환경에 대한 해외직접투자의 영향: 중국 제조업을 대상으로

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Environmental Quality: An Evidence from the Chinese Manufacturing Sector

Currently, China is the second foreign direct investment (FDI) recipient behind the US, and the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. Moreover, the manufacturing industry in China is the largest contributor to its CO2 emissions, by accounting for more than 70% of the country’s energy-related CO2 emissions. In this context, the effects of FDI on the environmental in China have often been raised as a central issue. This study examines the FDI-environment nexus in China, using panel data for its manufacturing sub-sectors over the period, 2002 to 2015. We use System GMM estimator to test the relationship between FDI and CO2 emissions, taking into account the results from various panel framework analyses. The results show that FDI makes a contribution to reduction of CO2 emission in the China industry sector, supporting the pollution halo hypothesis, and industrial income has a positive effect on reducing CO2 emissions. However, the domestic capital stock although has a detrimental effect on the environmental. The study finds strong evidence of the persistence effect, showing that the level of carbon dioxide emissions in the previous period has a positive and highly significant effect on the current one. Some policy implications are suggested based on the results of this study.