Research and Optimization of the Coupling and Coordination of Environmental Regulation, Technological Innovation, and Green Development

Environmental regulation and technological innovation play important strategic roles in green growth, and the three systems interact and influence each other. Herein, we used a comprehensive development level evaluation model for calculating the environmental regulation and technological innovation indices for 17 cities in Shandong Province. We used the slack-based measure-data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) model to measure green development efficiency. The coupling coordination degree model was used to determine the coordination of environmental regulation, technological innovation, and green development; we divided the cities into three systems: green economy lagging, environmental regulation lagging, and technological innovation lagging. We used grey correlation analysis to explore the factors affecting system development. Eastern coastal cities were better developed in the three systems and the degree of coupling and coordination, like Qingdao and Weihai, and the observed level of technological innovation development, a critical factor in the coordinated development of cities, was lowest in Shandong Province. The grey correlation analysis illustrated that the level of economic development and the level of foreign economic development impacts cities labeled green economy lagging; the impact of pollutant emissions is greater than pollution control expenditure in environmental regulation lagging cities; and the government’s attention and the cultivation and attraction of talent are foundational for technological innovation in lagging cities. Considering these factors, we make recommendations for the optimal development of cities and coordinated development of regions.