SpringerLink
Log in

Intrinsic mechanisms and spatial effects of multidimensional urbanization and carbon emissions

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Existing studies on urbanization and carbon emissions are mostly based on a single pathway and lack the support of a theoretical framework. This study innovatively integrates Grossman’s perspective of environmental effects analysis to develop a new framework to interpret the mechanism of multidimensional urbanization (MU) and carbon emissions (CEs). We first explored the spatial effects of MUs and CEs in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRDUA) and then introduced the “population-land-economic” urbanization variables into the S-STIRPAT model to determine the impact mechanisms of each factor on CEs under different urbanization dimensions. The results show that the spatiotemporal development patterns of MUs and CEs overlap to some extent. The Shanghai–Nan**g line is a high-value area of urbanization with different dimensions, as some edge cities are in low-value areas. However, there are local differences in the different dimensions of urbanization, e.g., population urbanization in the southern area is in a high-value area. CEs show a core-edge structure of “high in the center and low in the north and south”. All factors, except for population urbanization, affect CEs locally, and their spillover effects are all positive, except for energy intensity, which has a negative influence on CEs in neighboring regions. Land urbanization has the largest positive impact on CEs, with a total effect coefficient of 0.409; economic urbanization has a coefficient of 0.195, and population urbanization has a coefficient of only 0.070. The findings can help to maximize urbanization growth while minimizing harmful environmental externalities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price includes VAT (United Kingdom)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

References

  • Alam M, Murad M, Nornanc A, Ozturk I (2016) Relationships among carbon emissions, economic growth, energy consumption and population growth: testing environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for Brazil, China India and Indonesia. Ecol Indic 70:466–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bu Y, Wang E, Qiu Y, Möst D (2022) Impact assessment of population migration on energy consumption and carbon emissions in China: a spatial econometric investigation. Environ Impact Assess Rev. 93:106744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CarbonBrief (2023) Analysis: global fossil-fuel emissions up 0.6% in 2019 due to China. Available from: https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-global-fossil-fuel-emissions-up-zero-point-six-per-cent-in-2019-due-to-china/.

  • Chen J, Wang L, Li Y (2020) Research on the impact of multi-dimensional urbanization on China’s carbon emissions under the background of COP21. J Environ Manage 273:111–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen R, Xu P, Yao H, Ding Y (2023) How will China achieve net-zero? A policy text analysis of Chinese decarbonization policies. Energy Res Soc Sci 99:103051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi BD (2011) David Harvey’s geography and spaces of neoliberal globalization. J Korean Stud 50:42

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark D (1998) Interdependent urbanization in an urban world: a historical overview. Geogr J. 164:85–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dietz T, Rosa EA (1997) Effects of population and affluence on CO2 emissions. Ecology 94(1):175–179

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dong J, Li C, Wang Q (2021) Decomposition of carbon emission and its decoupling analysis and prediction with economic development: a case study of industrial sectors in Henan Province. J Clean Prod 321:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich PR, Holdren JP (1971) Impact of Population Growth. Science, New Series 171(3977):1212–1217

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eicke L, Weko S, Apergi M, Marian A (2021) Pulling up the carbon ladder? Decarbonization, dependence, and third-country risks from the European carbon border adjustment mechanism. Energy Res Soc Sci 80:102240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan J, Da B, Wan L, Zhang M, Cao Z, Wang Y (2019) Determinants of carbon emissions in ‘Belt and Road initiative’ countries: a production technology perspective. Appl Energ 239:268–279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fu H, Zhao S, Liao C (2022) Spatial governance of Bei**g-Tian**-Hebei urban agglomeration towards low-carbon transition. China Agr Econ Rev 14(4):774–798

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grimm NB, Faeth SH, Golubiewski NE, Redman C, Wu J, Bai X, Briggs J (2008) Global Change and the Ecology of Cities. Science 319(5864):756–760

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hak M, Matsuoka Y, Gomi K (2017) A qualitative and quantitative design of low-carbon development in Cambodia: energy policy. Energ policy 100:237–251

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • He J, Wang S, Liu Y, Ma H, Liu Q (2017) Examining the relationship between urbanization and the eco-environment using a coupling analysis: case study of Shanghai, China. Ecol Indic 77:185–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hickel J (2020) The sustainable development index: measuring the ecological efficiency of human development in the anthropocene. Ecol Econ (167)106331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu H, Lv T, Zhang X, **e H, Fu S, Wang L (2023) Spatiotemporal coupling of multidimensional urbanization and resource–environment performance in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration of China. Phys Chem Earth 129:103360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang L, Yang P, Zhang B, Hu W (2021) Spatio-temporal coupling characteristics and the driving mechanism of population-land-industry urbanization in the Yangtze River economic belt. Land 10(4):400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IEA (2019) World energy outlook 2019. IEA, Paris, France. Available from: https://www.iea.org/reports/world- energy- outlook- 2019.

  • Jensen S, Traeger CP (2014) Optimal climate change mitigation under long-term growth uncertainty: stochastic integrated assessment and analytic findings. Eur Econ Rev 69:104–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ** G, Guo B, Deng X (2020) Is there a decoupling relationship between CO2 emission reduction and poverty alleviation in China? Technol Forecast Soc Change 151:119856

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kong Y, Feng C, Guo L (2022) Peaking global and G20 countries’ CO2 emissions under the shared socio-economic pathways. Int J Environ Res 19(17):11076

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuznets S (1971) Economic growth of nations. Harvard University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Jiang C, **ng Z (2021) Multi-dimensional influence measurement of urbanization on the quality of natural living environment in China. Environ Dev Sustain 23:12151–12168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Li S (2020) Energy investment, economic growth and carbon emissions in China—empirical analysis based on spatial Durbin model. Energ Policy 140:111–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Z, Gu H (2020) Evolution characteristics of spatial concentration patterns of interprovincial population migration in China from 1985 to 2015. Appl Spat Anal Policy 13:375–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lv TG, Hu H, Zhang XM, **e HL, Wang L, Fu S (2022) Spatial spillover effects of urbanization on carbon emissions in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(23):33920–33934

