Panel Data Analysis of Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction On High-Quality Development of Logistics Industry in Yangtze River Delta of China

With the implementation of China's carbon neutrality policy, the Yangtze River Delta region, as a benchmark for the development of China's logistics industry, calls for great concern, accompanying the energy consumption and environmental problems. In order to explore how China's logistics industry can achieve both energy conservation and emission reduction (ECER) and high-quality development in the context of carbon neutrality, this study analyzes the relationship between the development of logistics industry and the economy, energy together with environment in the Yangtze River Delta region based on the data of China Statistical Yearbook from 2001 to 2019, by means of the Entropy method and PVAR model. The main findings are summarized as follows: firstly, the economy, industrial structure, energy and environment all have significant impact on the development of logistics industry in Yangtze River Delta region. Secondly, the development of logistics industry in Yangtze River Delta region is not balanced, and the provinces including Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Anhui have great differences in economy, industrial structure, demographic dividend, energy consumption and environmental protection, and the possibility of complementary advantages. Thirdly, the economic development and energy consumption are two-way effects. Environmental protection is relevant to economic development, industrial structure, energy consumption and logistics supply. Finally, in the context of carbon neutrality, this paper gives some suggestions on how to realize the high-quality development of logistics industry in Yangtze River Delta region while considering energy consumption and environmental protection.

Spatiotemporal Characterization of the Urban Expansion Patterns in the Yangtze River Delta Region

Characterizing urban expansion patterns is of great significance to planning and decision-making for urban agglomeration development. This study examined the urban expansion in the entire Yangtze River Delta Region (YRDR) with its land-use data of six years (1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2018). On the basis of traditional methods, we comprehensively considered the four aspects of urban agglomeration: expansion speed, expansion difference, expansion direction, and landscape pattern, as well as the interconnection of and difference in the expansion process between each city. The spatiotemporal heterogeneity of urban expansion development in this region was investigated by using the speed and differentiation indices of urban expansion, gravity center migration, landscape indices, and spatial autocorrelations. The results show that: (1) over the 23 years, the expansion of built-up land in the Yangtze River Delta Region was significant, (2) the rapidly expanding cities were mainly located along the Yangtze River and coastal areas, while the slowly expanding cities were mainly located in the inland areas, (3) the expansion direction of each city varied and the gravity center of the urban agglomeration moved toward the southwest, and (4) the spatial structure of the region became more clustered, the shape of built-up land turned simpler, and fragmentation decreased. This study unravels the spatiotemporal change of urban expansion patterns in this large urban agglomeration, and more importantly, can serve as a guide for formulating urban agglomeration development plans.