Exploring the green development path of the Yangtze River Economic Belt using the entropy weight method and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

Abstract

Green development is an effective way to achieve economic growth and social development in a harmonious, sustainable, and efficient manner. Although the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) plays an important strategic role in China, our understanding of its spatiotemporal characteristics, as well as the multiple factors affecting its green development level (GDL), remains limited. This study used the entropy weight method (EWM) to analyze the temporal evolution and spatial differentiation characteristics of the GDL in the YREB from 2011 to 2019. Further, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was used to analyze the influence path of GDL. The results showed that the GDL of the YREB increased from 2015 to 2019, but the overall level was still not high, with high GDL mainly concentrated in the lower reaches. The GDL model changed from being environmentally driven and government supported in 2011 to being environmentally and economically driven since 2014. The core conditions for high GDL changed from economic development level (EDL) to scientific technological innovation level (STIL) and environmental regulation (ER). The path for improving GDL is as follows: In regions with high EDL, effective ER, moderate openness level (OL), and high STIL are the basis, supplemented by a reasonable urbanization scale (US). In areas with low EDL, reasonable industrial structure (IS) and STIL are the core conditions for development; further, EDL should be improved and effective ER and OL implemented. Alternatively, without considering changes to EDL, improvement can be achieved through reasonable OL and US or effective ER. This study provides a new method for exploring the path of GDL and a reference for governments to effectively adjust green development policies.

Spatial-Temporal Evolution of Green Development Efficiency of Urban Agglomeration in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River

“…Although the green development level of the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration was better than that of the central Guizhou and central Yunnan urban agglomerations, the overall green efficiency was 0.762. The level is not high, which indicates that the coordinated development level of economy, society and ecology of the urban agglomeration in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River is still low, which is consistent with Yan et al (2021) as well as Cui et al (2020) [32,33].…”

Green Development Performance Evaluation Based on Dual Perspectives of Level and Efficiency: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

“…The influencing factors are interactively coupled and influence each other, which together lay the formation of the spatial pattern of green development efficiency in the municipalities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Referring to the established literature [ 4 , 48 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 ], eight influencing factors, including economic development, industrial structure, population density, science and technology expenditure, education level, government support, energy consumption, and opening up, were selected, and detailed descriptive statistical information and variable symbols are shown in Table 4 . The following multiple regression econometric model was constructed: where denotes the green development efficiency of city i in year t .…”

“…(2) Industrial structure ( ind ): It has been demonstrated that industrial structure optimization can significantly improve green development efficiency [ 56 ]. The share of secondary industry in GDP was used as a proxy; therefore, the expected sign was negative.…”

Study of the collaborative prevention and control mechanisms of ecological and environmental risks in China’s Yangtze River Economic Belt

“… This figure is modified from Yan et al [ 26 ] ’s paper: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260985.g002 . It is not exactly similar to the original figure and is thus for illustrative purposes only.…”