Socioeconomic driving factors of PM2.5 emission in Jing-Jin-Ji region, China: a generalized Divisia index approach

Air quality in China is increasingly improving, but the situation facing the atmosphere environment is still dire. Regional atmospheric environmental problems characterized by PM2.5 pollutants are becoming increasingly prominent, especially in the Jing-Jin-Ji (3J) region. This study employs the generalized Divisia index approach to decompose the factors that influence the changes of PM2.5 emission in the 3J region. It is divided into 8 factors: scale effect of regional economy, scale effect of regional energy consumption, scale effect of investment in treatment of environment pollution (ITEP), technology effect of energy efficient utilization, technology effect of clean energy utilization technology, the intensity effect of regional green economic development, the intensity effect of investment in treatment of regional PM2.5 emission, and the intensity effect of regional environmental regulation. To identify the vital driving force of the change of PM2.5 emission, the contribution of each driving factor of PM2.5 emission variation is analyzed. The results show that the factors affecting the change of PM2.5 emission are almost the same, but the contribution of each factor is apparently different in the 3J region. The level of regional economic development and the scale of energy consumption promoted the increase of PM2.5 emission in the region. The growth of PM2.5 emission can be effectively controlled by green economic development intensity, energy clean utilization technology, environmental regulation intensity, and the intensity of investment in treatment of PM2.5 emission. Energy efficiency has a slight effect on the changes of PM2.5 emission. ITEP has a negative effect on the changes of PM2.5 emission. In the future, the 3J region needs to optimize the structure of ITEP further and implement the refinement and precision of pollution treatment. Moreover, it also needs to promote the development of energy clean and efficient use of technological innovation to drive PM2.5 emission reduction.