<p>Studying the ecological impacts of urbanization is crucial for advancing regional sustainable development. This study, based on panel data of ecological environment and new urbanization in Shandong Province (2000–2022), employed Global Principal Component Analysis to calculate improved Remote Sensing Ecological Index (GRSEI) and ecological environment index, and applied spatial panel regression models to analyze the spatiotemporal impacts of new urbanization on the ecological environment quality (EEQ). The results showed that: (1) From 2000 to 2022, the GRSEI of cities in Shandong Province exhibited a U-shaped evolution trend, first declining and then rising. The trend of environmental pressure in central Shandong was largely consistent with that of the GRSEI. Environmental protection across the province steadily improved, resulting in a gradual enhancement of EEQ, with coastal cities outperforming inland ones. (2) There was a significant positive correlation between EEQ and various indicators of new urbanization. Among them, indicators such as per capita retail sales of consumer goods and per capita education expenditure showed the strongest correlation with EEQ, reaching the 0.001 significance level. (3) The spatial panel regression results indicated that variables including the proportion of urban population, green coverage rate of built-up areas, and social urbanization score had significant positive effects on EEQ. Per capita GDP and economic urbanization exhibited negative impacts before 2018 but shifted to positive effects after 2019. This indicates that Shandong Province’s urbanization shifted from a “pollution-intensive growth” model to a “green development” model, promoting the continuous improvement of EEQ.</p>