China's economic, environmental and social development in crossfire : province-specific analysis of China's ecological modernization and sustainability

Abstract

Häyhä, Laura. China’s Economic, Environmental and Social Development in Crossfire – Province-specific Analysis of China’s Ecological Modernization and Sustainability. Master thesis. Autumn 2014. Supervisor: Pertti Jokivuori. Sociology. University of Jyväskylä. Pages 89 + 1 appendix.

This study concentrated to examine ecological modernization process and sustainability of Chinese provinces. The examination focused on the differences between the westernmost and the easternmost China. Data of Chinese Statistical Yearbook was used during the years 2001–2010. Analyses were implemented with SPSS 20. and Excel 2010. Among general statistical analysis, Principal Component Analysis and a relatively new sustainability window analysis were carried out in this study.

The new sustainability method was used to determine the minimum (socially sustainable) and maximum (environmentally sustainable) economic growth level in certain sociotechno- economic production system. Among sustainability analysis of the provinces, other purpose of the study was to test the sustainability window assessment tool at provincial level (earlier applied at national comparisons).

Sustainability assessment was done for 25 provinces, which were located in the westernmost and the easternmost China. The sustainability assessment concentrated to study changes in socio-techno-economic production systems of each provinces. The method can produce three different outputs of analysed regions: socially and environmentally sustainable regions; only socially sustainable, but environmentally unsustainable regions; socially and environmentally unsustainable regions. The method aimed to examine ecological modernization process of provinces and this meant that three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, environmental, socio-cultural) were taken into account in the analyses. In practice, the analyses were implemented by using GDP as economic dimension, SO2 emissions to illustrate environmental dimension, and composite indicator of social well-being (consisted of private owned vehicles, employment and literacy) reflecting socio-cultural dimension of sustainable development. The composite indicator was built based on the analysis of the Principal Component Analysis.

Main results can be divided into three different categories: the easternmost provinces with sustainability window and actual economic growth in side of the window (totally sustainable regions), the easternmost provinces with sustainability window and economic growth outside of it (only socially sustainable regions), and the westernmost provinces without sustainability window (unsustainable regions). As a summary, the first group of division had relatively succeeded ecological modernization process and, their sociotechno- economic production systems were able to change into sustainable. In the second group, ecological modernization process succeeded to change tracks of socio-technoeconomic production systems towards sustainable direction, but efficiency the systems weren't enough for sustainable economic growth. The third group of provinces had very inefficient socio-techno-economic production systems, and the whole structure of the system wasn't proper for sustainable economic growth.