Measurement, Spatial-Temporal Evolution, and Optimization Path of the Level of Coordinated Development of Ecological Civilisation: The Case of China

Abstract

Based on the energy–economy–environment–society (3E1S) system theory, this paper constructed a comprehensive evaluation system for the coordinated development of China’s ecological civilisation construction using panel data from 31 provinces and cities from 2005 to 2020, which is specifically divided into four sub-systems, namely, energy, economy, environment, and society, and covers 10 ordinal covariates and 40 ordinal variable indicators. In terms of measurement and evaluation methods, this paper adopted the composite system synergy model to measure the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction of the country as a whole and 31 provinces and cities and adopted Arcgis maps, standard deviation ellipses, kernel density curves, and Theil index methods to explore the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics and regional differences in the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction. It was found that the coordinated development level of China’s ecological civilisation construction increased year by year from 2005 to 2020, with the most obvious upward trend from 2011 to 2015, with an average increase of 26.5%. Secondly, the spatial distribution pattern of the coordinated development level of China’s ecological civilisation construction was relatively stable, basically showing a dominant southwest–northeast direction, but the spatial centre of gravity shows a trajectory shifting towards the southwest. Finally, there were large regional differences in the level of coordinated development of China’s ecological civilisation, with an overall decreasing regional pattern of “Central-Northeast-East-West”. However, the overall differences among the four regions showed a decreasing trend. The overall differences among the four regions were mainly intra-regional, with the western region having the greatest intra-regional differences and contributing to the overall differences. Although this paper takes China as a case study, its research methodology and conclusions can provide references for the construction of ecological civilisation and green sustainable development in other countries.

1. Introduction

1.1. Background

With the increasingly serious ecological crisis, population, resources, environmental pollution, and other issues are increasingly showing global characteristics, and the concept of sustainable development came into being. The concept of sustainable development first appeared in the report Our Common Future of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), which influenced the international development policy and the attitude of the international community towards economic development, social development, and environmental development. Ecological civilisation is a new form of civilisation following industrial civilisation, in which human beings and nature are harmoniously united [1]. The construction of ecological civilisation is not ecological protection and environmental pollution control in the simple sense; it is a worldwide revolution involving production, lifestyles, and values, an irreversible world trend, and also a new stage after primitive civilisation, agricultural civilisation, and industrial civilization [2]. Sustainable development is a way and means of development that has development at its core. Ecological civilisation is a form of civilisation with relatively rich connotations. Sustainable development and ecological civilisation are mutually reinforcing. On the one hand, sustainable development embodies the progress of human civilization and is an important way for human society to move towards ecological civilization; on the other hand, the promotion of ecological civilization is conducive to the optimization of economic structure and the transformation of the mode of economic growth, thereby promoting sustainable development. Therefore, taking the road of ecological civilisation is the general trend in today’s world and an inevitable choice for the development of human society.

As the world’s largest developing country, China has been reforming and opening up for more than 40 years, and its economy has made remarkable achievements, going from being an economically backward country to becoming an economic power. However, China’s long-standing model of crude economic growth has not only resulted in a massive waste of resources and energy and the emission of large quantities of pollutants but has also exacerbated the contradictions between the ecological environment and socio-economic development, impeding the healthy and sustainable development of China’s economy and society. Therefore, it is both historically and practically inevitable to change the traditional mode of economic development and move towards the path of building an ecological civilisation in which human beings and nature develop in harmony.

In terms of building an ecological civilisation, the concept of “ecological civilisation” was first formally put forward in the report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2007, and ecological civilisation was listed as an important goal for building a well-off society in an all-round way; in 2012, the report of the 18th CPC National Congress elevated ecological civilisation to an unprecedented strategic level, forming a “five-in-one” strategic overall layout together with economic construction, social construction, cultural construction, and political construction. Since 2012, the CPC and the government have accelerated the promotion of ecological civilisation and formulated more than 40 reforms related to ecological civilization [3]. Although China’s ecological environment has continued to improve in recent years, and the construction of ecological civilisation has made positive progress, the overall level of ecological civilisation construction is still in its infancy, and the quality of the ecological environment still has much room for improvement [4,5]. In addition, due to the different environmental resource endowment, the scale of economic development, and stages of urbanisation and industrialisation among Chinese provinces, it is necessary to construct an evaluation system for the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction at the provincial spatial scale, measure and analyse the level of coordinated development and the characteristics of spatial and temporal evolution, and put forward targeted optimisation paths, so as to provide empirical evidence and references for the promotion of coordinated ecological civilisation construction development.

1.2. Literature Review

In terms of research related to ecological civilisation, early literature mainly focuses on the connotation of ecological civilization [6,7,8,9]. For example, Ye [6] defined ecological civilisation from the perspective of ecology and ecological philosophy as the maintenance of a harmonious and unified relationship between man and nature; Gao and Huang [7] argued that ecological civilisation is a new type of civilisation that takes economy, politics, science, and technology as carriers, and ecological ethics as the criterion to raise human awareness of sustainable development and achieve harmony between human beings, nature, and all aspects of society. Although the concept of ecological civilisation has not yet been unified in the academic world, it is generally agreed that ecological civilisation is the ecological reflection of mankind under the crisis of industrial civilisation, and its core goal is to achieve the harmonious development of man and nature.

