IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i15p11609-d1204028.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Low-Carbon City Building and Green Development: New Evidence from Quasi Natural Experiments from 277 Cities in China

Author

Listed:
  • Wanzhe Chen

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Jiaqi Liu

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Xuanwei Ning

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Lei Du

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Yang Zhang

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Chengliang Wu

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

Abstract

As a high-quality and sustainable growth model, green development has different economic, ecological, and social dimensions and is strategically important for the realization of modern city construction and the sustainable development of human society. The low-carbon city pilot policy (LCCP) is an innovative initiative for promoting green urban development and building a harmonious society in China. Based on balanced panel data from 277 prefecture-level cities from 2007 to 2020, this paper measures the level of urban green development in terms of three dimensions: green economic growth, ecological welfare enhancement, and social welfare increase. This paper also adopts a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) method for investigating the impact of LCCP on green development with the panel dataset. The results of the study show that: (1) LCCP is generally beneficial to urban green development, and the results still hold after a series of robustness check analyses. (2) The results of the mechanism analysis show that the construction of low-carbon cities has improved the level of green technology innovation, thereby promoting the level of regional green development. Environmental regulation has a masking effect between low-carbon city construction and green development in this study. When environmental regulation is controlled for, the coefficient of the effect of LCCP on green development increases, reflecting that environmental regulation also plays an important role between the two. (3) According to the geographical location, whether it is a resource-based city, and the city cluster, we found that the low-carbon city pilot policy has a significant positive role in promoting green development in the central region, non-resource-based cities, and the Jing-Jin-Ji, but not in the eastern region, the western region, the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. We also found that in resource-based cities, this effect presents a significant negative relationship. The above findings enrich the literature on low-carbon city pilot policies and green development and provide Empirical evidence for relevant countries and regions to carry out low-carbon city pilots.

