Does environmental protection promote economic development? From the perspective of coupling coordination between environmental protection and economic development

Environmental protection and economic development seem to be controversial, and there have been opposite views for a long time. Hence, in this article, representative indicators of economy and environment are selected to analyze the external correlation and the internal relationship between environment and economy from the perspective of coupling coordination. The results show that environmental protection may slow down economic growth in the short term. However, their correlation becomes increasingly stronger with higher degree of coupling, and as the result in the long run, environmental protection can gradually improve the infrastructure of economic development, and environmental and economic development will become more closely coordinated in promoting green economic development. It is demonstrated that an effective way to promoting economic development is to promote scientific and technological innovation and cultivate high-end talents and improve regional cooperation, which can reduce the negative effect of environmental protection on economic development. It is also necessary to enhance the positive impact of environmental protection on economic development by transforming the mode of economic development, developing the environmental protection industry, and raising people's awareness of environmental protection. Thus, the coupling coordination between environment and economy can sustain, with both continuously bolstered.