Have Chinese cities achieved the win–win between environmental protection and economic development? From the perspective of environmental efficiency

The development of a regional or national economy is always accompanied by a variety of environmental problems. Using meta-frontier and data envelopment analysis (DEA), this paper investigates the environmental protection mechanisms and economic development of 211 cities in China from the perspective of environmental efficiency. The major conclusions are: (1) the overall environmental efficiency of Chinese cities is low when the most advanced production technology is selected as the reference. Only 10% of cities have achieved a win–win, defined as an effective balance between environmental protection and economic growth. It is possible to increase economy and reduce pollutant emissions at the same time for most of cities. (2) The environmental efficiencies and production technologies of cities in five different groups (based on a widely accepted business index) present significant differences. First-tier cities possess more advanced technology, higher environmental efficiency and, therefore, a higher overall win–win balance between economic development and environmental protection; while the fourth-tier and fifth-tier cities have a relatively large gap between development and protection. (3) To achieve a win–win balance between environmental protection and economic development, the local government of different cities should develop appropriate policies that maximize the use of technology and management practices that enhance both growth and protection.