Study on Coupling and Coordinated Development of Ecological Environment-Energy Consumption-Regional Economic Growth in Greater Bay Area around Hangzhou Bay

Environment, energy, and economy often constitute an interrelated and contradictory ternary system. In this study, Greater Bay Area around Hangzhou Bay Area is taken as the main research object, and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is taken as the reference object. By constructing the index system of 3E system coordination evaluation model, the coordination degree and coordination status of ecological environment, energy consumption, and economic growth subsystems of the two areas are compared and analyzed, and the coupling relationship between 2E and 3E systems of Greater Bay Area around Hangzhou Bay and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is further studied. The results show that the eco-environmental coordination degree and energy consumption coordination degree of the cities in Greater Bay Area around Hangzhou Bay are between 0.4248–0.5668 and 0.4528–0.5874, respectively, which are in the state of weak coordination to primary coordination, while the economic growth coordination degree is between 0.5022 and 0.6878, which is in the state of primary coordination to intermediate coordination. The coupling of 2E system in Greater Bay Area around Hangzhou Bay and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area shows linear growth and nonlinear growth, respectively (R2 = 0.997), presenting a good coupling development overall. The coupling levels of ecological environment-energy consumption, ecological environment-economic growth, and energy consumption-economic growth in Greater Bay Area around Hangzhou Bay increase by 18.94, 86.72, and 98.20% respectively. The coupling of 3E systems between Greater Bay Area around Hangzhou Bay and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area presents a nonlinear development trend that is increasing year by year (R2 > 0.99), but the coupling level of 3E systems between the two is still low, both of which are in the primary/weak coordination state, while the overall growth rate of 3E system coupling in Greater Bay Area around Hangzhou Bay is higher than that of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.