An Empirical Case on the Measurement of China’s regional Low-carbon Development Level

Abstract

The ecological problems brought by the rapid development of the economy and society have threatened humanity’s sustainable development. As the world’s largest carbon emitter, China is still at a critical stage of industrialization, and it is urgent to solve the problem of how to realize the low-carbon circular development of the economy. This paper constructed the evaluation index system of regional low carbon development from the three dimensions of development, low carbon, and ecology. Based on the entropy weight-TOPSIS model, the index was quantitatively analyzed with the data of 30 provinces in China in 2018. According to the measurement results, 30 provinces, were clustered into low-carbon development zones, relatively low-carbon development zones, relatively high-carbon development zones, and high-carbon development zones according to the low-carbon ecological development level. The results show that China’s overall low-carbon economic development level is not high in 2018, with the south being superior to the north, and the eastern coastal areas of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Zhejiang being significantly prime to other regions. Finally, suggestions are given for different types of low-carbon development areas.