Evaluation of Environmental Protection Levels Using Grey Relational Analysis

In this paper the environmental protection levels of 30 Chinese provinces are evaluated using grey relation degree analysis. The research period is from 2004 to 2011. An indicator system was built and it includes 10 indicators from 3 points of view: waste discharge, environmental remediation, and resource utilization. Evaluation has been done on both integrated and separate analysis according to 3 kinds of indicators. Result shows that there is a big difference in environmental protection levels among different provinces. The provincial Grey relation degree varies between 0.5 and 0.9. Environmental protection levels have a close relationship with economic growth. Provinces with higher GDP per capita usually have higher environmental protect level and vice versa. The environmental protection level of each province changes litter among different years. Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin do better in waste discharge while Qinghai, Ningxia, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia have more waste discharge. Provinces that do better in environmental rehabilitation change a lot during the research period. Beijing and Tianjin do best in resource utilization, which indicates that the energy and water consumption in these two regions are much smaller than other provinces.