The Impact of Green Technology Innovation on Carbon Emissions in the Context of Carbon Neutrality in China: Evidence from Spatial Spillover and Nonlinear Effect Analysis.

Shihong Zeng,Gen Li,Zhanfeng Dong,Shaomin Wu

doi:10.3390/ijerph19020730

Abstract

The Paris agreement is a unified arrangement for the global response to climate change and entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its long-term goal is to hold the global average temperature rise well below 2 °C. China is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 through various measures, one of which is green technology innovation (GTI). This paper aims to analyze the levels of GTI in 30 provinces in mainland China between 2001 and 2019. It uses the spatial econometric models and panel threshold models along with the slack based measure (SBM) and Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index to analyze the spatial spillover and nonlinear effects of GTI on regional carbon emissions. The results show that GTI achieves growth every year, but the innovation efficiency was low. China’s total carbon dioxide emissions were increasing at a marginal rate, but the carbon emission intensity was declining year by year. Carbon emissions were spatially correlated and show significant positive agglomeration characteristics. The spatial spillover of GTI plays an important role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. In the underdeveloped regions in China, this emission reduction effect was even more significant.

Highlights

Over the past few decades, China’s rapid economic development has brought about a series of side effects such as resource depletion and environmental degradation, which makes the sustainable development of China’s economy and society a huge challenge [1,2,3,4,5,6,7].Carbon dioxide emissions (CDE) are a key factor in climate deterioration [8,9]
1.0058 in 2014, and increased to 1.0449 in 2015. This suggests that the innovation speed is constantly changing, but the level of green technology innovation (GTI) is constantly improving, which is evident in other empirical studies [17]
Through the Global MalmquistLuenberger (GML) index, GTI can be decomposed into green technological change (GTC) and green technical efficiency change (GEC)

Summary

Introduction

Over the past few decades, China’s rapid economic development has brought about a series of side effects such as resource depletion and environmental degradation, which makes the sustainable development of China’s economy and society a huge challenge [1,2,3,4,5,6,7].Carbon dioxide emissions (CDE) are a key factor in climate deterioration [8,9]. With the severe challenges brought about by environmental degradation, green technology innovation (GTI), as a new innovative method that highlights green environmental protection, can achieve economic growth, traditionally driven by traditional technological innovation, and effectively alleviate the dual pressures of energy and the environment. This is a cause of concern for governments around the world [14,15,16,17]. China’s economy is in a critical period of high-quality development, and promoting GTI is an important way to realize the transformation and

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Conclusion