Jiaqi Liu Kexin Xu Dian Jin Chengliang Wu Yang Zhang ^*

• School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China

In the search for sustainable development, urban eco-development is becoming a core agenda for all countries. China's Low Carbon City Pilot (LCCP) policy is an important initiative to promote urban low-carbon governance. In this study, Super-SBM is employed to calculate urban ecological efficiency using panel data from 254 prefecture-level cities between 2007 and 2020. The spatial analyses examine the spatiotemporal patterns and dynamic evolving trends of urban ecological efficiency. Additionally, the multi-period difference-in-differences method is used to assess the impact of the LCCP policy on urban ecological efficiency. The results indicate that urban ecological efficiency gradually forms a continuous spatial clustering pattern, although there is a widening tendency in the absolute differences. In the subsequent transfer process, the spatial factor plays a highly significant role.Benchmark regressions and auxiliary robustness tests demonstrate that the LCCP policy is effective in improving urban ecological efficiency. Further analysis shows that the effect of LCCP policies on ecological efficiency can be transmitted by promoting green technology innovation as well as facilitating a low-carbon transition in the energy mix. The above findings indicate the presence of the 'Green Innovation Effect' and the 'Decoupling Effect.' These discoveries enhance the theoretical framework of urban ecology and offer valuable insights for other regions seeking to implement low-carbon urban governance.