Carbon Productivity and Mitigation: Evidence from Industrial Development and Urbanization in the Central and Western Regions of China

Yongjiao Wu, Huazhu Zheng, Yu Li, Claudio Delang and Jiao Qian
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Yongjiao Wu: Business School, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035, China
Huazhu Zheng: School of Business, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Yu Li: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Jiao Qian: School of Business, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-23

Abstract: This paper investigates carbon productivity (CP) from the perspectives of industrial development and urbanization to mitigate carbon emissions. We propose a hybrid model that includes a spatial lag model (SLM) and a fixed regional panel model using data from the 17 provinces in the central and western regions of China from 2000 to 2018. The results show that the slowly increasing CP has significant spatial spillover effects, with High–High (H–H) and Low–Low (L–L) spatial distributions in the central and western regions of China. In addition, industrial development and urbanization in the study area play different roles in CP, while economic urbanization and industrial fixed investment negatively affect CP, and population urbanization affects CP along a U-shape curve. Importantly, the results show that the patterns of industrial development and urbanization that influence CP are homogenous and mutually imitated in the 17 studied provinces. Furthermore, disparities in CP between regions are due to industrial workforce allocation (TL), but TL has been inefficient; industrial structure upgrades are slowly improving conditions. Therefore, the findings suggest that, in the short term, policymakers in China should implement industrial development policies that reduce carbon emissions in the western and central regions by focusing on improving industrial workforce allocation.

Keywords: carbon productivity; industrial workforce allocation; urbanization; spatial lag model; central and western regions of China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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