Did innovative city constructions reduce carbon emissions? A quasi-natural experiment in China

Xing Li () and Chunkai Zhao ()
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Xing Li: Southwest University
Chunkai Zhao: South China Agricultural University

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2024, vol. 26, issue 3, No 32, 6315-6340

Abstract: Abstract Using panel data for Chinese prefecture-level and above cities from 2003 to 2017, we employed the difference-in-differences (DID) method to explore whether innovative city constructions reduced carbon emissions. The results show that innovative city constructions significantly curb carbon emissions in Chinese cities, which is supported by a series of robustness tests. Specifically, we found that innovative city constructions could reduce carbon emissions by 5.21%, which is equivalent to a total of about 5.46 million tons. In addition, we provided evidence that innovative city constructions curb carbon emissions by promoting technological innovation, industrial upgrading and industrial green development, ecological improvement, and government intervention. Furthermore, heterogeneous results indicate that the carbon reduction effect of innovative city constructions is mainly found in eastern cities and cities with better industrial development and human capital base. Our findings further enrich the study on the environmental benefits of national innovation incentives and public policies and provide important insights in carbon neutrality and achieving sustainable development, especially for developing and emerging market countries.

Keywords: Innovative city constructions; Carbon emissions; Carbon neutrality; Quasi-natural experiment; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-02964-0

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