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Measuring the nexus between economic development and environmental quality based on environmental Kuznets curve: a comparative study between China and Germany for the period of 2000–2017

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Abstract

With the rapid development of China's economy, the problem of environmental pollution has become increasingly serious. Given that China’s current environmental quality threatens its long-term sustainable economic development, certain attention must be paid to curb environmental pollution in China. As a developed country with a high level of environmental quality in the world, Germany has experienced “Treatment after Pollution”. To promote China’s environmental quality, this study considers the historical lessons offered by Germany and examines the relationship between environmental pollution and economic development as well as the effective environmental governance mode in Germany and China. Based on the panel data of 30 provincial administrative regions in China and 16 states in Germany from 2000 to 2017, this study quantitatively investigates the nexus of economic growth and environmental pollution in the two countries. Empirical results demonstrate that, during the sample period of 2000–2017, the emissions of four pollutants in both countries increase initially and then decrease as the economy grows. The levels of per capita gross domestic product (GDP) that correspond to the emission peaks of sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxides are comparable in the two countries. Some economic and industrial policies may help to accelerate the occurrence of the turning point, including the following: decreasing the importance of a secondary industry; taking full advantage of the structural and technical effects brought about by foreign trade; reducing the reliance on non-clean energy; and carrying out more effective energy policies. In this regard, coordinating environmental policies with economic growth, formulating strict environmental policies, improving industrial structure, optimizing energy structure, and improving the quality of foreign trade are pivotal for China's sustainable development goals.

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Notes

  1. Tibet Autonomous Region, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan Province were not included in the study due to incomplete data.

  2. Since German provincial pollutant emissions are estimated on the basis of 1900, it is difficult to carry out international unit conversion, and whether to carry out unit conversion makes no difference to this study, so the original data were used in this paper.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72073010, 71761137001, 71521002), the key research program of the Beijing Social Science Foundation (17JDYJA009), and the Special Fund for Joint Development Program of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education. The authors want to express our sincere gratitude to Dr. Chun Xia and her colleagues at Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy for their help in collecting German data for this paper. The authors are also very grateful to three anonymous reviewers, JEO Assistant Prof. Dr. Blessy Mary Mathew and Associate Editor Prof. Dr. Jesus Pena-Vinces for their insightful comments that helped us sufficiently improve the quality of this paper. The usual disclaimer applies.

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  1. Yu Hao, Shang Gao, Yunxia Guo, Zhiqiang Gai & Haitao Wu

    Present address: School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, 5 Zhongguancun South Street, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, China

  2. Yunxia Guo and Haitao Wu have contributed equally to this study and share first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yu Hao & Haitao Wu

  2. Beijing Key Lab of Energy Economics and Environmental Management, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yu Hao

  3. Sustainable Development Research Institute for Economy and Society of Beijing, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yu Hao

  4. Collaborative Innovation Center of Electric Vehicles in Beijing, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yu Hao

Authors
  1. Yu Hao
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  2. Shang Gao
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  3. Yunxia Guo
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  4. Zhiqiang Gai
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  5. Haitao Wu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yu Hao or Haitao Wu.

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Hao, Y., Gao, S., Guo, Y. et al. Measuring the nexus between economic development and environmental quality based on environmental Kuznets curve: a comparative study between China and Germany for the period of 2000–2017. Environ Dev Sustain 23, 16848–16873 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01365-5

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