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Whether cities can attain a win-win situation with simultaneous environmental protection and economic growth is a compelling issue in current urban development. It will be of great practical significance to comprehensively evaluate the implementation effect of the multi-dimensional goals of an urban development from the perspective of a green total factor productivity (GTFP) evaluation. The paper places pollution reduction and carbon reduction into the research framework of GTFP, introduces the SBM-DDF model to evaluate the urban GTFP of 58 cities in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) from 2006 to 2020, and employs the panel regression model to empirically study the factors influencing the urban GTFP of the region. The results are obtained as follows: (1) from the perspective of time range, the urban GTFP in the basin displays an evolutionary trend of first declining and then mounting, demonstrating the highest GTFP in the downstream, the second-highest in the midstream and the lowest in the upstream; (2) regarding the spatial distribution characteristics, the urban GTFP in the basin presents obvious spatial differences, showing the regional differences by increasing from the upstream to the downstream; (3) from the perspective of the whole basin, the advancement of economic development, urbanization processes, environmental regulations and the ecological background have significantly positive effects in improving the urban GTFP, while the improvement of the industrial structure, opening-up and energy intensity affects the urban GTFP of the basin negatively; and (4) from the perspective of the regional heterogeneity of the effects of the various influencing factors, the improvement of the opening-up and industrial structure expedites the growth of the urban GTFP of the downstream, the advancement of urbanization process restrains the urban GTFP in the upstream and the impact of the ecological background on the urban GTFP in different regions is relatively complex. This study is of great importance to improve the urban GTFP and boost the high-quality development of the cities in the basin.

Exploring spatiotemporal evolution features and factors affecting pollution reduction and carbon abatement on the urban agglomeration scale is helpful to better understand the interaction between ecological environment and economic development in urban agglomerations. In this study, we constructed an evaluation index system for collaborative governance of pollution reduction and carbon abatement in urban agglomerations. In addition, we employed the correlation coefficient matrix, the composite system synergy model, the Gini coefficient, and the Theil index to evaluate the level of and regional differences in collaborative governance of pollution reduction and carbon abatement in seven urban agglomerations in the Yellow River Basin from 2006 to 2020. Moreover, we explored the factors affecting collaborative governance of pollution reduction and carbon abatement in urban agglomerations in the basin. The following findings were obtained: (1) the order degree of collaborative governance of pollution reduction and carbon abatement in the seven urban agglomerations exhibited a significant growing trend, representing a spatial evolution feature of “high in the west and low in the east”; (2) the internal differences in collaborative governance synergy of pollution reduction and carbon abatement decreased in Lanzhou–Xining Urban Agglomeration, Hohhot–Baotou–Ordos–Yulin Urban Agglomeration, Central Shanxi Urban Agglomeration, Zhongyuan Urban Agglomeration, and Shandong Peninsula Urban Agglomeration, while the internal differences basically remained stable in Guanzhong Urban Agglomeration and the Urban Agglomeration along the Yellow River in Ningxia; (3) the variances in environmental regulation and industrial structure among urban agglomerations had a significant positive effect on collaborative governance of pollution reduction and carbon abatement in urban agglomerations in the basin, and the variances in economic growth had a significant inhibitory effect. In addition, the variances in energy consumption, greening construction, and opening-up had an inhibitory impact on collaborative governance of pollution reduction, but the impact was not significant. Finally, this study proposes various recommendations to improve collaborative governance for pollution reduction and carbon abatement in urban agglomerations in the basin in terms of promoting industrial structure upgrading, strengthening regional cooperation, and reducing regional differences. This paper represents an empirical reference for formulating differentiated collaborative governance strategies for pollution reduction and carbon abatement, comprehensive green and low-carbon economic and social transformation programs, and high-quality green development paths in urban agglomerations, which is of certain theoretical and practical significance.

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