Chao Zhong、蔡宏波(通讯作者), Lin Liu、Rui Xue、Yuli Shan(通讯作者):“Unveiling the Green Path: How Urban Openness Reduces Pollutions and Paves the Way to Sustainability ”, Journal of Environmental Management（ABS 3,AJG 2021），Early Access：SEP 2024，https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122378

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between openness and pollutant emission intensity across 286 Chinese cities from 1990 to 2019, aiming to evaluate the potential environmental benefits of open economy strategies. The findings indicate that enhanced urban openness significantly lowers pollutant emission intensity. To ensure the robustness of our findings, we make an innovative attempt to employ high-speed rail connectivity and motorway density as instrumental variables to address potential endogeneity issues, corroborating the reliability of the results through various robustness tests. Moreover, we also find the heterogeneous effects of urban openness on pollution emissions, highlighting the moderating influences of trade complexity, urbanization level, and environmental regulatory intensity. Lastly, the study elucidates the mechanisms through which urban openness diminishes pollution emissions, namely fostering green innovation capacity and enhancing public environmental awareness. This research makes theoretical contributions to understanding the nexus between open economies and environmental protection while offering practical insights to inform governmental environmental policy formulation.