Evaluation on evolution of spatial relationship between carbon emissions and economic growth in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei...

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is not only an important economic center in China, but also one of the major regions contributing to China's carbon emissions. Revealing the spatial distribution between carbon emissions and economic growth is essential for the formulation of low-carbon development policies. Following the principle from macro to micro, this paper investigates the spatial evolution trend and distribution characteristics between carbon emissions and economic growth in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from 2005 to 2020 by applying imbalance index model, the rank-scale rule, and decoupling index model. The results show that the imbalance index of carbon emissions decreased between 0.0601 and 0.0533 in a fluctuating way, indicating that the imbalance of spatial distribution of carbon emissions decreases. The imbalance index of economic growth increased between 0.0738 and 0.0851, indicating that economic growth has become more disequilibrated, and the spatial evolution of carbon emissions is not coordinated with economic growth. The Zipf dimension of carbon emissions declined from 1.1806 in 2005 to 0.9594 in 2020, and carbon emissions declined in big cities and increased in cities of the middle order. The Zipf dimension of economic growth increased from 1.1384 in 2005 to 1.2388 in 2020, and the economic growth monopoly in big cities increased. The decoupling coefficient of carbon emissions to economic growth declined, and the driving effect of economic growth on carbon emissions diminished. It is recommended that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region should coordinate the allocation of factors and coordinate industrial adjustment. Hebei should accelerate industrial upgrading and establish a diversified industrial system.