On the basis of the definition of the connotation of ecological civilisation, many scholars have conducted research on the meaning and main content of ecological civilisation construction [10,11,12,13]. For example, Gu et al. [10] argued that the construction of ecological civilisation refers to the protection and improvement of the natural environment, the restoration and construction of ecosystems, etc., which involves the construction of various types of ecosystems relative to the natural environment and complements the construction of the economy, society, culture, and politics. With the practice of ecological civilisation construction, scholars’ research interests have gradually turned to the evaluation of ecological civilisation construction. Since ecological civilisation is a new concept derived from the theory of sustainable development, the initial research on the evaluation of ecological civilisation construction mainly draws on the research on the evaluation of sustainable development, and most of the theoretical frameworks, indicators, and evaluation methods are directly derived from the research on the evaluation of sustainable development. With the in-depth study of ecological civilisation construction, scholars have constructed a corresponding indicator system based on the connotation of ecological civilisation and evaluated it [14,15,16,17]. Since the construction of ecological civilisation is a complex systematic project, scholars mainly construct a comprehensive evaluation index system to study it. For example, Zhang et al. [18] constructed a people-oriented ecological civilisation index system from the physiological balance degree, psychological imbalance degree, human–environmental imbalance degree, human development degree, and economic-environmental incongruity degree, etc.; Wang et al. [19] constructed a system of evaluation indices from four dimensions, namely, eco-economy, eco-society, resource–environmental efficiency, and eco-culture and system; Zhang et al. [20] constructed an ecological civilisation evaluation system from five dimensions: green environment, green production, green life, green infrastructure, and green regulations. In terms of evaluation methods, there is the entropy method [21,22], the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method [23,24], the pressure–state–response (PSR) model [25,26], and the coupled coordination degree (CCD) model [27,28]. In addition to researching using the above methods alone, some scholars have also conducted research combining several of the above methods at the same time. For example, Zhang and Liu [29] combined the entropy and TOPSIS method to evaluate the level of ecological civilisation construction of nine counties and districts in Longnan City; Wang et al. [30] combined the PSR and TOPSIS method to evaluate the level of ecological civilisation construction of Jiangsu Province; Cheng and Peng [31] combined the entropy and CCD model to evaluate the ecological civilisation of Henan Province. According to the different spatial scales of research, studies on the evaluation of ecological civilisation construction can be divided into four categories: the national scale, the provincial scale, the town (county) scale, and the specific regional scale [32,33,34,35]. Among these four types of research scales, studies on the evaluation of China’s ecological civilisation construction have focused more on the national and provincial scales, perhaps because empirical research on the evaluation of ecological civilisation construction involves many indicators, and the statistical data of the national and provincial scales are more complete compared to the town (county) scale.

By combing the literature, it can be found that although the relevant studies on the evaluation of ecological civilisation construction are relatively rich, and scholars have constructed a rich evaluation index system from different dimensions, there are fewer studies on the evaluation of the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction from the perspectives of system and synergy theory. Secondly, although scholars have adopted the entropy method, TOPSIS method, CCD model, and other methods to conduct research, few studies have adopted the composite system synergy model to measure the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction. Since the construction of ecological civilisation is a complex systematic project involving energy, economy, environment, society, and other dimensions, this paper constructs the evaluation index system under the framework of energy–economy–environment–society (3E1S) system theory and adopts the composite system synergy model to study the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction, which has good theoretical significance and practical significance. The research objectives of this paper are as follows:

• Construct a comprehensive evaluation index system for the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction based on the 3E1S system theory.
• Measure the coordinated development level of ecological civilisation construction in China as a whole and in 31 provinces and cities from 2005 to 2020 on the basis of the construction of the evaluation index system and analyse its spatial and temporal evolution characteristics.
• Explore and analyse regional differences in the level of coordinated development of ecological civilization construction in the east, central, west, and northeast regions.
• Propose optimisation paths for promoting the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction based on empirical research findings and conclusions.

The marginal contribution of this paper lies in the fact that it can enrich the research on the evaluation of ecological civilisation construction and has studied the evaluation of ecological civilisation construction from a new perspective, which is conducive to providing an important reference for further promoting ecological civilisation construction.

The structure of this article is as follows. Section 2 describes the theoretical underpinnings of the study, including the theories of synergy and 3E1S, and establishes an analytical framework. Section 3 explains the research design, including the data sources, the construction of the evaluation index system, and the models and methods used. Section 4 explains the results of the coordinated development level of ecological civilisation construction at the national level and in 31 provinces and cities and then analyses the characteristics of its spatial and temporal evolution as well as the differences among the four major regions: east, central, west, and northeast. Section 5 describes the discussion and conclusions. Section 6 expounds on the optimization paths of ecological civilisation construction from four aspects: energy, economy, environment, and society.

2. Theoretical Foundations and Analyses

2.1. Theoretical Foundations

2.1.1. Synergistic Theory

Haken [36] created the theory of synergy in the early 1970s, defining synergy for the first time as the overall effect of the components or elements within a system working in concert with each other. Synergistic theory suggests that although different subsystems differ greatly in their attributes, there is a relationship of mutual influence, competition, and cooperation among subsystems within the overall system. Therefore, synergistic theory is the science of orderly, self-organised collective behaviour governed by universal laws. Because of its obvious methodological significance, synergistic theory is widely applied by different disciplines (e.g., physics, chemistry, biology, sociology, economics, etc.).

There are three basic principles in synergistic theory, namely, the principle of synergy effect, the principle of dominance, and the principle of self-organisation. The principle of synergy effect refers to the fact that the overall function of a system is greater than the sum of the functions of its subsystems, i.e., the effect of “1 + 1 > 2” is achieved. The dominance principle is an important principle in synergistic theory, which refers to the fact that when the system reaches a critical point, the ordinal parameter will play a dominant role in the system. According to Haken [36], in any complex system, there is a slow variable and a fast variable, in which the slow variable is the ordinal parameter. Although ordinal covariates are small in number in a system, they are able to describe the degree of orderliness of the system and determine the direction of the whole system. The principle of self-organisation in synergistic theory focuses on the synergy between the elements or subsystems within a system and considers this synergy to be the basis of the self-organisation process, with competition between the ordinal covariates within the system as well as synergy being at the root of the emergence of a new structure for the system as a whole.

2.1.2. 3E1S System Theory

As mankind’s understanding of energy, the environment, and the economy has deepened, and the theory of sustainable development has been put forward and refined, it has been found that there is an intrinsic relationship of mutual influence and interaction between economic growth, energy consumption, and environmental pollution. Therefore, when energy, the environment, and the economy are integrated into a system, it is possible to better identify the intrinsic mechanisms between the three and achieve coordinated development. In the 1980s, many international environmental and energy agencies began to study the construction of the theoretical framework of the energy–environment–economy (3E) system and the intrinsic connection between the three, and gradually formed the 3E system theory.

The 3E system theory is derived from system theory, synergistic theory, and sustainable development theory. It is a comprehensive study of the mutual influence and interaction among the economy, energy, and the environment. The 3E system is composed of energy subsystems, economic subsystems, and environmental subsystems. Specifically, energy and the environment are the material basis for economic development. While economic growth depends on energy development, the development and use of energy will destroy the natural environment and cause environmental pollution, and resource constraints and environmental pollution affect the sustainable development of the economy. The three are closely linked, and changes in any one of the subsystems will cause changes in the other two subsystems. With the depth of research, scholars have gradually included social subsystems in the 3E system framework and constructed 3E1S systems [37,38], which is because although economic development and social development are related and can influence and promote each other, economic development does not necessarily promote social development. Therefore, the 3E1S system is more comprehensive and rational compared to the 3E system.

