What Attracts Green: Value Differentiation of Environmental Industry and Coagglomeration with Pollution-Intensive Industries in China

Abstract

Scholars have spent decades studying how environmental (“green”) industry can promote sustainability. Few studies, however, have discussed corporate dynamics within green industry and their spatial interactions with other manufacturing and service industries. Drawing on the theoretical perspective of industrial value chain differentiation, this study unpacks the spatiotemporal dynamics of environmental enterprises by various types in China. We use the Wasserstein coagglomeration index and Poisson regression to identify the spatial coagglomeration of green and pollution-intensive (“brown”) industries. The results show that (1) China’s environmental industry is still in the early and middle stages of development with low and medium added value as the core; (2) green enterprises are mainly distributed in the eastern coastal areas and a few inland provinces with developed infrastructure; and (3) the entry and spatial distribution of equipment and engineering enterprises are highly correlated with local brown industries, whereas high-end service enterprises tend to concentrate in economically developed urban agglomerations. This research hopes to reveal the spatial characteristics of environmental industry in the regional green transition through the decomposition of its value chain and the analysis of the spatial coagglomeration effect.

Key Words:

• environmental industry
• pollution-intensive industries
• spatial coagglomeration
• value differentiation

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the editor of The Professional Geographer and the anonymous reviewers for their very helpful and constructive suggestions and comments.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s site at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2024.2345884

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (No. 42171169).

Notes on contributors

Enyi Mu

ENYI MU is a PhD Candidate in the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China. E-mail: [email protected]. Her current research interests include environmental economic geography, emerging industries development, and regional sustainability.

Canfei He

CANFEI HE is a Professor in the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China. E-mail: [email protected]. His current research interests include economic geography and international trade.

Shuqi He

SHUQI HE is a PhD Candidate in the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China. E-mail: [email protected]. Her current research interests include economic geography, urban and regional planning, and sustainability.

Hantian Sheng

HANTIAN SHENG is a PhD Candidate in the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China. E-mail: [email protected]. His current research interests include economic geography and regional economic resilience.

Xiaomian Dai

XIAOMIAN DAI is a Master’s Candidate in the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China. E-mail: [email protected]. His current research interests include global value chains and regional development.

Yu Liu

YU LIU is a Professor in the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China. E-mail: [email protected]. His current research interests include economy of energy, Computable General Equilibrium model, Input-Output model, and environmental policy analysis.