Study On The Impact Of City Size Andother Factors On Carbon Emissions

Under the "new normal" of economy,green and low carbon is the trend of the times,besides,green hills and clear water is the pursuit of the whole people.To promote the national eco-civilization construction and the green and low-carbon sustainable development,and to reach the action goals of China in controlling greenhouse gas emissions,the National Development and Reform Commission has solicited opinions and selected pilots throughout the whole country for three times since July 2010.After that,6 pilots at province level and 81 pilots at city(or district & county)level were announced in succession,trying to lead and demonstrate the construction and development of low-carbon cities all over China.This paper is devoted to study the influencing mechanism between city size and urban carbon emissions.Firstly,it conducts descriptive statistical analysis on the four years’ panel data of 117 cities throughout the country.Secondly,it conducts in-depth empirical analysis from three different perspectives: population scale,region,and pilot.Finally,it further uses DID model(Difference-in-Difference model)to analyze the changes in carbon emissions of low-carbon pilot cities after implementing relevant policies.This thesis draws the following conclusions after researches: per capita GDP is significantly positively correlated with per capita carbon emissions;population size(permanent resident population),per unit land area GDP and average wages of employees all have significant inhibitory effect on per capita carbon emissions;the amount of buses owned per 10,000 people also can exert inhibitory effect on per capita carbon emissions,but the result is not significant.In the short term,there is no inhibitory impact of low-carbon pilot cities on per unit GDP carbon emissions and per capita carbon emissions.The research results and policy suggestions proposed in this thesis have certain guiding significance for realizing green and low-carbon sustainable development through scientifically and rationally planning city size and implementing relevant policies of low-carbon pilot cities.