Title: Coupling and coordination evaluation of regional environmental quality and economic development under the background of sustainable development

Authors: Jing Li; Ming Yan

Addresses: School of Transportation and Logistics Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430063, China; School of Law and Economic Management, Hulunbuir University, Hulun Buir, 021008, China ' Inner Mongolia Radio and Television Network Group Co., Ltd., Yakeshi Branch, Yakeshi, 022150, China

Abstract: To achieve harmonious coexistence of economy, society, and environment, this article proposes a new coupling and coordination evaluation method for regional environmental quality and economic development. A coupled and coordinated evaluation index system for 'environmental-ecological-economy' is constructed, with weights determined through dimensionless standardisation and information entropy calculation. Comprehensive evaluation indicators are calculated to eliminate unit differences and accurately reflect the coordination between the two systems. The levels of interaction, progress, and harmony are quantified using the concept of ability interaction to facilitate classification evaluation. The spatial autocorrelation test reveals the spatial patterns and mutual influences of various metrics. Experimental results show that the global Moran's I index of the proposed method is 0.283, with a significant Z-value (5.3079), indicating strong positive spatial autocorrelation. The evaluation requires approximately 15 minutes, and the accuracy remains stable between 90.1% and 98.9%, demonstrating significant advantages in terms of speed and accuracy.

Keywords: sustainable development; regional environmental quality; economic development coupling coordination evaluation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2026.152039

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2026 Vol.25 No.1/2, pp.122 - 137

Received: 19 Aug 2024
Accepted: 18 Jun 2025
Published online: 04 Mar 2026 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article