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Causal complexity of environmental pollution in China: a province-level fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

DOI:10.1007/s11356-022-22948-3
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Yang Chen
Yang Chen
Yang Chen
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Jingke Hong
Jingke Hong
Jingke Hong
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Miaohan Tang at Chongqing University
Miaohan Tang
Yuxi Zheng
Yuxi Zheng
Yuxi Zheng
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Abstract and Figures

Environmental problems are endowed with the causal complexity of multiple factors. Traditional quantitative research on the influencing mechanism of environmental pollution has tended to focus on the marginal effects of specific influencing factors but generally neglected the multiple interaction effects between factors (especially three or more). Based on the panel data of 30 Chinese provinces between 2011 and 2020, this study employs fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) — which can provide a fine-grained insight into the causal complexity of environmental issues — to shed light on the influencing mechanism of environmental pollution. The results show that there are several different configurations of pollution drivers which lead to high pollution or low pollution in provinces, confirming the multiple causality, causal asymmetry, and equifinality of environmental pollution. Furthermore, the combination effect of advanced industrial structure, small population size, and technological advance is significant in achieving a state of green environment compared to environmental regulation factors. In addition, spatiotemporal analysis of the configurations indicates that strong path dependencies and spatial agglomeration exist in current local environmental governance patterns. Finally, according to our findings, targeted policy recommendations are provided.
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Vol.:(0123456789)
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https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22948-3
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Causal complexity ofenvironmental pollution inChina:
aprovince‑level fuzzy‑set qualitative comparative analysis
YangChen1· JingkeHong1· MiaohanTang1· YuxiZheng1· MaoyueQiu1· DanfeiNi2
Received: 8 April 2022 / Accepted: 5 September 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022
Abstract
Environmental problems are endowed with the causal complexity of multiple factors. Traditional quantitative research on the
influencing mechanism of environmental pollution has tended to focus on the marginal effects of specific influencing factors
but generally neglected the multiple interaction effects between factors (especially three or more). Based on the panel data
of 30 Chinese provinces between 2011 and 2020, this study employs fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA)
— which can provide a fine-grained insight into the causal complexity of environmental issues — to shed light on the influ-
encing mechanism of environmental pollution. The results show that there are several different configurations of pollution
drivers which lead to high pollution or low pollution in provinces, confirming the multiple causality, causal asymmetry, and
equifinality of environmental pollution. Furthermore, the combination effect of advanced industrial structure, small popu-
lation size, and technological advance is significant in achieving a state of green environment compared to environmental
regulation factors. In addition, spatiotemporal analysis of the configurations indicates that strong path dependencies and
spatial agglomeration exist in current local environmental governance patterns. Finally, according to our findings, targeted
policy recommendations are provided.
Keywords Fuzzy set· Configuration· Causal complexity· Environmental pollution· Environmental governance· QCA
Introduction
The rapid development of the Chinese economy has
brought about serious environmental consequences (Huang
etal.2020). During the period from 2010 to 2015, China con-
tributed nearly 20% of global emissions of nitrogen oxides
(NOx) and 30% of sulfur dioxide (SO2) (Zhang etal.2018a).
In 2016, the concentrations of PM2.5 in three-quarters of
monitored cities in China were below the national grade
II standard (≤ 35μg/m3) and the WHO standard (≤ 10μg/
m3) (MEP 2017). Until 2021, the annual mean concentra-
tion of PM2.5 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and Fenwei
plains exceeded 38μg/m3 (CMA 2021). Environmental harm
poses a major threat to sustainable development and currently
attracts extensive attention from the Chinese government
(Guan etal.2014). Moreover, the multifactorial complexity
of environmental problems poses a great challenge to the
traditional instruments of environmental governance pat-
terns (Tan and Fan2019). From a panoramic point of view,
therefore, identifying and measuring multiple synergy effects
induced by the environmental complexity will be of great
significance to environmental governance.
Communicated by Baojing Gu.
* Jingke Hong
hongjingke@cqu.edu.cn
Yang Chen
chenyang1993@cqu.edu.cn
Miaohan Tang
tangmiaohan@cqu.edu.cn
Yuxi Zheng
zhengyuxi@cqu.edu.cn
Maoyue Qiu
20150557@cqu.edu.cn
Danfei Ni
nidanfei@hotmail.com
1 School ofManagement Science andReal Estate, Chongqing
University, Chongqing400045, China
2 Tan Kah Kee College, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
/ Published online: 28 September 2022
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:15599–15615
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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