Fostering equity in carbon emission mitigation through national sustainable development pilot zones: Evidence from China

Abstract

Sustainable development embodies the principle of equity while placing an emphasis on addressing climate change. This paper treats the National Sustainable Development Pilot Zones policy as a quasi-natural experiment to explore the extent to which sustainable development can facilitate equity in carbon mitigation. Based on a sample of 179 prefectural-level cities from 2004 to 2017, we employ a staggered difference-in-differences model to examine the impact of the National Sustainable Development Pilot Zones on carbon emissions. The results show that the National Sustainable Development Pilot Zones significantly slowed the growth of carbon emissions and promoted intragenerational equity, as confirmed by extensive robustness tests. Furthermore, the study examines the heterogeneity of the impact and the underlying mediating mechanisms, and also analyzes the policy linkage effects. Finally, the impact of equitable mitigation tends to favor the pilot zones with higher initial carbon emission growth rates, thus achieving intergenerational equity. Understanding whether National Sustainable Development Pilot Zones can effectively facilitate equitable carbon mitigation is crucial for designing policies that balance economic development with environmental sustainability. This paper contributes to both the theoretical foundation and empirical evidence of the impact of establishing the National Sustainable Development Pilot Zones on equitable carbon emissions mitigation.