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The heterogeneous effects of environmental regulation on industrial carbon emission efficiency in China using a panel quantile regression

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Abstract

In order to verify how environmental regulation affects the improvement of urban industrial carbon emission efficiency, this study first measures the balanced panel data of industrial carbon emission efficiency of 282 cities in China from 2003 to 2019, and evaluates the direct and regulating impact of environmental regulation on China’s urban industrial carbon emission efficiency. Meanwhile, in order to investigate the potential heterogeneity and asymmetry, the panel quantile regression method is used. The empirical results show that (1) during the period 2003–2016, China’s overall industrial carbon emission efficiency showed a upward trend, with a decreasing spatial pattern from the east-central-west-northeast region. At the urban scale in China, environmental regulation has a significant direct effect on industrial carbon emission efficiency, which is lagged and heterogeneous. At the low quantiles, a one-period lag in environmental regulation has a negative effect on the improvement of industrial carbon emission efficiency. At the middle and high quantiles, a one-period lag in environmental regulation has a positive effect on the improvement of industrial carbon emission efficiency. Environmental regulation has a moderating effect on industrial carbon efficiency. With increasing industrial emission efficiency, the positive moderating effect of environmental regulation on the relationship between technological progress and industrial carbon emission efficiency shows a pattern of diminishing marginal benefits. The main contribution of this study is the systematic analysis of the potential heterogeneity and asymmetry of the direct and moderating effects of environmental regulation on the industrial carbon emission efficiency at the city scale in China by using panel quantile regression method.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during this study are available in the China Urban Statistical Yearbook, the China Energy Statistical Yearbook, from 2004 to 2017, and the China Industrial Enterprises Database and Patent Database Matching Data from 2003 to 2013.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42071148).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resource Environment and Tourism, Capital Normal University, Bei**g, 100048, China

    Xueqin Lin & Weijia Cui

  2. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100101, China

    Dai Wang

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Contributions

Both authors contributed to the conception and design of the study. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were carried out by Xueqin Lin and Weijia Cui. The first draft of the manuscript was completed by Xueqin Lin and Weijia Cui. Xueqin Lin and Weijia Cui wrote the manuscript, and Dai Wang commented on the previous version. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xueqin Lin.

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Appendix

Appendix

Tables 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9

Table 5 Results of panel unit root tests
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Table 6 Results of panel unit root tests
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Table 7 Analysis of endogeneity
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Table 8 Robust check with another quantile regression method
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Table 9 Robust check without ERN
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Figure 7

Fig. 7
figure 7

Changes in panel quantile regressions coefficients. Notes: The x-axis denotes the conditional quantiles of ICEE, and the y-axis presents the coefficient values of the different variables. The shaded areas correspond to the 95% confidence intervals of the quantile estimation

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Lin, X., Cui, W. & Wang, D. The heterogeneous effects of environmental regulation on industrial carbon emission efficiency in China using a panel quantile regression. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 55255–55277 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26062-w

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