Abstract
This study explores the dynamic relationship between industrial pollution and urban economic development in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration based on the EKC hypothesis. In this paper, we use a panel dataset covering 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta from 2006 to 2019 for the analysis, group the samples by a panel threshold model, and use a fixed-effects model for EKC estimation. The result shows that the EKC forms in different regions of the Yangtze River Delta are all N-shaped, and most cities are between two inflection points. The relationship is developing for the better in the short term, but the situation is not optimistic in the long term. The current industrial transformation has not been fully effective, and the development of industries still increases environmental pollution. The level of foreign investment will reduce pollution emissions. The effectiveness of environmental regulation is related to the city’s development stage and has not been fully highlighted in the Yangtze River Delta. Based on the findings, this study concludes that environmental improvement should be used as an essential channel for sustainable urban development to enhance economic innovation and competitiveness. Meanwhile, it is necessary to promote industrial structure upgrading further, actively introduce foreign investment, strengthen regulation, and establish a two-way interaction mechanism between cities to increase R&D expenditures for eco-friendly industrial operations.
Highlights
-
The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is valid in the Yangtze River Delta, with heterogeneity.
-
The pollution halo hypothesis is supported in the Yangtze River Delta.
-
The effectiveness of environmental regulation in the Yangtze River Delta is not fully highlighted.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Addae, E. A., Sun, D., & Abban, O. J. (2022). Evaluating the effect of urbanization and foreign direct investment on water use efficiency in West Africa: Application of the dynamic slacks-based model and the common correlated effects mean group estimator. Environment Development and Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02284-9.
Albulescu, C. T., Tiwari, A. K., Yoon, S. M., & Kang, S. H. (2019). FDI, income, and environmental pollution in Latin America: Replication and extension using panel quantiles regression analysis. Energy Economics, 84, 104504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2019.104504.
Ali, S. H., & de Oliveira, J. A. P. (2018). Pollution and economic development: An empirical research review. Environmental Research Letters, 13(12), 123003. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaeea7.
Aslam, B., Hu, J., Hafeez, M., Ma, D., AlGarni, T. S., Saeed, M., & Hussain, S. (2021). Applying environmental Kuznets curve framework to assess the nexus of industry, globalization, and CO2 emission. Environmental Technology & Innovation, 21, 101377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2021.101377.
Balado-Naves, R., Baños-Pino, J. F., & Mayor, M. (2018). Do countries influence neighbouring pollution? A spatial analysis of the EKC for CO2 emissions. Energy Policy, 123, 266–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.059.
Cai, X., Che, X., Zhu, B., Zhao, J., & Rui, X. (2018). Will developing countries become pollution havens for developed countries? An empirical investigation in the Belt and Road. Journal of Cleaner Production, 198, 624–632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.06.291.
Cao, Y., Wang, Q., & Zhou, D. (2022). Does air pollution inhibit manufacturing productivity in Yangtze River Delta, China? Moderating effects of temperature. Journal of Environmental Management, 306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114492.
CGTN (2019). Yangtze River Delta to achieve new heights in China’s opening-up drive. China Daily. Retrieved from https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201912/03/WS5de5c3a1a310cf3e3557b93e.html.
Chen, H., Hao, Y., Li, J., & Song, X. (2018). The impact of environmental regulation, shadow economy, and corruption on environmental quality: Theory and empirical evidence from China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 195, 200–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.05.206.
Chen, L., Li, K., Chen, S., Wang, X., & Tang, L. (2021). Industrial activity, energy structure, and environmental pollution in China. Energy Economics, 104, 105633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105633.
Chu, H., Liu, M., Wang, M., Qie, X., & Ning, Y. (2023). Measurement and analysis of the comprehensive emission intensity and coupling coordination relationship of carbon dioxide emissions and pollutant emissions in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration. Atmospheric Pollution Research, 14(11). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2023.101897.
Du, G., Liu, S., Lei, N., & Huang, Y. (2018). A test of environmental Kuznets curve for haze pollution in China: Evidence from the penal data of 27 capital cities. Journal of Cleaner Production, 205, 821–827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.330.
Fang, G., Chen, G., Yang, K., Yin, W., & Tian, L. (2024).How does green fiscal expenditure promote green total factor energy efficiency?—Evidence from Chinese 254 cities. Applied Energy, 353, 122098. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.122098.
Fang, G., Gao, Z., & Sun, C. (2023). How the new energy industry contributes to carbon reduction?—Evidence from China. Journal of Environmental Management, 329, 117066. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.122098.
