The compounding effects of pollution reduction and low-carbon policy synergies on urban economic resilience and environmental performance

IF 13.3 1区工程技术 Q1 CONSTRUCTION & BUILDING TECHNOLOGY

Sustainable Cities and Society Pub Date : 2026-02-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-14 DOI:10.1016/j.scs.2026.107162

Xi Wang , Hua Shang , Xiaofei Lv , Sai Yuan

{"title":"The compounding effects of pollution reduction and low-carbon policy synergies on urban economic resilience and environmental performance","authors":"Xi Wang , Hua Shang , Xiaofei Lv , Sai Yuan","doi":"10.1016/j.scs.2026.107162","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The synergistic governance effects of multi-objective environmental regulations are crucial for achieving coordinated economic and ecological development. Nevertheless, existing investigations have primarily focused on their singular effects on either the environment or the economy, while their synergistic governance effects require further validation. Utilizing urban data from China spanning 2007 to 2023, we construct a policy synergies variable for pollution reduction and low-carbon (PPCR) based on the Key Air Quality Control Zone Policy (KACP) and the Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy (LCCP). Then, we employ the Difference-in-Differences (DID) model to investigate the composite effects of PPCR on urban economic resilience (EOR) and environmental performance (PCR). The findings indicate that PPCR significantly enhances both EOR and PCR, with this conclusion demonstrating robustness. Meanwhile, the mechanism analysis reveals that the primary channels fostering EOR are the high-skilled talent siphoning and labor productivity-driven effects. Energy structure optimization and circular economy initiatives serve as significant pathways for PPCR to enhance PCR. Furthermore, the enabling role of PPCR is even stronger in cities with non-resource-based economies and strong public-oriented environmental regulations (PER).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48659,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Cities and Society","volume":"137 ","pages":"Article 107162"},"PeriodicalIF":13.3000,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Sustainable Cities and Society","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210670726000491","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/1/14 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CONSTRUCTION & BUILDING TECHNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

The synergistic governance effects of multi-objective environmental regulations are crucial for achieving coordinated economic and ecological development. Nevertheless, existing investigations have primarily focused on their singular effects on either the environment or the economy, while their synergistic governance effects require further validation. Utilizing urban data from China spanning 2007 to 2023, we construct a policy synergies variable for pollution reduction and low-carbon (PPCR) based on the Key Air Quality Control Zone Policy (KACP) and the Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy (LCCP). Then, we employ the Difference-in-Differences (DID) model to investigate the composite effects of PPCR on urban economic resilience (EOR) and environmental performance (PCR). The findings indicate that PPCR significantly enhances both EOR and PCR, with this conclusion demonstrating robustness. Meanwhile, the mechanism analysis reveals that the primary channels fostering EOR are the high-skilled talent siphoning and labor productivity-driven effects. Energy structure optimization and circular economy initiatives serve as significant pathways for PPCR to enhance PCR. Furthermore, the enabling role of PPCR is even stronger in cities with non-resource-based economies and strong public-oriented environmental regulations (PER).

查看原文本刊更多论文

污染减排和低碳政策协同效应对城市经济弹性和环境绩效的复合效应

多目标环境规制的协同治理效应是实现经济与生态协调发展的关键。然而，现有的调查主要集中在它们对环境或经济的单一影响上，而它们的协同治理效应需要进一步验证。本文利用2007 - 2023年中国城市数据，基于重点空气质量控制区政策（KACP）和低碳城市试点政策（LCCP），构建了污染减排与低碳（PPCR）政策协同变量。在此基础上，采用差分模型研究了PPCR对城市经济弹性（EOR）和环境绩效（PCR）的综合影响。结果表明，PPCR显著提高了EOR和PCR，这一结论具有稳健性。同时，机制分析表明，提高采收率的主要渠道是高技能人才的吸纳和劳动生产率的驱动效应。能源结构优化和循环经济倡议是PPCR增强PCR的重要途径。此外，在非资源型经济和强有力的公共导向环境法规（PER）的城市，PPCR的促进作用甚至更强。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Sustainable Cities and Society Social Sciences-Geography, Planning and Development

CiteScore

22.00

自引率

13.70%

发文量

810

审稿时长

27 days

期刊介绍： Sustainable Cities and Society (SCS) is an international journal that focuses on fundamental and applied research to promote environmentally sustainable and socially resilient cities. The journal welcomes cross-cutting, multi-disciplinary research in various areas, including: 1. Smart cities and resilient environments; 2. Alternative/clean energy sources, energy distribution, distributed energy generation, and energy demand reduction/management; 3. Monitoring and improving air quality in built environment and cities (e.g., healthy built environment and air quality management); 4. Energy efficient, low/zero carbon, and green buildings/communities; 5. Climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban environments; 6. Green infrastructure and BMPs; 7. Environmental Footprint accounting and management; 8. Urban agriculture and forestry; 9. ICT, smart grid and intelligent infrastructure; 10. Urban design/planning, regulations, legislation, certification, economics, and policy; 11. Social aspects, impacts and resiliency of cities; 12. Behavior monitoring, analysis and change within urban communities; 13. Health monitoring and improvement; 14. Nexus issues related to sustainable cities and societies; 15. Smart city governance; 16. Decision Support Systems for trade-off and uncertainty analysis for improved management of cities and society; 17. Big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence applications and case studies; 18. Critical infrastructure protection, including security, privacy, forensics, and reliability issues of cyber-physical systems. 19. Water footprint reduction and urban water distribution, harvesting, treatment, reuse and management; 20. Waste reduction and recycling; 21. Wastewater collection, treatment and recycling; 22. Smart, clean and healthy transportation systems and infrastructure;