Education and technological innovation in mitigating CO2 emissions and fostering green economic growth in China: Marginal effects and policy threshold analyses

This study makes a significant contribution to China's ambitious goals of achieving carbon dioxide (CO2) neutrality and transitioning to green economic growth (GEG), and integrating the theoretical framework of the impact, population, affluence, and technology (IPAT) theory, with real-world application to reduce CO2 and promote GEG for sustainable development. Furthermore, the study examines the ongoing theoretical debate on whether an inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) exists between technological innovations (TI) in environment-related fields and CO2 emissions in China, using data from 1990 to 2020 and employing the threshold instrumental variable two-stage least-squares (Th-IV2SLS) model. The findings indicate that all the variables representing education contribute to reducing CO2 emissions. The cost-effective levels of these variables to achieve CO2 reduction are as follows: a 93% literacy rate index, 12% education expenditure as a percentage of GDP, and an average of 6 years of schooling. Furthermore, TI also contributes to CO2 reduction, with a cost-effective level of 10.16% of TI. Educational variables promote GEG, with their respective cost-effective levels being 84% of the literacy rate index, 11.9% of education expenditure as a percentage of GDP, and an average of 5.5 years of schooling. In addition, TI promotes GEG, with a cost-effectiveness level of 10.4%. Moreover, there is a synergistic effect between education and TI that reduces CO2 emissions; however, the synergy that promotes GEG is relatively weak. Based on these findings, policy recommendations are provided to enhance the effectiveness of education and TI in reducing CO2 emissions and promoting GEG.