XIAO Qin, ZHAO Yuechuan, CHENG Xiannan, JIN Yixiao
Inquiry Into Economic Issues.
2024, 45(9):
173-190.
Based on the panel data of 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China from 2013 to 2021, this paper uses the spatial metric method to study the spatial mismatch of natural gas supply and demand, introduces geographical spatial weight and economic spatial weight, and analyzes the spatial spillover effect and impact mechanism of natural gas consumption on air pollution combined with natural gas production. The results showed that: (1) The increase in natural gas consumption significantly reduced PM2.5 emissions, and the higher natural gas consumption, the lower the air quality index (p<0.05). This indicates that gas consumption is beneficial for improving air pollution. (2) Due to the different energy endowments of provinces, there is a spatial mismatch between the supply and demand of natural gas. Moreover, after introducing geographic spatial weights and economic spatial weights, it is found that there is a positive spatial spillover effect for gas consumption and a negative spatial spillover effect for gas production. (3) For provinces where the supply of natural gas exceeds the demand, the preference for the use of natural gas can better reduce air pollution. These provinces are improving air pollution by replacing coal consumption with natural gas consumption and achieving a cleaner transition within fossil energy sources. (4) This paper introduces the GDP of each province as the threshold variable, and finds that only when the GDP of each province exceeds the first threshold value, natural gas consumption will significantly improve air pollution. The likely reason is that economic development in the provinces guarantees the construction of infrastructure for internal conversion to fossil energy.