Achieving high-quality development in China’s coal-based cities: how heterogeneities green innovation promote carbon emission performance?

Abstract

Coal-based cities, compared with others, are generally deemed to face double pressure from both emission reduction and economic development, indicating the great practical significance to explore high-quality development methods for China's goal of carbon neutrality. As previous studies have verified, technological innovation exerts the driving effect on total factor productivity, yet the impact mechanism between green innovational technology and carbon emission performance (TFCEP) of coal-based cities remains rather a blank area. Given this, the super-SBM model was applied to measure the TFCEP of 47 typical coal-based cities in China from 2013 to 2016. Furthermore, the econometric model was employed to analyze the impact mechanism of TFCEP. Finally, the heterogeneity effects of green technology within different regulation levels on TFCEP through mechanism analysis were revealed. The results indicate that: (1) The TFCEP of coal-based cities in the northeast, west and east regions is on the rise, while the central region shows a gradual decline trend. The relationship between TFCEP and urban development stage shows a U-shaped curve. (2) The heterogeneous effects of green innovational technology on TFCEP were revealed. The innovation compensation effect mainly occurs in coal-based cities with relatively loose environmental regulation level. the driving effect of green technologies featured by breakthrough innovations on TFCEP is greater than that of green technologies featured by conceptual design. (3) The openness has proved to be an important channel for green innovational technologies affecting TFCEP. Therefore, to advocate high-quality green development in coal-based cities, the government can choose to increase financial support for local green technology breakthroughs and reduce dependence on foreign technologies.