How to balance eco-environmental improvement and investment shortage ----- practice from the eco-environmental public-private partnership projects in China

Abstract

Faced with the severe eco-environmental problems and economic slowdown, China started the exploration of public-private partnership mode on eco-environmental protection projects, aiming to solve the disbalance between environmental improvement and investment shortage. This study systematically analyzed the characteristics, policy and market reactions of eco-environmental protection public-private partnership projects since 2014. Till the end of 2018 in China, the number of eco-environmental protection public-private partnership projects was 2,914 and investment was 1.84 trillion RMB, accounting for 33.67% and 13.94% of the total, respectively. The peak year was in 2017, then the number of eco-environmental protection public-private partnership projects dropped significantly in 2018. It is estimated that from 2014 to 2018, the investment from eco-environmental protection public-private partnership projects in the implementation phase contributes to 3.2% of China's GDP, 0.2 % of economic growth. To some extent, it has accelerated the process of ecological and environmental governance in China, especially in the field of municipal environmental infrastructure construction and comprehensive environmental treatment. However, the expected effect of eco-environment improvement from eco-environmental protection public-private partnership projects is difficult to guarantee, with the absence of key mechanisms and policies.