What Causes the Difference in PM_2.5 Emissions among Regions: The Perspective of Social Economic Factors

Abstract

With the rapid development of China’s economy, the differences in economic le vels among regions have been increasing. it directly affects the demand fo r terminal fossil energy among regions. The discharge of a large amount of particulate matter in the process of energy consumption which brings great pressure to the control of regional pollution. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to study the affecting factors of the difference of PM 2.5 emissions caused by fossil energy consumption in various regions of China. By 2010-2016 National Energy Balance Sheet data terminal sector energy consumption estimated the PM 2.5 emissions of energy consumption and confirmed PM 2.5 emissions mainly from coal consumption, thus further analyzed each region PM 2.5 emission efficiency and status. On this basis, through the constructed LMDI model, the factors which influence PM 2.5 emissions measured in this paper are decomposed into eight factors: industrial emission intensity, industrial structure, economic scale, population size, etc. The results show that: 1) Economic growth is the decisive factor. The difference between PM 2.5 emissions among regions has a high single trend with economic development. Each region should improve the quality of economic development and achieve Pareto optimality for economic development and environmental governance. 2) Compared with the eastern region, the central and western regions have lower technical level, which means higher marginal PM 2.5 emission reduction potential. Based on the above conclusions, it is necessary to focus on the sub-regions to reduce emissions and control the pollutant while fully reflecting the characteristics of regional emission reduction.