2.2. Theoretical Analyses

3E1S system theory and ecological civilisation construction were both developed on the basis of sustainable development theory. The core of 3E1S system theory lies in exploring how to achieve integrated balance and coordinated development among the four subsystems of energy, economy, environment, and society. In the research of 3E system theory, scholars have conducted rich empirical studies, such as using the CCD and the composite system synergy model to study the coordination relationship among the three subsystems of energy, economy, and environment [39,40]. Therefore, 3E system theory is also used as a practical framework for sustainable development theory. Ecological civilisation and sustainable development have a close relationship with each other. Ecological civilisation is guided by the concept of sustainable development, which emphasizes the coordinated development of the economy, society, and the environment in order to achieve the goal of harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature. The realization of sustainable development requires ecological civilisation as a prerequisite and foundation and, at the same time, provides the impetus and conditions for the further advancement of ecological civilisation. Since the construction of ecological civilisation involves all aspects of energy, economy, environment, and society, the synergy of 3E1S is an important condition to achieve the coordinated development of ecological civilisation. Specifically, this paper regards the construction of ecological civilisation as a system, and the coordinated development of ecological civilisation depends on the degree of synergy between the four subsystems of energy, economy, environment, and society. Among them, the orderliness of the energy subsystem is influenced by the energy structure and energy consumption ordinal coefficients; the orderliness of the economic subsystem is influenced by the economic scale, economic structure, and economic potential ordinal coefficients; the orderliness of the environmental subsystem is influenced by the pressure to improve the environment, environmental governance, and ecological carrying capacity ordinal coefficients; the orderliness of the social subsystem is influenced by the social development and public service ordinal coefficients. The theoretical analytical framework of this study is shown in Figure 1.

3. Research Design

3.1. Selection of Indicators and Data Sources

3.1.1. Selection of Indicators

The construction of ecological civilisation is a complex and systematic project, covering many aspects. Its complexity and systemic nature make the evaluation of ecological civilisation construction by means of constructing an indicator system more scientific and reasonable than the unilateral evaluation or evaluation of a single index. Ecological civilisation is a scientific system theory involving ecology, economy, society, culture, and other fields, and it is subject to the mutual influence and constraints of multiple systems and factors. Developing a comprehensive evaluation index system for the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction not only reflects the connotation and characteristics of ecological civilisation construction but also studies the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction from the perspectives of system and synergistic theory. This paper combines the content of ecological civilisation construction, based on the analytical framework of the 3E1S system theory, and measures the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in terms of the four dimensions, namely, energy, economy, environment, and society, respectively. Specifically, this paper combs through the indicator variables affecting the orderliness of energy subsystems, economic subsystems, environmental subsystems, and social subsystems, as well as relevant studies on the construction of the comprehensive evaluation index system for the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction [28,41,42,43], and considering the completeness, accessibility, and authority of the data, the following comprehensive evaluation index system for the coordinated development of ecological civilization construction is constructed, as shown in

Table 1. Comprehensive evaluation index system for the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction.

Subsystems	Ordinal Parameter	Sequential Variable	Unit (of Measure)	Symbol
Energy	Energy structure	Share of coal consumption	(%)	−
		Share of natural gas consumption	(%)	+
		Share of LPG consumption	(%)	+
		Share of electricity consumption	(%)	+
	Energy consumption	Total natural gas supply	(Ten thousand cubic meters)	+
		Total LPG supply	(Tonne)	+
		Electricity consumption of society as a whole	(Hundred million kWh)	+
		Total coal consumption	(Million tonnes of standard coal)	−
Economy	Economic scale	Gross domestic product (GDP)	(Billion yuan)	+
		GDP per capita	(yuan/person)	+
		Total retail sales of consumer goods	(Hundred million yuan)	+
		General public budget expenditure	(Hundred million yuan)	+
	Economic structure	Value added of the secondary sector as a share of GDP	(%)	−
		Tertiary sector output as a share of GDP	(%)	+
		Industrial structure rationalisation index	Dimensionless	−
		Industrial structure advancement index	Dimensionless	+
	Economic potential	Energy consumption per unit of GDP	(Million tonnes of standard coal/CNY billion)	−
		Investment efficiency	Dimensionless	+
		Marketability of technology results	(%)	+
		R&D investment intensity	(%)	+
Environment	Improvement of stress	Carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP	(Million tonnes/CNY billion)	−
		Sulphur dioxide emissions per unit of GDP	(Million tonnes/CNY billion)	−
		NOx emissions per unit of GDP	(Million tonnes/CNY billion)	−
		Total wastewater discharge per unit of GDP	(Million tonnes/CNY billion)	−
	Environmental management	Environmental regulation intensity	Dimensionless	+
		Comprehensive industrial solid waste utilisation rate	(%)	+
		Capacity for environmentally sound treatment of domestic waste	(tonnes/day)	+
		Investment in industrial pollution control as a share of GDP	(%)	+
	Ecological carrying capacity	Area of nature reserves	(Million hectares)	+
		Total afforestation area	(Million hectares)	+
		Forest cover	(%)	+
		Green area (of a building or park)	(Million hectares)	+
Society	Social development	Urbanisation rate	(%)	+
		Population density	(Persons/km2)	+
		Marketability	Dimensionless	+
		Students enrolled in higher education institutions per 10,000 population	(Person)	+
	Public service	Number of public tram vehicles operating per capita in the city	(Vehicles/10,000 persons)	+
		Greening coverage in built-up areas	(%)	+
		Parkland per capita	(Square metres/person)	+
		Road area per capita	(Square metres/person)	+

. The comprehensive evaluation index system for the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in this study covers four dimensions of economic, energy, environmental, and social subsystems and is subdivided into 10 ordinal covariates and 40 ordinal variables, forming a comprehensive evaluation system for the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction at the provincial level of China, which includes “system-subsystems-ordinal covariates-ordinal variables”.

3.1.2. Data Sources

The data used in this study are the balanced panel data of 31 provinces and cities in China from 2005 to 2020, and the missing values of individual indicator years are treated by linear interpolation. The industrial structure rationalisation index variable is measured using the Theil index method and is treated as an absolute value, with larger values indicating that the economy is deviating from the equilibrium state and the industrial structure is more irrational. The index of advanced industrial structure is measured by the ratio of the output value of tertiary industry to the output value of secondary industry [44]. The variables of investment efficiency and R&D investment intensity are calculated with reference to the study of Sun et al. [45]. The environmental regulation intensity variable is referred to in the studies of Chen et al. [46] and Deng and Yang [47] and is obtained using Python to partition the government work reports of 31 provinces and cities and then statistically count the word frequencies of keywords related to environmental regulation. The data in this study mainly come from provincial government work reports, the China Statistical Yearbook, China Energy Statistical Yearbook, and China Environmental Statistical Yearbook.

