Impact of the Marketization of Industrial Land Transfer on Regional Carbon Emission Intensity: Evidence from China

Abstract

With the implementation of deep-market-oriented reforms in China, an accurate interpretation of the effect and transmission mechanism of the marketization of industrial land transfer on carbon emission reduction can provide references for further elevating the role of land policy in China’s low-carbon economic transition. Based on the balanced panel data of China’s provincial level from 2009 to 2020, this paper uses carbon emission intensity to quantify emission reduction targets, and studies the effects of the marketization of industrial land transfer on regional carbon emission intensity, as well as its internal mechanism, by describing the typical characteristics. Moreover, this paper analyzes the moderating role of environmental governance and conducts area heterogeneity analysis. The main results show that (1) the marketization of industrial land transfer can significantly reduce regional carbon emission intensity, and the negative effect is stronger in the mid-west compared with the effect in the east. (2) Environmental governance can play a positive moderating role in the relationship between the marketization of industrial land transfer and the carbon emission intensity. (3) Industry selection is the internal mechanism by which the effect of the marketization of industrial land transfer on regional carbon emission intensity operates, and the mechanism is represented more prominently in the mid-west. The main conclusions provide inspiration for land policy regulation in relation to carbon emission reduction. China’s local governments should implement specific strategies to improve the market-based operation mechanism of land, attracting industries with high energy efficiency and low carbon emissions, and strengthening the intensity of environmental governance.

Construction Land Transfer Scale and Carbon Emission Intensity: Empirical Evidence Based on County-Level Land Transactions in Jiangsu Province, China

“…Construction land is the land use type with the largest carbon emissions, and the human activities it carries, including energy consumption, industrial production processes, and waste emissions, produce a large amount of carbon emissions [36]. On the one hand, the expansion of construction land often takes away from ecological land, a process that leads to changes in surface vegetation cover, which results in the loss of vegetation carbon stocks [37].…”

“…The Kuznets fact presented by the optimization of industrial structure shows that the proportion of added value of the tertiary industry gradually increases along with economic development. Compared with secondary industry, the increase in the proportion of tertiary industry can, to a large extent, promote the reduction of carbon emission intensity [36]. With the reduction of construction land transfer scale, high-pollution and high-energy-consuming enterprises have been restricted, the proportion of the tertiary industry has increased, and the industrial structure has been optimized.…”

“…They may reduce the supply of residential or public land while increasing the supply scale of industrial land to attract industrial investment [60]. Industrial land is the most important carrier of industrial production and energy consumption, so it has a very strong driving force on carbon emission intensity [28,36,47]. Second, the increase in the industrial land supply scale has brought about a rise in industrial energy carbon emissions due to scale effects [20,32,60].…”

“…Jiangsu's carbon emission intensity continually decreased from 2.049 tons per RMB 10 thousand in 2007 to 0.429 tons per RMB 10 thousand in 2021, which is a decrease of 82.21%. Overall, the total carbon emissions in Jiangsu Province from 2007 to 2021 showed a fluctuating upward trend, this was helped by carbon emission intensity showing a continuous downward trend (Figure3) Peng et al (2023) [36]. showed a decrease in carbon emission intensity in eastern China.Xiao et al (2023) andZhang et al (2024)…”

“…total carbon emissions in Jiangsu Province from 2007 to 2021 showed a fluctuating upward trend, this was helped by carbon emission intensity showing a continuous downward trend (Figure3) Peng et al (2023) [36]. showed a decrease in carbon emission intensity in eastern China.Xiao et al (2023) andZhang et al (2024) [3,13] argue that although carbon emissions are increasing, the growth rate is gradually decreasing.…”