Suggested Citation

  • Wanzhe Chen & Jiaqi Liu & Xuanwei Ning & Lei Du & Yang Zhang & Chengliang Wu, 2023. "Low-Carbon City Building and Green Development: New Evidence from Quasi Natural Experiments from 277 Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-28, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11609-:d:1204028
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11609/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11609/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rubashkina, Yana & Galeotti, Marzio & Verdolini, Elena, 2015. "Environmental regulation and competitiveness: Empirical evidence on the Porter Hypothesis from European manufacturing sectors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 288-300.
    2. Sun, Yunpeng & Gao, Pengpeng & Razzaq, Asif, 2023. "How does fiscal decentralization lead to renewable energy transition and a sustainable environment? Evidence from highly decentralized economies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 1064-1074.
    3. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    4. Ouyang, Xiaoling & Li, Qiong & Du, Kerui, 2020. "How does environmental regulation promote technological innovations in the industrial sector? Evidence from Chinese provincial panel data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    5. Danish, & Ulucak, Recep & Baloch, Muhammad Awais, 2023. "An empirical approach to the nexus between natural resources and environmental pollution: Do economic policy and environmental-related technologies make any difference?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Geng, Qianqian & Wang, Ying & Wang, Xiaoqing, 2023. "The impact of natural resource endowment and green finance on green economic efficiency in the context of COP26," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Chen, Hao & Qi, Shaozhou & Zhang, Jihong, 2022. "Towards carbon neutrality with Chinese characteristics: From an integrated perspective of economic growth-equity-environment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    8. Tan, Junlan & Su, Xiang & Wang, Rong, 2023. "The impact of natural resource dependence and green finance on green economic growth in the context of COP26," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    9. Chen, Zhao & Kahn, Matthew E. & Liu, Yu & Wang, Zhi, 2018. "The consequences of spatially differentiated water pollution regulation in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 468-485.
    10. Tobias Stucki & Martin Woerter, 2017. "Green Inventions: Is Wait-and-see a Reasonable Option?," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    11. Andrew Goodman-Bacon, 2018. "Difference-in-Differences with Variation in Treatment Timing," NBER Working Papers 25018, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Zhou, Qianling & Cui, Xiaoyong & Ni, Hongfu & Gong, Liutang, 2022. "The impact of environmental regulation policy on firms' energy-saving behavior: A quasi-natural experiment based on China's low-carbon pilot city policy," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    13. Jungsuk Kim & Mengxi Wang & Donghyun Park & Cynthia Castillejos Petalcorin, 2021. "Fiscal policy and economic growth: some evidence from China," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 157(3), pages 555-582, August.
    14. Lv, Chengchao & Shao, Changhua & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2021. "Green technology innovation and financial development: Do environmental regulation and innovation output matter?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    15. Li, Ye & Chen, Yiyan & Li, Qun, 2020. "Assessment analysis of green development level based on S-type cloud model of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    16. Zhihua Tian & Yanfang Tian & Yang Chen & Shuai Shao, 2020. "The economic consequences of environmental regulation in China: From a perspective of the environmental protection admonishing talk policy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 1723-1733, May.
    17. Xie, Pinjie & Gong, Ningyu & Sun, Feihu & Li, Pin & Pan, Xianyou, 2023. "What factors contribute to the extent of decoupling economic growth and energy carbon emissions in China?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    18. Song, Qijiao & Qin, Ming & Wang, Ruichen & Qi, Ye, 2020. "How does the nested structure affect policy innovation?: Empirical research on China's low carbon pilot cities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jianfei He & Rong Huang & Jiayu Ding & Yuting Liu & Rongxi Zhou, 2024. "The Impact of Capital Market Opening on Enterprise Green Technology Innovation: Insights from the Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-30, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dandan Zhu & Xinping Tao & Meibo Huang, 2023. "Law Reinforcement, Production Pattern and Enterprise Environmental Performance: Evidence from Environmental Courts in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Xie, Ronghui & Teo, Thompson S.H., 2022. "Green technology innovation, environmental externality, and the cleaner upgrading of industrial structure in China — Considering the moderating effect of environmental regulation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    3. Yao, Shun & Li, Tongxin & Li, Ying, 2023. "Promoting sustainable fossil fuels resources in BRICS countries: Evaluating green policies and driving renewable energy development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    4. Zhou, Kuo & Luo, Haotian & Qu, Zhi, 2023. "What can the environmental rule of law do for environmental innovation? Evidence from environmental tribunals in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    5. Du, Minzhe & Liu, Yunxiao & Wang, Bing & Lee, Myunghun & Zhang, Ning, 2021. "The sources of regulated productivity in Chinese power plants: An estimation of the restricted cost function combined with DEA approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    6. Feng, Yuan & Chen, Zhi & Nie, Changfei, 2023. "The effect of broadband infrastructure construction on urban green innovation: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 581-598.
    7. Lingling Zhang & Yufeng Wang & Rahman Dunya, 2023. "How Does Environmental Regulation Affect the Development of China’s Pig Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, May.
    8. Hu, Hui & Qi, Shaozhou & Chen, Yuanzhi, 2023. "Using green technology for a better tomorrow: How enterprises and government utilize the carbon trading system and incentive policies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Liu, Duan & Yu, Nizhou & Wan, Hong, 2022. "Does water rights trading affect corporate investment? The role of resource allocation and risk mitigation channels," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    10. Zhangsheng Liu & Liuqingqing Yang & Liqin Fan, 2021. "Induced Effect of Environmental Regulation on Green Innovation: Evidence from the Increasing-Block Pricing Scheme," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-15, March.
    11. Xiaoqi Li & Dingfei Guo & Chao Feng, 2022. "The Carbon Emissions Trading Policy of China: Does It Really Promote the Enterprises’ Green Technology Innovations?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-15, November.
    12. Liu, Xiangsheng & Lv, Lingli, 2023. "The effect of China's low carbon city pilot policy on corporate financialization," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    13. Zhao, Xing & Guo, Yifan & Feng, Tianchu, 2023. "Towards green recovery: Natural resources utilization efficiency under the impact of environmental information disclosure," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    14. Du, Kerui & Liu, Xueyue & Zhao, Cheng, 2023. "Environmental regulation mitigates energy rebound effect," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    15. Qi, Xiulin & Wu, Zhifang & Xu, Jinqing & Shan, Biaoan, 2023. "Environmental justice and green innovation: A quasi-natural experiment based on the establishment of environmental courts in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    16. Shusen Qi & Ralph De Haas & Steven Ongena & Stefan Straetmans & Tamas Vadasz, 2017. "Move a Little Closer? Information Sharing and the Spatial Clustering of Bank Branches," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 17-74, Swiss Finance Institute, revised Jun 2023.
    17. Liu, Cenjie & Fang, Jiayu & Xie, Rui, 2021. "Energy policy and corporate financial performance: Evidence from China's 11th five-year plan," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    18. Yu, Jian & Liu, Peng & Fu, Dahai & Shi, Xunpeng, 2023. "How do power shortages affect CO2 emission intensity? Firm-level evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    19. Cenjie Liu & Chunbo Ma & Rui Xie, 2020. "Structural, Innovation and Efficiency Effects of Environmental Regulation: Evidence from China’s Carbon Emissions Trading Pilot," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 75(4), pages 741-768, April.
    20. Xiaoyu He & Bo Li, 2023. "A Study on the Influence of Green Industrial Policy on Urban Green Development: Based on the Empirical Data of Ecological Industrial Park Pilot Construction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-29, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11609-:d:1204028. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.