Green credit, environmentally induced R&D and low carbon transition: Evidence from China

Shock or opportunity? Unveiling the effect of low-carbon transition on employment

The stabilization of growth and preservation of employment are the primary objectives of the current new economic normal. Investigating whether the low-carbon transition can be an opportunity or a shock for employment expansion in green development requires thorough examination. This study utilizes multi-temporal difference-in-difference (DID) models, analyzing comprehensive panel data from China (2007-2019) to assess the impact of the Low-carbon City Pilot (LCCP) policy on employment at meso-regional and micro-firm levels. Empirical findings robustly reveal that LCCP significantly boosts employment, with average treatment effects of approximately 0.548% and 5.892% at regional and firm scales, respectively. Positive impacts vary based on ownership, location, industry type, and energy consumption within enterprises. Notably, state-owned enterprises, those in the eastern region, engaged in secondary industries, and with high energy consumption experience pronounced positive effects. Mechanism analysis further reveals that LCCP boosts employment via promoting government environmental subsidies and expanding enterprise investment scale to create more jobs. These findings provide policy recommendations for further promoting low-carbon transition and expanding employment to achieve the win-win goal of sustainable development.

Green credit and low-carbon development in China: Fresh evidence on spatial spillover insights

The promulgation and execution of green credit (GC) policies have had a significant influence on the development of the economy and society, and their impact on low-carbon development (LCD) needs to be taken seriously. On the basis of elaborating the mechanism of the role of GC on LCD, this study constructs a panel fixed effects (FE) model to test the direct impact of GC on LCD by using Chinese provincial-level data from 2007 to 2020. An intermediary effect model is constructed to investigate its indirect effects. A dynamic SDM is further constructed to examine the spatial effects of GC on LCD in neighbouring regions. The results show that GC is helping China to achieve LCD. GC can promote LCD through promoting green innovation, optimizing energy structure and upgrading industrial structure. It is crucial to acknowledge that all three pathways are essential channels of influence and should not be disregarded. GC not only fosters LCD in the local areas, but also has a positive spatial spillover effect in adjacent regions. Based on the above conclusions, this study proposes policy recommendations such as increasing support for GC, smoothing the transmission channel from GC to LCD, and establishing a synergistic linkage mechanism between interregional credit and environmental governance. This study provides valuable insights for China to realize LCD, as well as for other countries to actively engage in energy conservation and emission reduction efforts.

Towards sustainable development: what carbon trading pilot policy has been done for mitigating carbon emissions and air pollution?

This study examines the impact of carbon trading pilot policy (CTPP) on carbon emissions (CO2) and air pollution (Ap) using the difference in differences method (DID) utilizing panel data from 30 Chinese areas spanning from 2008 to 2020. The results indicate that CTPP implementation can effectively decrease CO2 and Ap. CTPP can reduce CO2 and Ap through positive incentive effects that promote industrial structure upgrading and drive technological progress. Moreover, CTPP exhibits significant regional variation, with CTPP significantly reducing CO2 in both the eastern and central and western regions. CTPP do not show an effective reduction in Ap in eastern region, while effectively reduce Ap in central and western regions.

The effect of the digital economy on carbon emissions: an empirical study in China

Under the new development model, the digital economy has become a new engine to promote the green development of the economy and achieve the goal of "double carbon." Based on panel data from 30 Chinese provinces and cities from 2011 to 2021, the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions was empirically studied by constructing a panel model and a mediation model. The results show that firstly, the effect of the digital economy on carbon emissions is a non-linear inverted "U" shaped relationship, and this conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests; secondly, the results of the benchmark regression show that economic agglomeration is an essential mechanism through which the digital economy affects carbon emissions and that the digital economy can indirectly suppress carbon emissions through economic agglomeration. Finally, the results of the heterogeneity analysis show that the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions varies according to the level of regional development, and its effect on carbon emissions is mainly in the eastern region, while its impact on the central and western regions is weaker, indicating that the impact effect is primarily in developed regions. Therefore, the government should accelerate the construction of new digital infrastructure and implement the development strategy of the digital economy according to local conditions to promote a more significant carbon emission reduction effect of the digital economy.

