How does the belt and road initiative affect the carbon emissions of China’s cities?
Open Access
- 20 January 2023
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Frontiers Media SA in Frontiers in Environmental Science
Abstract
There is growing concern about carbon emissions as the economy grows, which is of great importance to the implementation of the green Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) development strategy. Using panel data of 282 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006-2020 and the difference-in-difference method, this paper empirically examines the effects of the BRI on carbon emissions. Both theoretical and empirical analyses indicate that the BRI can significantly reduce the carbon emission level of cities along the route, but the impact varies in different regions and cities. The mechanism analysis shows that the BRI reduces the carbon emission level of cities along the Belt and Road through the economic agglomeration effect and industrial structure effect. Therefore, China should vigorously promote green Belt and Road construction, implement a regional integration strategy, and promote the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure. These findings have a certain reference value for the follow-up implementation of the BRI.Keywords
This publication has 48 references indexed in Scilit:
- Estimation, characteristics, and determinants of energy-related industrial CO2 emissions in Shanghai (China), 1994–2009Energy Policy, 2011
- Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United StatesThe Journal of Finance, 2010
- The greenness of cities: Carbon dioxide emissions and urban developmentJournal of Urban Economics, 2010
- Pollution havens and industrial agglomerationJournal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2009
- Measuring the value of induced technological changeEnergy Policy, 2007
- Technology development and energy productivity in ChinaEnergy Economics, 2006
- Driving forces behind the stagnancy of China’s energy-related CO2 emissions from 1996 to 1999: the relative importance of structural change, intensity change and scale changeEnergy Policy, 2005
- Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania: ReplyAmerican Economic Review, 2000
- Trade Policy and Industrial Pollution in Latin America: Where Are the Pollution Havens?The Journal of Environment & Development, 1993
- Estimating the Effect of Training Programs on EarningsThe Review of Economics and Statistics, 1978