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ma G, Qin J, Zhang Y (2023) Does the carbon emissions trading system reduce carbon emissions by promoting two-way FDI in develo** countries? Evidence from Chinese listed companies and cities. Energ Econ 120:106581

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Zarzoso I, Maruotti A (2011) The impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions: evidence from develo** countries. Ecol Econ 70(7):1344–1353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mussini M, Grossi L (2015) Decomposing changes in CO2 emission inequality over time: the roles of re-ranking and changes in per capita CO2 emission disparities. Energ Econ 49:274–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perry KK (2020) Innovation, institutions and development: a critical review and grounded heterodox economic analysis of late-industrialising contexts. Camb J Econ 44(2):391–415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raworth K (2017) Doughnut economics: seven ways to think like a 21st-century economist. Chelsea Green Publishing, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Seto K, Davis S, Mitchell R, Stokes E, Unruh G, Ürge-Vorsatz D (2016) Carbon lock-in: types, causes, and policy implications. Annu Rev Env Resour 41:425–452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siami N, Winter R (2021) Jevons’ paradox revisited: implications for climate change. Econ Lett 206:109955

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sohag K, Mariev O, Davidson N (2021) Revising environmental Kuznets curve in Russian regions: role of environmental policy stringency. Environ Sci Pollut R 28(38):52873–52886

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sumner J, Bird L, Dobos H (2011) Carbon taxes: a review of experience and policy design considerations. Clim Policy 11(2):922–943

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun B, Fang C, Liao X, Guo X, Liu Z (2023) The relationship between urbanization and air pollution affected by intercity factor mobility: a case of the Yangtze River Delta region. Environ Impact Assess Rev 100:107092

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang F, Wang L, Guo Y, Fu M, Huang N, Duan W, Luo M, Zhang J, Li W, Song W (2022) Spatio-temporal variation and coupling coordination relationship between urbanisation and habitat quality in the Grand Canal, China. Land Use Policy 117:106119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UN (2019) World urbanization prospects: the 2018 revision, New York America Available from: https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210043144/read

  • Wang M, Che Y, Yang K, Wang M, **ong L, Huang Y (2011) A local-scale low-carbon plan based on the STIRPAT model and the scenario method: the case of Minhang District, Shanghai, China. Energ Policy 39(11):6981–6990

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang S, Zeng J, Huang Y, Shi C, Zhan P (2018) The effects of urbanization on CO2 emissions in the Pearl River Delta: a comprehensive assessment and panel data analysis. Appl Energ 228:1693–1706

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei G, Zhang Z, Ouyang X, Shen Y, Jiang S (2021) Delineating the spatial-temporal variation of air pollution with urbanization in the belt and road initiative area. Environ Impact Assess Rev 91:106646

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wuhu Statistics Bureau (2022) Comparative analysis of the population situation of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration and the population situation of Wuhu City. Available from: https://tjj.wuhu.gov.cn/openness/public/6596741/33383961.html.

  • Xu Q, Dong Y, Yang R (2018) Urbanization impact on carbon emissions in the Pearl River Delta region: Kuznets curve relationships. J Clean Prod 180:514–523

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xue YJ (2021) Economic Development of the Yangtze River economic belt city cluster (2019-2020). Available from: https://cyrdebr.sass.org.cn/2021/0305/c5860a102194/page.htm.

  • Yang X, Jiang P, Pan Y (2020) Does China’s carbon emission trading policy have an employment double dividend and a Porter effect? Energ Policy 142:111492

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yao F, Zhu H, Wang M (2021) The impact of multiple dimensions of urbanization on CO2 emissions: a spatial and threshold analysis of panel data on China’s prefecture-level cities. Sustain Cities Soc 73:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yilmaz S, Sezen I, Sari E (2021) The relationships between ecological urbanization, green areas, and air pollution in Erzurum/Turkey. Environ Ecol Stat 28:733–759

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yue W, Liu Z, Su M, Gu Z, Xu C (2021) The impacts of multi-dimension urbanization on energy-environmental efficiency: empirical evidence from Guangdong Province, China. J Clean Prod 296:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yun SJ (2009) The ideological basis and the reality of low carbon green growth. Eco 13(1):219–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang LL, Yue W, Liu Y, Fan P, Wei Y (2018) Suburban industrial land development in transitional China: spatial restructuring and determinants. Cities 78:96–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu AX, Lu G, Liu J, Qin CZ, Zhou C (2018) Spatial prediction based on third law of geography. Ann GIS 24(4):225–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 42261049) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (no. 20232BAB203061 no. 20232BAA10026).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Administration, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China

    Han Hu & Kegao Yan

  2. School of Public Finance & Public Administration, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, 330013, China

    Tiangui Lv & Hongyi Li

  3. School of Applied Economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, 330013, China

    **nmin Zhang & Yi**g Chen

Authors
  1. Han Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tiangui Lv
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. **nmin Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hongyi Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kegao Yan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yi**g Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Han Hu and Tiangui Lv analyzed the data and wrote the original manuscript. Han Hu and **nmin Zhang performed the experiments. Hongyi Li and Kegao Yan gave the direction of research and reviewed the manuscript. Yi**g Chen revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Han Hu.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable

Consent for Publication

Not applicable

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Ilhan Ozturk

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hu, H., Lv, T., Zhang, X. et al. Intrinsic mechanisms and spatial effects of multidimensional urbanization and carbon emissions. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 5699–5715 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31574-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31574-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation