environmental Management Systems in Russia Using Data Envelopment Analysis," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(18), pages 1-21, September.
    14. Rafael Benítez & Vicente Coll-Serrano & Vicente J. Bolós, 2021. "deaR-Shiny: An Interactive Web App for Data Envelopment Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-19, June.
    15. Linlin Zhao & Lin Zhang & Yong Zha, 2019. "Industrial Efficiency Evaluation in China: A Nonparametric Production-Frontier Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-23, September.
    16. Ioannis Gkouvitsos & Ioannis Giannikos, 2022. "Using a MACBETH based multicriteria approach for virtual weight restrictions in each stage of a DEA multi-stage ranking process," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1787-1811, July.
    17. Carlos Serrano-Cinca & Yolanda Fuertes-Callén & Beatriz Cuellar-Fernández, 2021. "Managing for Stakeholders Using Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making Techniques," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 581-601, September.
    18. Anna Łozowicka, 2020. "Evaluation of the Efficiency of Sustainable Development Policy Implementation in Selected EU Member States Using DEA. The Ecological Dimension," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, January.
    19. Sinuany-Stern, Zilla, 2023. "Foundations of operations research: From linear programming to data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(3), pages 1069-1080.
    20. Zhang, Lin & Zhao, Linlin & Zha, Yong, 2021. "Efficiency evaluation of Chinese regional industrial systems using a dynamic two-stage DEA approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 77(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:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:20:p:10719-:d:654966. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.