Relationship between Economic Development and Environmental Pollution of Resource-Based Cities in China

There are few studies on the relationship between economic development and environmental pollution of resource-based cities in China. Taking SO₂ as a case, this paper tests the relationship using panel date from 2003 to 2008 of 46 prefecture-level resource-based cities. The results show that category of natural resources influences the pollutants emission, shapes and turning points of Environmental Kuznets Curve in resource-based cities. Non-ferrous metallurgy cities emit the most SO₂, while forest cities emit the least. The curve is inverted U-shaped in coal cities, ferrous metallurgy cities and non-ferrous metallurgy cities, while inverted N-shaped in oil cities, and N-shaped in forest cities. Under the same environmental policies, the city which emits the most SO₂ has the lowest turning point.