Study on the Spatial–Temporal Pattern Evolution and Carbon Emission Reduction Effect of Industry–City Integration in the Yellow River Basin

Abstract

The coordinated promotion of industry–city integration and carbon emission reduction is of great significance to the construction of a green economic system and deep participation in global environmental governance. Based on the overall framework of the “production–life–ecology” system, the theoretical mechanism of the impact of industry–city integration on carbon emissions is systematically clarified. Taking the Yellow River basin as a sample, the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the effect of industry–city integration on carbon emissions is empirically tested by using the methods of the dispersion coefficient coordination function, standard deviation ellipse and STIRPAT model. The results show the following: (1) The coordinated integration of industry and city has significant carbon emission reduction effects, thus indicating that industry–city integration and carbon neutralization can achieve both, and that the conclusion is still valid after endogenous treatment and a series of robustness tests. (2) The development of an export-oriented economy and informatization can significantly promote carbon emission reduction. The process of economic development, infrastructure construction and population quality improvement may aggravate regional carbon emissions in the short term. (3) Further analysis shows that the carbon emission reduction effect of industry–city integration has significant spatial heterogeneity, especially in the upper and lower reaches of the Yellow River and regions with moderate carbon emission intensity. Scientific and technological innovation and environmental regulation play a positive role in regulating the carbon emission reduction effect of industry–city integration.