Is China's development conforms to the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis and the pollution haven hypothesis?

Abstract

The Environmental Kuznets Curve and Pollution Haven hypotheses have been verified by many studies. However, there is still no consensus on whether China's situation is consistent with the abovementioned hypotheses. Therefore, to investigate whether China's development aligns with the Environmental Kuznets Curve and Pollution Haven hypotheses, this study considered provincial panel data from 1996 to 2015 and used the fixed effects panel data partially linear additive model, which integrates economic growth and foreign direct investment into the same framework, to investigate their impact on carbon emissions. The results revealed that there exists a reverse U-shape relationship between economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions, and an inverted N-shaped relationship between foreign direct investment and carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, the results revealed that energy consumption has an accelerating effect on the production pace of carbon dioxide emissions. The upgrading of industrial infrastructure, technology diffusion, and trade liberalization can contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Additionally, this study proposes the following future research directions. First, considering the regional differences in China, the conclusions of this study should be re-examined by grouping different regions. Secondly, the formation mechanism of the inverted N-type relationship between foreign direct investment and carbon emissions is also an issue that requires further discussion. Finally, a comparative study between developed and developing countries is needed to test and verify the universality and adaptability of the conclusions drawn from this study.