Abstract
It is of practical significance to evaluate whether enhancing outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) can promote carbon mitigation under the new urbanization background toward China’s sustainable development and carbon neutrality. The impact of OFDI on carbon emissions is investigated from the dual perspectives of the urbanization threshold and the mediating path by using panel data from China’s 30 provinces during the period of 2003–2015 and considering both population and land. The results show that there is a significant impact from interprovincial OFDI on CO2 emissions with the double threshold effect of urbanization, and that OFDI expansion will increase CO2 emissions with urbanization; however, the different stages of urbanization show inverted U-shaped characteristics that first rise and then fall. The optimization of industrial structures has not passed the mediating effects test during the sample period, while the rationalization of the industrial structure provides a mediating effect in the primary stage of urbanization and a suppressing effect in the high level stage of urbanization. Import dependence only shows a masking effect in the intermediate stage of urbanization, while the technical level shows an intermediary effect in the primary stage of urbanization and a masking effect in the intermediate stage. The intensification of OFDI has brought different effects on economic and social production in various regions of China under urbanization, which has further affected regional carbon emissions. Discussing these effects would help to provide constructive suggestions for the regional coordination of development, new urbanization construction and urban low carbon transformation.
Highlights
The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report has noted that global temperature has increased by 0.85 ◦ C over the past 130 years and that human activity is the main cause of global warming
This paper introduces urbanization as a threshold in a novel way so to analyze the impact of regional outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on carbon emissions in different spatial and temporal stages
The following research assumptions are presented in this paper: First, there is a threshold effect of interprovincial OFDI on carbon emissions; second, the impact of interprovincial OFDI on carbon emissions varies at different levels of urbanization; third, interprovincial OFDI plays a role in carbon emissions through the industrial structure, the trade structure and the technological level, and these pathways work differently under different urbanization thresholds
Summary
The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report has noted that global temperature has increased by 0.85 ◦ C over the past 130 years and that human activity is the main cause of global warming. Urbanization, which can drive the expansion of domestic demand, and OFDI, which can stimulate the increase of investment, provide important supports for sustainable economic development. From the perspective of the research path, some scholars argue that OFDI has an impact on the industrial structure, the trade structure and on the technical level, and further affects China’s environmental pollution [30,31,32]. In distinction from the existing studies that take different countries as research samples, this paper selected provinces and cities with different endowments and significant regional differences in China between 2003 and 2015 to explore the regional characteristics of the OFDI impact on carbon emissions from a more micro perspective. The following research assumptions are presented in this paper: First, there is a threshold effect of interprovincial OFDI on carbon emissions; second, the impact of interprovincial OFDI on carbon emissions varies at different levels of urbanization; third, interprovincial OFDI plays a role in carbon emissions through the industrial structure, the trade structure and the technological level, and these pathways work differently under different urbanization thresholds
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
