Responses of PM2.5 pollution to urbanization in China

Rapid urbanization and economic development caused serious environmental pollution burden in China. This study explored the spatiotemporal profile of PM2.5 concentrations in China from 1998 to 2016, examined its relationship with urbanization and other socioeconomic factors, including industry, abatement investment, and clean energy consumption by constructing the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model, and interpreted its responses to urbanization and these factors using the Generalized Additive Model (GAM). The results showed that PM2.5 pollution generally presented a worsening situation in most provinces during the study period. PM2.5-urbanization relationship approved an inverted U-shape EKC pattern in whole China and the central and eastern region, but presented an N-shape EKC pattern in the developed eastern region. Industry and its interaction with urbanization drove increasing PM2.5 concentrations. The interactions of urbanization with abatement investment and clean energy consumption had negative effects on PM2.5 concentrations nationally, but showed different impacts across regions. The GAM's results further verified that PM2.5 concentrations increased along with urbanization and industry, but enhancing abatement investment and clean energy consumption can reverse the increased trend. The major findings and policy implications can contribute to successful policy-making aimed at successful PM2.5 pollution abatement.