Title: The impact of environmental information disclosure and its extent on haze pollution: case studies from 285 cities in China

Authors: An Pan; Yaoyao Qin; Huating Liu; Zhangqi Zhong

Addresses: School of Economics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, Hubei, 430073, China ' School of Economics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, Hubei, 430073, China ' School of Humanities and Communication, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, 310018, China ' School of Economics and Trade, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, China

Abstract: Taking 285 cities in China from 2005 to 2018 for example, this paper applied the propensity score matching method combined with the difference-in-differences (DID) and spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) models to investigate the impact of environmental information disclosure (EID) and its extent on haze pollution at the urban regional scale. A finding from this paper is that the EID could significantly reduce regional haze pollution, and the greater the extent of the EID, the more pronounced the reduction effect of haze pollution. Another important finding is that, for the key environmental protection cities, the resource-based cities, and the heating cities, the impact of the EID on lessening the concentration of haze pollution would be more significant. Overall, these findings would provide an important theoretical basis for relevant stakeholders to formulate more targeted strategies based on the EID for haze pollution reduction at the urban regional scale.

Keywords: EID; environmental information disclosure; DID model; haze pollution; EGI; environmental governance investment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2023.137988

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2023 Vol.72 No.2/3/4, pp.129 - 155

Received: 25 Nov 2022
Accepted: 12 Oct 2023
Published online: 15 Apr 2024 *

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