Environmental regulation, Energy consumption structure and industrial pollution emissions

Abstract

China has become the world's largest carbon emitter due to its high-investment, low-efficiency development model. It is urgent to reduce industrial pollution emissions. This study analyzes the impact of environmental regulation intensity and energy consumption structure on industrial SO2 pollution emissions by establishing a fixed-effect regression model based on panel data from 2009 to 2018 in China. The results show that the overall environmental regulation intensity in China has a significant negative effect on industrial pollution emissions. In other words, increasing the level of environmental regulation is conducive to reducing industrial pollution emissions. The proportion of coal consumption in the overall national energy consumption structure has a positive correlation with the concentration of industrial pollution emissions. Due to the differences in economic development and industrial foundation, the pollution emissions effect shows significant heterogeneity in the eastern and western regions of China under the constraint of environmental regulation. Based on these conclusions, this article proposes policy recommendations from four aspects: strengthening environmental regulation, improving energy consumption structure, promoting industrial structure adjustment and upgrading, and improving the foreign investment access system.