Evaluation and spatiotemporal characteristics of atmospheric environment efficiency in Shandong province based on super-SBM model

Abstract

Abstract Using the data of input, output, and air pollutants from 17 cities in Shandong Province and employing the super-SBM model, the atmospheric environmental efficiency (AEE) of 17 cities in Shandong from 2008 to 2018 was calculated. Additionally, the spatial-temporal differences are analyzed by using the GML index and Theil index. The results show that the overall efficiency of the atmospheric environment in Shandong was relatively high (AEE = 0.827). The northwest region had the highest efficiency, while the southern region was the lowest. The improvement of the environmental efficiency was mainly contributed by technical progress, rather than efficiency promotion (TC < 1). The spatial difference in the efficiency showed an increasing trend, which can be mostly explained by the inter-group difference whose average contribution is 82.39%. Economic development, technological innovation, and population density had positive effects on the environmental efficiency. While, the effects of industrial structure and opening-up were negative.