The Classification Impact of Different Types of Environmental Regulation on Chinese Provincial Carbon Emission Efficiency

Feifei Ye, Rongyan You, Haitian Lu, Sirui Han () and Long-Hao Yang
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Feifei Ye: School of Cultural Tourism and Public Administration, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China
Rongyan You: School of Cultural Tourism and Public Administration, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China
Haitian Lu: School of Accounting and Finance, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
Sirui Han: School of Accounting and Finance, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
Long-Hao Yang: School of Economics and Management, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-24

Abstract: The evaluation of inter-provincial carbon emission efficiency and the analysis of its influencing factors hold great practical significance for reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainable development in ecological management. To address the shortcomings of existing research in the classification evaluation of carbon emission efficiency and account for the impacts of different environmental regulatory policies on carbon emissions, this paper aims to examine the impact of formal and informal environmental regulations on carbon emission efficiency. This is accomplished by utilizing a combination of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, entropy weighting, and k-means cluster analysis methods. The fixed-effects model is also applied to examine the influences of different factors on carbon emission efficiency under different categories. To conduct the case studies, carbon emission management data from 30 provinces in China are collected, and the results show the following: (1) Formal environmental regulations exhibit a “U-shaped” relationship with carbon emission efficiency, whereas informal environmental regulations have an “inverted U-shaped” relationship with carbon emission efficiency. (2) Under the cluster analysis of carbon emission efficiency, formal environmental regulations are found to have a stronger incentive effect on inter-provincial carbon efficiency compared to informal environmental regulations. This study carries significant theoretical and practical implications for China’s timely attainment of its double-carbon target.

Keywords: environmental regulations; carbon emissions; entropy weight method; efficiency evaluation; cluster analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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