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Measuring and analyzing carbon emission performance of Chinese national urban agglomerations: a static-dynamic integrated approach based on NDDF-GML
- 1 School of Economics & Management, Tongji University
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Urban agglomerations play a pivotal role in China's carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, yet few studies have provided a unified, long-term assessment of their carbon emission performance. This paper addresses this gap by analyzing panel data (2006–2022) from 16 national-level urban agglomerations. Utilizing a Non-Radial Directional Distance Function (NDDF) to calculate the Carbon Reduction Efficiency Index (CREI) and a Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index to measure Total Factor Carbon Emission Productivity (TFCEP), we reveal considerable disparities across regions. Eastern "optimization-enhancing" agglomerations (e.g., Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta) demonstrate consistently high efficiency, sustained by stable technological advances. In contrast, central and western "growth-enhancing" and "development-nurturing" agglomerations (e.g., the Ningxia region along the Yellow River, Central Shanxi) exhibit lower performance but significant potential for improvement. Dynamic analysis indicates an overall upward trend, largely driven by technology gains in advanced regions and efficiency catch-up in less developed ones, despite challenges such as technological lock-in. Dagum's Gini coefficient shows narrowing gaps under coordinated the carbon peaking and the carbon neutrality goals policies, although institutional barriers still restrict cross-regional technology diffusion. These findings underscore the need for region-specific low-carbon strategies that integrate industrial upgrading and innovation support, thereby promoting balanced and sustainable urban development trajectories.
Keywords
carbon emissions, national urban agglomerations, regional disparities, non-radial directional distance function, GML index
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Cite this article
Zhuang,R. (2025). Measuring and analyzing carbon emission performance of Chinese national urban agglomerations: a static-dynamic integrated approach based on NDDF-GML. Journal of Applied Economics and Policy Studies,18(2),61-76.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
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