Do carbon emissions trading pilots effectively reduce CO₂ emissions? County-level evidence from eastern China
by Jian Yang; Chunli Liu; Xin Liu
International Journal of Technology Management (IJTM), Vol. 95, No. 1/2, 2024

Abstract: Over the past few years, China has been committed to effectively controlling greenhouse gas emissions and achieving peak the carbon emissions in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060. For these purposes, China has taken a series of measures to strengthen intervention in industrial carbon emissions, among which the most important is a pilot project on carbon emissions trading since 2013. Few previous studies conducted on the emission-reduction effect of pilot projects have been from a county-level perspective. In this study, we employ a differences-in-differences method to empirically estimate the policy effect of such a pilot project, based on county-level data covering 413 units in eastern China. Our major findings show that carbon emissions trading pilots have an effective emission-reduction effect on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, while reporting a positive correlation with CO₂ emission intensity. Another major finding is that the environmental Kuznets curve holds for the relationship between carbon emissions and economic growth. Our findings on the trading pilot suggest that governments at all levels should continue promoting a trading market framework that considers the regional heterogeneity. Additional measures should also be taken to create positive policy effects on carbon efficiency.

Online publication date: Fri, 01-Mar-2024

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