The Impact of Urbanization on Carbon Emission: Empirical Evidence in Beijing

Abstract

Based on the historical data in Beijing from 1980 to 2013, this paper uses the ARDL approach to examine the impact of urbanization on carbon emission. The results show that, first, the urbanization level plays a positive role in promoting carbon emission no matter in the long or short term during the sample period. Second, the impact of per capita energy consumption on carbon emission does not seem significant no matter in the long or short term, which is due to the energy efficiency improvement and energy consumption structure adjustment in the past decades. Third, the growth of per capita GDP may curb carbon emission growth in the long term although its impact in the short term does not appear statistically significant, and we find significant inverted U-shaped relationship between per capita GDP and per capita carbon emission in Beijing during the sample period. Finally, there exists significant negative adjusting mechanism from the short term towards the long term among these variables.