3.2. Research Methodology

3.2.1. Methodology for Measuring the Coordinated Development of Ecological Civilisation Construction

The composite system synergy model is a classical empirical research model in synergetics, which can obtain the synergy degree of the composite system (SDCS) by integrating and calculating the orderliness of different subsystems. Moreover, the SDCS can be obtained through the integration of different spatial scales for the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction at the national and provincial levels. Compared with the existing evaluation methods, such as the entropy method, TOPSIS method, and CCD model, the composite system synergy model helps to better understand the trend and law of the system’s change as well as the interactions and intrinsic connections among economic, energy, environmental, and social subsystems, so as to improve the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction. Therefore, this paper selects the composite system synergy model for the study.

For the energy, economic, environmental, and social subsystems, S_n, S_n = {S_n1, S_n2,..., S_nt} denote the ordinal parametric components (ordinal variables or indicators) of the subsystem’s evolutionary process, where t ≥ 1. Secondly, using α_nm and β_nm to denote the upper and lower bounds of the m ordinal parametric components of the subsystems of S_n, there are β_nm ≤ S_nm ≤ α_nm, m∊[1, t]. In order to avoid the situation where the numerator is zero when calculating the ordering degree of the ordinal parametric components and thus the result of the ordinal parametric components is zero, α and β are normally taken to be multiplied by a coefficient. Drawing on the study of Wu [48], the coefficient is taken as 1.1 or 0.9. Finally, the positive and negative directions of the indicators are judged. It is assumed that S_n1, S_n2,..., S_na are positive indicators, which are positively correlated with the orderliness of subsystems; S_na + 1, S_na + 2,..., S_nt are negative indicators, which are negatively correlated with the orderliness of subsystems. According to the positive and negative directions of the indicators, they are brought into Equation (1) to be measured to obtain the ordering degree of the m-ordered covariate components of the S_n subsystem:

$${\mu }_n(S_{nm})=\left\{\begin{array}{c}\frac{S_{nm}-{\beta }_{nm}}{{\alpha }_{nm}-{\beta }_{nm}},m\in [1,a],m\in [1,b]\\ \frac{{\alpha }_{nm}-S_{nm}}{{\alpha }_{nm}-{\beta }_{nm}},m\in [a+1,t],m\in [b+1,t]\end{array}\right..$$

(1)

From Equation (1), it can be seen that the ordering degree of subsystem order parameter components takes the range of 0 to 1. Among them, the larger the value of µ_n (S_nm), the larger the contribution of its order parameter components to the ordering degree of the subsystem. In addition, the overall synergy is not only affected by the magnitude of the ordering degree of the order parameter components but also depends on the combination form of each order parameter component. Different combination forms determine different specific structures of the system, and the combination forms, in turn, determine the integration law [49]. There are usually two methods for integration: the geometric mean method and the linear weighted summation method. In this study, the geometric mean method is used to measure the orderliness of subsystems. Assuming that the orderliness of the S_n subsystem is µ_n (S_n), the formula is as follows:

$${\mu }_n(S_n)=\sqrt[t]{{\displaystyle \prod _{m=1}^t{\mu }_n(S_{nm})}}.$$

(2)

From Equation (2), the value range of subsystem orderliness is also from 0 to 1. Among them, the larger the value of µ_n (S_n), the larger the contribution of its subsystem to the overall system orderliness. Based on the above results of subsystem orderliness, assuming that at the initial moment t₀, the orderliness of S_n subsystems is µ_n⁰ (S_n), and when the composite synergistic system develops and evolves to the moment t₁, the orderliness of subsystems is µ_n¹ (S_n), the SDCS is calculated as follows:

$$SDCS=\theta \sqrt[n]{\left|{\displaystyle \prod _{n=1}^n[{{\mu }_n}^1(S_n)-{{\mu }_n}^0(S_n)]}\right|},$$

(3)

$$\theta =\frac{\min [{{\mu }_n}^1(S_n)-{{\mu }_n}^0(S_n)]}{|\min [{{\mu }_n}^1(S_n)-{{\mu }_n}^0(S_n)]|}.$$

(4)

As can be seen from Equations (3) and (4), SDCS∊[–1, 1], the larger its value, the higher the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction, and vice versa, the lower it is. The role of parameter θ is used to measure the change in the direction of subsystem orderliness. When the direction of change of the orderliness of all subsystems is consistent, the SDCS will be high. Additionally, when the direction of subsystem ordering degree change is inconsistent, such as when one subsystem ordering degree rises by a large amount while the other subsystem ordering degree rises by a small amount or falls back, the whole composite system is in an uncoordinated state, which is reflected in SDCS∊[−1, 0]. In this study, the measure of the SDCS of the ecological civilisation construction at the national level and 31 provinces and cities is calculated based on the year 2005, which was chosen as the base period because China only formally put forward the concept of “ecological civilisation” in 2007, and “ecological civilisation construction” is regarded as an important national policy. Therefore, the timeframe and base period of this study are in line with the actual situation of China’s ecological civilisation construction.

3.2.2. Spatial and Temporal Characteristics and Methods of Analysing Regional Differences

(1)

Kernel density estimation method

Kernel density estimation is a non-parametric method that does not require any parametric model assumptions and allows the study of data distribution characteristics as well as the estimation of probability density functions through the data itself. In this study, the kernel density estimation method is applied to draw the kernel density curve, thus revealing the evolutionary trend of the coordinated development of ecological civilisation in 31 provinces and cities in China. The equation of kernel density estimation is:

$$f(x)=\frac{1}{nh}{\displaystyle \sum _{i=1}^{n}K\left(\frac{x_i-x_0}{h}\right)},$$

(5)

where n is the number of sample observations, h is the bandwidth. x_i denotes the sample observations, x₀ denotes the mean of sample observations, and K(·) denotes the functional form. The Epanechnikov function has a bell-shaped form, which reduces the amount of computation and improves the speed of computation compared to the Gaussian kernel function; therefore, in this study, the Epanechnikov function was selected as the kernel function for estimation.