Fang, G., Gao, Z., Wang, L., & Tian, L. (2022). How does green innovation drive urban carbon emission efficiency? —Evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Journal of Cleaner Production, 375, 134196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134196.
Gan, T., Yang, H., & Liang, W. (2021). How do urban haze pollution and economic development affect each other? Empirical evidence from 287 Chinese cities during 2000–2016. Sustainable Cities and Society, 65, 102642. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102642.
Gengenbach, C., Palm, F. C., & Urbain, J. P. (2006). Cointegration Testing in panels with common Factors. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 68(s1), 683–719. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0084.2006.00452.x.
Grossman, G. M., & Krueger, A. B. (1995). Economic growth and the environment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110(2), 353–377. https://doi.org/10.2307/2118443.
Hansen, B. E. (1999). Threshold effects in non-dynamic panels: Estimation, testing, and inference. Journal of Econometrics, 93(2), 345–368. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-4076(99)00025-1.
Hao, Y., Zhang, T., Jing, L., & Xiao, L. (2019). Would the decoupling of electricity occur along with economic growth? Empirical evidence from the panel data analysis for 100 Chinese cities. Energy, 180, 615–625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.05.014.
Hao, Y., Wu, Y., Wu, H., & Ren, S. (2020a). How do FDI and technical innovation affect environmental quality? Evidence from China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(8), 7835–7850. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07411-0.
Hao, Y., Zheng, S., Zhao, M., Wu, H., Guo, Y., & Li, Y. (2020b). Reexamining the relationships among urbanization, industrial structure, and environmental pollution in China—New evidence using the dynamic threshold panel model. Energy Reports, 6, 28–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2019.11.029.
Jia, X., Hu, B., Marchant, B. P., Zhou, L., Shi, Z., & Zhu, Y. (2019). A methodological framework for identifying potential sources of soil heavy metal pollution based on machine learning: A case study in the Yangtze Delta, China. Environmental Pollution, 250, 601–609. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2019.04.047.
Leal, P. H., & Marques, A. C. (2020). Rediscovering the EKC hypothesis for the 20 highest CO2 emitters among OECD countries by level of globalization. International Economics, 164, 36–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inteco.2020.07.001.
Li, W., & Lin, W. (2016). Circular economy policies in China. Towards a Circular Economy: Corporate Management and Policy Pathways, 95–111.
Li, R., & Ramanathan, R. (2018). Exploring the relationships between different types of environmental regulations and environmental performance: Evidence from China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 196, 1329–1340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.06.132.
Li, M., Du, W., & Tang, S. (2021). Assessing the impact of environmental regulation and environmental co-governance on pollution transfer: Micro-evidence from China. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 86, 106467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2020.106467.
Li, W., Chen, Z., Li, M., Zhang, H., Li, M., Qiu, X., & Zhou, C. (2023). Carbon emission and economic development trade-offs for optimizing land-use allocation in the Yangtze River Delta, China. Ecological Indicators, 147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.109950.
Liu, Y., & Lai, X. (2021). EKC and carbon footprint of cross-border waste transfer: Evidence from 134 countries. Ecological Indicators, 129, 107961. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107961.
Liu, Y., Sun, H., Meng, B., Jin, S., & Chen, B. (2023). How to purchase carbon emission right optimally for energy-consuming enterprises? Analysis based on optimal stopping model. Energy Economics, 124, 106758. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2023.106758.
Lu, X., Zhang, S., Xing, J., Wang, Y., Chen, W., Ding, D., & Hao, J. (2020). Progress of Air Pollution Control in China and its challenges and opportunities in the ecological civilization era. Engineering, 6(12), 1423–1431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eng.2020.03.014.
Murshed, M., Ali, S. R., & Banerjee, S. (2021). Consumption of liquefied petroleum gas and the EKC hypothesis in South Asia: Evidence from cross-sectionally dependent heterogeneous panel data with structural breaks. Energy Ecology and Environment, 6(4), 353–377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40974-020-00185-z.
Ouyang, X., Shao, Q., Zhu, X., He, Q., Xiang, C., & Wei, G. (2019). Environmental regulation, economic growth and air pollution: Panel threshold analysis for OECD countries. Science of the Total Environment, 657, 234–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.056.
Pata, U. K., & Caglar, A. E. (2021). Investigating the EKC hypothesis with renewable energy consumption, human capital, globalization and trade openness for China: Evidence from augmented ARDL approach with a structural break. Energy, 216, 119220.
Shaker, R. R. (2018). A mega-index for the Americas and its underlying sustainable development correlations. Ecological Indicators, 89(JUN.), 466–479.
