Abstract
The spatial autocorrelation analysis method was applied to panel data from the provinces of China (including autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) for the period 2003 to 2016 in order to construct a spatial Durbin model of technological progress and financial support in relation to reductions in carbon emissions. The results show that China’s carbon intensity presents significant spatial spillover effects under different spatial weights, which indicates that the carbon intensity of a province is influenced not only by its own characteristics, but also by the carbon emission behaviors of geographically adjacent and economically similar provinces and regions. Financial structure, financial scale, and financial efficiency all have significant effects on carbon intensity within a province, while financial structure is also linked to carbon intensity in other regions, but financial scale has no significant spillover effect on carbon intensity in space. Areas with high financial efficiency can reduce their own carbon intensity as well as that of surrounding areas. The inter-regional spillover effect of technological progress on carbon intensity is stronger than the spillover effect, but there is a time lag.
Highlights
The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China placed “ecological civilization construction” high on the national strategic agenda, and governments and enterprises at all levels have attached increasing importance to improving production technology, developing renewable energy, and establishing and perfecting a national carbon emissions trading market to promote emissions reduction
Zhang (2014) [32]; and Ling Xiong and Shaozhou Qi (2016) [33] had opposite results in their empirical analysis. They found that an improvement in the level of financial development could promote economic growth, which in turn would increase the demand for energy, and energy consumption would inevitably lead to an increase in carbon emissions inevitably
Conclusions from the Literature Review. It can be seen from the above analysis that both domestic and foreign scholars have produced some valuable research results on the factors that impact carbon emissions in China
Summary
The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China placed “ecological civilization construction” high on the national strategic agenda, and governments and enterprises at all levels have attached increasing importance to improving production technology, developing renewable energy, and establishing and perfecting a national carbon emissions trading market to promote emissions reduction. The liquidity of the carbon emissions trading market has gradually increased through innovations in green bonds, green funds, and financial derivative products, which in turn has led to greater energy conservation and emission reductions, better environmental governance, and economic restructuring. It is of great practical significance to study the spatial characteristics of carbon emissions in China’s provinces (including autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) and to explore the influence of financial development and technological progress on carbon emissions
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