Study on the Coupling Relationship between Carbon Emission from Sewage Treatment and Economic Development in Industrial Parks

Sewage treatment carbon emissions are one of the notable sources of total carbon emission in industrial parks. In order to explore the evolutionary characteristics of sewage treatment carbon emission in industrial parks and its coupling relationship with industrial economic development, based on the quarterly sewage quality monitoring data and regional economic development data of an energy and chemical industry park in Northern Shaanxi from 2016 to 2020, this paper analyzes the evolutionary characteristics of sewage treatment carbon emissions and the coupling relationship between economic development in the industrial parks by using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change carbon emission accounting method and the coupling coordination degree model. The results show that the total carbon emission of sewage treatment in the industrial parks is increasing year by year, and the indirect carbon emissions occupy the dominant position. In 2020, the direct and indirect carbon emissions in the sewage treatment process accounted for 2.4% and 97.6% of the total carbon emission, respectively. It was found that the coupling and coordination relationship between sewage treatment carbon emissions and the economy has experienced the transformation process of serious imbalance—lagging economic development, lagging carbon emission and lagging economic development. In the past five years, the coordinated development degree of the two systems has increased year by year, and the benign mutual feedback mechanism between the two systems has gradually formed. However, regional economic development has lagged due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, so speeding up regional economic development while protecting the environment is recommended.