(2)

Standard deviation ellipse method

The standard deviation ellipse, also known as directional distribution analysis, is a spatial analysis method for analysing the directional distribution of spatial elements, which is capable of reflecting the overall dominant distribution direction of spatial elements and the degree of dispersion in each direction. The internal area of a standard deviation ellipse contains 68% of the total number of spatial elements, and its parameters mainly include the coordinates of the centre of gravity, the standard deviation of the long and short axes, and the rotation angle, with the specific calculation formulae as follows:

$$SD{E}_x=\sqrt{\frac{{\displaystyle \sum _{i=1}^n{(x_i-x_0)}^2}}{n}},SD{E}_y=\sqrt{\frac{{\displaystyle \sum _{i=1}^n{(y_i-y_0)}^2}}{n}},$$

(6)

where x_i and y_i are the spatial coordinates of the observed samples, x₀ and y₀ are the spatial coordinates of the weighted mean centre of the observed samples, and SDE_x and SDE_y are the ellipse centres. Then, the positive north is taken as 0° and rotated clockwise to the angle of the long axis:

$$\tan \theta =\frac{A+B}{C},$$

(7)

$$A={\displaystyle \sum _{i=1}^n{\tilde{x}}_i^2}-{\displaystyle \sum _{i=1}^n{\tilde{y}}_i^2},$$

(8)

$$B=\sqrt{({\displaystyle \sum _{i=1}^n{\tilde{x}}_i^2-}{\displaystyle \sum _{i=1}^n{\tilde{y}}_i^2}{)}^2+4{({\displaystyle \sum _{i=1}^n{\tilde{x}}_i^2{\tilde{y}}_i^2})}^2},$$

(9)

$$C=2{\displaystyle \sum _{i=1}^n{\tilde{x}}_i}{\tilde{y}}_i,$$

(10)

where ${\tilde{x}}_i$ and ${\tilde{y}}_i$ denote the difference between the mean centre and the x_i and y_i coordinates. The standard deviation along the X-axis (long axis) and Y-axis (short axis) is calculated as follows:

$${\delta }_x=\sqrt{2}\sqrt{\frac{{\displaystyle \sum _{i=1}^n{({\tilde{x}}_i\cos \theta -{\tilde{y}}_i\sin \theta )}^2}}{n}},$$

(11)

$${\delta }_y=\sqrt{2}\sqrt{\frac{{\displaystyle \sum _{i=1}^n{({\tilde{x}}_i\sin \theta +{\tilde{y}}_i\cos \theta )}^2}}{n}},$$

(12)

where ${\delta }_x$ and ${\delta }_y$ denote the standard deviation along the X-axis and Y-axis, respectively.

(3)

Theil index

The Theil index was originally used to measure the income gap (or inequality) between individuals or regions, but inspired by its definition and formula, more scholars have applied it to measure differences between regions, differences in industrial structure, etc. [44]. This study applies the Theil index to explore the regional differences in the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in the east, central, west, and northeast regions. The specific calculation formula is as follows:

$$T=\frac{1}{k}{\displaystyle \sum _{q=1}^k\left(\frac{S_q}{\overline{S}}\times \ln \frac{S_q}{\overline{S}}\right)},$$

(13)

$$T_p=\frac{1}{k_p}{\displaystyle \sum _{q=1}^{k_p}\left(\frac{S_{pq}}{{\overline{S}}_p}\times \ln \frac{S_{pq}}{{\overline{S}}_p}\right)},$$

(14)

$$T=T_w+T_b={\displaystyle \sum _{p=1}^5\left(\frac{k_p}{k}\times \frac{{\overline{S}}_p}{\overline{S}}\times T_p\right)}+{\displaystyle \sum _{p=1}^5\left(\frac{k_p}{k}\times \frac{{\overline{S}}_p}{\overline{S}}\times \ln \frac{{\overline{S}}_p}{\overline{S}}\right)},$$

(15)

where T in Equation (13) denotes the overall difference in the east, central, west, and northeast regions, T∊[0, 1]. The smaller the value, the smaller the overall difference in the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction of the four regions, and vice versa, the larger the overall difference. q denotes provinces and cities, k denotes the number of provincial and municipal units, S_q denotes the SDCS of the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in province and city q, and $\overline{S}$ denotes the average value of the SDCS of the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction of the four regions. In Equation (14), T_p denotes the overall difference Theil index of region p, k_p denotes the number of provincial and municipal units in region p, S_pq denotes the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction of provinces and municipalities q in region p, and ${\overline{S}}_p$ denotes the average value of the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in region p. In Equation (15), the overall difference Theil index of the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction is further decomposed into the intra-regional difference Theil index T_w and the inter-regional difference Theil index T_b. In addition, T_w/T and T_b/T are defined as the contribution rate of intra-regional and inter-regional differences to the overall difference, respectively, (S_p/S) × (T_p/T) is the contribution rate of each region to the overall difference within the region, S_p denotes the sum of the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction for each provincial and municipal unit within region p, and S denotes the sum of the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction of the four regions.

4. Results and Analyses

4.1. Orderliness of the 3E1S Subsystem for the Coordinated Development of Ecological Civilisation Construction

Table 2. The results of 3E1S subsystem orderliness from 2005 to 2020.

Year	Energy Subsystem	Economy Subsystem	Environment Subsystem	Society Subsystem
2005	0.1478	0.0891	0.1072	0.0821
2006	0.2055	0.1149	0.1572	0.1685
2007	0.2482	0.1569	0.2306	0.2263
2008	0.2545	0.1821	0.2997	0.2780
2009	0.2601	0.2475	0.3639	0.3168
2010	0.2781	0.2535	0.4028	0.3407
2011	0.2678	0.2670	0.4312	0.3939
2012	0.2941	0.3350	0.4382	0.4587
2013	0.3401	0.4168	0.5069	0.5076
2014	0.3759	0.4643	0.5466	0.5778
2015	0.4088	0.5505	0.5592	0.6070
2016	0.4260	0.6124	0.5807	0.6404
2017	0.4574	0.6584	0.5387	0.6924
2018	0.5018	0.7172	0.5667	0.7226
2019	0.5046	0.7609	0.5608	0.7853
2020	0.4637	0.7897	0.5326	0.8514

shows the average results of 3E1S subsystem orderliness in 31 provinces and cities from 2005 to 2020, and Figure 2 shows the trend of 3E1S subsystem orderliness in 31 provinces and cities from 2005 to 2020. Since there are 496 rows of results (16 × 31 = 496) for the 3E1S subsystem ordering degree for 2005–2020 by province and city, this paper only shows the results after averaging the 31 provinces and cities (the complete results can be downloaded and accessed at the following URL: https://figshare.com/s/56323f0b4244119905c1). Combining Table 2 and Figure 2, it can be seen that economic and social subsystem orderliness always maintained an upward trend during the period of 2005–2020; energy subsystem orderliness maintained an upward trend during the period of 2005–2019 but decreased in 2020; the environmental subsystem orderliness maintained an upward trend during the period of 2005–2016 but showed a decreasing trend in the 2016–2020 period.

