Economic Growth Targets and Carbon Emissions: Evidence from China

Keliang Wang, Bin Zhao, Tianzheng Fan and Jinning Zhang
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Keliang Wang: School of Economics, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
Bin Zhao: School of Economics, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
Tianzheng Fan: School of Economics and Management, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China
Jinning Zhang: School of Business, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-16

Abstract: Carbon emissions have become a new threat to sustainable development in China, and local government actions can play an important role in energy conservation and emission reduction. This paper explores the theoretical mechanisms and transmission paths of economic growth targets affecting carbon emissions from the perspective of economic growth targets and conducts an empirical analysis based on 30 provincial panel data in China from 2003 to 2019. The results show that: economic growth targets are positively correlated with carbon emissions under a series of endogeneity and robustness; there are regional heterogeneity, target heterogeneity and structural heterogeneity in the impact of economic growth targets on carbon emissions; after economic growth targets are set, government actions can influence carbon emissions by affecting resource mismatch and industrial restructuring; It is further found that there is a “U” shaped relationship between economic pressure and carbon emissions. Based on the above findings, this paper further proposes that a high-quality performance assessment mechanism should be developed to bring into play the active role of local governments in achieving carbon reduction goals, and thus contribute to high-quality economic development.

Keywords: economic growth target; resource misallocation; industrial restructuring; carbon emissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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