Analyzing China’s provincial environmental emissions and its influencing factors: a spatial analysis

Abstract

In-depth analyses of the spatial heterogeneity in environmental emissions and the causes of differences are of great importance to provide a reference for reduction policies. However, a spatial analysis of the specific mechanisms of China’s environmental emissions is rarely scarce. Using the province-level data of 30 provinces in China over 2005–2017, this paper constructs a spatial Durbin model (SDM) to empirically address the existence and spatial mechanisms of environmental emissions. The results show that: first, China’s environmental emissions show significant characteristics of spatial dependence and clustering from global and local perspectives, indicating the existence of spatial autocorrelation in environmental emissions across regions. Second, both per capita GDP and urbanization have positive impacts on environmental emissions, but the impact of environmental regulation is not significant. Third, urbanization not only directly influences environmental emissions, but also indirectly influences environmental emissions. These analyses provide comprehensive policy implications for government and policymakers to promote environmental quality.