Coupling coordination degree of environment, energy, and economic growth in resource-based provinces of China

Environmental deterioration by natural resources development has emerged as an important concern recently. To address this concern, we constructed a tri-system evaluation index for environment, energy, and the economy and used the entropy value method and the coupling coordination degree model to analyze spatiotemporal changes in the coupling and coordination of subsystems in 10 of China's resource-based regions between 2011 and 2020 and found that the coupling and coordination level of the energy–economy–environment (3E) system in China's resource-based regions is characterized by fluctuating growth with an overall positive developmental trend. The average coupling coordination level increased from 0.541 in 2011 to 0.643 in 2020, reaching the primary coupling coordination stage. Clear heterogeneity exists between various resource-based regions: eastern regions perform better than western, and western better than central. Eastern regions Guangdong, Shandong, and Tianjin achieved coordinated development, while Liaoning exhibits the lowest coupling coordination level. The western regions vary considerably: Shanxi exhibits the highest degree of primary coupling coordination, whereas Qinghai, on the verge of dysfunctional recession, exhibits the lowest. The central regions vary the least; all exhibit minimal coupling coordination. These facts indicate that to enhance the coupling coordination level of China's 3E system in an integrated manner, each region must formulate a differentiated optimization strategy to compensate for its developmental shortcomings.