scholarly journals Evaluating the CO2 abatement effects of low-carbon city policy in China: a quasi-natural experiment

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (S2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiangyi Li ◽  
Mian Yang ◽  
Fei Xu ◽  
Fuxia Yang ◽  
Xiaojian Xiang

AbstractThe formulation and implementation of Low-Carbon City Policy (LCCP) is an essential initiative for China to build its low-carbon society. Based on the panel data of 282 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2016, this study evaluates the effects of LCCP implementation on pilot cities’ carbon emission performance using difference-in-differences method, and then the mechanism has also been examined with a mediating effect model. The results show that: first, the LCCP implementation has increased the carbon emission performance of the pilot cities significantly, indicating that it is an effective way to promote the low-carbon transformation of Chinese cities. Second, the positive effects in CO2 performance resulting from LCCP demonstrate significant heterogeneity: in general, the cities in east China, with higher economic development level and in a larger size, achieve more significant CO2 emission reduction than their respective counterparts. The results on the mechanism test imply that the LCCP helps improve pilot cities’ carbon emission performance in three ways, including reducing energy consumption, updating the industrial structure, and promoting technological progress. Finally, some useful policy recommendations are put forward to promote China’s low-carbon city construction.

2021 ◽  
Vol 241 ◽  
pp. 02003
Author(s):  
Jun Wang ◽  
Hua Zhao

With the further aggravation of global warming and the increasingly serious problems of ecological environment, the construction of low-carbon cities has become an inevitable choice for the global response to climate change and the sustainable development of economy and society. In order to understand the basic situation of China’s low-carbon cities more specifically, this paper selects countries with different urbanization rates to carry out benchmarking analysis with China, hoping to draw on the experience of other countries from the national level through multi-dimensional comparison, and guide the direction of China’s future urban development. Firstly, this paper selects the basic indicators such as the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions, per capita carbon emissions and carbon emissions per unit GDP of each country; Secondly, it compares the proportion of coal in energy and other indicators, and analyzes the energy structure of each country in depth; Thirdly, it compares the trend of carbon emissions in each country among 1990-2017. Finally, in order to reflect the carbon emission in the development of urbanization, this paper uses the “urbanization carbon emission index”, which is the ratio of per capita carbon emission and urbanization rate, to show the relationship between the degree of urbanization and carbon emission. Through benchmarking analysis, we can more clearly understand the overall trend of low-carbon city construction in different countries, recognize the gap between China and other countries, and better guide the development of low-carbon cities in China in the future.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1092-1093 ◽  
pp. 1597-1600
Author(s):  
Zhong Hua Wang ◽  
Xin Ye Chen

The need to reduce carbon emission in Heilongjiang Province of China is urgent challenge facing sustainable development. This paper aims to make explicit the problem-solving of carbon emission to find low carbon emission ways. According to domestic and foreign literatures on estimating and calculating carbon emissions and by integrating calculation methods of carbon emissions, it was not possible to consider all of the many contributions to carbon emissions. Calculation model of carbon emissions suitable to this paper is selected. The carbon emissions of energy consumption in mining industry are estimated and calculated from 2005 to 2012, and the characteristics of carbon emission are analyzed at the provincial level. It makes the point that carbon emissions of energy consumption in mining industry can be reduced when we attempt to alter energy consumption structure, adjust industrial structure and improve energy utilization efficiency.


2012 ◽  
Vol 174-177 ◽  
pp. 3202-3206
Author(s):  
Xiao Li Fan

Climate crisis has become the main concern of International community. China is undergoing the quick growing period of urbanization. The fast urbanization inevitably encountered a lot of problems and defects. Our carbon emission occupy more and more percentage of the whole world. To change the traditional way of constructing activity and work towards low-carbon city development mode is the most important task of China city development. From the causes of low carbon cities construction and its significance, this essay focuses on the space structure, traffic mode, land use and landscape architecture framework of constructing a low-carbon city. Low carbon urban construction planning is also presented.


2014 ◽  
Vol 548-549 ◽  
pp. 1773-1777
Author(s):  
Qun Liu ◽  
Jiang Hua Zhuo

The trend of low-carbon in world and resource shortages, environmental carrying capacity of weak basic conditions, decided to go low-carbon path is an inevitable choice in China. The city’s ecological environment, cultural tastes, economic vitality, management systems, technological progress has become the focus of urban studies nowadays. Study on how to improve the energy-saving technology to create a low-carbon life is the fundamental way to achieve sustainable urban development. Therefore, the study of low-carbon urban development, is not only has theoretical values, but also owns practical significance. In this paper the reason for low-carbon city, the basic concept of sustainable development was discussed. The significance of the construction of green ecological city and the future direction of the green eco-city construction was presented.


Author(s):  
Hongfeng Zhang ◽  
Lu Huang ◽  
Yan Zhu ◽  
Hongyun Si ◽  
Xu He

Low-carbon city construction (LCC) is an important strategy for countries desiring to improve environmental quality, realize cleaner production, and achieve sustainable development. Low-carbon cities have attracted widespread attention for their attempts to coordinate the relationship between environmental protection and economic development. Using the panel data from 2006 to 2017 of prefecture-level cities in China, this study applied the difference-in-differences (DID) method to analyze the effects of LCC on the total factor productivity (TFP) of the cities and its possible transmission mechanism. The results show significantly positive effects on TFP, but the effects on each component of TFP are different. Although the LCC has promoted technical progress and scale efficiency, it has inhibited technical efficiency. The accuracy of the results has been confirmed by several robustness tests. Mechanism analysis showed that the pilot policy of low-carbon cities has promoted technical progress and scale efficiency by technological innovation and the upgrading of industrial structure, but resource mismatches among enterprises have been the main reason for reduced technical efficiency. Regional heterogeneity analysis showed that the effects on TFP in the eastern region have been more significant than in the central and western regions. In the eastern region, they have promoted technical progress, while in the central and western regions, they have promoted technical progress and scale efficiency but hindered technical efficiency. This paper presents our findings for the effects of LCC on economic development and provides insightful policy implications for the improvement of technical efficiency in low-carbon cities.


Author(s):  
Jinling Yan ◽  
Junfeng Zhao ◽  
Xiaodong Yang ◽  
Xufeng Su ◽  
Hailing Wang ◽  
...  

As a comprehensive environmental regulation, the low-carbon city pilot policy (LCCP) may have an impact on haze pollution. The evaluation of the effectiveness of LCCP on haze pollution is greatly significant for air pollution prevention and control. Taking LCCP as the starting point, in this study we constructed DID, PSM-DID, and intermediary effect models to empirically test the impact and mechanism of LCCP on haze pollution, based on the panel data of 271 cities in China from 2005 to 2018. The findings show that (1) LCCP has significantly reduced the urban haze pollution, and the average annual concentration of PM2.5 in pilot cities decreased by 14.29%. (2) LCCP can inhibit haze pollution by promoting technological innovation, upgrading the industrial structure, and reducing energy consumption. Among these impacts, the effect of technological innovation is the strongest, followed by industrial structure, and energy consumption. (3) LCCP has significantly curbed the haze pollution of non-resource dependent cities, Eastern cities, and large cities, but exerted little impact on resource-dependent cities, Central and Western regions, and small and medium-sized cities. (4) LCCP has a spatial spillover effect. It can inhibit the haze pollution of adjacent cities through demonstration and warning effects. This study enriches the relevant research on LCCP and provides empirical support and policy enlightenment for pollution reduction.


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