Determinants of haze pollution: An analysis from the perspective of spatiotemporal heterogeneity

With China's rapid growth, the increasingly serious environmental issue of haze pollution has become the focus of attention in the whole society. Given the spatiotemporal heterogeneity characteristics of haze pollution, a geographically and temporally weighted regression model is employed to explore the local spatiotemporal feature of haze pollution variation in China. Satellite image grid data of global PM2.5 concentration over 1999-2011 at 0.5 degrees x 0.5 degrees grid resolution are used in the analysis. The influential factors include 11 indicators, such as economic growth, energy intensity, energy mix, energy price, and openness. The main results are as follows. (1)Through the regression analysis of the panel data, it is found that the influence of these 11 factors on PM2.5 concentration have regional variation and the effect size for each factors fluctuates over time. (2) Economic development and industry upgrading are the main driving forces to improve haze pollution, while transportation industry and construction industry, as two major sources of haze pollution, must be supervised and regulated more strictly. (3) Optimization of energy intensity and energy mix can effectively alleviate regional haze pollution, but energy price has no obvious effect on haze pollution adjustment at present. (4) Until the end of the sample period, openness and ecological construction began to show their positive effects on haze reduction. (5) Due to regional differences, environmental regulation is only effective in the eastern and central regions, while the waste gas treatment level only shows haze reduction effect in the western region. This study not only extends the existing literature about PM2.5 and air quality, but also can be of special interest to policy makers in China. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.