Spatial-Temporal Evolution of Coupling Coordination between Green Transformation and the Quality of Economic Development

Taking “blue granary” as the research object, this study focuses on the mechanism and evolution of coupling coordination relationship between green transformation and the quality of economic development, to explore the path of sustainable development. Firstly, the theoretical framework of coupling relationship between green transformation and the quality of development is constructed. Secondly, an evaluation index system is established to measure green transformation and the quality of economic development. Thirdly, the entropy approach and coupled coordination degree model are used to calculate the coordination of green transformation and the quality of economic development in different provinces in China from 2009 to 2018. The results show that: (1) Green transformation affects the quality of economic development through resource effect, social effect, and technological effect; the quality of economic development affects green transformation through new growth momentum effect, income distribution effect, scale effect, and opening up effect. (2) Both the quality of economic development and the level of green transformation continue to improve, but the growth rate of green transformation is relatively slow. (3) The overall coupled coordination relationship improves from a barely balanced stage to a favorably balanced stage, but it has not reached the ideal state of superiorly balanced, and there is significant regional heterogeneity. It will help to clarify the difference in coordinated development levels in different regions and provide a reference value for the precise implementation of eco-economic coordinated development.