Highlights

Abstract

Keywords

۱٫ Introduction

۲٫ Literature review

۳٫ Materials and methods

۴٫ Results and findings

۵٫ Conclusions and policy recommendations

Author statement

Declaration of competing interest

References

Abstract

Development of the industrial economy inevitably causes consumption of natural resources and destruction of the ecological environment. How to coordinate these three subsystems is an important issue for the sustainable economic growth of all countries. Against this background, this paper discusses the spatial-temporal patterns and evolutionary characteristics of the coordinated development of China’s industrial economy, resources and environment. Based on Chinese provincial panel data from 2004 to 2017, an indicator system is constructed, and the degree of coordinated development of the industrial economy, resources and the environment is analyzed by the entropy method, coupling coordination degree model and spatial autocorrelation method. The findings show that in China and its three main regions, the overall trends of the industrial economy, natural resources and environmental quality subsystems are increasing year by year, with linear, segmented, and fluctuating growth types respectively. The degree of coupling coordination among the three systems is generally on the rise but still at a low level; its spatial pattern shows a decreasing trend from the eastern region to the central and western region, a high trend in the south region and a low trend in the north region. And the coupling coordination displays positive spatial autocorrelation, the high-high agglomeration is mainly distributed in the eastern coastal areas, and the low-low agglomeration is mainly distributed in the western regions. Finally, based on the research findings, this paper proposes relevant policy recommendations to promote the sustainable development of China’s industrial economy, resources and environment.

۱٫ Introduction

Industry is an important part of the secondary industry, the leading industry and the raw material production sectors of the national economy and also embodies national comprehensive strength and competitiveness overall. However, industrial development relies on the stock of resources, excessive consumption of resources and degradation of the environment can lead to a series of problems. For example, industrial wastewater, exhaust gas, and waste residues have deteriorated the environment in some areas, and the consumption of nonrenewable resources by heavy industry has accelerated resource depletion. The public and policy-makers worldwide have focused on the increasingly serious problem of resource consumption and environmental degradation. Reducing the negative impact of industry has become a major challenge for sustainable resource use and environmental protection in each economy. Since its reform and opening, China has made remarkable achievements in economic growth, and its growth largely comes from industrial development. In 2018, China’s industrial output accounted for 33.9% of GDP, and in the same year, investment in industrial pollution control reached 68.153 billion yuan.2 Economic growth in developing countries is achieved by rapid growth in the manufacturing and service industries, driven by the massive use of fossil fuels, such as coal, crude oil, and natural gas (Rahman and Kashem, 2017).