Energy use, industrial soot and vehicle exhaust pollution—China's regional air pollution recognition, performance decomposition and governance

• Published in: Energy economics Vol. 83; pp. 501 - 514
• Main Authors: Miao, Zhuang, Baležentis, Tomas, Shao, Shuai, Chang, Dongfeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 01.09.2019; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Air pollution; Air pollution measurements; Atmospheric models; Atmospheric pollution; Decomposition; Emissions; Energy consumption; Energy economics; Environmental performance; Environmental protection; Environmental regulations; Exhaust gases; Governance; Industrial emissions; Industrial pollution; Industrial soot SO2; Mitigation; Panel data; Pollutants; Productivity; Provinces; Regional development; Regulation; Slack-based decomposition; Soot; Sulfur dioxide; Total factor productivity; Traffic; Transportation; Vehicle emissions; Vehicle exhaust NOx; China; Atmospheric pollution; Q56; Industrial soot SO2; D24; Total factor productivity; Slack-based decomposition; Q53; Vehicle exhaust NOx
• ISSN: 0140-9883; 1873-6181
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2019.07.002

The identification of “industrial soot” or “vehicle exhaust” pollution facilitates developing proper measures for the mitigation of regional air pollution. In order to identify the pollution types at a regional level, this paper applies the Luenberger productivity indicator to decompose air pollutant emissions performance. Furthermore, we simultaneously consider pollution rates and the productivity change. Thus, we propose a new modeling framework allowing for the variable-specific decomposition of the environmental performance along time and quantity dimensions to identify the underlying patterns. The panel data for 30 provinces and autonomous regions are then applied to identify regional atmospheric pollution type. The results show that SO2 emission from industrial soot and NOx emissions from vehicle exhaust constitute an important source of regional atmospheric environmental inefficiency, though the former seems to be more decisive. The southeast coastal provinces showed generally lower levels of inefficiency, compared to the northwest inland area. During the period of the 11th Five-Year Plan of China, industrial SO2 emission performance contributed to the increase in the atmospheric environmental productivity, while traffic NOx emissions acted as a negative factor in this regard. Therefore, the government should seek to increase the intensity of environmental regulation in transportation sector. At the country level, technical progress associated with both types of pollutions was positive and thus exceed the negative efficiency change for the same variables. In particular, in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the productivity changes in industrial SO2 emissions and traffic NOx emissions indicate a “stably advancing” type. The results further indicate that there are 18 provinces of China which have experienced mixed-type pollution. Jilin and Hainan were classified as provinces experiencing vehicle exhaust gas pollution, whereas Guizhou was defined as that subject to industrial soot pollution. The government should formulate and implement diversified support and regulation policies to govern SO2 and NOx pollution at the regional level. •It identifies regional level atmospheric pollution types for 30 Chinese provinces over the period from 2006 to 2015.•It applies the Luenberger productivity indicator to decompose atmospheric TFP to industrial SO2 and traffic NOx emissions.•It proposes a new modeling framework allowing for the variable-specific decomposition along time and quantity dimensions.•It shows that industrial SO2 and traffic NOx emissions constitute an important source of regional atmospheric inefficiency.•It suggests Chinese government should implement diversified regulations to govern SO2 and NOX pollution at regional levels.