Analysis On The Impact Mechanism Of Urbanization On Regional Carbon Emission Efficiency

As the economy and society develop,greenhouse gas emissions have increased significantly compared to the past,which has led to a series of issues such as global warming that have gradually entered the public eye,aroused widespread concern among governments.In recent years,China’s increase in carbon emissions has been significantly higher than that of other countries in the world,and China has undergone severe tests in terms of carbon emission reduction.At the same time,our country is at an important stage of industrialization and rapid urbanization,and more than 75% of carbon dioxide emissions come from cities.Urbanization will have an impact on carbon emission efficiency(CEE)through a variety of paths such as consumption and production.Therefore,in order to ensure the steady growth of my country’s economy while creating a new urbanization path and achieving energy-saving and emission-reduction targets as soon as possible,it is significant to discuss the influence of urbanization on carbon emission efficiency and its corresponding mechanism.Based on the EKC theory,sustainable development theory,and theories related with the relationship between urbanization and environmental quality,this research proposes the hypothesis that there will be an inverted U-shaped relationship between urbanization and carbon emission efficiency,and urbanization can be achieved by improving technical levels 、labor productivity and expanding external paths such as trade to improve carbon emission efficiency.This article first measures the carbon emission efficiency of China(except Tibet)based on the Slack-based Measure-Data Envelopment Analysis model(SBM-DEA)from 1997 to 2017,including unexpected output,to analyze the spatial correlation.Then,a spatial durbin model is established to explore the nonlinear relationship between urbanization and regional carbon emission efficiency.Finally,on the basis of the benchmark model,the interaction term between explanatory variables with significant positive effects on carbon emission efficiency and urbanization in the model was added,and the possible paths and mechanisms of urbanization’s impact on carbon emission efficiency were verified by estimating the coefficient of the interaction term.The results show that: First,there is an obvious spatial spillover effect on CEE between various provinces in my country,and the development of urbanization in the surrounding areas is conducive to the improve it.Second,during the sample period,an obvious "U-shaped" is revealed between urbanization and CEE.When the urbanization rate is lower than 48.04%,as the level of urbanization increases,the carbon emission efficiency shows a downward trend.After the urbanization rate crosses this critical value,the carbon emission efficiency appears as the level of urbanization increases gradually rising trend.At present,most provinces in China are in the stage of improving carbon emission efficiency with the development of urbanization.Third,urbanization can,to a certain extent,strengthen the role of openness,advances in technology and change and labor production rate in promoting carbon emission efficiency.Therefore,in order to build a different and friendly urbanization,all regions should pay attention to attracting foreign investment with environmental friendly technology,increase subsidies and support for green environmental protection techniques,and strengthen the improvement of labor productivity led by technology,so as to promote the carbon emission efficiency and ensure the smooth implementation of carbon emission reduction.