Efficiency Calculation and Evaluation of Environmental Governance Using the Theory of Production, Life, and Ecology Based on Panel Data from 27 Provinces in China from 2003 to 2020

Abstract

Promoting green development and promoting harmonious coexistence between humans and nature are strategic tasks for the construction of ecological civilization in China in the new era. Currently, the growing environmental governance investment in China has not performed well, and the low efficiency of environmental governance has become the main problem facing the development of ecological civilization in China. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to scientifically measure the efficiency of environmental governance and improve the efficiency of environmental governance input factors to achieve green development and overcome the difficulties in the construction of ecological civilization. In this study, an improved three-stage SBM model and cloud model combined with the Theory of production, life, and ecology were used to measure the environmental governance efficiency of 27 provinces in China from 2003 to 2020 and conduct in-depth analysis and evaluation. The results show that: First, the influence of random error factors and external environmental conditions on the efficiency of rural domestic sewage treatment in China is significant. Their existence will underestimate the environmental governance efficiency in the central and western regions of China and overestimate the environmental governance efficiency in the eastern regions of China, except for Hainan Province. Second, after excluding the influence of random errors and external environment conditions, the adjusted efficiency mean value of the central and western regions significantly increases, while the environmental governance efficiency of most provinces in the eastern region, except for Hainan Province, decreases significantly. Third, the overall environmental governance efficiency of the 27 provinces in China still presents a situation wherein the western region is ranked first in efficiency, the eastern region ranks second, and the central region ranks third. The environmental governance efficiency of the 27 provinces shows a “large at both ends, small in the middle” and “low efficiency in the eastern and central regions, and instability in the western region” state, and there is a large difference in the degree of environmental governance efficiency among the various provinces. In this regard, for the eastern and central regions, special attention should be paid to their government’s transformation of development thinking, placing greater emphasis on balanced and coordinated development between urbanization, industrialization, and the environment. As for the western region, due to its harsh environmental conditions, it attaches more importance to environmental governance. However, efforts should be made to strengthen its economic development to ensure sufficient provision of material conditions such as infrastructure and equipment required for environmental governance in order to achieve stable environmental governance efficiency in the western region. For the central region, both the economy and the environment need to be further strengthened.