Abstract In this paper, we try to investigate the effects of China's Western Development Strategy (WDS), carried out since 2000, on local ecological economic performance. We first construct an eco-productivity index that incorporates economic growth, inputs saving, and emissions reduction within an integrated analysis framework. Then the eco-productivity scores of 30 administrative provinces in China's over 1996–2015 are evaluated with sequential data envelopment analysis technique. The results indicate the eco-productivity score in the east and central area (ECA) declines continuously over the whole study period, while that in the west area (WA) increases persistently since 2000 when the WDS was launched. We infer from the narrowing gap of eco-productivity scores between the two areas that China's WDS implementation has promoted local ecological economic development to a certain extent. In subsequent, this preliminary inference is further verified by conducting an empirical test.