Fang Lan, Tang Heyan, Mou Muge
Northwest Institute of Historical Environment and Socio-Economic Development, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710119, Shaanxi, China.
Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), Theodor-Lieser-Str. 2, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Jan;30(3):8002-8019. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-22712-7. Epub 2022 Sep 1.
Constructing a quasi-natural experiment based on China's National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone (NIDZ) pilot, this study applies the time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) model to estimate the impact of innovation-driven development on urban carbon emission reduction. We use panel data on 285 cities which covers 95.96% of Chinese cities during the period of 2003 to 2017. Compared with non-pilot cities, our results indicate that total carbon dioxide emissions and emission intensity of pilot cities decreased by 4.8% and 5.8%, respectively. The results suggest that the construction of NIDZs can significantly promote urban carbon emission reductions. Moreover, our mechanism tests indicate that this pilot policy can encourage technological innovation and optimize industrial structure, which in turn suppresses urban carbon dioxide emissions. Additionally, further analysis shows that the policy effect increases over years and is stronger in urban areas with higher levels of human capital, government finance, and information infrastructure. This study enriches the relevant research on carbon emission reduction.
本研究基于中国国家自主创新示范区（NIDZ）试点构建了一个准自然实验，应用时变差分（DID）模型来估计创新驱动发展对城市碳排放减少的影响。我们使用了2003年至2017年期间覆盖中国95.96%城市的285个城市的面板数据。与非试点城市相比，我们的结果表明，试点城市的二氧化碳总排放量和排放强度分别下降了4.8%和5.8%。结果表明，国家自主创新示范区的建设可以显著促进城市碳排放的减少。此外，我们的机制检验表明，这一试点政策可以鼓励技术创新并优化产业结构，进而抑制城市二氧化碳排放。此外，进一步分析表明，政策效果逐年增强，在人力资本、政府财政和信息基础设施水平较高的城市地区更强。本研究丰富了碳排放减少的相关研究。
