The Spatial and Temporal Research on the Coupling and Coordinated Relationship between Social Economy and Energy Environment in the Belt and Road Initiatives

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was presented by China’s central government to achieve regional economic cooperation under the background of economic globalization. Energy and environmental problems, as by-products of economic success, are fundamental concerns in this grand project. An integrated method that combined the coupling coordinated degree model, Moran’s I, and the spatial panel data model was used in the research zone. Results of the coupling coordinated degree model indicated that the statuses of the social economy and the energy environment of the countries in the research zone improved from 1997 to 2014, with the changes in China and Eastern Europe being particularly significant. From the spatial econometric perspective, the coupling coordinated degrees of the countries in the research zone appeared in the spatial cluster in accordance with Moran’s I. The result of the spatial panel data model indicated that the coupling coordinated degree of one country positively affected those of its neighboring countries.