关键词: 环境信息公开, 外商直接投资, 空气污染, 工业二氧化硫

Abstract: Carrying out pollution prevention and control actions are not only necessary to improve air quality and people’s happiness, but also an effective way to promote the green transformation of economy and society in all respects and build a beautiful China. Based on the project of ambient air quality information disclosure in real time initiated by the former Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) in 2012, we construct a theoretical model of the relationship between environmental information disclosure, foreign direct investment (FDI) and regional pollution, then examine the impact of FDI on air pollution of 280 cities in China before and after the pilot project. The results show that: FDI aggravates air pollution significantly before the implementation of the project. However, it significantly suppresses air pollution after the implementation of the project, and the conclusion remains robust after controlling other policy pilots and expectations during the same period. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that the above inhibition effect is more prominent in low-income, low-energy consumption, low-emission and resource-based cities after the implementation of the project. Analysis of influence mechanism reveals that the changes of environmental regulation, technology choice, production scale and industrial structure caused by FDI before and after the implementation of the project are important reasons for the inhibition of air pollution. This study provides theoretical basis and empirical support on further improving the environmental information disclosure system, guiding the coordinated development of FDI and ecological environment, so as to promote high-quality economic development of China.

Key words: Environmental Information Disclosure, FDI, Air Pollution, Industrial Sulfur Dioxide