The Influence of Technological Innovation on PM2.5 Concentration in the Yangtze River Delta, China

Abstract

PM2.5 pollution seriously affects the environment, human health and socio-economic development, which has garnered wide-spread attention. Technological innovation plays a great role in PM2.5 concentration. Thus, better understanding of the influence of technological innovation on PM2.5 concentration is necessary. The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) was selected as the study area. This paper explored the spatial characteristic of PM2.5 concentration and technological innovation. Then, bivariate Moran’s I was applied to analyzed the spatial correlation between technological innovation and PM2.5 concentration. The geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model was applied to explore the spatial heterogeneity of the influence of technological innovation on PM2.5 concentration, and geographical detector model was applied to reveal the interactive influence between technological innovation and other factors. The main conclusions were as follows. (1) No city’s PM2.5 concentration fell below the standard which is considered harmless to human health. Cities in the northwest of the YRD had higher PM2.5 concentration. (2) Cities in the core region of the YRD had relatively higher technological innovation. (3) There existed negative spatial correlation between technological innovation and PM2.5 concentration, and three local spatial correlation types were found. (4) Technological innovation contributed to the decrease in PM2.5 concentration. The interactive influence between technological innovation and natural factors was generally greater than that between technological factors and socio-economic factors. Comparing to other socio-economic factors, technological innovation and foreign investment had greater interactive influence on PM2.5 concentration. Finally, some policy recommendations were drawn.