College of Management and Economics, National Industry-Education Platform of Energy Storage, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
J Environ Manage. 2024 Nov;370:122549. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122549. Epub 2024 Sep 20.
Policy synergy plays a crucial role in managing regional air pollution. However, the current process of formulating collaborative policies often focuses too heavily on achieving optimal emission reduction outcomes, while neglecting the execution costs at the local level. This not only leads to a lack of coordination between existing governance measures and new policies but may also result in inefficient policy implementation and the wastage of administrative resources. To address this issue, we have conducted a thorough analysis of the latent interconnections in local governance and explored the possibility of formulating collaborative policies based on latent policy synergies. Utilizing a dataset of 12,764 policy documents from China spanning from 2000 to 2023, we employed unsupervised learning techniques and panel regression models to investigate the impacts of latent policy synergies among local governments. Our findings reveal that local governments initially relied on rigid command-and-control strategies to address air pollution, which were later enhanced with economic incentives like emissions trading and subsidies, thus broadening the scope of policy tools and improving compliance flexibility. Subsequently, as comprehensive monitoring networks were established, enabling real-time data acquisition and more accurate pollution assessments, the focus of policy efforts shifted towards a more integrated approach to regional air pollution management. This similar evolution facilitated latent policy synergy among local governments, leading to significant reductions in air pollution emissions. Notably, regions such as the Central Plains and coastal cities, characterized by their dense industrial activity and high energy consumption, have shown remarkable potential for collaborative efforts, achieving greater pollution control efficiencies. This study provides a valuable reference for the coordinated governance of air pollution policies.
政策协同在区域大气污染治理中发挥着关键作用。然而，当前制定协同政策的过程往往过于注重实现最优减排效果，而忽视了地方层面的执行成本。这不仅导致现有治理措施与新政策之间缺乏协调，还可能导致政策执行效率低下和行政资源浪费。为了解决这个问题，我们对地方治理中的潜在关联进行了深入分析，并探讨了基于潜在政策协同制定协同政策的可能性。我们利用了一个包含 2000 年至 2023 年中国 12764 份政策文件的数据集，采用无监督学习技术和面板回归模型，研究了地方政府之间潜在政策协同的影响。研究结果表明，地方政府最初依赖于严格的命令控制策略来应对空气污染，后来通过排放交易和补贴等经济激励措施加以强化，从而拓宽了政策工具的范围，并提高了合规的灵活性。随后，随着综合监测网络的建立，实现了实时数据采集和更准确的污染评估，政策努力的重点转向了更综合的区域大气污染管理方法。这种相似的演变促进了地方政府之间的潜在政策协同，从而显著减少了空气污染排放。值得注意的是，中原地区和沿海城市等工业活动密集、能源消耗高的地区，在协同努力方面具有显著的潜力，实现了更高的污染控制效率。本研究为大气污染政策的协调治理提供了有价值的参考。
