Does environmental infrastructure investment contribute to emissions reduction? A case of China
Xiaoqian SONG1, Yong GENG2(), Ke LI3, Xi ZHANG4, Fei WU4, Hengyu PAN4, Yiqing ZHANG5
1. China Institute of Urban Governance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030 2. School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China; China Institute of Urban Governance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China; School of Management, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China 3. College of Mathematics & Computer Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China 4. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China 5. Collaborative Innovation Centre for Energy Economy of Shandong, Shandong Technology and Business University, Yantai 264005, China
Environmental infrastructure investment (EII) is an important environmental policy instrument on responding to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and air pollution. This paper employs an improved stochastic impact by regression on population, affluence and technology (STRIPAT) model by using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces and municipalities for the period of 2003–2015 to investigate the effect of EII on CO2 emissions, SO2 emissions, and PM2.5 pollution. The results indicate that EII has a positive and significant effect on mitigating CO2 emission. However, the effect of EII on SO2 emission fluctuated although it still contributes to the reduction of PM2.5 pollution through technology innovations. Energy intensity has the largest impact on GHG emissions and air pollution, followed by GDP per capita and industrial structure. In addition, the effect of EII on environmental issues varies in different regions. Such findings suggest that policies on EII should be region-specific so that more appropriate mitigation policies can be raised by considering the local realities.
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