Environmental regulation, human capital, and pollutant emissions: the case of SO₂ emissions for China

ABSTRACT

This study aims to explore whether the impact of environmental regulation on pollution emissions varies across China’s regions under different human capital levels. And whether environmental regulation will affect sulfur emissions through human capital is also examined. The empirical results conclude that: (1) environmental protection investment cannot effectively contribute to sulfur emission reduction for the full sample; (2) environmental regulation can aggravate pollution emissions when human capital is low, while human capital is in a high-level, enhanced regulation can help reduce pollution emissions; and (3) environmental regulation can help strengthen sulfur reduction through human capital accumulation; however, the reduction of sulfur emissions by human capital cannot offset the direct positive effect of environmental regulation on sulfur emissions.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental regulation
• human capital
• pollution emissions
• mediation effect
• China

Acknowledgments

The article is supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 20VGQ003) and the Natural Science Fund of Hunan Province (2022JJ40647). The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful reviews and comments from the editors and anonymous reviewers, which improved this manuscript considerably. Certainly, all remaining errors are our own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Simple labor refers to workers who do not have training qualifications; in other words, unskilled labor; the specific definition can refer to: https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Simple+Labor

2. Human capital indicates a labor force with work experience, skills, and economic value that has undergone education and skills training. The specific definition can refer to: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/humancapital.asp

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province [2022JJ40647]; Beijing Social Science Foundation [21LLLJC028].

Notes on contributors

Kangyin Dong

Kangyin Dong, Ph.D., an associate professor in the School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics (Beijing, China). His research interests include energy economics, environmental economics, and applied econometrics. He has published more than 100 papers appearing in journals such as Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, The World Economy, Australian Economic Papers, and Applied Economics, etc. Personal website: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Ut15iYkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao or https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kangyin_Dong

Jun Zhao

Jun Zhao, a Ph.D. student in the School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics (Beijing, China). Her research interest is energy and low-carbon economics. She has published about 26 papers appearing in journals Energy Economics, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Applied Economics, Australian Economic Papers, and Journal of Environmental Management, etc.

Xiaohang Ren

Xiaohang Ren, Ph.D., an Associate professor in the School of Business, Central South University. His research interests include energy economics, environmental economics, energy finance and econometrics. He has published more than 50 papers appearing in journals such as Energy Economics, International Review of Financial Analysis, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Journal of Environmental Management, Applied Energy, Sustainable Production and Consumption, Applied Economics, Energy, etc.

Yukun Shi

Yukun Shi, Ph.D., the senior lecturer of Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow. He holds a PhD in Finance from Durham University and is a CFA Charterholder. Yukun is also an academic consultant in Moody’s Analytics.