Secondly, Table 2 and Figure 2 show that the upward trend of 3E1S subsystem orderliness varies at different stages. Energy subsystem orderliness had the most obvious upward trend in the 2005–2007 and 2011–2018 stages, with an average increase of 29.9% and 9.4%, respectively; economic and social subsystems orderliness consistently maintained a rapid upward trend in the period of 2005–2020, with an average increase of 16.2% and 18.7%, respectively; the orderliness of the environmental subsystem maintained a rapid upward trend in the period of 2005–2016, with an average increase of 17.6%. In the period 2016–2020, a wavy and undulating trend with an average increase of −2.0% was observed.

Finally, combining Table 2 and Figure 2, it can be seen that the contribution of 3E1S subsystem orderliness to the orderliness of the coordinated development system of ecological civilisation construction varied at different stages. During the period of 2005–2007, the energy subsystem ordering degree contributed the most to the system ordering degree of the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction, the environmental and social subsystem ordering degree contributed basically the same to the system ordering degree of the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction, and the economic subsystem ordering degree contributed the least to the system ordering degree of the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction; during the period 2007–2012, the contribution of the orderliness of the environmental and social subsystems to the orderliness of the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction exceeded that of the energy subsystem, and the orderliness of the environmental subsystem contributed most to the orderliness of the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction; during the period 2012–2015, the orderliness of the social subsystem exceeded that of the environmental subsystem and becomes the subsystem that contributes most to the order of the coordinated development of ecological civilisation; during the 2015–2020 period, the order of the economic subsystem contributes more than that of the environmental subsystem to the order of the coordinated development of ecological civilisation and is second only to that of the social subsystem.

4.2. SDCS of Coordinated Development of Ecological Civilisation at the National Level

Figure 3 illustrates the changing trend of the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation at the national level over the period 2005–2020. As can be seen from Figure 3, the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction during the period of 2005–2020 shows an upward trend, which indicates that the level of coordinated development of China’s ecological civilisation construction has been improving year by year. Secondly, the changing trend of the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction during the period of 2005–2020 can be roughly divided into three phases: during the period of 2005–2011, it showed an increasing trend of “decreasing margin”; during the period of 2011–2015, it showed a linear upward trend, with an average increase of 26.5%; during the period of 2015–2020, it showed an “S-shaped” upward trend, with “increasing margins” during the period of 2015–2018, and “decreasing margins” during the period of 2018–2020. Finally, referring to Wu et al.’s [48] delineation of the level of SDCS, China’s ecological civilisation construction is at a mildly coordinated level from 2005 to 2014 and at a moderately coordinated level from 2015 to 2020.

4.3. Spatial-Temporal Evolution of the SDCS of Coordinated Development of Ecological Civilisation Construction in 31 Provinces and Cities

Figure 4 shows the spatial distribution of the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in China’s 31 provinces and cities in 2006, 2010, 2015, and 2020. Due to the large number of results, this paper only shows the results of the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in 31 provinces and cities in China in 2006, 2010, 2015, and 2020 (the complete results can be downloaded and accessed at the following URL: https://figshare.com/s/24869f696cb54d449cc0). As can be seen from Figure 4a, the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in China’s 31 provinces and cities was generally low in 2006, with SDCS ranging from −0.666 to 0.333, which indicates that China’s coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in 2006 is low overall. Most provinces and cities are at the mildly coordinated level, and nine provinces and cities, including Xinjiang, Qinghai, and Ningxia, are at the mildly uncoordinated level. As can be seen from Figure 4b, compared with 2006, the coordinated development level of ecological civilisation construction in 31 provinces and cities in China slightly improved in 2010. The number of provinces and cities at the mildly uncoordinated level decreased from nine in 2006 to four, a decrease of more than 50%. As can be seen from Figure 4c, compared with 2006 and 2010, the coordinated development level of ecological civilisation construction in China’s 31 provinces and cities improved significantly in 2015, with SDCS ranging from 0.333–0.666 in most provinces and cities. Among them, Shaanxi province is at the moderately uncoordinated level, six provinces, including Tibet, Qinghai, and Ningxia, are at the mildly coordinated level, and the remaining provinces and cities are at the moderate coordination level. As can be seen from Figure 4d, compared with 2015, the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in China’s 31 provinces and cities in 2020 has further improved. The number of provinces and cities at the mildly coordinated level decreased from six in 2015 to three, a decrease of more than 50%. The number of provinces and cities at the medium level of coordination increased from 24 in 2015 to 26, and Guizhou and Hunan provinces increased from a medium level of coordination in 2015 to a high level of coordination.

Figure 5 demonstrates the spatial and temporal evolution of the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in 31 provinces and cities in China. Figure 5a shows the results of the standard deviation ellipse, and Figure 5b shows the results of the kernel density curve. From Figure 5a, it can be seen that the spatial centres of gravity in 2006, 2010, 2015, and 2020 were all in Henan province. It can be seen from the change in the position of the spatial centre of gravity that its spatial centre of gravity roughly shifted to the southwest direction. From Figure 5b, it can be seen that the kernel density curves in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 shifted to the right in sequence, which indicates that the SDCS of coordinated development of China’s ecological civilisation construction is increasing year by year. Compared with 2018, the kernel density curve in 2020 is slightly shifted to the left, which indicates that the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in China in 2020 is lower than that in 2018. Moreover, from the shape of the kernel density curve in Figure 5b, it can be seen that the kernel density curve in 2006 basically conforms to the normal distribution. The kernel density curves in 2008, 2010, and 2012 begin to show left trailing, and the kernel density curves in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 have obvious left trailing, which suggests that the imbalance of the SDCS of coordinated development of China’s ecological civilisation building phenomenon has intensified.

