Heterogeneity in the relationship between carbon emission performance and urbanization: evidence from China

Global change caused by carbon emissions alone has become a common challenge for all countries. However, current debates about urbanization and carbon emissions generally do not take into account the heterogeneities in urbanization and economic development levels. The goal of this study is to revisit the urbanization–emissions nexus by considering such heterogeneities in the Chinese context. The results reveal that there is significant heterogeneity in the total factor carbon emission performance index across provinces. Specifically, the relationship between carbon emission performance and urbanization reflects a U-shaped curve. Urbanization is found to have a stronger inhibiting effect on carbon emission performance when economic development levels improve. The results suggest that tailoring policies to each region’s conditions, promoting investments in energy-saving and emissions-reducing technologies, and improving the use of public transportation could be mitigation strategies for global change that lead to low-carbon urbanization.