Effects of China’s land-intensive use on carbon emission reduction: A new perspective of industrial structure upgrading

Abstract

The rapid and disorderly expansion of urban construction land has resulted in massive carbon emissions, intensifying the contradiction between land use and low-carbon development. As an essential tool to increase land use efficiency, whether land-intensive use can balance economic and environmental benefits has emerged as a topical issue. This paper investigates the influence of land-intensive use on carbon emissions and its role mechanism under the perspective of industrial structure upgrading by using a two-way fixed-effects model with provincial panel data from 2008 to 2020 in China. The statistical results reveal that land-intensive use not only reduces carbon emissions but also boosts carbon emission efficiency, which achieves carbon emission reduction from both quantity and quality aspects. The carbon emission reduction effect of land-intensive use is mainly manifested in energy, capital, science, and education factors of land-intensive use. The carbon emission reduction benefits obtained through land-intensive use are more noticeable in regions with higher economic development levels. Land-intensive utilization is mainly responsible for carbon emission reduction through promoting industrial structure advanced quality. Our findings suggest that policy makers shall expedite land intensive use development, appropriately synchronize land use levels across regions, and adequately leverage the role mechanisms of advanced industrial structure as a potent measure to promote carbon emission reduction.

Spatio-temporal relationship between carbon emission and ecosystem service value under land use change: a case study of the Guanzhong Plain Urban Agglomeration, China

“…The carbon sequestration capacities of woodland and grassland play an important role in ecological improvement and protection, and these land use types account for a large proportion of the land use area. The maximum carbon emission intensity within the study area decreased from 2000 to 2020, which is generally consistent with the findings of previous related studies (Cao et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2022b;Wu et al, 2022;Zhao et al, 2023).…”

Research on the impact path of China’s environmental protection investment on green development—based on the perspective of industrial structure upgrading

“…Zeeshan et al (2022) believe that in highly polluted areas with relatively backward economic development, due to the lagging behind of technological level, imposing technical transformation on local enterprises or restricting their economic activities will increase their production costs. At the same time, during the process of developing new business models and transforming their original production models, the economic activities of these enterprises may cause secondary pollution to the environment Wu et al, 2022).…”

Delineation of Urban Development Boundary and Carbon Emission Effects in Xuzhou City, China

“…(3) We should develop strategies to enhance carbon sequestration and emission reduction based on the carbon source and sink attributes of different types. On one hand, efforts should be made to further promote efficient and intensive use of cultivated land and construction land [66], strengthen low-carbon agricultural technology innovation, promote industrial upgrading and transformation, and reduce regional carbon emission. On the other hand, we need increase the proportion of forest land and other carbon sink types, and enhance the region's carbon sequestration and sink capacity.…”