Work

The Impacts of Urbanization on Carbon Emission Performance: New Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration, China

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Regarding the carbon emission performance of urbanization, the changes in carbon emissions and carbon sinks have attracted particular attention, while the internal impact mechanism has been under-researched. Conventionally, urbanization has either improved or hindered carbon performance. However, this is not always the case as the paths of urbanization affecting carbon emission performance are diverse. Hence, this paper proposes a theoretical framework to investigate how urbanization influences carbon emission performance, specifically the indirect effects of land development/land-use efficiency, by taking the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, China, as a study case. Empirical results show that urbanization improves carbon emission performance due to the agglomeration effect. As an intermediary pathway, land-use change has a two-sided impact on carbon emission performance. Urbanization can both worsen and improve carbon emission performance through increasing land-development intensity and promoting land-use efficiency, respectively. However, the positive impact of land-use efficiency can alleviate the problem of increasing carbon emissions caused by land over-development. Hence, the integration of urban planning strategies with land use management policies can help to achieve sustainable urbanization.

Source: Land

DOI: 10.3390/land14010012

Authors: Wenyi Qiao, Yike Xie, Jun Liu, Xianjin Huang

Institutions: Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Zhenjiang College, Anhui Polytechnic University

Language: English

Topic: Energy, Environment, Economic Growth

Subfield: Economics and Econometrics

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,955