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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Policy and Governance
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1530104
Pilot climate resilient cities and ecological resilience: Evidence from double machine learning method
Provisionally accepted- 1 Economics and Management College, China University of Geosciences Wuhan, Wuhan, China
- 2 China University of Geosciences Wuhan, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
As climate change poses an escalating threat to the global ecological environment, strengthening urban ecological resilience has become a pressing priority.Our research leverages China's "Pilot Climate Resilient Cities" (PCRC) initiative as a quasi-natural experiment, employing the Double Machine Learning approach to assess its impact on ecological resilience. The findings reveal that the PCRC significantly enhances pilot cities' ecological resilience. Mechanism analysis indicates that reducing resource dependence and fostering green innovation are the two primary channels through which the PCRC improves ecological resilience. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the PCRC's effects are particularly pronounced in resource-based cities, as well as in ecologically fragile regions and central and western areas of China. This study not only provides empirical support for the formulation and optimization of climate adaptation policies, but also offers crucial 2 theoretical insights for designing differentiated policies across various types of cities.
Keywords: Climate governance, Ecological resilience, Double machine learning method, Resource dependence, green innovation
Received: 18 Nov 2024; Accepted: 12 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Wang and Duan. 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:
Chao Wang, Economics and Management College, China University of Geosciences Wuhan, Wuhan, China
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