scholarly journals Sustainable Evolution of China’s Regional Energy Efficiency Based on a Weighted SBM Model with Energy Substitutability

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 10073
Author(s):  
Wei Yang ◽  
Zudi Lu ◽  
Di Wang ◽  
Yanmin Shao ◽  
Jinfeng Shi
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Efficient Frontier ◽  
Yangtze River Delta ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Transfer Policy ◽  
Eastern Area ◽  
Regional Energy ◽  
Economic Zones

The rapid economy expansion in China has substantially increased energy consumption. Under the stringent environmental policy and the requirement of green economy development, the accurate assessment and analysis of energy efficiency is an increasingly significant issue for energy development policy making in China. This study uses the weighted slacks-based model (weighted SBM) considering the energy substitutability to evaluate the regional energy efficiency (EE) in 29 Chinese provinces, from 1991 to 2015, and explores the sustainable evolution characteristics of EE by comparative and convergence analyses from different perspectives. The empirical results show that EE has significant geographic differences. On the one hand, EE increases from the west to the east of China, and its volatility has a rising trend over the period 1991–2015. Only the EE in the eastern area had a stable rising trend, and the EE differences are difficult to reduce in the short term. On the other hand, the economic zones in the south of China, such as Central Bohai, Pearl River Delta, and Yangtze River Delta, have higher EE. We also find a significant EE improvement occurred during the Eleventh and the Twelfth Five-Year plans. By means of the convergence analysis of energy efficiency across different areas and economic zones over different time intervals, it is shown that EE in the southeast coast provinces have a better catching-up effect and adjustment rate toward the efficient frontier, while the western inland provinces are less effective over the period 1991–2005. Further, we empirically find that the industry policies including industry transfer policy promote EE globally, but the regional differences and fluctuations in EE remain serious. Certain policy implications are discussed with regard to sustainable regional development and an effective industry transfer policy.

Government cooperation, market integration, and energy efficiency in urban agglomerations—Based on the quasi-natural experiment of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Economic Coordination Committee

2021 ◽  
pp. 0958305X2110474
Author(s):  
Da Gao ◽  
Ge Li ◽  
Yi Li
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Market Integration ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Yangtze River Delta ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Urban Agglomeration ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Yangtze River Delta

Energy efficiency is the key to green development, and the government plays a vital role in energy efficiency. This paper clarifies the mechanism by which the Yangtze River Delta Economic Coordination Committee affects the energy efficiency of urban agglomeration by promoting market integration. Based on panel data of China's prefecture-level cities from 2004 to 2017, we take the Yangtze River Delta Economic Coordination Committee as a quasi-natural experiment of government cooperation and use the difference-in-difference method to test whether this organization has enhanced the energy efficiency of urban agglomeration. The results show that the Yangtze River Delta Economic Coordination Committee can significantly improve energy efficiency in urban agglomerations. The mechanism analysis shows that it reduces the energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by enhancing the marketization level, perfecting the relationship between the government and the market, and improving the factor market development. The heterogeneity analysis shows that cities with lower city size, lower level of innovation, and cleaner industrial structures gain more benefits in energy efficiency from government cooperation in urban agglomeration. This paper provides empirical evidence for cities to realize integrated energy conservation through government cooperation and market integration.

scholarly journals Spatial-Temporal Differences and Influencing Factors of Tourism Eco-Efficiency in China’s Three Major Urban Agglomerations Based on the Super-EBM Model

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4156
Author(s):  
Yiyang Sun ◽  
Guolin Hou ◽  
Zhenfang Huang ◽  
Yi Zhong
Keyword(s):  
Pearl River Delta ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Yangtze River Delta ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
External Factors ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
Urban Agglomerations

On the background of climate change, studying tourism eco-efficiency of cities is of great significance to promote the green development of tourism. Based on the panel data of the three major urban agglomerations in China’s Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region from 2008 to 2017, this paper constructed an evaluation index system and measured the tourism eco-efficiency of 63 cities by using a hybrid distance model called Super-EBM (epsilon-based measure). We compared the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of tourism eco-efficiency in the three urban agglomerations. Furthermore, the internal factors influencing tourism eco-efficiency were explored through input–output redundancy, and the external factors were analyzed by a panel regression model. The results indicate that the tourism eco-efficiency of the three urban agglomerations in China generally shows a decreasing-rising-declining trend. Among them, the Yangtze River Delta has the highest eco-efficiency, followed by the Pearl River Delta, and the lowest in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. Moreover, there is a certain gap within each urban agglomeration. The redundancy input of labor and capital is the main internal cause of low eco-efficiency. Among the external factors, the status of the tourism industry and the level of urbanization have a positive effect on eco-efficiency, while the level of tourism development, technological innovation and investment have a negative impact on it. In the future, we must attach great importance to the development quality and overall benefit value of the tourism industry so as to achieve green and balanced development of the three major urban agglomerations in eastern China. Based on the above conclusions, this paper puts forward targeted policy implications to improve the tourism eco-efficiency of cities.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Tourism Revenue in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration Region during 2001–2019

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3658
Author(s):  
Gengying Jiao ◽  
Lin Lu ◽  
Guangsheng Chen ◽  
Zhiqiang Huang ◽  
Giuseppe T. Cirella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Yangtze River ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
Yangtze River Delta ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Urban Agglomeration ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
Variation Patterns ◽  
The Yangtze River Delta ◽  
Tourism Revenue

