TITLE:
The Impact of Energy Consumption and Economic Development on Changes in China’s Provincial-Level Environmental Quality
AUTHORS:
Wan-Ping Yang, Ban Lan, Kunshi Zheng
KEYWORDS:
Energy Consumption; Economic Development; Dynamic Comprehensive Evaluation; Pollution Emissions Index; Panel Data Model
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.4 No.4,
April
26,
2013
ABSTRACT: Based on the features of energy consumption
and economic development in China,
since single pollutant can hardly express the situation of environmental pollution,
we propose a pollution emissions index that can reflect the level of environmental
quality, measure China’s
28 provinces’ environmental quality from 1995 to 2010 with a dynamic objective evaluation
method based on the overall differences first time. Then panel data model was applied
to analyze the impact of energy consumption and economic development on China’s
and regional environmental quality. The results showed that emissions index varied
among different regions and there was great potential for emission reduction; there
was a significant positive correlation between emissions index and scale of economies
and industrial structure; there was a negative correlation between emissions index
and energy efficiency, energy prices and degree of opening up. Policy implications
are as follows: 1) reduction policies should be made in line with local conditions; 2) the eastern
region is the key areas of emissions reduction; 3) to improve energy
efficiency is an important way to reduce emissions.