Study On The Driving Mechanism And Impact Effect Of Local Government Environmental Responsibility Fulfillment

In response to climate change and environmental degradation,it is not only related to the sustainable development of the Chinese nation but also connected to the fate of humanity.General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed that protecting the ecological environment is an inherent requirement for achieving sustainable development in China and also reflects “what the world demands of responsible powers”.The “30·60”strategic goal proposed by the central government indicates that China would unwaveringly carry out actions to reduce pollution and carbon emissions.Also,it would embark on a path of high-quality development prioritizing ecological protection and low-carbon green growth.The government as the manager of environmental resources should shoulder the important responsibility of reversing the trend of ecological environment deterioration and safeguarding the ecological environment rights of the people.However,local governments tend to overlook their environmental responsibilities owing to the assessment and promotion system with economic growth as the primary goal in the past which leads to the long-term lag of ecological civilization development behind economic and social development and a significant bottleneck to the sustainable development of productivity.Therefore,how to promote harmonious coexistence between humans and nature and coordinated development of economy and environment has become an urgent issue.Based on scientific connotation and theoretical basis of local government environmental responsibilities,this article constructs a measurement system for the fulfillment level of the local government environmental responsibility.It systematically evaluates the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of the fulfillment level of local government environmental responsibility in key environmental protection cities in China.Then it focuses on examining the driving forces and impact effects of fulfilling local government environmental responsibilities.According to the above conclusion,it provides the relevant policy recommendations to enhance the fulfillment level of local government environmental responsibilities.This article aims to play the leading role of the government in environmental governance,steadily promote ecological civilization system reform,and speed up the construction of a beautiful new China.This article follows a technical route of “theoretical analysis-level evaluation-empirical testing-policy research”.Based on constructing a measurement indicator system to assess the fulfillment level of local government environmental responsibilities,on the one hand,to investigate the impact effect and mechanism path of central environmental responsibility performance of local governments,central environmental inspection and environmental judicial specialization are selected to represent vertical management and horizontal supervision separately from an outside perspective.On the other hand,based on an environmental stakeholders perspective,two subjects,companies and the public,are selected to study the impact effect and mechanism path of local government environmental responsibility performance on green innovation and public health development.The article aims to explore the key issue of promoting the enhancement of the fulfillment level of local government environmental responsibilities.Firstly,based on clarifying the connotation of local government environmental responsibility,this article constructs a measurement indicator system and uses the data from 120 environmental protection key cities in China from 2008 to 2019 as the research sample.The indicator system is subjected to tests of reliability and validity,and the study focused on the three characteristics of the temporal evolution,spatial distribution,and dynamic evolution of the local government’s environmental responsibility performance in China.The results show that(1)the local government environmental responsibility performance indicator system which includes six aspects:ecological conservation,pollution control,environmental monitoring,environmental inspection,environmental publicity,and information disclosure.The system passes the tests of reliability and validity and has consistency and effectiveness.(2)From the perspective of temporal evolution,the government environmental responsibility performance in Chinese environmental protection key cities illustrates a fluctuating upward trend with two distinct stages.From the perspective of spatial distribution,the government environmental responsibility performance at the regional level presents a spatial feature of “leading in the east,followed by the central,western,and northeastern regions”.From the perspective of dynamic evolution,the government environmental responsibility performance of the entire sample of cities shows an upward trend during the sample period.The regional difference represents the narrowing trend and no polarization phenomenon.The distribution curve in the central region is similar to that of the entire sample of cities,while the eastern,western,and northeastern regions showed bipolar or multipolar characteristics.Secondly,central environmental inspection as an important measure for the Party and the state to promote ecological civilization construction effectively alleviates the dilemma faced by local governments in terms of external constraints and internal motivation conversion into actual action.It also consolidates the performance of local governments’ environmental responsibilities.To examine the impact of environmental inspections on local government environmental responsibility performance and its spillover effects,the central environmental inspections were taken as an external shock for empirical testing.The study finds that(1)central environmental inspection effectively improves the performance of local government environmental responsibilities,and plays a significant driving effect in the dimensions of ecological environment governance,ecological environment supervision and ecological co-governance on local governments.(2)Improving the “motivation” effect of government environmental concern and promoting the “pressure” effect of public environmental concern are two paths to how central environmental inspection promotes the improvement of the level of local government environmental responsibility.(3)The digital attention of local governments strengthens the positive influence relationship of central environmental inspection on the local government environmental responsibility performance and plays a positive regulating role.In addition,for cities with strong political constraints and a low degree of fiscal decentralization,the driving effect of central environmental inspections in local environmental responsibilities is more significant.Furthermore,strengthening environmental justice is an important guarantee for the continuous promotion of ecological and environmental construction,as well as a key factor in promoting normalized pollution control and exploring long-term mechanisms for local government environmental governance.Based on the perspective of environmental rule of law,this study further clarifies the impact of environmental justice on local government environmental responsibility performance.The study finds that(1)environmental judicial protection has a significant positive spatial spillover effect on the level of government environmental responsibility in local and neighboring cities.Dimensional analysis shows that the establishment of environmental protection courts plays a significant driving role in the responsibility of ecological environment governance and ecological environment supervision in local and neighboring cities.(2)Legalization construction and environmental punishment can strengthen the catalytic effect of environmental judicial guarantees in promoting local government environmental responsibility performance,and play a positive driving role.(3)In areas with high pollution emission intensity,high degree of economic agglomeration and strong political constraints,environmental judicial guarantees play a more significant role in driving local government environmental responsibility performance.Then,how to promote the green innovation capability of enterprises from the external environment is a crucial issue for local governments to fulfill their environmental responsibilities.Based on empirical evidence of heterogeneous innovation behavior of enterprises,this study examines the impact of local government environmental responsibility on green innovation of enterprises and its marginal effects.The research findings indicate that(1)local government environmental responsibility promotes green innovation of enterprises,and its promoting effect is more significant on the substantive green innovation behavior of enterprises.When the green innovation capability of enterprises is in the growth and mature stages(50% and above),local government environmental responsibility has a significant promoting effect on green innovation of enterprises.(2)local government environmental responsibility promotes the improvement of the level of green innovation of enterprises through the “incentive”effect of fiscal technological investment and the “inducement” effect of scientific and technological innovation information disclosure.(3)In regions with high technological resource endowments and digital economic levels,as well as state-owned enterprises and enterprises with high levels of digital transformation,local government environmental responsibility has a more significant promoting effect on green innovation of enterprises.Finally,ensuring the health of the people is a priority goal for economic and social development,as well as a basic requirement for realizing the “Healthy China” strategy.From a societal perspective,this study examines the impact of local government environmental responsibility on public health.The study finds that(1)the fulfillment of local government environmental responsibility has a significant promoting effect on the level of public health and is mainly manifested in promoting the increase in average life expectancy and suppressing the mortality rate.(2)The fulfillment of local government environmental responsibility effectively enhances the level of public health through the “optimization” effect of ecological environment quality and the“strengthening” effect of health care awareness.(3)Regions with stronger green innovation capabilities,higher levels of digital economic development,or stronger public environmental awareness can further strengthen the promoting effect of local government environmental responsibility on the level of public health.