 Assessing the effect of industrial products on air pollution in Iran: a novel NDEA approach considering undesirable outputsMasoud Fehresti-Sani (),
Maedeh GholamAzad () and
Mohammad-Amin GholamAzad ()
Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2025, vol. 27, issue 11, No 78, 27923-27955 Abstract: Abstract With the intensification of economic development, environmental pollution has increased over time, especially in developing countries such as Iran, China, and India, and its threat has become more serious. The dramatic increase in the use of various machines, both industrial and non-industrial, and the gases released by industrial factories in exchange for using fossil fuels, and the reduction of rainfall is leading to the production of toxic gases. Therefore, in order to improve environmental and economic sustainability, it is necessary to scientifically assess environmental efficiency in each country and provide solutions. Therefore, in this research, the environmental efficiency criterion based on the network data envelopment analysis model was designed using a two-stage chain model in which some outputs are undesirable and others are desirable. In this regard, the black box efficiency model of environmental quality is first extended to basic and general two-stage structures. Depending on the nature of the network structure, the end products were considered undesirable and some of the factors with zero data were entered into the proposed models. Second, the proposed models were used to evaluate the environmental efficiency in Iran, and 20 Iranian metropolitan provinces were selected for assessment. Finally, the efficient and inefficient provinces have been identified in each sub-sector, and their ranking has been done according to the efficiency rate. The results of the proposed models showed that of the 20 provinces, Isfahan, Khuzestan, Tehran, East Azarbaijan, and Alborz have the worst climate and air pollution situations. On the other hand, Kurdistan, Hamedan, Markazi, Lorestan, and Qazvin have the best air quality among other cities. To reduce air pollution, there must be adequate plans to improve public transportation infrastructure and introduce air pollution control systems, which could include stricter control of factories that do not meet or exceed acceptable levels of pollutants in the surrounding atmosphere. the supply of cars based on electricity or with the lowest amount of fossil fuel consumption, implementation of precise monitoring plans for cars on fuel consumption, the use of filters for manufacturing plants in the industrial sector, and careful monitoring of its implementation during all hours that they are active and increase the cost of polluting the air by imposing taxes and heavy penalties on the amount of pollution emission and payment of subsidies to pollution-reducing units in a certain period are some solutions to reduce air pollution. Keywords: Industrial products; Environmental pollutants; Network data envelopment analysis; Undesirable outputs; Zero data; Air pollution (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:endesu:v:27:y:2025:i:11:d:10.1007_s10668-024-04868-z Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/s10668-024-04868-z Access Statistics for this article Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development is currently edited by Luc Hens More articles in Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development from Springer |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.