Abstract
With the increase in haze pollution in Chinese cities, answering the question of whether using a high-speed rail (HSR) as a green and efficient transportation system can alleviate haze pollution in China has become a research hotspot. This study empirically tests the impact of HSR network construction on haze pollution and its spatial spillover effects. (1) The construction of a HSR would have a mitigation effect on haze pollution in node cities and surrounding cities, and the more developed the HSR is, the more significant that this effect would be. (2) Haze pollution persists for a long time, the haze pollution from the previous year may have a positive promoting effect on the haze pollution in the following year. (3) The use of a HSR reduces haze pollution by replacing traditional road transportation and promoting industrial structure upgrading and technological innovation. (4) The inhibitory effect of HSR use on haze pollution varies due to regional differences and variation in city size.
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Data availability
The datasets used or analyzed in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Notes
According to the Notice on Adjusting the Criteria for Adjusting the Scale of Cities that was issued by the State Council, 285 cities are divided into large cities and small and medium-sized cities with a population of 1 million as the standard.
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Funding
This work was supported by the National Fund of Philosophy and Social Science of China (Grant No. 23BGL316).
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ZQL: data curation, formal analysis, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing.
SJG: data curation, formal analysis.
WL: project administration, funding acquisition, conceptualization, supervision.
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Luan, Z., Guo, S. & Liang, W. Can the construction of a high-speed rail alleviate haze pollution: an empirical analysis based on social networks and dynamic spatial econometric models. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 14990–15006 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-31845-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-31845-w