Achieving carbon neutrality through green technological progress: evidence from China

Jinyang Cai, Huanyu Zheng, Michael Vardanyan and Zhiyang Shen
Additional contact information
Jinyang Cai: BIT - Beijing Institute of Technology
Huanyu Zheng: BIT - Beijing Institute of Technology

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Climate change related environmental problems are pushing a constantly growing number of countries to set carbon neutrality goals. Increasing reliance on ecologically friendly technologies is widely considered to be a crucial means of achieving this objective. Many existing studies measure environmental performance using carbon dioxide emissions, or carbon sources, but do not consider the amount of carbon offset through sequestration in carbon sinks. We define carbon neutrality performance as the difference between the carbon sinks and carbon sources and quantify its relationship with green technological innovation, approximated using the notion of environmental productivity. We rely on the Chinese province-level data from 2001 to 2019 and demonstrate that green innovation can significantly facilitate the attainment of carbon neutrality objectives. Our mediation model suggests that low-carbon innovation can help reach carbon neutrality by decreasing net emissions directly, but also by inhibiting the urbanization rate and promoting renewable energy generation. Our analysis helps shed light on the possible strategies that policymakers in China and other developing countries can follow to realize their carbon neutrality aspirations.

Date: 2023-02
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

Published in Energy Policy, 2023, 173, pp.113397. ⟨10.1016/j.enpol.2022.113397⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Journal Article: Achieving carbon neutrality through green technological progress: evidence from China (2023)
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:hal:journl:hal-03974869

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2022.113397

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().