Can Regional Integration Reduce Urban Carbon Emission? An Empirical Study Based on the Yangtze River Delta, China

Abstract

Regional integration can significantly affect carbon emissions, but scholars have paid more attention to the impact of integration level, ignoring the importance of regional integration expansion. This study attempts to demonstrate whether, in the process of promoting carbon peak and carbon neutrality in China, the transformation of the administrative region’s economy into an integrated economy based on urban agglomeration regional integration expansion affects urban carbon emissions. This study considers the regional integration expansion of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Economic Coordination Committee as a quasi-natural experiment, exploring the carbon emission reduction effect of regional integration with the difference-in-differences model. With the mediating and moderating effect models, this study examines the mechanism of regional integration affecting urban carbon emissions. The results show that regional integration, considering regional integration expansion, can significantly reduce urban carbon emissions. The carbon emission reduction effects of regional integration show significant heterogeneity. For example, there is a significant carbon emission reduction effect of high-hierarchy cities and an insignificant carbon emission reduction effect of general-hierarchy cities. Further research into the driving mechanism finds that deepening collaborative governance, industrial structure optimization, and green technology promotion brought about by regional integration are important mechanisms influencing urban carbon emissions. In addition, the carbon emission reduction effect of regional integration is influenced by the level of urban marketization and development efficiency. Different from the existing studies focusing on the effects of regional integration level, this study assesses the feasibility of promoting urban green development through urban agglomeration regional integration expansion. Based on the relevant empirical research, we propose to better promote high-quality development by strengthening urban agglomeration cooperation, optimizing urban development paths, strengthening innovative development, and improving macro political systems. It also indicates that the relevant policies should be formulated after considering local conditions.

The Impact of Urban Construction Land Expansion on Carbon Emissions from the Perspective of the Yangtze River Delta Integration, China

“…Another study treats the expansion of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Economic Coordination Council as a quasi-natural experiment, using the same period data as ours. It also concluded that regional integration enlargement of the YRD reduced carbon emissions [63]. However, our study does not focus on regional integration enlargement but rather emphasizes the impact of regional integration policies on construction land and their subsequent effect on carbon emissions.…”

Can Internet Construction Promote Urban Green Development? A Quasi-Natural Experiment from the “Broadband China”

“…To better integrate economic development and environmental protection, we use carbon emission intensity to replace GTFP to measure the level of urban green development and calculate the carbon emission intensity of urban areas using the real GDP adjusted for price changes based on the 2003 benchmark year [ 64 ].…”

Can Regional Integration Policies Enhance the Win–Win Situation of Economic Growth and Environmental Protection? New Evidence for Achieving Carbon Neutrality Goals

“…The establishment of the UECC in the Yangtze River Delta is a pivotal policy in the implementation of China's regional integration strategy, while the difference-in-differences (DID) model serves as a prevalent approach in the field of policy impact evaluation [25,81]. Therefore, to investigate the potential for regional integration in achieving a win-win situation for economic growth and environmental protection, we employed a DID model to assess the impact of the expansion of the UECC on GTFP:…”

“…Prior to employing the DID method for policy evaluation, it is imperative to satisfy the assumption of a common trend between the treatment and control groups, ensuring consistent changes in both groups before policy implementation. In this study, we adopt the event study approach to conduct a parallel trend analysis, verifying the dynamic impact of GTFP during the observed sample period [25,81]. Figure 5 demonstrates the GTFP pattern before and after introducing the expansion of the UECC.…”