IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v12y2025i1d10.1057_s41599-025-04989-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does the cultural consumption policy reduce carbon emission intensity in China?

Author

Listed:
  • Hongbin Yuan

    (Zhejiang Gongshang University)

  • Junchen Li

    (Hubei University)

  • Zhijian Zhang

    (Zhejiang Gongshang University)

Abstract

Cultural products are characterized by lower resource consumption, and promoting cultural consumption may raise awareness of and engagement in environmental sustainability. This study examines the impact of the Cultural Consumption Policy (CCP) on carbon emission intensity in China, using a dataset encompassing 280 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2008 to 2019. The results of the difference-in-differences (DID) regression show that the CCP significantly reduces carbon emission intensity, with robust results across a series of robustness tests, including placebo tests and parallel trend tests. Further analysis provides evidence that the upgrading of industrial structure, both in terms of output and employment, and the increased resident consumption, are likely mechanisms contributing to our findings. The results emphasize the pivotal role of cultural industry development in mitigating carbon emission intensity and highlight the need for supportive policies that stimulate cultural consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongbin Yuan & Junchen Li & Zhijian Zhang, 2025. "Does the cultural consumption policy reduce carbon emission intensity in China?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-04989-4
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-04989-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-04989-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-025-04989-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paulo Brito & Carlos Barros, 2005. "Learning-by-Consuming and the Dynamics of the Demand and Prices of Cultural Goods," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 29(2), pages 83-106, May.
    2. Yue-Jun Zhang & Zhao Liu & Huan Zhang & Tai-De Tan, 2014. "The impact of economic growth, industrial structure and urbanization on carbon emission intensity in China," 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. 73(2), pages 579-595, September.
    3. Hui Wang & Kuiying Gu & Feng Dong & Hui Sun, 2024. "Does the low-carbon city pilot policy achieve the synergistic effect of pollution and carbon reduction?," Energy & Environment, , vol. 35(2), pages 569-596, March.
    4. Zhou, Xiaoyong & Zhou, Dequn & Wang, Qunwei & Su, Bin, 2020. "Who shapes China's carbon intensity and how? A demand-side decomposition analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    5. Shiqi Zhou & Songsak Siriboonchitta & WoraphonYamaka & Paravee Maneejuk, 2020. "The impact of cultural industry on economic and employment growth in China," Journal of Administrative and Business Studies, Professor Dr. Usman Raja, vol. 6(4), pages 129-137.
    6. Huang, Junbing & Xiang, Shiqi & Wang, Yajun & Chen, Xiang, 2021. "Energy-saving R&D and carbon intensity in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    7. Wu, Haitao & Xu, Lina & Ren, Siyu & Hao, Yu & Yan, Guoyao, 2020. "How do energy consumption and environmental regulation affect carbon emissions in China? New evidence from a dynamic threshold panel model," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    8. Huang, Junbing & Liu, Qiang & Cai, Xiaochen & Hao, Yu & Lei, Hongyan, 2018. "The effect of technological factors on China's carbon intensity: New evidence from a panel threshold model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 32-42.
    9. Ai, Hongshan & Tan, Xiaoqing & Zhou, Shengwen & Zhou, Yuhan & Xing, Hongye, 2023. "The impact of environmental regulation on carbon emissions: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1067-1079.
    10. Shobande, Olatunji A. & Ogbeifun, Lawrence & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar, 2024. "Extricating the impacts of emissions trading system and energy transition on carbon intensity," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    11. Zhang, Wei & Li, Jing & Li, Guoxiang & Guo, Shucen, 2020. "Emission reduction effect and carbon market efficiency of carbon emissions trading policy in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Lin, Boqiang & Wang, Chonghao, 2023. "Does industrial relocation affect regional carbon intensity? Evidence from China's secondary industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    2. Huang, Junbing & Wang, Yajun & Lei, Hongyan & Chen, Xiang, 2024. "A technology-driven way to carbon peak and its impact mechanism," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    3. Qin Yuan & Ruiqi Wang & Huanchen Tang & Xin Ma & Xinyue Zeng, 2024. "A study on the potential of higher education in reducing carbon intensity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(11), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Zhang, Yue-Jun & Cheng, Hao-Sen, 2021. "The impact mechanism of the ETS on CO2 emissions from the service sector: Evidence from Beijing and Shanghai," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    5. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Liu, Pei-Zhi & Klein, Tony & Sheenan, Lisa, 2024. "Does the low-carbon pilot cities policy make a difference to the carbon intensity reduction?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 227-239.
    6. Weidong Chen & Dongli Li & Quanling Cai & Kaisheng Di & Caiping Liu & Mingxing Wang, 2024. "What influences the performance of carbon emissions in China?—Research on the inter-provincial carbon emissions’ conditional configuration impacts," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(4), pages 1-26, April.
    7. Huang, Junbing & Li, Xinghao & Wang, Yajun & Lei, Hongyan, 2021. "The effect of energy patents on China's carbon emissions: Evidence from the STIRPAT model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    8. Wang, Yajun & Huang, Junbing, 2022. "Pathway to develop a low-carbon economy through energy-substitution technology in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    9. Rida Waheed, 2022. "The Significance of Energy Factors, Green Economic Indicators, Blue Economic Aspects towards Carbon Intensity: A Study of Saudi Vision 2030," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-22, June.
    10. Qiuyue Xia & Lu Li & Bin Zhang & Jie Dong, 2022. "Nonlinear Influence of Land-Use Transition on Carbon Emission Transfer: A Threshold Regression Analysis of the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-24, September.
    11. Razzaq, Asif & Sharif, Arshian & Ozturk, Ilhan & Yang, Xiaodong, 2023. "Central inspections of environmental protection and transition for low-carbon Chinese cities: Policy intervention and mechanism analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    12. Chen, Zhenling & Zhao, Weigang & Zheng, Heyun, 2021. "Potential output gap in China's regional coal-fired power sector under the constraint of carbon emission reduction," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PA).
    13. Wu, Rong & Wang, Jieyu & Wang, Shaojian & Feng, Kuishuang, 2021. "The drivers of declining CO2 emissions trends in developed nations using an extended STIRPAT model: A historical and prospective analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    14. Shaozhou Qi & Huarong Peng & Xiujie Tan, 2019. "The Moderating Effect of R&D Investment on Income and Carbon Emissions in China: Direct and Spatial Spillover Insights," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, February.
    15. Runhong Lin & Tongjuan Cai, 2025. "The Market-Oriented Development of China’s Carbon Emissions Trading: Based on the Comparative Analysis of China and EU," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-18, February.
    16. Kamalova Mariyakhan & Elyas Abdulahi Mohamued & Muhammad Asif Khan & József Popp & Judit Oláh, 2020. "Does the Level of Absorptive Capacity Matter for Carbon Intensity? Evidence from the USA and China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-18, January.
    17. Haiqiao Wang & Li Shang & Decai Tang & Zhijiang Li, 2024. "Research Themes, Evolution Trends, and Future Challenges in China’s Carbon Emission Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-22, March.
    18. Wu, Jiahao & Zhao, Yuhuan & Fan, Shunan & Zhao, Ziyi & Zuo, Sumin & Wang, Jiayang, 2025. "Study on the diffusion of China Certified Emission Reduction scheme under carbon trading mechanism: Based on the tripartite evolutionary game model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    19. Huang, Junbing & Xiang, Shiqi & Wang, Yajun & Chen, Xiang, 2021. "Energy-saving R&D and carbon intensity in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    20. Liyuan Fu & Qing Wang, 2022. "Spatial and Temporal Distribution and the Driving Factors of Carbon Emissions from Urban Production Energy Consumption," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-29, September.

    More about this item

    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:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-04989-4. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.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.