4.4. Analysis of Regional Differences in the SDCS of Coordinated Development of Ecological Civilisation in the East, Central, West, and Northeast Regions

Figure 6 shows the trend of the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in the east, central, west, and northeast regions of China from 2005 to 2020 (the four regions of the east, centre, west, and northeast are based on the following website: https://www.stats.gov.cn/zt_18555/zthd/sjtjr/dejtjkfr/tjkp/202302/t20230216_1909741.htm (accessed on 5 January 2024)). As can be seen from Figure 6, the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in the east, central, west, and northeast regions generally showed an upward trend during the period of 2005–2020, and the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in the central, northeast, east, and west regions decreased in turn. Secondly, the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation in the eastern, central, and northeastern regions showed an increasing trend of “decreasing margins” from 2005 to 2011, while the western region showed a decreasing trend. During the period of 2011–2020, the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in the eastern, central, and northeastern regions showed a “decreasing marginal” upward trend, while the western region showed an “increasing marginal” upward trend.

Table 3. The Thiel index and its decomposition results of the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in the east, central, west, and northeast regions of China, 2006–2020.

Year	Overall Differences	Interregional Differences and Contribution Rates	Intraregional Differences and Contribution Rates
			Overall	East	Central	West	Northeast
2006	0.2166	0.0313	0.1853	0.1730	0.1888	0.2806	0.0039
		(14.45)	(85.55)	(27.45)	(22.16)	(35.71)	(0.23)
2007	0.0960	0.0129	0.0832	0.1870	0.0349	0.0643	0.0000
		(13.39)	(86.61)	(53.06)	(9.00)	(24.56)	(0.00)
2008	0.1391	0.0284	0.1107	0.0455	0.0196	0.2240	0.2987
		(20.40)	(79.60)	(11.56)	(3.79)	(50.61)	(13.65)
2009	0.1584	0.0298	0.1285	0.0189	0.0197	0.4213	0.0108
		(18.84)	(81.16)	(4.32)	(3.13)	(72.94)	(0.77)
2010	0.1495	0.0469	0.1025	0.0297	0.0273	0.3347	0.0198
		(31.39)	(68.61)	(7.60)	(4.73)	(54.77)	(1.51)
2011	0.1685	0.0383	0.1303	0.0410	0.0331	0.4093	0.0130
		(22.70)	(77.30)	(9.37)	(4.75)	(62.29)	(0.89)
2012	0.1457	0.0199	0.1257	0.0999	0.0402	0.2602	0.0312
		(13.69)	(86.31)	(24.21)	(6.84)	(53.08)	(2.18)
2013	0.1151	0.0224	0.0928	0.0255	0.0157	0.2698	0.0097
		(19.43)	(80.57)	(7.53)	(3.36)	(68.67)	(1.01)
2014	0.1053	0.0134	0.0920	0.1025	0.0086	0.1767	0.0023
		(12.68)	(87.32)	(30.98)	(1.96)	(54.12)	(0.26)
2015	0.0476	0.0081	0.0395	0.0288	0.0040	0.0861	0.0013
		(17.05)	(82.95)	(19.32)	(1.99)	(61.37)	(0.28)
2016	0.0728	0.0108	0.0620	0.0142	0.0030	0.1745	0.0023
		(14.88)	(85.10)	(6.48)	(0.96)	(77.32)	(0.35)
2017	0.0754	0.0102	0.0652	0.0134	0.0061	0.1806	0.0108
		(13.54)	(86.46)	(6.06)	(1.85)	(77.00)	(1.54)
2018	0.0442	0.0052	0.0390	0.0141	0.0013	0.0982	0.0002
		(11.71)	(88.29)	(10.11)	(0.65)	(77.47)	(0.06)
2019	0.0423	0.0047	0.0376	0.0073	0.0037	0.0986	0.0033
		(11.15)	(88.85)	(5.63)	(1.92)	(80.50)	(0.80)
2020	0.0247	0.0024	0.0223	0.0132	0.0082	0.0414	0.0105
		(9.57)	(90.43)	(17.18)	(7.24)	(62.28)	(3.75)

shows the results of the analysis of the regional differences in the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction among the eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions of China from 2006 to 2020. As can be seen from Table 3, the overall regional differences in the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction among the eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions generally decreased gradually from 2006 to 2020. From the decomposition results of the Theil index, the overall differences among the four regions mainly come from intra-regional differences. Secondly, among the four regions, the differences in the SDCS of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction within the Western region are the largest, followed by the eastern, central, and northeastern regions.

5. Discussion and Conclusions

5.1. Discussion

The findings of this study show that China’s overall level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction rose year by year during the period 2005–2020, was at a mildly coordinated level in 2005–2014, and then rose to a moderately coordinated level in 2015–2020, which indicates that China’s level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction, although it is rising year by year, is not high as a whole, and there is still a lot of room for development and enhancement. However, as China implemented a rigorous dynamic zero-COVID policy over a three-year period from 2020 to 2022, this may have had an important impact on the promotion of ecological civilisation construction. For example, some studies have shown that air quality and water quality improved and pollution of the atmosphere and noise decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic [50,51,52], which had a positive impact on ecological civilisation construction. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic also had a negative impact on the ecological environment, such as the use of medical masks, gloves, and other protective equipment by residents during the pandemic, which greatly increased the amount of medical waste [53,54]. Therefore, exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the construction of ecological civilisation is a meaningful topic, which should also be taken into account in the future evaluation index system.

Secondly, there are differences in the upward trend and size ordering of the orderliness of the 3E1S subsystem of the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in different stages, which indicates that there are differences in the influence and contribution of the energy, economic, environmental, and social subsystems to the coordinated development system of ecological civilisation construction in different stages. In the early stage of ecological civilisation construction, energy-related factors such as energy structure and energy consumption play a dominant role in the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction. With the advancement of ecological civilisation construction, the influence of economic and social factors such as economic scale, economic structure, economic potential, social development, and public services on the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction gradually increases.

Finally, in terms of the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in China’s 31 provinces and cities, its spatial centre of gravity is located in Henan province, showing a trajectory towards the southwest. The gap between provinces and cities in terms of the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction has a tendency to widen, and the phenomenon of uneven development has intensified. From the perspective of the four major regions, the difference in the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction between the east, central, west, and northeast regions has gradually narrowed, and this difference mainly originates from intra-regional differences. Among them, the Western region has the greatest difference in the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation, followed by the eastern, central, and northeastern regions.

