Industrial agglomeration and air pollution: A new perspective from enterprises in Atmospheric Pollution Transmission Channel Cities (APTCC) of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and its surrounding areas, China

Air quality in China has gradually been improving in recent years; however, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region continues to be the most polluted area in China, with the worst air quality index. BTH and its surrounding areas experience high agglomeration of heavy-polluting manufacturers that generate electric power, process petroleum and coal, and carry out smelting and pressing of ferrous metals, raw chemical materials, chemical products, and non-metallic mineral products. This study presents evidence of the air pollution impacts of industrial agglomeration using the Ellison-Glaeser index, Herfindahl-Hirschman index, and spatial autocorrelation analysis. This was based on data from 73,353 enterprises in "2+26" atmospheric pollution transmission channel cities in BTH and its surrounding areas (herein referred to as BTH "2+26" cities). The results showed that Beijing, Yangquan, Puyang, Kaifeng, Taiyuan, and Jinan had the highest Ellison-Glaeser index among the BTH "2+26" cities; this represents the highest enterprise agglomeration. Beijing, Langfang, Tianjin, Baoding, and Tangshan also showed a low Herfindahl-Hirschman index of pollutant emissions, which have a relatively high degree of industrial agglomeration in BTH "2+26" cities. There was an inverted U-shaped relationship between enterprise agglomeration and air quality in the BTH "2+26" cities. This means that air quality improved with increased industrial agglomeration up to a certain level; beyond this point, the air quality begins to deteriorate with a decrease in industrial agglomeration.