Abstract: On December 14, 2007, Wuhan City Circle and Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan City Group were confirmed as the Comprehensive Coordinated Reform Pilot Zones of the“Two Types Society”construction, which were granted the policy innovation privilege of pioneering and piloting, so as to take the lead in carrying out the exploration and practice of the construction of the“Two Types Society”. By employing the synthetic control method, this paper conducts an empirical analysis based on the 2004-2016 Chinese provincial panel data. The findings show that the pilot policy has significantly promoted the four major indicators in Hubei Province, i.e., economic growth, energy conservation, emission reduction and technological innovation. And this conclusion still holds through the robustness test. This research confirms that environmental regulations can release environmental dividends and economic dividends, creating a win-win opportunity for energy conservation and economic growth.

Key words: Two Types Society; synthetic control method; economic effect