Impact of environmental absorption capacity on PM2.5 concentration in China

Air pollution, especially fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) pollution, has a great negative impact on human production and normal life. It is a hot issue of global concern, and it is also a huge test for China’s high-quality socioeconomic development. Environmental absorption capacity (EAC) is the guarantee of the structure and function of a healthy atmospheric environmental system. It plays an important role in the automatic accommodation, absorption, and digestion of air pollutants produced by humans in the process of industrialization and civilization. Understanding the absorption capacity of environmental elements on PM_2.5, and exploring the impact of EAC on PM_2.5 concentration are of great significance to the development of new ideas for air pollution control. This paper constructed an index system to calculate the EAC index from two dimensions (natural resource endowment and impact of human activities), analyzed and discussed the impact of EAC on PM_2.5 concentration and its heterogeneity effect through panel regression model, generalized panel quantile regression based on MCMC optimization and scenario analysis, by using the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2004 to 2017. The results suggested that: (i) The overall level of national EAC was low, and the regional differences were large. EAC was influenced by natural resource endowment and human activities, while natural endowment was the main factor affecting EAC, and human activities were the main factor causing the fluctuation and the regional difference of EAC. (ii) As the result of full sample regression demonstrated, the enhancement of EAC had a significant negative influence on the reduction of PM_2.5 concentration. In areas with high PM_2.5 concentration, the effect of EAC was more obvious, but the effect did not necessarily increase with the increase of PM_2.5 concentration. Also, in extreme cases, the effect did not pass the significance test. (iii) According to the results of heterogeneity effect analysis, the effect of EAC on PM_2.5 concentration was significantly negative in sustainable scenario and emergency scenario, while the effect was not significant in Soylent Green scenario. The conclusion provides important implications for the prevention and control of air pollution and the improvement of atmospheric environmental quality.