Can new energy demonstration city policy reduce carbon emissions? A quasi-natural experiment from China

Against achieving carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 context in China, the new energy demonstration city policy (NEDCP) has a crucial function to perform in promoting resource utilization efficiency, building the green development policy system, and facilitating carbon emission reduction. However, existing research has rarely investigated the contribution of NEDCP on carbon reduction. To investigate the policy effect of NEDCP, the differences-in-differences (DID) model is introduced to quantify the influence of NEDCP on carbon reduction, taking a statistical sample of 285 Chinese cities over the period 2005-2017 on the basis of exploring the intrinsic mechanism of NEDCP on carbon emissions. The statistical results reveal that NEDCP significantly inhibits carbon emissions. NEDCP's dampening impact on carbon reduction is more pronounced in the eastern area but not in other areas. City size and resource endowment heterogeneity results suggest that NEDCP significantly inhibits the output of carbon emissions in non-resource-based and large cities but insignificantly in resource-based and small- and medium-sized cities. Finally, we conclude that policy-makers should not only broaden the scope of NEDCP implementation continuously but also design relevant policy combination tools following the basic characteristics of each city to provide institutional guarantees for achieving carbon emission reduction.

The impact of green credits on high-quality energy development: evidence from China

The implementation of green credits has become an important engine for China's high-quality energy development (HQED). On the basis of constructing an index of HQED and the panel data of thirty provinces in China from 2008 to 2019, this study empirically investigated the effects of green credits on HQED and the action mechanisms behind it in a multi-dimensional manner using a panel fixed-effects model, mediating-effects model, and spatial Durbin model. The results indicated that green credits had significantly contributed to China's HQED, and that conclusion still held true after a series of robustness tests were conducted. It was found that industrial structures and human capital were important channels through which green credits influenced China's HQED. Moreover, the spatial spillover effects of green credits on HQED were also confirmed. Finally, in terms of temporal heterogeneity, the positive effects of green credits on HQED were found to have increased significantly after 2012. Also, in terms of regional heterogeneity, this study observed that the positive influence of green credits on HQED was more significantly in central and western China than in eastern China, and in southern China than in northern China. The results obtained in this research investigation will potentially provide some important insights for energy planners and policymakers to further the understanding of the drivers of HQED, and the corresponding transmission mechanisms and regional differences.

Can carbon emission trading pilot policy drive industrial structure low-carbon restructuring: new evidence from China

Industrial structure low-carbon restructuring is an essential channel to accelerate China's economic growth and fulfilling carbon emission reduction goals. Whether carbon emission trading pilot policy, as an influential carbon reduction instrument, fosters industrial structure low-carbon restructuring is of major significance to green economic development. This paper empirically investigates the shock of the carbon emission trading pilot policy on industrial structure low-carbon restructuring using the differences-in-differences (DID) and synthetic control method (SCM). Statistics reveal that sectors with low carbon productivity, such as electricity, steam, and hot water production and supply, ferrous metal smelting and pressing, etc., and sectors with high carbon productivity, such as electrical equipment and machinery, electronics and telecommunication equipment, etc. The industrial structure did not develop a stable trend of change before the 12th Five-Year Plan, but a stable trend of low-carbon restructuring emerged after such a period. Carbon emission trading pilot policy significantly facilitates industrial structural low-carbon restructuring. Carbon emission trading pilot policy inhibits energy-intensive industries in the industrial sector significantly, which promotes industrial structure low-carbon restructuring. Therefore, policymakers need to develop a nationwide carbon emission trading market that includes more industries to guide production factors to industrial sectors with high carbon productivity for industrial restructuring and dual carbon goals.

How the Pilot Low-Carbon City Policy Promotes Urban Green Innovation: Based on Temporal-Spatial Dual Perspectives

Enhancing green innovation levels is an important objective of the pilot low-carbon city policy (PLCC) in China, but the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the PLCC policy's effect on green innovation is unclear. Based on panel data from 285 Chinese cities during 2005-2020, this paper assesses the impact of PLCC on regional green innovation using the difference-in-difference (DID) method. The empirical results demonstrate that the PLCC can obviously promote urban green innovation. In terms of the temporal dimension, the policy effect of PLCC on regional green innovation shows an inverted "U" shape and peaks in the seventh year after implementation. From the spatial dimension, the PLCC can promote surrounding cities' green innovation through spatial spillover effects within 200 km, and the spillover effect decreases with increasing distance. Mechanism analysis indicates that the PLCC policy can promote regional green innovation by enhancing regional environmental regulations and alleviating financing constraints. This paper explores the temporal and spatial policy effects of PLCC, which can provide effective paths and policy recommendations for China to achieve its "dual carbon" goals.