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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Environmental Regulation, Carbon Emission
Efficiency, and Urban Innovation Index
in 257 Prefecture-Level Cities in China
1
School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Mianyang Normal University, Mianyang 621000, China
2
Engineering Research Center for Forest and Grassland Disaster Prevention and Reduction,
Mianyang Normal University, Mianyang, 621000, China
3
School of Economics and Management, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China
These authors had equal contribution to this work
Submission date: 2024-05-29
Final revision date: 2024-07-19
Acceptance date: 2024-08-15
Online publication date: 2025-01-27
Publication date: 2025-11-04
Corresponding author
Jinyao Hu
Engineering Research Center for Forest and Grassland Disaster Prevention and Reduction，Mianyang normal university, China
Engineering Research Center for Forest and Grassland Disaster Prevention and Reduction，Mianyang normal university, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2025;34(6):7071-7089
KEYWORDS
Environmental regulationthreshold effectintensity of government interventioncarbon emission efficiency
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This study analyzes annual data from 257 Chinese prefecture-level cities (2003–2019) to investigate
the impact of environmental regulations on carbon emission efficiency using a super-efficient data
envelopment analysis (Super-SBM) model. Employing a two-way fixed effects model and a panel
threshold model, it reveals significant regional heterogeneity in carbon emission efficiency: higher
in the southern, eastern, and coastal regions compared to the northern, western, and inland regions.
The study identifies a double threshold effect of environmental regulation on carbon emission efficiency,
with the urban innovation index as the threshold variable, forming a “U” shaped relationship. In
the eastern region, the impact of environmental regulation on carbon emission efficiency is insignificant
at low to medium levels of urban innovation. In the central region, an upward trend in the “U” shape
is observed. In the western region, although the positive effect of environmental regulation is mitigated
by higher urban innovation, it remains significant. The study suggests that environmental policies
should account for regional differences and adopt targeted strategies based on each region’s specific
circumstances to achieve the “dual-carbon” goal.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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