The Impact Of FDI On China’s Carbon Emission Intensity And Its Spatial Spillover Effect

As China’s economic development enters a new era,thoroughly implementing the new development concept has become the top priority of China’s economic development.In recent years,under the constraints of the "dual carbon" goal,China has continuously strengthened environmental regulations,focusing on the impact of introducing foreign capital on China’s carbon emissions.Studying the impact of foreign direct investment on China’s carbon emission intensity can help China better utilize foreign capital,promote China’s economic and social progress towards green and sustainable development,and assist in achieving the "dual carbon" goal.Firstly,it introduces the concepts and relevant theoretical foundations of foreign direct investment and carbon emission intensity,and proposes an estimation method for carbon emission intensity.It analyzes the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of foreign direct investment and carbon emission intensity in China from 2006 to 2020 at the overall,industrial,and regional levels,analyzes the impact mechanism of foreign direct investment on China’s carbon emission intensity,and proposes the research assumptions of the article.Secondly,select panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2020,using carbon emission intensity as the explanatory variable,foreign direct investment as the core explanatory variable,and economic development level,energy consumption intensity,R&D investment intensity,human capital,environmental regulation intensity,industrial structure,and urbanization development level as the control variables,Construct a dynamic panel model to examine the magnitude and direction of the impact of foreign direct investment on China’s overall carbon emission intensity,and examine the regional heterogeneity of the impact of FDI on China’s carbon emission intensity from the eastern,central,western,and northeastern regions.Finally,from a spatial perspective,the spatial spillover effect of FDI on carbon emission intensity is tested again using a spatial Dubin regression model.The conclusions of the study are as follows:(1)From the perspective of China as a whole,foreign direct investment is conducive to reducing the intensity of carbon emissions in China;(2)From a regional perspective,foreign direct investment has a negative impact on carbon emission intensity in eastern and central China,and has a greater inhibitory effect on carbon emission intensity in eastern China than in centralChina;In the western and northeastern regions,the introduction of foreign direct investment will enhance carbon emission intensity,and the impact of foreign direct investment on China’s carbon emission intensity has significant regional heterogeneity.(3)From a spatial perspective,the impact of foreign direct investment on China’s carbon emission intensity has a spatial spillover effect,that is,the introduction of foreign capital locally can also indirectly reduce the carbon emission intensity of neighboring provinces through interprovincial diffusion.Based on the above research conclusions,countermeasures and suggestions are proposed:(1)Continue to expand the scale of foreign investment and strictly review the quality of foreign investment.(2)Optimize the industrial structure and adjust the target industries for FDI.(3)Increase investment in research and development,and play the role of FDI technology spillovers.(4)Strengthen environmental regulations and raise the entry threshold for FDI.(5)Formulate different policies for attracting investment according to local conditions.The eastern region should encourage more innovative foreign-funded enterprises to settle down by providing preferential loan rates,financial subsidies,etc;The central region should continue to expand the introduction of foreign capital and give full play to the carbon emission reduction effect brought by foreign capital;For the western and northeastern regions,it is necessary to restrict the entry of resource consuming foreign capital to avoid the negative impact of foreign capital on the local environment.In addition,provinces need to carry out policy linkage,establish a collaborative emission reduction platform,and provide comprehensive services for foreign-funded enterprises through regional cooperation to jointly promote the realization of China’s emission reduction goals.