Environmental Science and Ecotechnology (Jan 2020)

The valuation of China’s environmental degradation from 2004 to 2017

  • Guoxia Ma,
  • Fei Peng,
  • Weishan Yang,
  • Gang Yan,
  • Shuting Gao,
  • Xiafei Zhou,
  • Ji Qi,
  • Dong Cao,
  • Yue Zhao,
  • Wen Pan,
  • Hongqiang Jiang,
  • Hong Jing,
  • Guangxia Dong,
  • Minxue Gao,
  • Jingbo Zhou,
  • Fang Yu,
  • Jinnan Wang

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 1
p. 100016

Abstract

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This paper aims to evaluate the cost of environmental degradation by adopting the conventional environmental economic methodology in China from 2004 to 2017 and summarize the change in both the causes and costs of China’s environmental degradation. Results from this study revealed the following: i. The environmental degradation cost in China increased from 511 billion yuan to 1,892 billion yuan from 2004 to 2017, and its share in the GDP decreased from 3.05% to 2.23%; ii. The environmental degradation cost growth rate was lower than the GDP growth rate. The environmental degradation cost growth rate decreased sharply, by dropping from 10% in 2014 to 2% in 2017. The environmental benefits of industrial transformation have emerged; iii. The provinces of Shandong, Hebei, Jiangsu, Henan, and Guangdong had the highest environmental degradation costs. The annual average growth rate of the environmental degradation costs in Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Zhejiang were lower than their growth rate of the GDP respectively; iv. Consideration of environmental degradation cost in decision-making could contribute to the high-quality development of China.

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