Can China's pollution reduction mandates improve transboundary water pollution?
Qingyu Wang1, Qing Ma2, Jinge Fu3
1Business School, Changzhou University, Xitaihu Ave No. 6, Changzhou, 213100, China. qywang@cqu.edu.cn.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research International
|February 25, 2021
Summary
China's pollution control policies inadvertently worsen water quality in downstream provinces. Officials prioritize local gains, leading to transboundary water pollution, a critical environmental challenge.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Public Policy
- Environmental Economics
Background:
- China's central government mandates pollution prevention, creating incentives for provincial officials.
- Provincial officials face conflicting goals: meeting central mandates and benefiting their own regions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how China's pollution prevention mandate affects transboundary water pollution.
- To analyze the role of provincial government behavior in exacerbating water pollution across borders.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a difference-in-differences-differences (DDD) method.
- Analyzed water quality data from cities along 18 major Chinese rivers (2007-2016).
Main Results:
- Downstream cities experience worse water quality compared to interior cities.
- Environmental policies significantly increase pollution across jurisdictional boundaries.
- Pollutant reduction targets are lower in the most downstream cities.
Conclusions:
- Provincial government behavior, driven by performance evaluations, leads to severe transboundary water pollution.
- The study highlights the unintended consequences of centralized environmental mandates.
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