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Urban Sustainability and Industrial Migration Chapter j 16 313

before environmental reforms can take place and/or that such reforms be
accompanied by profit-maximizing opportunities.
Regarding an empirical approach to analyzing Hefei’s urban environmental
conditions, impacts by industrial processes to Chinese urban environmental
conditions are often measured by industrial sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions
(Pires et al., 2008; Zhang et al., 2016) and industrial coal consumption (Wang
and Luo, 2017; You and Xu, 2010), whereas energy efficiency outcomes to
sustainable reform efforts are measured using industrial electricity consump-
tion (Shao et al., 2014; Zhang and Cheng, 2009).
Accordingly, the below uses 2004e14 data from Chinese city statistical
yearbooksonthe annualtonnage ofindustrialSO 2 emissions,tonnage ofindustrial
coal consumption, and kilowatt-hours of industrial electricity consumption for
Hefei as well as each of the provincial capital cities of central region provinces:
Changsha (Hunan), Nanchang (Jiangxi), Wuhan (Hubei) and Zhengzhou
6
(Henan). These four cities are included less for direct analytical comparison than
for reference purposes, or to provide a regional context for Hefei’s indicators. An
important caveat is that government-reported air pollution statistics such as these
are often manipulated for political purposes in China (Ghanem and Zhang, 2014),
so the accuracy of reported SO 2 emissions cannot be certain, although it is
important nevertheless to have some baseline of analysis of Hefei’s industrial SO 2
emissions. Following Li and Pan (2011, 2012), per capita adjustments are used for
city indicators to contextualize variation in the population size for the cities
included. This is particularly important for Hefei, given the 2011 decision to place
nearby Chaohu City under Hefei’s jurisdiction, which suddenly made Hefei
responsibleforalargenewareaofover2millionadditionalresidentsalongwithits
industry, energy use, and pollution. 7
Figs. 16.3e16.5 show industrial electricity consumption, industrial coal
consumption, and industrial SO 2 emissions, respectively. An initial observa-
tion is that by quantity, the relative levels of beyond-province investment in-
flows at the provincial level (Fig. 16.1) align with that of their respective
capital cities’ coal and electricity consumption and of SO 2 emissions, with the
exception of Hefei. That is, by measure of relative quantity, all central capital
cities but Hefei can be ranked consistently by their respective levels of
emissions, coal and electricity consumption (Figs. 16.3e16.5), and beyond-
province investment inflows at the provincial level (Fig. 16.1)din descend-
8
ing order: Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Nanchang, and Changsha. Given that Hefei

6. Owing to data availability limitations, data for annual industrial electricity consumption is only
presented for years 2004e13.
7. State Letter no. 84, op. cit.
8. The relative levels by quantity of industrial SO 2 emissions and coal and electricity consumption
in central capital cities are more consistent with relative levels of provincial-level
beyond-province investment inflows than are city-level population, GDP, and other socioeco-
nomic variables.