Towards sustainable development goals: Does common prosperity contradict carbon reduction?

Abstract

In the light of China’s synergistic need to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 10 and 13, it is necessary to consider the potential nexus between common prosperity and carbon reduction. Therefore, this work proposes a new comprehensive measure to assess the degree of common prosperity in 30 Chinese provinces from 2006 to 2019. Furthermore, we examine the impact of common prosperity on carbon emissions applying the system-generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) approach. All major conclusions are as follows: (1) the level of common prosperity has continued to increase between 2006 and 2019; (2) common prosperity and carbon reduction are compatible with each other, i.e., common prosperity significantly reduces carbon emissions; (3) common prosperity reduces carbon emissions indirectly by improving labor productivity and upgrading industrial structure; (4) carbon emissions are indirectly increased by common prosperity through the expansion of gross fixed capital formation and higher levels of urbanization, and (5) in provinces with higher levels of common prosperity and lower levels of carbon emissions, common prosperity has a considerably greater influence on carbon emissions. Finally, we suggest several policy implications for promoting China’s sustainable development.