The integrated environmental zoning-based regulation further enhances sustainable development in China

Ecological degradation and environmental pollution have posed persistent obstacles to sustainable development. To address those rising challenges, the Chinese government initiated an integrated environmental zoning-based regulation (EZR) in 2017. Here we conduct an empirical study in over 110 Chinese pilot cities based on a quasi-experiment and spatial comparisons to test the incremental effects of EZR on environmental improvements and ecological conservation. The results show that the ordinary ecological space exhibits broadly similar positive conservation effects as the former ecological conservation redlines. Causal effect estimation indicates a 24.7% increase in conservation effect relative to the pre‑policy mean in ordinary ecological spaces under the EZR policy. Meanwhile, the EZR policy has positive effects in 97.3% of the total cities on reducing their ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations, contributing 17.5% of the overall reduction observed in 2020. Our study indicates that the integrated environmental zoning approach offers a viable pathway to improve environmental governance and thereby enhance local sustainable development. This study applies causal machine learning to evaluate China’s integrated environmental zoning policy, showing its positive effects on ecological conservation and environmental quality, thereby providing a feasible pathway toward sustainability.