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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1411608

The Impact of Carbon Emission Trading Policy on Regional Total Factor Productivity

Provisionally accepted
Fange Meng Fange Meng 1Xin Wen Xin Wen 2*
  • 1 Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing, China
  • 2 National Academy of Innovation Strategy, China Association for Science and Technology, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The DEA-Malmquist index approach is used to measure the growth rate of regional total factor productivity. The panel data of 30 regions in China from 2005 to 2020 are used to examine the impact of carbon emission trading policy on regional total factor productivity. The findings demonstrate that, while the carbon emissions trading pilot policy can enhance total factor productivity (TFP), its impact varies across regions. Notably, the policy fosters TFP growth in Beijing and Tianjin but hampers it in Hubei and Guangdong provinces, signifying regional heterogeneity in its effects. These results remain robust even after conducting placebo tests and DID model. Furthermore, the mechanism study reveals that the carbon emissions trading pilot policy affects total factor productivity through pure technical efficiency and scale effects. Given the more stringent environmental regulations brought by the "carbon neutrality" goal, understanding the impact of carbon emissions trading policies on total factor productivity lays the groundwork for establishing a national carbon emissions trading market. This promotes sustainable economic development by helping to achieve a win-win situation between environmental protection and economic growth.

    Keywords: Carbon emissions trading policy, total factor productivity, Synthetic control method, Pure technical efficiency, Scale effects

    Received: 03 Apr 2024; Accepted: 17 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Meng and Wen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xin Wen, National Academy of Innovation Strategy, China Association for Science and Technology, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.