Air Quality Evaluation and Improvement of China’s Three Major Urban Agglomerations Based on the Modified MetaFrontier Dynamic Slack-Based Measures Model

Urban agglomeration has become a unique form of cities during the rapid development of emerging economies. With the increasing attention on global energy and environmental efficiency, air quality evaluation and pollution control have become important standards to measure the health and orderly development of such agglomerations. Based on panel data of 60 cities in the three major urban agglomerations of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and Pearl River Delta (PRD), this study uses the Modified MetaFrontier Dynamic SBM model to evaluate their air quality over the 5-year period of 2013–2017. The results present that the development level of air pollution prevention and control in China’s three major urban agglomerations is relatively low, and YRD as the most developed area has the worst effect of air pollution prevention and control. The MetaFrontier and Group Frontier Efficiency analysis confirms the conclusion of the cluster analysis that a significant two-level differentiation exists in China’s three urban agglomerations. Moreover, China’s three major urban agglomerations are still in the stage of high energy consumption and high development. Lastly, we point out different recommendations for industrial structure and governance foci of the three major urban agglomerations. Dust prevention technology should be improved to reduce PM2.5 in BTH, desulfurization technology should be enhanced to cut industrial SO2 emissions in YRD, and better emission reduction targets and other targeted measures should be formulated in PRD.