The impact assessment of low-carbon city pilot policy on urban green innovation: A batch-time heterogeneity perspective

Kui Liu, Tao Huang, Zheyi Xia, Xingneng Xia and Rongrong Wu

Applied Energy, 2025, vol. 377, issue PB, No S0306261924018725

Abstract: The Chinese government is actively implementing the Low Carbon City Pilot (LCCP) policy nationwide to fulfill its commitment to carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. One of the main objectives of the LCCP policy is to enhance green innovation in cities, and many publications have assessed its effectiveness. While previous studies have considered differences in city characteristics, they have not adequately analyzed the varying effects of LCCP policy on different batches of pilot cities. To address this gap, this study utilized a cutting-edge heterogeneity causal inference approach to evaluate the heterogeneity of LCCP policy effects across different batches. The findings indicate that the LCCP policy significantly promoted urban green innovation and green substantive innovation. However, its impact on green symbolic innovation was not statistically significant. Among the different batches of pilot cities, the second batch was most strongly affected by the LCCP policy, followed by the third batch. Further analysis reveals that the initial group of pilot cities, with their varying innovation capabilities, carbon emission levels, and government intervention, along with the negative spatial competition among the cities, resulted in a less effective implementation of the LCCP policy compared to the second and third batches. This study contributes to a more accurate assessment of the effectiveness of the LCCP policy by highlighting the heterogeneity across different batches. We recommend that cities committed to low-carbon growth through green innovation customize the design and implementation of their low-carbon policies and establish broader networks of city-to-city cooperation.

Keywords: Low-carbon city; Green innovation; Heterogeneous causal inference; The batch-time heterogeneity; Urban characterization; Spatial competition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261924018725
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:appene:v:377:y:2025:i:pb:s0306261924018725

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124489

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().