Spatial Differences, Dynamic Evolution, and Driving Factors of Carbon Emission Efficiency in National High-Tech Zones

Faced with substantial climatic problems, industrial parks are crucial to attaining sustainable development objectives and China’s carbon emission pledges. This study develops an output-oriented undesirable output Super-SBM model under non-incremental settings to evaluate the carbon emission efficiency of 169 national high-tech zones from 2008 to 2021. It utilizes the Dagum Gini coefficient and kernel density estimation approaches to analyze spatial variances and dynamic changes, as well as geographic detectors to assess the variables influencing the spatial development of carbon emission efficiency. This study uncovers a spatial distribution pattern of carbon emission efficiency within the eastern region of the national high-tech zone that is much superior to that in the western region. This tendency is mostly driven by inter-regional disparities. Carbon emission efficiency differences between various high-tech zones are progressively widening, displaying left-tail and polarization phenomena. Economic development gaps emerge as the main intrinsic factor contributing to spatial variations in carbon emission efficiency, with their interaction with land resource utilization being a key driving force. External factors, particularly differences in government interventions, dominate the spatiotemporal evolution of carbon emission efficiency, and their combined effect increases the evolution’s explanatory power. These research findings offer a solid foundation for crafting region-specific carbon reduction policies in national high-tech zones and provide valuable insights for enhancing carbon emission efficiency in a coordinated manner.