Economic structure adjustment is an important means to reduce the emissions of pollutants. For quantitative analysis of the effect of economic structure adjustment on the reduction of pollution emission, the country was divided into four sub-regions, eastern, northeastern, central and western, and the industry was divided into 39 sectors. Taking chemical oxygen demand (COD) as an example, the influences of regional structure and industry structure adjustment on total emission reduction and emission intensity were analyzed through building a model. The results showed that, in 2000-2010: (1) COD emissions in China were reduced from 1 445 x 10(4) t to 1 238 x 10(4) t, with a total emission of 14 950 x 10(4) t in 11 years, among which the emissions from eastern area occupied the largest proportion, accounting for 35.6%. (2) In the industrial COD emissions, emission from paper and paper products was the largest, accounting for 35.8% of the industrial COD emissions. (3) The economic structure changes in the four areas reduced the COD emissions by 420 x 10(4) t, resulting in a decrease of 1.29% in COD emission intensity. (4) Industrial internal structure changes reduced the COD emissions by 533 x 10(4) t, leading to a decrease of 3.1% in COD emission intensity. The research results have certain reference value in guiding the Chinese economic structure adjustment and achieving the targets of energy-saving and emission reduction.