IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i16p9014-d612932.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Carbon Productivity and Mitigation: Evidence from Industrial Development and Urbanization in the Central and Western Regions of China

Author

Listed:
  • Yongjiao Wu

    (Business School, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035, China)

  • Huazhu Zheng

    (School of Business, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China)

  • Yu Li

    (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China)

  • Claudio O. Delang

    (Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 999077, China)

  • Jiao Qian

    (School of Business, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China)

Abstract

This paper investigates carbon productivity (CP) from the perspectives of industrial development and urbanization to mitigate carbon emissions. We propose a hybrid model that includes a spatial lag model (SLM) and a fixed regional panel model using data from the 17 provinces in the central and western regions of China from 2000 to 2018. The results show that the slowly increasing CP has significant spatial spillover effects, with High–High (H–H) and Low–Low (L–L) spatial distributions in the central and western regions of China. In addition, industrial development and urbanization in the study area play different roles in CP, while economic urbanization and industrial fixed investment negatively affect CP, and population urbanization affects CP along a U-shape curve. Importantly, the results show that the patterns of industrial development and urbanization that influence CP are homogenous and mutually imitated in the 17 studied provinces. Furthermore, disparities in CP between regions are due to industrial workforce allocation (TL), but TL has been inefficient; industrial structure upgrades are slowly improving conditions. Therefore, the findings suggest that, in the short term, policymakers in China should implement industrial development policies that reduce carbon emissions in the western and central regions by focusing on improving industrial workforce allocation.

Suggested Citation

  • Yongjiao Wu & Huazhu Zheng & Yu Li & Claudio O. Delang & Jiao Qian, 2021. "Carbon Productivity and Mitigation: Evidence from Industrial Development and Urbanization in the Central and Western Regions of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-23, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9014-:d:612932
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9014/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9014/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang, Wenwen & Li, Man & Zhang, Ming, 2017. "Study on the changes of the decoupling indicator between energy-related CO2 emission and GDP in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 11-18.
    2. Yu, Shiwei & Zheng, Shuhong & Li, Xia & Li, Longxi, 2018. "China can peak its energy-related carbon emissions before 2025: Evidence from industry restructuring," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 91-107.
    3. Wang, Wei-Zheng & Liu, Lan-Cui & Liao, Hua & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2021. "Impacts of urbanization on carbon emissions: An empirical analysis from OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    4. Wu, Yongjiao & Dong, Suocheng & Huang, Haosheng & Zhai, Jun & Li, Yu & Huang, Dingxuan, 2018. "Quantifying urban land expansion dynamics through improved land management institution model: Application in Ningxia-Inner Mongolia, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 386-396.
    5. Wang Zhang & Pengfei Feng, 2020. "Differentiation research of CO2 emissions from energy consumption and their influencing mechanism on the industrial enterprises above designated size in Chinese industrial cities: based on geographica," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 102(2), pages 645-658, June.
    6. Zeeshan Khan & Muntasir Murshed & Kangyin Dong & Siqun Yang, 2021. "The roles of export diversification and composite country risks in carbon emissions abatement: evidence from the signatories of the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(41), pages 4769-4787, September.
    7. Wang, Keying & Wu, Meng & Sun, Yongping & Shi, Xunpeng & Sun, Ao & Zhang, Ping, 2019. "Resource abundance, industrial structure, and regional carbon emissions efficiency in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 203-214.
    8. Wang, Guofeng & Deng, Xiangzheng & Wang, Jingyu & Zhang, Fan & Liang, Shiqi, 2019. "Carbon emission efficiency in China: A spatial panel data analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Muhammad, Sulaman & Long, Xingle & Salman, Muhammad & Dauda, Lamini, 2020. "Effect of urbanization and international trade on CO2 emissions across 65 belt and road initiative countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    10. Zhang, L.P. & Zhou, P., 2018. "A non-compensatory composite indicator approach to assessing low-carbon performance," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(1), pages 352-361.
    11. Moore, John H, 1978. "A Measure of Structural Change in Output," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 24(1), pages 105-118, March.
    12. John H. Moore, 1978. "A Measure Of Structural Change In Output," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 24(1), pages 105-118, March.
    13. Lin, Boqiang & Du, Kerui, 2015. "Energy and CO2 emissions performance in China's regional economies: Do market-oriented reforms matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 113-124.
    14. Luc Anselin, 2001. "Spatial Effects in Econometric Practice in Environmental and Resource Economics," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(3), pages 705-710.
    15. Xuecheng Wang & Xu Tang & Baosheng Zhang & Benjamin C. McLellan & Yang Lv, 2018. "Provincial Carbon Emissions Reduction Allocation Plan in China Based on Consumption Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-23, April.
    16. Cai, Bofeng & Guo, Huanxiu & Ma, Zipeng & Wang, Zhixuan & Dhakal, Shobhakar & Cao, Libin, 2019. "Benchmarking carbon emissions efficiency in Chinese cities: A comparative study based on high-resolution gridded data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C), pages 994-1009.
    17. Cheng, Zhonghua & Li, Lianshui & Liu, Jun, 2018. "Industrial structure, technical progress and carbon intensity in China's provinces," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2935-2946.
    18. Zhao, Jun & Jiang, Qingzhe & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin, 2021. "Assessing energy poverty and its effect on CO2 emissions: The case of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    19. Liobikienė, Genovaitė & Butkus, Mindaugas, 2019. "Scale, composition, and technique effects through which the economic growth, foreign direct investment, urbanization, and trade affect greenhouse gas emissions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1310-1322.
    20. Sadorsky, Perry, 2014. "The effect of urbanization on CO2 emissions in emerging economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 147-153.
    21. Kangyin Dong & Xiucheng Dong & Qingzhe Jiang, 2020. "How renewable energy consumption lower global CO2 emissions? Evidence from countries with different income levels," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(6), pages 1665-1698, June.
    22. Lan, Fei & Sun, Li & Pu, Wenyan, 2021. "Research on the influence of manufacturing agglomeration modes on regional carbon emission and spatial effect in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 346-352.
    23. Zhou, Xiaoyan & Zhang, Jie & Li, Junpeng, 2013. "Industrial structural transformation and carbon dioxide emissions in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 43-51.
    24. Liu, Jingming & Hou, Xianhui & Wang, Zhanqi & Shen, Yue, 2021. "Study the effect of industrial structure optimization on urban land-use efficiency in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    25. Luan, Bingjiang & Zou, Hong & Chen, Shuxing & Huang, Junbing, 2021. "The effect of industrial structure adjustment on China’s energy intensity: Evidence from linear and nonlinear analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    26. Poumanyvong, Phetkeo & Kaneko, Shinji, 2010. "Does urbanization lead to less energy use and lower CO2 emissions? A cross-country analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 434-444, December.
    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. Wenhao Qi & Changxing Song & Meng Sun & Liguo Wang & Youcheng Han, 2022. "Sustainable Growth Drivers: Unveiling the Role Played by Carbon Productivity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-25, January.
    2. Meng Sun & Yue Zhang & Yaqi Hu & Jiayi Zhang, 2022. "Spatial Convergence of Carbon Productivity: Theoretical Analysis and Chinese Experience," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-19, April.

