In 2015, China put forward five development concepts, propounded the concept of green development and green innovation, and adhered to the road of sustainable development. China also promoted the vision of high-quality economic development in 2017. It is very important to study the impacts of green innovation on high-quality development. However, scant research has been conducted on the impact of green innovation and institutional constraints on high-quality economic development simultaneously over both space and time in China. In this study, we analyze the impacts of green innovation on high-quality economic development across China from 2014 to 2018. The panel data model and the panel threshold model are developed, and the impact of green innovation and institutional constraints on high-quality economic development is empirically analyzed. Our results indicate that the comprehensive index and the level of high-quality economic development in all regions of China are increasing consistently. At the national level, addressing green innovation and institutional constraints have shown a significant positive impact on high-quality economic development. At the regional level, the interaction of green innovation and institutional constraints (i.e., mitigation of institutional constraints by green revolution) has a more positive impact on the economic quality of eastern China than that of central China. The interaction between green innovation and institutional constraints shows no positive impact on the high-quality economic development of the central and western regions because the green innovation, institutional constraints, and economic development in the central and western regions are weaker than those in the eastern regions. Therefore, it is suggested that different regions of China, especially the central and western ones, should strengthen green innovation, improve the market system, and increase government support.

With the development of economic globalization, some local environmental pollution has become a global environmental problem through international trade and transnational investment. This paper selects the annual data of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2017 and adopts exploratory spatial data analysis methods to explore the spatial agglomeration characteristics of haze pollution in China’s provinces. Furthermore, this paper constructs a spatial econometric model to test the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) and industrial structure transformation on haze pollution. The research results show that the high-high concentration area of haze pollution in China has shifted from the central and western regions to the eastern region and from inland regions to coastal regions. When FDI increases by 1%, haze pollution in local and neighboring areas will be reduced by 0.066% and 0.3538%, respectively. However, the impact of FDI on haze pollution is heterogeneous in different stages of economic development. FDI can improve the rationalization level of industrial structure, and then inhibit the haze pollution. However, FDI inhibits the upgrading level of industrial structure to a certain extent, and then aggravates the haze pollution. The research in this paper provides an important decision-making basis for coordinating the relationship between FDI and environmental pollution and realizing green development.

The development of renewable clean energy such as hydropower can not only ensure energy security, but also help achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. This paper uses the annual data of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2017, and constructs a dynamic spatial Durbin model and a geographically weighted regression model to empirically test the dynamic impact of hydropower on haze pollution and economic growth at the national and provincial levels. The empirical results show that the promoting effect of hydropower on economic growth in Western China is less than that in Eastern China, which further aggravates the economic development gap between the eastern and western regions. In addition, the suppression effect of hydropower on the haze pollution in the western region is greater than that in the eastern region, where the haze pollution is serious. From the national level, hydropower can promote regional economic growth and inhibit haze pollution, and the spatial spillover effects of these two effects are greater than the local effects, and the long-term impact is greater than the short-term impact. The research conclusions of this paper will help China realize the sustainable development goals of energy saving and emission reduction.