Shen, N., Liao, H., Deng, R., & Wang, Q. (2019). Different types of environmental regulations and the heterogeneous influence on the environmental total factor productivity: Empirical analysis of China’s industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 211, 171–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.170.
Sun, Y., Li, Y., Yu, T., Zhang, X., Liu, L., & Zhang, P. (2021). Resource extraction, environmental pollution and economic development: Evidence from prefecture-level cities in China. Resources Policy, 74, 102330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102330.
Sun, H., Chen, T., & Wang, C. N. (2023b). Spatial impact of digital finance on carbon productivity. Geoscience Frontiers, 101674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2023.101674.
Sun, B., Fang, C., Liao, X., Guo, X., & Liu, Z. (2023a). The relationship between urbanization and air pollution affected by intercity factor mobility: A case of the Yangtze River Delta region. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2023.107092.
Wang, J., Zhang, X., Yang, Q., Zhang, K., Zheng, Y., & Zhou, G. (2018). Pollution characteristics of atmospheric dustfall and heavy metals in a typical inland heavy industry city in China. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 71, 283–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2018.05.031.
Wang, K., Zhu, Y., & Zhang, J. (2021). Decoupling economic development from municipal solid waste generation in China’s cities: Assessment and prediction based on Tapio method and EKC models. Waste Management, 133, 37–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2021.07.034.
Wang, H., Liu, C., Xiong, L., & Wang, F. (2023). The spatial spillover effect and impact paths of agricultural industry agglomeration on agricultural non-point source pollution: A case study in Yangtze River Delta, China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.136600.
Wu, C., Wei, Y. D., Huang, X., & Chen, B. (2017). Economic transition, spatial development and urban land use efficiency in the Yangtze River Delta, China. Habitat International, 63, 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2017.03.012.
Wu, J., Abban, O. J., Boadi, A. D., Addae, E. A., Akhtar, M., Hongxing, Y., & Ofori, C. (2022). Time–frequency contained co-movement of renewable electricity production, globalization, and CO2 emissions: A wavelet-based analysis in Asia. Energy Reports, 8, 15189–15205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2022.11.054.
Xu, X., Yang, G., Tan, Y., Zhuang, Q., Tang, X., Zhao, K., & Wang, S. (2017). Factors influencing industrial carbon emissions and strategies for carbon mitigation in the Yangtze River Delta of China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 142, 3607–3616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.10.107.
Xu, C., Zhang, Y., Cheng, B., Li, L., & Zhang, M. (2020). Study on environmental Kuznets curve for noise pollution: A case of 111 Chinese cities. Sustainable Cities and Society, 63, 102493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102493.
Yang, D., Chen, Y., Miao, C., & Liu, D. (2020). Spatiotemporal variation of PM 2.5 concentrations and its relationship to urbanization in the Yangtze river delta region, China. Atmospheric Pollution Research, 11(3), 491–498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2019.11.021.
Yu, D., & Zhang, M. (2016). Resolution of the heterogeneity difficulty and re-verification of the Carbon Emission EKC——Based on the Country Grouping Test under the threshold regression. China Industrial Economics(07), 57–73.
Yu, Y. Z., Li, K., Duan, S. L., & Song, C. C. (2023). Economic growth and environmental pollution in China: New evidence from government work reports. Energy Economics, 124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2023.106803.
Zhang, G., Jia, Y., Su, B., & Xiu, J. (2021). Environmental regulation, economic development and air pollution in the cities of China: Spatial econometric analysis based on policy scoring and satellite data. Journal of Cleaner Production, 328, 129496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.129496.
Zhao, Y., Wang, S., & Zhou, C. (2016). Understanding the relation between urbanization and the eco-environment in China’s Yangtze River Delta using an improved EKC model and coupling analysis. Science of the Total Environment, 571, 862–875. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.07.067.
Zhou, Q., Zhang, X., Shao, Q., & Wang, X. (2019). The non-linear effect of environmental regulation on haze pollution: Empirical evidence for 277 Chinese cities during 2002–2010. Journal of Environmental Management, 248, 109274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.109274.
Funding
The financial assistance provided by MOE (Ministry of Education in China) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences (21YJCZH139); the Social Science fund of Jiangsu Province (21GLB007); the National Social Science Fund of China (21AZD067; 20BGL113); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71704068; 72174076) Research Project of Institute of Common Prosperity in Jiangsu University (GFYB005), and Key Research Base of Universities in Jiangsu Province for Philosophy and Social Science “Research Center for Green Development and Environmental Governance” is highly appreciated by researchers of this study. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Sun, D., Wei, J., Shi, M. et al. Developing while polluting? Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta in China. Environ Dev Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-04951-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-04951-5