Can smart city construction improve carbon productivity? —A quasi-natural experiment based on China's smart city pilot. (May 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Song, Tian; Dian, Jie; Chen, Hongwen
• Is Part Of: Sustainable cities and society. Volume 92(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-05
• Subjects: Smart city -- Carbon productivity -- Multi-period difference-in-difference model; Sustainable urban development -- Periodicals; Sustainable buildings -- Periodicals; Urban ecology (Sociology) -- Periodicals; 307.76
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2023.104478
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2210-6707

Abstract

Highlights: SCC promotes the CP of Chinese cities. Multi-period DID model is employed to assess the impact of SCC on CP. The theoretical mechanism for SCC promotes urban CP was explored. The impact of SCC on CP is heterogeneous among different types of cities. The smart city pilot policy implementation has a time lag effect. Abstract: At present, China is facing the dilemma of how to achieve the goal of carbon emission reduction under the premise of ensuring economic growth. As a new urban development model, smart city construction may become the key to solving this problem. Based on a literature review on smart city construction and carbon emissions, this study uses a multi-period difference-in-difference model for empirical analysis, aiming to assess the impact of smart city pilot policy on carbon productivity. We find that: (1) Smart city construction has increased urban carbon productivity by 2.045%. Among them, the promotion effect of eastern and central cities is noticeable, while western cities have a restraining effect. (2) The impact of smart city construction on carbon productivity has a time-lag effect. The pilot policy will take effect in the third year of implementation and reach its maximum value in the fifth year. (3) Smart city construction can improve urban carbon productivity through technological progress, industrial structure upgrading, and energy structure optimization. Therefore, it is recommended to formulate policies from collaborative innovation between cities, optimizing industrial structure, and accelerating renewable energy replacement to achieve sustainable economic development.