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

Author

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  • 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
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    2. 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.
    3. Xiu Liu & Zhuo He & Zixin Deng & Sandeep Poddar, 2024. "Analysis of Spatiotemporal Disparities and Spatial Spillover Effect of a Low-Carbon Economy in Chinese Provinces Under Green Technology Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-19, October.
    4. Gongmin Zhao & Yining Zhang & Yongjie Wu, 2024. "Implementation Effect, Long-Term Mechanisms, and Industrial Upgrading of the Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy: An Empirical Study Based on City-Level Panel Data from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-18, September.

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