Can environmental information disclosure reduce air pollution? Evidence from China

Abstract

Previous studies have focused on the reduction effect of regulation-based instruments and economic-based instruments on air pollution, ignoring the importance of environmental information disclosure. Based on the Ambient Air Quality Standards (AAQS), a quasi-natural policy implemented in 2012, this paper assesses the effect of environmental information disclosure on air pollution through a dynamic spatial difference-in-difference (DID) model using panel data of 269 cities from 2006 to 2017 in China. We find that the implementation of the AAQS results in a 3% reduction of local PM2.5 concentration and a 3.3% reduction of PM2.5 concentration in the surrounding cities. Further analysis suggests that environmental information disclosure reduces air pollution through enhancing public environmental concerns, green innovation, and industrial upgrading. We also explore the moderating effect of government environmental regulation and heterogeneity analysis in different regions. Our findings suggest that government should further develop the scope and quality of environmental quality information disclosure. Moreover, the local government should provide more support for the green transformation of enterprises and provide necessary support during the transition period. In addition, long-term sustainable environmental protection policies must be able to mobilize regional initiatives for green development.

Analyzing Public Environmental Concerns at the Threshold to Reduce Urban Air Pollution

“…Public awareness and support are important for environmental policies designed to resolve air pollution issues [52]. Public environmental campaigns to reduce air pollution can take many forms, from government policies to citizen-led initiatives [53]. For example, Environmental tax reform can significantly reduce urban air pollution.…”

Untying the nexus between environmental information disclosure, green finance, and green technological innovation: a multi-analytical (SEM-ANN) approach

“…As a result, studying how to encourage GI has become increasingly important across various fields (Hu et al, 2022;Abbas et al, 2023). Furthermore, EID is essential among the many forms of non-governmental environmental regulation (Du L. et al, 2022;Xiong et al, 2023). The EID method has been implemented and improved with the help of digital technology to compensate for the shortcomings of government regulation and market-based incentives.…”

The Pollution Abatement Effect of Environmental Information Disclosure: Based on Quasi-Natural Experiments

“…Using panel data of prefecture-level cities, Zhang and Feng [27] empirically tested the relationship between environmental information disclosure and urban carbon emissions by constructing a DID model and found a significant negative relationship between them, verifying the effectiveness of environmental information disclosure, and the heterogeneity indicated that its emission reduction effect was more obvious in the east and west regions. Some scholars' studies have also concluded that environmental information disclosure can reduce pollution emissions [28][29][30][31][32][33][34].…”