Abstract
In global climate change, improving carbon productivity holds great importance for China’s sustainable growth. Based on panel data of 30 Chinese provinces and cities from 1997–2017, the drivers, spatial effects, and convergence characteristics of carbon productivity in China are explored by combining a factor decomposition framework and a spatial panel model. The findings show that (1) China’s carbon productivity shows continuous positive growth, and the substitution effect of capital for energy dominates this changing pattern; (2) There is a β-convergence trend and club convergence in China’s carbon productivity, and the spatial technology spillover accelerates the convergence rate; (3) With its accelerated industrial transformation and technological upgrading, China’s current carbon productivity converges faster than its earlier stage, and the role of physical capital investment has gradually shifted to suppression. In contrast, the positive push of human capital investment has been strengthened; (4) From the perspective of the realization mechanism, the convergence of carbon productivity in China mainly comes from the convergence of energy restructuring and capital-energy substitution. These findings can help China narrow the inter-provincial carbon productivity gap in terms of improving factor structure, upgrading technology, etc., and provide references for sustainable growth decision making in China and around the world.
Highlights
In recent years, climate change issues such as extreme weather and glacier retreat have received widespread attention from academic and political circles
The regional differences in total factor productivity are significant, with more pronounced efficiency-based growth in the Eastern region and a general deterioration in the Central and Western areas. These empirical findings are consistent with China’s economic growth, as sloppy growth that relies on rapid capital accumulation is bound to undermine a sustainable growth path centered on carbon productivity
The mechanism of effective investment rate on carbon productivity growth rate is mainly mediated by capital substitution and total factor productivity
Summary
Climate change issues such as extreme weather and glacier retreat have received widespread attention from academic and political circles. Climate change and its impacts have become one of the world’s most severe environmental problems [1]. The large number of greenhouse gases emitted by human economic activities is the leading cause of the global slowdown and ecological degradation. Carbon dioxide is the most critical greenhouse gas [2,3]; governments have put forward low-carbon action plans to meet the challenge, driving [4] both macroregions [5] and microenterprises to actively explore sustainable development measures. The UN Emissions Gap Report 2021 states that countries’ current autonomous action contributions are insufficient to meet the commitments of the Paris Agreement.
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