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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Evaluation of Carbon Reduction Effect
of the Low-Carbon Policy: Evidence
from 47 Low-Carbon Pilot Cities of China
1
School of Management, Anhui University, He Fei 230601, China
Submission date: 2024-05-11
Final revision date: 2024-06-12
Acceptance date: 2024-07-19
Online publication date: 2024-11-05
Publication date: 2025-07-05
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2025;34(5):5455-5466
KEYWORDS
low-carbon city pilot policycarbon emission intensitypropensity score matching-double difference modelquasi-natural experiment
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Based on panel data from 204 prefecture-level cities in China spanning from 2010 to 2019, this
study examines the low-carbon city pilot program as a quasi-natural experiment. The propensity score
matching-double difference model (PSM-DID) is utilized to analyze the effects of the low-carbon city
pilot policy on carbon emission intensity. The research findings found: Firstly, the low-carbon city pilot
policy has significantly reduced the intensity of urban carbon emissions. Secondly, the primary factors
contributing to the reduction in urban carbon emissions intensity due to the low-carbon city pilot policy
include adjustments in industrial structure, energy consumption control, and advancements in green
technology innovation. Thirdly, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the impacts of the low-carbon city
pilot policy differ across various regions. Resource cities, eastern cities, as well as cities in the southeast
and northwest regions, experience significant effects.
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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