The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on China’s Carbon Emissions

Fangmiao Hou, Haiying Su, Yuelu Li, Weicong Qian, Jianxiu Xiao and Shuhui Guo
Additional contact information
Fangmiao Hou: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Haiying Su: Institute of Forestry Policy and Information, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
Yuelu Li: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Weicong Qian: Institute of Forestry Policy and Information, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
Jianxiu Xiao: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Shuhui Guo: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-12

Abstract: China is world renowned for its significant achievements in several fields. China’s economic growth has been prominent, with the country’s GDP ranking second globally. China’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows have been significant, with the country now known as the second largest economy in the world. FDI however does have some negative consequences on China’s environment. While attracting FDI promotes economic growth through industrial upgrading, the deleterious impacts of the latter on the environment cannot be ignored. The current study analyses the actual use of FDI and carbon emissions in China from 1997 to 2018. Quantitative analysis was employed to analyze the trends of FDI and carbon emissions in China as a whole and in the respective regions, namely the eastern, central and western regions. Regression analysis was then conducted to analyze the impact of FDI on carbon emissions in China on the national level and regional levels, i.e., in the eastern, central and western regions. The conclusion of this article is that FDI will play a positive role in China’s overall carbon emissions. The study has important implications for policy. We recommend that the corresponding investment policies need to be formulated according to the different levels of economic development among the regions.

Keywords: FDI; China’s carbon emissions; impact (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 (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11911/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11911/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:11911-:d:666689

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().