Journal
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Volume 296, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113232
Keywords
National air quality monitoring; PM2.5; Mediation impact mechanism; Heterogeneity analysis; China
Categories
Funding
- Beijing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era Center & Beijing Social Science Foundation [21LLLJC028]
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The study demonstrates that the NAAQMN program significantly reduces local PM2.5 concentrations in China, with each additional program leading to further decrease. The impact of the NAAQMN program on local PM2.5 emissions varies based on local government leaders' characteristics, PM2.5 emission levels, and economic development levels. Additionally, a mediation effect between the NAAQMN program and local PM2.5 emissions is identified through the efficiency of environmental governance.
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has become a major pressing challenge for China and remains a concern of its central government. This paper draws on a natural experiment generated by the National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Network (NAAQMN) program in China to explore whether national air quality monitoring reduces local air pollution. In this study, we use a city-level dataset for 4200 Chinese cities covering 2001-2015 and a difference-in-differences (DID) assessment design to assess the impact of the NAAQMN program on local PM2.5 emissions in China. The results suggest that the NAAQMN program significantly reduces the local PM2.5 concentrations by 1.325 mg/m(3), and each additional NAAQMN program will cause a decrease of 0.154 mg/m(3) in the local PM2.5 concentrations. Furthermore, we determine the heterogeneous impacts of the NAAQMN program on local PM2.5 emission levels through the local government leaders' characteristics, PM2.5 emission levels, and economic development levels. In addition, a mediation effect is found between the NAAQMN program and local PM2.5 emissions through the efficiency of environmental governance. The Chinese government should continue to promote the implementation of the NAAQMN program by promoting the NAAQMN program to the county and rural areas as well as adding the sites of the NAAQMN program in the existing cities. Also, during the process of promoting the NAAQMN program, sufficient differentiation in policies should be developed for different cities.
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