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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1419720
This article is part of the Research Topic Urban Carbon Emissions and Anthropogenic Activities View all 8 articles

Impact of Carbon Emission Trading on Urban Green Innovation: Empirical Evidence from China's Carbon Emission Trading Pilot Policy

Provisionally accepted
Kun Tian Kun Tian 1Duanqiang Zhai Duanqiang Zhai 2,3*
  • 1 Other, Tianjin, China
  • 2 College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
  • 3 Key Laboratory of Spatial Intelligent Planning Technology, Ministry of Natural Resources of the People's Republic of China, Beijing, China

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

    In the face of global climate change challenges, China's implementation of the carbon emission trading pilot policy has provided new empirical research opportunities. Based on a dataset covering 281 Chinese cities from 2005 to 2021, this paper employs econometric models to conduct an in-depth analysis of the policy's impact on urban green innovation. The findings indicate that the carbon emission trading pilot policy has significantly promoted green innovation activities in affected cities, with positive effects observed both directly in pilot cities and indirectly in non-pilot cities through spatial spillover effects. In addition, the policy has been found to encourage technological investment and enhance public environmental awareness, further advancing green innovation. The paper also unveils comprehensive policy effects, indicating that the Big Data Comprehensive Test Zone policy and the New Energy Demonstration City policy work synergistically with the carbon emission trading pilot policy in advancing green innovation. These findings provide valuable experiences and insights for designing environmental policy tools at the national level, promoting green development, and constructing climate change response strategies.

    Keywords: Carbon emission trading, urban green innovation, Technological investment, public awareness, Spatial spillover effect

    Received: 19 Apr 2024; Accepted: 27 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tian and Zhai. 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: Duanqiang Zhai, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, 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.