Frontiers in Environmental Science (Jun 2022)
Energy Transition and Regional Heterogeneity of Environmental Taxation in China: From the Perspective of Emission Reduction Effects
Abstract
Environmental taxation is a formal environmental regulation policy formed by government intervention. It is generally believed that the imposition of environmental taxation can effectively promote economic agents to reduce pollutant emissions. Thus, based on panel data from 30 provincial-level administrative regions in China, this paper examines the pollution reduction effects and regional heterogeneity of environmental taxes on three major pollutants. It is found that the current environmental taxation in China can promote the emission reduction of ammonia nitrogen, and sulfur dioxide to a certain extent, but the effect on chemical oxygen demand is not outstanding. From the results of the regional heterogeneity test, there are differences in the effect of environmental taxation on the reduction of major pollutants in each region. The current environmental tax policy has a relatively strong effect on emission reduction in the western region with little effect in the eastern and central regions. Therefore, to better utilize the policy, this paper suggests adjusting the environmental tax levy standard according to local conditions and strictly levying environmental taxes and fees on various pollutants in terms of quantity.
Keywords
