Abstract
As a key strategy to promote system reform, improve the investment environment, and encourage industrial agglomeration, the national high-tech industrial development zone (NHTDZ) policy in China can not only reduce energy consumption through the scale effect but also improve energy efficiency by modernizing industrial structure and fostering technological innovation, thereby alleviating environmental pollution. Existing studies, however, focus solely on the effects of NHTDZ policy on social and economic development, ignoring their impact on the ecological environment, especially carbon (CO2) emissions that contribute to global warming. Thus, this article analyzes a panel data of 285 prefecture-level cities and above in China from 2003 to 2019 to assess the influence of NHTDZ policy on CO2 emissions, treating the NHTDZ construction since 1988 as a quasi-natural experiment. The results indicate that the NHTDZ policy would mitigate urban carbon emissions, particularly in middle, southeastern, medium-sized, resource-based (RB), non-key environmental protection (non-KEP), and non-two control zone (non-TCZ) cities. In addition, the mediation mechanism test demonstrates that the environmental benefits of the NHTDZ policy in China are attributable to the scale effect, the structural upgrading effect, and the technology innovation effect. The NHTDZ policy would lower per capita CO2 emissions by reducing energy consumption, upgrading industrial structure, and promoting green technology innovation.
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The supplemental data to this publication could be obtained online at https://db.cger.nies.go.jp/dataset/ODIAC/DL_odiac2020b.html, and all data generated or analyzed during this investigation is included in this published article.
Notes
The low-end industries are those that are resource- and labor-intensive, whereas the high-end industries are those that are knowledge-, capital-, and technology-intensive.
The state and federal governments have also issued a series of policy documents to stimulate the innovation development of NHTDZ. In 2007, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology published “Several Opinions on Promoting the Further Development of National High-Tech Industrial Development Zones and Enhancing Independent Innovation Capacity,” which stated that “NHTDZ shall encourage enterprises to enhance their independent innovation capacity and accelerate the development of high and new technology industries by establishing technology innovation funds and platforms.” The State Council of the People’s Republic of China issued the “Several Opinions of The State Council on Promoting High-quality Development of National High-Tech Industrial Development Zones” in 2020, which stipulated that the development zones shall fulfill tax exemption policies for high-tech enterprises, increase their R&D investment, and stimulate their innovation vitality to advance green technology, clean production, and pollutant reduction.
Abbreviations
- GHG :
-
Greenhouse gas emissions
- IEA :
-
International Energy Agency
- DID :
-
Difference-in-differences
- PSM :
-
Propensity score matching
- LCC :
-
Low-carbon pilot city
- LNG :
-
Natural gas
- RB :
-
Resource-based
- KEP :
-
Key environmental protection
- TCZ :
-
Two Control Zones
- CO 2 :
-
Carbon dioxide
- NHTDZ :
-
High-tech development zone
- FDI :
-
Foreign direct investment
- CET :
-
Carbon emission trading
- SYS-GMM :
-
System generalized moment estimation method
- IPCC :
-
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- Non-RB :
-
Non-resource-based
- Non-KEP :
-
Non-key environmental protection zones
- Non-TCZ :
-
Non-Two Control Zones
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This work was supported by the Ministry of education of Humanities and Social Science project of China (19YJA630079) and the Major Program of National Social Science Foundation of China (18ZDA040).
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Xiangyang Li designed the work. Xiangyang Li, Lei Wang, Fengbo Li, Yuxin Zhang, Si Zhang, and Jiaqi Li performed the analyzes and drafted the manuscript. Lei Wang reviewed and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Li, X., Wang, L., Li, F. et al. Development zone policy and urban carbon emissions: empirical evidence from the construction of national high-tech industrial development zones in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 52241–52265 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26025-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26025-1