    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. Zhao, Jun & Jiang, Qingzhe & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin & Jiang, Hongdian, 2022. "How does industrial structure adjustment reduce CO2 emissions? Spatial and mediation effects analysis for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    2. Dong, Kangyin & Dong, Xiucheng & Jiang, Qingzhe & Zhao, Jun, 2021. "Assessing energy resilience and its greenhouse effect: A global perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    3. Zhang, Hongli & Shen, Lei & Zhong, Shuai & Elshkaki, Ayman, 2020. "Coal resource and industrial structure nexus in energy-rich area: The case of the contiguous area of Shanxi and Shaanxi Provinces, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. Xu, Jiajun & Wang, Jinchao & Li, Rui & Yang, Xiaojun, 2023. "Spatio-temporal effects of urbanization on CO2 emissions: Evidences from 268 Chinese cities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    5. Lina Liu & Yunyun Zhang & Bei Liu & Pishi Xiu & Lipeng Sun, 2022. "How to Achieve Carbon Neutrality: From the Perspective of Innovative City Pilot Policy in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-20, December.
    6. Jingdong Zhong, 2019. "Biased Technical Change, Factor Substitution, and Carbon Emissions Efficiency in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, February.
    7. Li, Ke & Lin, Boqiang, 2017. "Economic growth model, structural transformation, and green productivity in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 489-500.
    8. Zhao, Jun & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin, 2021. "How does financial risk affect global CO2 emissions? The role of technological innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    9. Zhao, Jun & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin, 2021. "How does producer services’ agglomeration promote carbon reduction?: The case of China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    10. Zhonghua Cheng & Xiaowen Hu, 2023. "The effects of urbanization and urban sprawl on CO2 emissions in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 1792-1808, February.
    11. Ruijing Zheng & Yu Cheng & Haimeng Liu & Wei Chen & Xiaodong Chen & Yaping Wang, 2022. "The Spatiotemporal Distribution and Drivers of Urban Carbon Emission Efficiency: The Role of Technological Innovation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-22, July.
    12. Usman, Ahmed & Ozturk, Ilhan & Ullah, Sana & Hassan, Ali, 2021. "Does ICT have symmetric or asymmetric effects on CO2 emissions? Evidence from selected Asian economies," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    13. Bingjie Xu & Ruoyu Zhong & Hui Qiao, 2020. "The impact of biofuel consumption on CO2 emissions: A panel data analysis for seven selected G20 countries," Energy & Environment, , vol. 31(8), pages 1498-1514, December.
    14. Wu, Linfei & Sun, Liwen & Qi, Peixiao & Ren, Xiangwei & Sun, Xiaoting, 2021. "Energy endowment, industrial structure upgrading, and CO2 emissions in China: Revisiting resource curse in the context of carbon emissions," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    15. Liu, Yang & Dong, Kangyin & Jiang, Qingzhe, 2023. "Assessing energy vulnerability and its impact on carbon emissions: A global case," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    16. Rashid Latief & Usman Sattar & Sohail Ahmad Javeed & Ammar Ali Gull & Yingshun Pei, 2022. "The Environmental Effects of Urbanization, Education, and Green Innovation in the Union for Mediterranean Countries: Evidence from Quantile Regression Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-17, July.
    17. Zhang, Shufan & Ma, Minda & Li, Kai & Ma, Zhili & Feng, Wei & Cai, Weiguang, 2022. "Historical carbon abatement in the commercial building operation: China versus the US," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    18. Sufyanullah, Khan & Ahmad, Khan Arshad & Sufyan Ali, Muhammad Abu, 2022. "Does emission of carbon dioxide is impacted by urbanization? An empirical study of urbanization, energy consumption, economic growth and carbon emissions - Using ARDL bound testing approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    19. Yang Ding & Qing Yang & Lanjuan Cao, 2021. "Examining the Impacts of Economic, Social, and Environmental Factors on the Relationship between Urbanization and CO 2 Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-23, November.
    20. Lin, Boqiang & Zhu, Junpeng, 2020. "Chinese electricity demand and electricity consumption efficiency: Do the structural changes matter?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).

    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:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9014-:d:612932. 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.