Although this study has tried its best to improve, it still has the following shortcomings. For example, ecological civilisation construction has more components, and the current indicator system of this study is insufficient to fully reflect its real construction level. Although some indicators should be theoretically included in the indicator system, they are not operable in the actual empirical econometric analysis due to the limitation of data. In addition, the study has not explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the construction of ecological civilisation. Exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the construction of ecological civilisation is a very meaningful topic.

In future research, with the improvement of data statistics, a richer evaluation index system for the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction can be constructed, and spatial measurement models such as the geographically weighted regression and gravity models can be used for research. Moreover, it is even possible to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the construction of ecological civilisation using causal inference methods.

5.2. Conclusions

This study measured and analysed the level of coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction in 31 provinces and cities in China based on 3E1S system theory using the composite system synergistic degree model and spatial analysis method. Compared with existing studies, the innovation of this study is that the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction is studied from the perspectives of system and synergistic theories. The revelation of this study is that in the process of promoting the coordinated development of ecological civilisation construction, corresponding strategies should be formulated at different stages according to the development of energy, economy, environment, and society. Furthermore, ecological civilisation construction programmes should be formulated in light of the actual situation of resource endowment, economy, and society in different regions to avoid the uneven development of ecological civilisation construction between regions.

6. Optimisation Paths

Based on the above empirical findings and conclusions, this paper puts forward corresponding policy recommendations from the four aspects of energy, economy, environment, and society, respectively, to provide a reference for further enhancing the coordinated development of ecological civilisation.

6.1. Energy and Ecological Civilisation Construction

Promoting the restructuring of energy sources and the use of new energy sources to promote the development of a low-carbon economy. First, low-carbon technologies and energy efficiency enhancement measures should be actively promoted to reduce energy consumption and environmental pollution by optimising energy use. Energy monitoring and assessment should be strengthened to enhance energy use efficiency. This can be carried out through measures such as setting energy consumption limits and implementing energy audits in order to promote the reduction of energy consumption per unit of GDP and the decoupling of economic development from energy consumption. Second, support for the new energy industry and the development and utilization of renewable energy such as solar energy, wind energy, and hydropower should be increased to reduce dependence on fossil energy. Finally, technological innovation should be strengthened. This can be carried out by encouraging technological innovation and upgrading high-energy-consumption industries, actively promoting the research and development of clean energy technologies and energy storage technologies, developing and applying advanced environmental monitoring technologies, monitoring environmental indicators such as the atmosphere, water quality, and soil in real-time, and carrying out technological research on ecosystem protection and restoration to realise the efficient use and recycling of resources through technological innovation.

6.2. Economy and Ecological Civilisation Construction

Transforming the mode of economic development from an environment and development dilemma to environmentally driven development. Firstly, a circular economy can be developed by reducing ecological costs. The essential purpose of developing a circular economy is to achieve the desired ecological civilisation by minimising the ecological costs of a low-cost ecological economic development model [55]. Resources and natural carrying capacity are important criteria for a circular economy, so in order to realise a circular economy, it is necessary to follow the laws of ecology and minimise resource consumption in the pursuit of development and the circulation of products to alleviate the contradiction between economic development and environmental protection. Second, the promotion and implementation of the circular economy model should be strengthened, and enterprises should be encouraged to adopt technologies and methods such as resource reuse and waste minimisation to reduce resource consumption and environmental pollution, as well as to promote the closed loop of the industrial chain. At the same time, eco-industrial parks should be created to achieve resource sharing, recycling and ecological protection through the layout and planning of enterprises. Parks can provide green infrastructure and services, attracting green industries to cluster and form a benign eco-economic system. Finally, the development and promotion of green industries should be encouraged. For example, financial services such as loan preferences, credit support, and equity investment are being provided to the green industry to improve the source of funds for enterprise development and the ability to obtain green capital, and a green financial mechanism is being established to promote the effective combination of economic growth and ecological and environmental protection.

6.3. Environment and Ecological Civilisation Construction

Optimising environmental protection and improving ecological conditions is an important strategy for promoting ecological civilisation construction, including the protection of natural ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and grasslands, preserving species diversity, restoring the ecological balance, and preventing the degradation of ecosystems and the extinction of organisms. First, water resource management should be optimised. For example, strengthening water resources dispatching, optimising the water use structure of agriculture, industry, and cities, and improving the efficiency of water resources use. Scientific and rational allocation and use of water resources, such as strict control of industrial wastewater, agricultural non-point source pollution, and urban sewage discharge. Second, air pollution should be controlled. This can be carried out by formulating strict emission standards for air pollutants, setting up a perfect air pollutant monitoring network, and controlling emissions from industrial enterprises, transport, building construction, and other areas. Finally, solid waste management should be promoted. This can be achieved by implementing the principle of “reduce, reuse and resource”, optimising the production and consumption process, promoting the classification of rubbish in all sectors, including residents, enterprises, institutions, and public bodies, and building and operating standardised waste treatment facilities to ensure the harmless and resourceful treatment of waste. Soil pollution can be prevented by increasing efforts to treat and remediate contaminated soil and carrying out the research, development, and application of soil remediation technologies. Bioremediation, physico-chemical remediation, and phytoremediation are used to restore the ecological functions of the soil.

6.4. Society and Ecological Civilisation Construction

First, education and publicity on ecological civilisation are being carried out to raise public awareness of environmental protection and ecological ethics. Through the popularisation of knowledge regarding environmental protection, the organisation of environmental protection activities, and the use of media publicity, a consensus on the value of environmental concern and protection has been formed, creating a favourable atmosphere in which society as a whole can work together to promote the building of an ecological civilisation. Second, it is important to establish and improve the social participation mechanism. The government should strengthen the communication and coordination between regional departments, comprehensively consider the interests of all parties, and formulate scientific and effective industrial policies and planning in line with the requirements of ecological environmental protection. In addition, the public and environmental protection organisations should be encouraged to supervise and evaluate the environmental protection behaviours of enterprises to strengthen the supervision and participation of the society and to solicit public opinions by means of public announcements and hearings, etc., to promote the participation and coordination of all aspects of the society. Finally, a fair and just social system and ecological compensation mechanism should be established. Through measures such as improving income distribution, guaranteeing social justice, and protecting rights and interests, this will achieve a reasonable distribution of social resources, social justice, and social stability, and promote sustainable development and social harmony. This should be followed by actively promoting the restoration of and compensation for areas or ecosystems that have suffered ecological damage. For example, repairing ecological damage caused by development and construction or rewarding enterprises that provide ecological services to ecosystems.