Study on Spatiotemporal Features and Factors Influencing the Urban Green Total Factor Productivity in the Yellow River Basin under the Constraint of Pollution Reduction and Carbon Reduction

Abstract

Whether cities can attain a win-win situation with simultaneous environmental protection and economic growth is a compelling issue in current urban development. It will be of great practical significance to comprehensively evaluate the implementation effect of the multi-dimensional goals of an urban development from the perspective of a green total factor productivity (GTFP) evaluation. The paper places pollution reduction and carbon reduction into the research framework of GTFP, introduces the SBM-DDF model to evaluate the urban GTFP of 58 cities in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) from 2006 to 2020, and employs the panel regression model to empirically study the factors influencing the urban GTFP of the region. The results are obtained as follows: (1) from the perspective of time range, the urban GTFP in the basin displays an evolutionary trend of first declining and then mounting, demonstrating the highest GTFP in the downstream, the second-highest in the midstream and the lowest in the upstream; (2) regarding the spatial distribution characteristics, the urban GTFP in the basin presents obvious spatial differences, showing the regional differences by increasing from the upstream to the downstream; (3) from the perspective of the whole basin, the advancement of economic development, urbanization processes, environmental regulations and the ecological background have significantly positive effects in improving the urban GTFP, while the improvement of the industrial structure, opening-up and energy intensity affects the urban GTFP of the basin negatively; and (4) from the perspective of the regional heterogeneity of the effects of the various influencing factors, the improvement of the opening-up and industrial structure expedites the growth of the urban GTFP of the downstream, the advancement of urbanization process restrains the urban GTFP in the upstream and the impact of the ecological background on the urban GTFP in different regions is relatively complex. This study is of great importance to improve the urban GTFP and boost the high-quality development of the cities in the basin.

Research on green development measurement and regional differences in the China's Yellow River Basin based on the ecological function orientation

“…Measurement of green development level in the Yellow River Basin without considering ecological function orientation Table3and figure2show the level of green development and the evolution track of cities in the Yellow River Basin without considering the EFO 6 . (1) Overall, the level of green development without considering the EFO shows a downward trend during the study period, from 0.748 in 2003 to 0.680 in 2020, with an average annual decline of 0.56%, which is consistent with the latest results of Wang et al (2021b) ,Khan et al (2021), andYang et al (2023b). The reduction in the level of green development mainly comes from two aspects.…”

Research on the Ecological Innovation Efficiency of the Zhongyuan Urban Agglomeration: Measurement, Evaluation and Optimization

“…In particular, "carbon peak and carbon neutralization" have been promulgated as major strategies to achieve sustainable development; meanwhile, reducing energy consumption has become an essential development measurement and core goal in the future. In addition, "Eco-conservation and the high-quality development of the Yellow River basin" has been announced as a substantial national program for accelerating the development of Midwest China; this strategy placed the protection of ecological environment and the high-quality development of regional economy in the same important position [2]. Moreover, in 2021, the Chinese government announced that innovation would be the primary driving force for leading development, leading industrial development with scientific and technological creation, and forming a new inland senior opening-up system [3].…”

“…At present, the development quality of the Zhongyuan urban agglomeration shows a great disparity with the southeast coastal region of China; the coordination degree among economic development, resource endowment and ecological environment is low, and the internal competition of the urban agglomeration outweighs collaboration, which hinders the high-quality and sustainable development of the urban agglomeration [4]. Moreover, the Zhongyuan urban agglomeration carries the expectation of the green rise and of central China [2]. Therefore, around the significant national development strategy and in combination with the urban agglomeration's development status, we should take ecological innovation as the essential theme of high-quality development, give full play to the core radiation effect of Zhengzhou as the growth pole of the Zhongyuan urban agglomeration, and realize the comprehensive, coordinated, efficient, sustainable and high-quality development of all 30 cities in the Zhongyuan urban agglomeration.…”