Lifting or lessening? Examining the effect of low-carbon city trial on synergistic reduction of pollution and carbon emissions

Cities are essential to combating climate change and mitigating global warming. To attain environmentally friendly growth and lower urban greenhouse gases, China has launched a multi-batch of low-carbon city (LCC) trials. The staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model is utilized in this investigation's quasi-natural trial, which was based on panel data from 278 Chinese cities from 2006 to 2021, to identify the causal effect of the LCC trial on synergistic reduction of pollution and carbon emissions. Based on the empirical findings, compared with the non-trial zone, carbon emissions, and air pollution in the trial areas have decreased by approximately 6.8 % and 4.3 %, respectively, and the synergistic reduction effect has increased by approximately 0.4 %. The mechanism test indicated that the LCC trial could promote the synergistic reduction of pollution and carbon emissions through industrial structure optimization, energy consumption intensity, green technological innovation, and employment structure adjustment. The LCC trial has a positive spillover effect and has a significant positive impact on cities with oil, gas, and coal as the main resource endowment. This study offered support for low-carbon paths designing in underdeveloped and developing nations and remedied the weakness of previous research on the synergistic environmental governance in the LCC trials. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd