The Comparative Study On The Relationship Between Pollutant Emission And Industrial Structure Of Japan And China

The question of how to improve environmental quality in China is one that has become increasingly urgent and significant in recent years.Due to their direct impact on human health and wellbeing,issues of air and water pollution should be given first priority.While the Chinese government has already taken a number of measures toward improving environmental quality,further efforts are still required in order to retrieve blue skies and clean water in China.Regarding the meansby which to recover asufficiently healthy environment,the experience of Japan over the past fifty yearsis arguably one of the best and most reliable sources of lessons and experiencefor China to draw on.It is widely acknowledged that Japan made strenuous efforts to combat serious environmental degradation while achieving rapid economic growth following WW2,and has today achieved a comfortable living environment for its residents.Although differences exist in the political and economic systems of the two countries,the experience of Japan is still able to provide significant policy direction regarding pollution reduction strategies in China.This study consists of a comparative study of Japan and China,focusing on the relationship between pollutant emission and industrial structure,focusing in particular on effective control strategies of SO2 emission and COD discharge from industries.In order to analyze the relationship between pollutant emission and industrial structure,the “Effekt analysis” method is employed,in which “industrial structure” is divided into three factors,namely: technological innovation,sectoral transformation and economic growth.Through Effekt analysis for both Japan and China,we examine which of the three industrial structure factors had the most environmentally positive influence during the target period of our analysis,and which factor has in facthad a negative influence on the environment.Furthermore,we uncover differences in emission reduction mechanisms between Japan and China.The conclusion of this paper is that technological innovation was the most influential and significant factor in achieving the goal of pollutant emission reduction in both Japan and China.As for sectoral transformation,no significant influence has been found in China's emission reduction process to date.Furthermore,extensive negative environmentaleffectshave been observed in China as a result of economic growth.Boosting technological innovation is the most important measuretoward emission reduction;however,the currentlevel of environmental investment in pollutant control facilities in China is too small to combat the impacts of economic growth.Given the results of our analysis,we conclude that policies for promoting more intensive and energetic technological innovation are indispensable,while industrial transformation efforts aim at improving environmental quality should also be maintained.Further,the Chinese government should implement more intensive policies in order to push much larger-scale investment in environmentaltechnology innovation.