Impacts and Internal Mechanisms of High-Standard Farmland Construction on the Reduction of Agricultural Carbon Emission in China

In response to climate change, the reduction of carbon emissions during agricultural production has garnered increasing global focus. This study takes high-standard farmland construction (HSFC) implemented in 2011 as the standard natural experiment and adopts the continuous differences-in-differences (DID) model to explore the impact and internal mechanism of HSFC on agricultural carbon emissions based on a panel data of 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China from 2003 to 2021. The results show that HSFC can effectively reduce the carbon emissions in agricultural production, and the average annual reduction can reach 53.8%. The effects of HSFC on agriculture carbon emissions could be associated with reducing agricultural fossil energy consumption and reducing agricultural chemical use. Further, the heterogeneity study shows that the carbon reduction effect of HSFC was mainly reflected in non-major grain-producing areas, while there was no significant impact in major grain-producing areas. Policymakers should unswervingly continue to promote HSFC, considering their own economic and geographical conditions. This study can provide valuable information and references for developing countries similar to China to formulate policies on agricultural carbon reduction.