IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i19p14114-d1246358.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spatio-Temporal Evolution and Action Path of Environmental Governance on Carbon Emissions: A Case Study of Urban Agglomerations in the Yellow River Basin

Author

Listed:
  • Hongfeng Zhang

    (School of Public Administration and Policy, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China)

  • Miao Liu

    (School of Public Administration and Policy, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China)

  • Yixiang Wang

    (School of Economics, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China)

  • Xiangjiang Ding

    (School of Public Administration and Policy, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China)

  • Yueting Li

    (School of Applied Economics, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 102488, China)

Abstract

Since the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin in China have become a major national strategy, reducing carbon emissions has become pivotal. Therefore, based on the relevant data of 53 cities from 2008 to 2021 in seven urban agglomerations in the Yellow River basin, this paper explores the overall situation and spatio-temporal evolution of environmental governance and carbon emissions in the urban agglomerations in the Yellow River basin using the entropy method, ArcGIS, slacks-based measurement models (SBM models), etc. Additionally, this paper quantitatively analyzes the pathways by which environmental governance affects carbon emissions in the urban agglomerations in the Yellow River basin. The results show that carbon emissions increased year on year from 2008 to 2021, the growth rate slowed down gradually and exhibited a downward trend, and the largest amount of carbon was emitted in 2019, at 3495 million tons. Before 2017, the growth rate of carbon emissions showed a trend of increasing year by year, with the largest increase rate being 11.17% in 2010. After that, the growth rate of carbon emissions continued to decrease and entered a stage of fluctuation. The growth rate of carbon emissions in 2020 was the lowest, reaching −5.66%. The environmental governance effect of urban agglomerations in the Yellow River basin exhibits a large gap; the regional difference is obvious, and the overall trend is rising. Environmental governance has a significant negative effect on carbon emissions in urban agglomerations in the Yellow River basin. The cross-terms of environmental governance, the energy consumption structure, industrial structure upgrading, green technological innovation, and foreign direct investment (FDI) have significant negative impacts on carbon emissions, while the indirect impacts on urban agglomerations have shown regional heterogeneity. The goal of reducing carbon emissions in urban agglomerations in the Yellow River basin is being realized gradually. Based on research conclusions, policy suggestions are put forward, hoping to provide ideas for environmental protection and high-quality development of urban agglomerations in the Yellow River basin.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongfeng Zhang & Miao Liu & Yixiang Wang & Xiangjiang Ding & Yueting Li, 2023. "Spatio-Temporal Evolution and Action Path of Environmental Governance on Carbon Emissions: A Case Study of Urban Agglomerations in the Yellow River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-20, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:19:p:14114-:d:1246358
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/19/14114/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/19/14114/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiaoxia Liang & Yi Shi & Yan Li, 2023. "Research on the Yellow River Basin Energy Structure Transformation Path under the “Double Carbon” Goal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-20, June.
    2. Luca Spinesi, 2012. "Global Warming and Endogenous Technological Change: Revisiting the Green Paradox," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 51(4), pages 545-559, April.
    3. Hans-Werner Sinn, 2008. "Public policies against global warming: a supply side approach," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 15(4), pages 360-394, August.
    4. Hong Chen & Haowen Zhu & Tianchen Sun & Xiangyu Chen & Tao Wang & Wenhong Li, 2023. "Does Environmental Regulation Promote Corporate Green Innovation? Empirical Evidence from Chinese Carbon Capture Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-24, January.
    5. Furui Xi & Runping Wang & Jusong Shi & Jinde Zhang & Yang Yu & Na Wang & Zhiyi Wang, 2022. "Spatio-Temporal Pattern and Conflict Identification of Production–Living–Ecological Space in the Yellow River Basin," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-22, May.
    6. Xiaolan Chen & Qinggang Meng & Jianing Shi & Yufei Liu & Jing Sun & Wanfang Shen, 2022. "Regional Differences and Convergence of Carbon Emissions Intensity in Cities along the Yellow River Basin in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-19, July.
    7. Xie, Hualin & Yu, Yanni & Wang, Wei & Liu, Yanchu, 2017. "The substitutability of non-fossil energy, potential carbon emission reduction and energy shadow prices in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 63-71.
    8. Wei-Feng Gong & Zhen-Yue Fan & Chuan-Hui Wang & Li-Ping Wang & Wen-Wen Li, 2022. "Spatial Spillover Effect of Carbon Emissions and Its Influencing Factors in the Yellow River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-17, March.
    9. Xin Li & Chunlei Huang & Shaoguo Zhan & Yunxi Wu, 2022. "The Carbon Emission Reduction Effect of City Cluster—Evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-14, August.
    10. Xue Bai & Zhongwu Zhang & Zhe Li & Jinyuan Zhang, 2023. "Spatial Heterogeneity and Formation Mechanism of Eco-Environmental Quality in the Yellow River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-18, July.
    11. Grafton, R. Quentin & Kompas, Tom & Long, Ngo Van & To, Hang, 2014. "US biofuels subsidies and CO2 emissions: An empirical test for a weak and a strong green paradox," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 550-555.
    12. Dan Wang & Yan Liu & Yu Cheng, 2023. "Effects and Spatial Spillover of Manufacturing Agglomeration on Carbon Emissions in the Yellow River Basin, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-18, June.
    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. Congqi Wang & Fanghua Wu & Haslindar Ibrahim & Wenting Chang, 2025. "The spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of carbon emissions in the Yellow River Basin based on nighttime light data," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.

