A Study Of The Influence Paths Of Financial Development And Urbanization On Carbon Emission In China

The emission of greenhouse gases seriously threatens national security and human survival.Energy conservation and emission reduction have become global consensus.On the international arena,the Chinese government has repeatedly promised to jointly reduce emissions and mitigate the global environmental pressure from greenhouse gas emissions.Under this background,the development of low-carbon economy and the promotion of economic transformation have become important parts of China’s national strategy.Recently,financial development and urbanization have become the main driving force for the development of China’s modern economy.The government has introduced a large number of policies to improve the level of financial development and urbanization.However,with the improvement of the level of financial development and the advancement of urbanization,there is an inconsistency between economic growth and carbon emissions.Therefore,analyzing the relationship between financial development,urbanization and carbon emissions,and exploring the impact of financial development and urbanization on carbon emissions in China have important theoretical and practical implications for the development of low-carbon economy and carbon reduction.Based on the results of related research,this thesis starts from the perspective of regional differences.First of all,it analyzes the general trends and regional differences in financial development,urbanization,and carbon emissions in eastern,central,and western regions.Then,taking economic growth as a starting point,it explores the mechanism of financial development and urbanization affecting carbon emissions through economic growth,and constructs the impact path model of financial development and urbanization-economic growth-carbon emission.Next,taking the data from 30 provinces and cities from 1997 to 2015 as a sample,Structural Equation Modeling(SEM)was used to analyze the direct,indirect and overall impacts of financial development and urbanization on carbon emissions in the eastern,central and western regions.Taking into account the differences in regional development,a comparative study was conducted on the impact path of financial development and urbanization on carbon emissions in the eastern,central and western regions.Finally,according to the conclusions of the study,corresponding counter measures and suggestions are proposed to enable the financial development,urbanization and economic development to better serve energy conservation and emission reduction.The results of the study show that financial development and urbanization in the eastern,central and western regions of China have a direct and significant impact on carbon emissions.However,financial development and urbanization in the eastern and central regions can affect carbon emissions through economic growth.Western is different from eastern and central regions.In western region,only the urbanization can affect carbon emissions through economic growth,and economic growth does not have a conductive effect between financial development and carbon emissions.Specifically:(1)The impact of financial development on economic growth has regional differences.They are positively correlated with each other in eastern and central regions.However,they are not statistically significant in western.(2)Urbanization promotes economic growth.Sort by the level of impact,the highest in the eastern,followed by the central region,and the weakest in the western.(3)The impact of economic growth on carbon emissions has regional differences.They are negative correlated with each other in eastern,but they are positive correlated with each other in the central and western regions.(4)There are regional differences in the impact of financial development on carbon emissions.They are negatively related to each other in eastern and western regions,which are beneficial to energy conservation and emission reduction,and the extent of impact in the east is much higher than in the west.In central region,financial development will promote carbon emissions;(5)Urbanization promotes carbon emissions,the degree of influence will decrease order by central,western and eastern regions of the country.In order to achieve the adaptation and coordination of financial development,urbanization,economic growth and carbon emission,and based on the research conclusions,the following policy recommendations are proposed:(1)Adapting to local conditions,nurturing financial development models and urban construction concepts with regional characteristics,and guiding regional cooperation;(2)Guiding industrial upgrading and promoting low-carbon economy development model;(3)Adhering to the concept of green finance,improving the level of financial development,and making it play a role in carbon reduction;(4)Improving the level and quality of urbanization,and building new green cities and towns.