Green development is a solution to achieve sustainable development, while tourism development is one of the best approaches to realize a green economy. As the most rapid economic development region in China, the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) has also witnessed rapid changes in its tourism economy during 2001–2019. Here, we analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns of its tourism revenue, and further identified contributions from multiple socio-economic factors using spatial analysis tools and regression models. The total tourism revenue increased 14.35 fold, with an annual increase rate of 79.73% during 2001–2019. The proportion of tourism revenue to the GDP continuously increased from 11.57% in 2001 to 18.89% in 2019. Tourism revenue increased for all cities, with the least increasing rates in the metropolitan cities including Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou and Hangzhou, and the largest increase rates in Ma’anshan, Hefei, Huzhou and Zhoushan. A regression and causality test indicated that different socioeconomic factors controlled the spatiotemporal variation patterns in different cities. The economic structure in the YRDUA has undergone significant shifts, with an increasing importance of tourism revenue in the GDP for most cities and a reducing discrepancy of tourism revenue among cities. Our study can enable the policy makers to be aware of the magnitude, temporal variation patterns, differences among cities and controlling factors for tourism development, and thus take suitable measures to further promote green tourism development in the YRDUA region.

scholarly journals A Four-Dimensional Evaluation of the Urban Comprehensive Carrying Capacity of the Yangtze River Delta, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 6816 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qinglong Shao ◽  
Jiaying Li ◽  
Lingling Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Carrying Capacity ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Yangtze River Delta ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
The Yrd ◽  
The Yangtze River Delta ◽  
Comprehensive Carrying Capacity

The evaluation of urban comprehensive carrying capacity (UCC) is of great importance in maintaining urban socio-economic sustainable development. However, UCC is still in its nascent period with limited applications and a lack of credible assessment methods. To enrich this field, this study constructed an objective scientific index to evaluate the UCC of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region from a four-dimensional perspective, examining economy, society, environmental, and transportation subsystems. The improved entropy method based on 18 weighted indicators was used to measure the UCC of the 26 cities of the YRD for the period 1990–2018. Results indicate that nine cities were overloaded in 2018, meaning comprehensive carrying capacity demand exceeds supply, and the other seventeen were in loadable condition, meaning such demand did not exceed supply; the social and transportation subsystems are the most important because their index weights and UCC levels are higher than the other two subsystems; the overall UCC for all cities in the YRD is at a medium level, and there are large disparities between the various cities. The empirical results imply that the government should take effective measures to improve UCC in these cities, combining cities’ specific advantages to enhance the efficiency of resource allocation and utilization and improve carrying capacities, and changing the mode of economic development. Based on UCC levels, it is also important to improve environmental conditions and coordination and integration in the development of urbanization. Policy implications on improving UCC have been highlighted in the final section.

scholarly journals Total-Factor Eco-Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (20) ◽  
pp. 3814 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongyi Cheng ◽  
Tianyuan Shao ◽  
Huilin Lai ◽  
Manhong Shen ◽  
Yi Li
Keyword(s):  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Yangtze River Delta ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Urban Agglomeration ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
The Yangtze River Delta

Urban agglomerations are not only the core areas leading economic growth but also the fronts facing severe resource and environmental challenges. This paper aimed to increase our understanding of urban eco-efficiency and its influencing factors and thus provide the scientific basis for green development. We developed a model that incorporates super-efficiency, slacks-based-measure, and global-frontier technology to calculate the total-factor eco-efficiency (TFEE) and used a spatial panel Tobit model to take into account spatial spillover effects. An empirical study was conducted utilizing a prefecture-level dataset in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) from 2003 to 2016. The main findings reveal that significant spatial differences exist in TFEE in the YRDUA: high-TFEE cities were majorly located in the coastal areas, while low-TFEE cities were mostly situated inland. Overall, TFEE shows a trend of “decline first and then rise with fluctuation”; the disparity between inland and coastal regions has expanded. Further regression analysis suggests that industrial structure, environmental regulation, and innovation were positively related to TFEE, while foreign direct investment was not conducive to the growth in TFEE. The relationship between population intensity and urban eco-efficiency is an inverted U-shaped curve. Finally, several specific policy implications were raised based on the results.

scholarly journals Theoretical Model of Environmental Justice and Environmental Inequality in China’s Four Major Economic Zones

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 5923
Author(s):  
He ◽  
Wang ◽  
Ji ◽  
Wei ◽  
Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Pearl River Delta ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Yangtze River Delta ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
Environmental Inequality ◽  
Economic Zones ◽  
The Yangtze River Delta

With the change in China’s social structure and the emergence of the middle class, severe environmental pollution is stimulating the demand for social environmental justice in China. Facing the absence of environmental justice theory and related empirical research in China, this article introduces a general equilibrium theory model of environmental justice. It proves that under Pareto efficiency, environmental justice is difficult to achieve in a competitive market, and environmental inequality is the normal state. An econometric model is established based on demographic and socioeconomic factors, comparison with the US principle of environmental justice, and characteristic perspectives in the Chinese context. The study takes 444 counties in China’s four major economic zones, the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, and Chengdu–Chongqing, as the units for empirical analysis of the regional distribution of environmental inequality. The results indicate that rural residents bear higher environmental risks than urban residents. There are different environmentally vulnerable groups and environmental disparities among the four economic zones; notably, minorities in the Pearl River Delta, poor residents in Chengdu–Chongqing, and rural residents in the Yangtze River Delta bear the environmental inequality caused by industrial gas pollution. However, migrants, including rural migrants, do not disproportionately suffer environmental risks caused by industrial pollution at the county level. This paper provides theoretical support and a systematic analytical framework for the study of China’s environmental justice issues. We describe China’s environmental inequality status and provide a reference for the design of environmental justice interventions.

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