Regional Differences in PM<sub>2.5</sub> Environmental Efficiency and Its Driving Mechanism in Zhejiang Province, China
Improving the digital economy and environmental governance efficiency are important methods for current high-quality economic development. Based on the panel data of 11 cities in Zhejiang, on the eastern coast of China, fine particulate matter smaller than a 2.5 μm (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) env...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Atmosphere |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/14/4/672 |
| _version_ | 1797606430816075776 |
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| author | Xuejuan Fang Bing Gao Shenghui Cui Lei Ding Lihong Wang Yang Shen |
| author_facet | Xuejuan Fang Bing Gao Shenghui Cui Lei Ding Lihong Wang Yang Shen |
| author_sort | Xuejuan Fang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Improving the digital economy and environmental governance efficiency are important methods for current high-quality economic development. Based on the panel data of 11 cities in Zhejiang, on the eastern coast of China, fine particulate matter smaller than a 2.5 μm (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) environmental efficiency (PMEE) was measured by the undesirable output Slack-Based Measure-Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM-DEA) model. The fixed effect regression model, the divergences in the difference model and other empirical methods were obtained to test the driving mechanism of social-economic factors on the PMEE. The results showed that: (1) the concentration of PM<sub>2.5</sub> was continually decreasing, and environmental quality experienced a continuous improvement in Zhejiang province in the observation period, although cities such as Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Shaoxing have relatively severe PM<sub>2.5</sub> pollution. (2) The total average value of PMEE in Zhejiang was 0.6430 over the observation period, while there was still a lot of room for improvement when compared to the production frontier. Additionally, PMEE in each city showed a fluctuating growth trend. Cities with a higher PMEE were mainly Zhoushan, Hangzhou and Ningbo. (3) The level of the digital economy had a positive role in promoting the PMEE, which was statistically significant. The level of pollution control and technological innovation also had a significantly positive effect. However, the ratio of the industrial output value to the gross domestic product (GDP) presented a negative effect on the PMEE. In the future, it is suggested that the development of the urban digital economy should be accelerated in an all-around way to improve the efficiency of government pollution control and to improve the technical efficiency of PM<sub>2.5</sub> via innovative technological progress. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T05:15:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-797025d9735f46199f2d11637ff6281c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4433 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T05:15:05Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atmosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-797025d9735f46199f2d11637ff6281c2023-11-17T18:17:09ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332023-04-0114467210.3390/atmos14040672Regional Differences in PM<sub>2.5</sub> Environmental Efficiency and Its Driving Mechanism in Zhejiang Province, ChinaXuejuan Fang0Bing Gao1Shenghui Cui2Lei Ding3Lihong Wang4Yang Shen5Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, ChinaKey Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, ChinaKey Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, ChinaIndustrial Economic Research Center around Hangzhou Bay, Ningbo Polytechnic, Ningbo 315800, ChinaKey Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, ChinaIndustrial Economic Research Center around Hangzhou Bay, Ningbo Polytechnic, Ningbo 315800, ChinaImproving the digital economy and environmental governance efficiency are important methods for current high-quality economic development. Based on the panel data of 11 cities in Zhejiang, on the eastern coast of China, fine particulate matter smaller than a 2.5 μm (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) environmental efficiency (PMEE) was measured by the undesirable output Slack-Based Measure-Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM-DEA) model. The fixed effect regression model, the divergences in the difference model and other empirical methods were obtained to test the driving mechanism of social-economic factors on the PMEE. The results showed that: (1) the concentration of PM<sub>2.5</sub> was continually decreasing, and environmental quality experienced a continuous improvement in Zhejiang province in the observation period, although cities such as Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Shaoxing have relatively severe PM<sub>2.5</sub> pollution. (2) The total average value of PMEE in Zhejiang was 0.6430 over the observation period, while there was still a lot of room for improvement when compared to the production frontier. Additionally, PMEE in each city showed a fluctuating growth trend. Cities with a higher PMEE were mainly Zhoushan, Hangzhou and Ningbo. (3) The level of the digital economy had a positive role in promoting the PMEE, which was statistically significant. The level of pollution control and technological innovation also had a significantly positive effect. However, the ratio of the industrial output value to the gross domestic product (GDP) presented a negative effect on the PMEE. In the future, it is suggested that the development of the urban digital economy should be accelerated in an all-around way to improve the efficiency of government pollution control and to improve the technical efficiency of PM<sub>2.5</sub> via innovative technological progress.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/14/4/672PM<sub>2.5</sub>SBM-DEAenvironmental efficiencydigital economyZhejiang province |
| spellingShingle | Xuejuan Fang Bing Gao Shenghui Cui Lei Ding Lihong Wang Yang Shen Regional Differences in PM<sub>2.5</sub> Environmental Efficiency and Its Driving Mechanism in Zhejiang Province, China Atmosphere PM<sub>2.5</sub> SBM-DEA environmental efficiency digital economy Zhejiang province |
| title | Regional Differences in PM<sub>2.5</sub> Environmental Efficiency and Its Driving Mechanism in Zhejiang Province, China |
| title_full | Regional Differences in PM<sub>2.5</sub> Environmental Efficiency and Its Driving Mechanism in Zhejiang Province, China |
| title_fullStr | Regional Differences in PM<sub>2.5</sub> Environmental Efficiency and Its Driving Mechanism in Zhejiang Province, China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Regional Differences in PM<sub>2.5</sub> Environmental Efficiency and Its Driving Mechanism in Zhejiang Province, China |
| title_short | Regional Differences in PM<sub>2.5</sub> Environmental Efficiency and Its Driving Mechanism in Zhejiang Province, China |
| title_sort | regional differences in pm sub 2 5 sub environmental efficiency and its driving mechanism in zhejiang province china |
| topic | PM<sub>2.5</sub> SBM-DEA environmental efficiency digital economy Zhejiang province |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/14/4/672 |
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