Investigating environmental efficiency upgrading path of construction waste based on configuration analysis

Abstract

The rapid development of urbanization and large-scale engineering projects have led to the output of a large quantity of construction waste, which also puts great pressure on the environment. Environmental efficiency, as one of the criteria for measuring sustainable development, can be used to measure the impact of enterprises, industries, or regions on the environment when creating economic value. This research takes 30 provinces in China as samples and uses configuration analysis and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methods to analyze the combined effects of factors affecting the environmental efficiency of construction waste generation, to find upgrading paths to improve environmental efficiency. The results indicate that five configurations can promote provinces to achieve high environmental efficiency, which can be classified into three types: population density, technological innovation, and policy economy. These three configurations reveal the comprehensive impact of systematic correlations among population, technology, policy, and economic factors on environmental efficiency improvements. This research provides a certain theoretical reference for exploring the influencing factors of environmental efficiency and provides theoretical guidance for selecting different paths to improve the environmental efficiency of construction waste in regions with different social conditions.