Efficiency Evaluation of Atmospheric Pollutants Emission in Zhejiang Province China: A DEA-Malmquist Based Approach

Abstract

In order to sustainably and reasonably evaluate the characteristics and efficiency of regional atmospheric environment, this paper calculated the atmospheric environmental efficiency and regional differences, which is based on the non-radial directional distance function DEA model, among 11 cities in Zhejiang Province from 2006 to 2016 in both static and dynamic dimensions. Compared with existing researches, the atmospheric environmental efficiency evaluation system constructed in this paper not only considered the development of regional economy, but also focused on the air quality output so as to constrain the emission of atmospheric pollutants. The results showed that the average value of the static efficiency of atmospheric environment in Zhejiang was 0.6824 over the past ten years, and there was still about 32 percentage difference from the production frontier. The room for improvement in pollution reduction and control was still huge. The pure technical efficiency was the main factor to impede the improvement of atmospheric environment’s static efficiency in Zhejiang. Meanwhile the dynamic efficiency of atmospheric environment in Zhejiang reached an average annual rate of 7.60%, with a cumulative increase of 93.28%. As well, there were significant urban differences in the growth rate, of which Hangzhou was the fastest, followed by Ningbo and Jiaxing. The improvement of atmospheric environmental efficiency was mainly driven by technological advancement and scale efficiency expansion. The distribution of 11 cities in the four high and low environmental efficiency matrices was relatively uniform, and there was no “Matthew Effect” of H/H or L/L polarization. In the future, Zhejiang needs to formulate corresponding measures to control the atmospheric pollution by fully considering the actual conditions at different cities, and effectively strengthen the environmental management exchanges and collaboration within the province to enhance the overall atmospheric environment efficiency.

Investigating the Relationship between the Industrial Structure and Atmospheric Environment by an Integrated System: A Case Study of Zhejiang, China

“…Because of the fast-growing nature of the economy and industrialization, the resource consumption and environmental destruction are inevitably intensified [30]. For instance, the emission of air pollutants is increasing [28,29] and the air pollution reduction situation is grim. Figure 1 shows the data of industry structure and waste gas discharged for Zhejiang province from 1990 to 2017.…”

“…High emissions of atmospheric pollutants and poor air quality were the main characteristics of these cities. Meanwhile, the realization of high-quality regional economic development and the construction of a better ecological environment was also a serious challenge for these cities [28,29].…”

“…Therefore, Zhejiang province, the research region we chose, is a typical example of China in the transition period, which is facing the dual pressure of industrial structure upgrade and air environment improvement. The analysis of the influence rules and coordinated development characteristics between industrial structure and atmospheric environment could provide reference for regional environmental policy formulation [29].…”

Analysis of Coordinated Development of Energy and Environment in China’s Manufacturing Industry under Environmental Regulation: A Comparative Study of Sub-Industries

“…In Table 4, TFP indicates the total factor productivity, and EC and TC represents the technical efficiency index and technological change index, respectively. Total factor productivity is often called the technical progress efficiency, and it is usually regarded as an indicator of technological advancement [53]. TC is an indicator of production technological change in two adjacent periods, such as innovation changes and technological advancement.…”

Sustainable Development of New Urbanization from the Perspective of Coordination: A New Complex System of Urbanization‒Technology Innovation and the Atmospheric Environment

“…Zhejiang is rapidly urbanizing, with the percentage of urban population growing from 48.67% in 2000 to 56.5% in 2006 and 68% in 2017, with an average annual growth rate of 2.2% over the last 18 years. The rapid urbanization of Zhejiang Province inevitably intensifies the consumption of resources and environmental damage [32]; for instance, the emission of air pollutants is increasing [33,34]. Figure 1 shows the economic indicators, waste gas discharged, and urbanization rates for the whole of Zhejiang Province from 2006 to 2017.…”