    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. Najm, Sarah & Matsumoto, Ken'ichi, 2020. "Does renewable energy substitute LNG international trade in the energy transition?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Johannes Pfeiffer, 2017. "Fossil Resources and Climate Change – The Green Paradox and Resource Market Power Revisited in General Equilibrium," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 77, April.
    3. Xiaolan Chen & Qinggang Meng & Jianing Shi & Yufei Liu & Jing Sun & Wanfang Shen, 2022. "Regional Differences and Convergence of Carbon Emissions Intensity in Cities along the Yellow River Basin in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-19, July.
    4. Ngo Long & Frank Stähler, 2018. "General Equilibrium Effects of Green Technological Progress," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 69(1), pages 159-166, January.
    5. Pan Jiang & Mengyue Li & Yuting Zhao & Xiujuan Gong & Ruifeng Jin & Yuhan Zhang & Xue Li & Liang Liu, 2022. "Does Environmental Regulation Improve Carbon Emission Efficiency? Inspection of Panel Data from Inter-Provincial Provinces in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-18, August.
    6. Cappelli, Federica & Carnazza, Giovanni, 2025. "Close ties: How trade dynamics and environmental regulations shape international dependence on oil," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    7. Wang, Min & Zhao, Jinhua, 2018. "Are renewable energy policies climate friendly? The role of capacity constraints and market power," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 41-60.
    8. Adolfo Maza & José Villaverde & María Hierro, 2015. "Non- $$\hbox {CO}_2$$ CO 2 Generating Energy Shares in the World: Cross-Country Differences and Polarization," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 61(3), pages 319-343, July.
    9. Najm, Sarah, 2019. "The green paradox and budgetary institutions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    10. Wang, Huiqing & Wei, Weixian, 2020. "Coordinating technological progress and environmental regulation in CO2 mitigation: The optimal levels for OECD countries & emerging economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    11. Shao, Shuai & Yang, Lili & Gan, Chunhui & Cao, Jianhua & Geng, Yong & Guan, Dabo, 2016. "Using an extended LMDI model to explore techno-economic drivers of energy-related industrial CO2 emission changes: A case study for Shanghai (China)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 516-536.
    12. Zhang, Kun & Zhang, Zong-Yong & Liang, Qiao-Mei, 2017. "An empirical analysis of the green paradox in China: From the perspective of fiscal decentralization," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 203-211.
    13. Federica Cappelli & Giovanni Carnazza, 2025. "Close ties: how trade dynamics and environmental regulations shape international dependence on oil," SEEDS Working Papers 0125, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Jan 2025.
    14. Bjertnæs, Geir H. & Tsygankova, Marina & Martinsen, Thomas, 2013. "Norwegian climate policy reforms in the presence of an international quota market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 147-158.
    15. Stefano Bosi & David Desmarchelier, 2017. "Are the Laffer curve and the green paradox mutually exclusive?," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 19(5), pages 937-956, October.
    16. Kollenbach, Gilbert, 2013. "Endogenous Growth with a Ceiling on the Stock of Pollution," MPRA Paper 50641, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Grimaud, André & Lafforgue, Gilles & Magné, Bertrand, 2011. "Climate change mitigation options and directed technical change: A decentralized equilibrium analysis," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 938-962.
    18. Julien Daubanes & Pierre Lasserre, 2019. "The supply of non-renewable resources," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1084-1111, August.
    19. Guo, Baishu & Jin, Gui, 2025. "Beyond the land quantity: Rethinking the role of land quality in agriculture from the efficiency perspective," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    20. Drabik, Dusan & de Gorter, Harry & Just, David R., 2010. "The Implications of Alternative Biofuel Policies on Carbon Leakage," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 102689, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:19:p:14114-:d:1246358. 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.