The dynamic coupling nexus among inclusive green growth: a case study in Anhui province, China

Abstract

Inclusive green growth (IGG) offers an effective alternative to pursue sustainable development. The core of the IGG system lies in the coordination of inclusive, green, and growth subsystems. However, there is little quantitative assessment on IGG based on subsystem collaboration. This study proposes a holistic scheme of inclusive-green-growth nexus in Anhui province from 2009 to 2018 by using an integrated approach, namely, the entropy weight approach (EWA), coupling coordination degree model (CCDM), grey prediction model (GPM), and obstacle factor diagnostic model (OFDM). The results show that: (1) The proposed integrated approach could be viable to measure the synergistic interactions among internal IGG subsystems; (2) At the provincial level, a relatively high IGG performance but a low coupling coordination degree (CCD) of the IGG nexus are seen. Although the predicted value of CCD will show an upward trend, it will not be able to cross the start stage. The obstacle factors on the coordinated development of IGG can be divided into two stages: (3) At the prefectural level, the cities in which CCD is rising outnumber those it is falling. However, the CCD is also low, and the gap between cities is getting wider. The obstacles that affect the CCD of cities see a dynamic evolution trend from “inclusive obstacle type” to “inclusive and growth obstacle type” then to “green obstacle type” over the decade.

Research on the Dynamic Evolution and Improvement Path of Inclusive Green Development Efficiency in China: a Perspective of Urban

“…The paper measures IGDE through the entropy weight TOPSIS method combined with the Super-SBM model, which, firstly, improves objectivity compared to using the entropy weight method [42,60]; secondly, maintains the meaning of each indicator in its own right compared to using factor analysis and cluster analysis [19] ; and thirdly, compared to using simply the Super-SBM model [61], allows the article to select a more significant number of indicators and reduce the tolerance for error in the assessment. The measurement results show that "the IGDE of Anhui Province increased slightly from 2011 to 2013, decreased from 2013 to 2014, and increased steadily from 2014 to 2020," which is consistent with the conclusion of Cao (2022) [42] that "the inclusive green growth (IGG) of Anhui Province was at a medium stage from 2010 to 2015 and at a good stage from 2016 to 2018," which shows that the IGDE measure chosen in this paper is scientific and reasonable.…”

“…In particular, the article analyzes the causes of inefficiency losses in IGDE for each evaluation unit at the city and indicator levels. It is better able to pinpoint the areas of IGDE inefficiency in the province of Anhui than Cao (2022) [42], which evaluates the combined index values and changes of each subsystem and emphasizes the focus of the Anhui government in implementing measures to improve IGDE. However, the article's restriction prevents it from doing a vulnerability analysis of non-inefficient DMUs.…”

“…As there may be some correlation among the indicators, it is necessary to calculate the composite index as a representative for the indicators under the same criterion layer, which reduces the number of input-output indicators, highlights the composite significance of the indicators, and reduces the hyperactivity among the indicators. The entropy weighting method is based on the amount of information reflected by the variability of each indicator data, overcoming the overlap of information between multidimensional variables and reducing the interference of subjective human factors when assigning indicators [41,42]. The TOPSIS method quantifies the ranking by calculating the distance between the evaluation object and the best and worst solutions [43,44].…”

“Harmonization” or “Fragmentation”: The Impact of Low-Carbon Policy Synergy on Inclusive Low-Carbon Development

“…Inclusive Green Development was first formally introduced at Rio + 20 in 2012 to connect inclusive growth and green development with the world's interests [41], and in March 2016, the United Nations announced the new sustainable development goals (SDGs), and many countries and regions began to implement this new development strategy with inclusive green development as the core content [42]. The research on inclusive green development has mainly focused on enriching the theoretical connotation, evaluation index construction, and measurement of inclusive green development, and a more mature evaluation index system has been formed [43][44][45][46]. With the increasing global carbon emissions, climate change has become one of the most urgent issues in the world, especially since the Paris Agreement established the long-term goal of "keeping the global average temperature rise within 2 • C within this century, and striving to control the temperature rise no more than 1.5 • C".…”

Measurement and Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Inclusive Green Growth in China

“…The research on economic growth has expanded from the early labor and capital input as the main factors [37,38] to the influence of natural resources, environment and energy factors on economic growth [39,40]. Inclusive green growth in 2012 was first proposed at the Rio+20 Summit [41], with the aim of combining the interests of industrialized countries with green growth and inclusive growth in developing countries. The World Bank defines inclusive green growth as a sustainable economic growth model with social equity, environmental friendliness and economic sustainability [2].…”