A three-step synergy analysis framework for carbon mitigation and pollution reduction in China

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Climate Change Research
• Urban Planning

Background:

• Coordinated governance of carbon emissions and air pollutants is crucial for optimizing the human-land relationship.
• Systematic tracking of synergistic effects between carbon mitigation (CM) and pollution reduction (PR) requires further theoretical and empirical development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a three-step synergy analysis framework to explore the synergy between CM and PR.
• To analyze the synergy between CM and PR in China's 284 prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2022.

Main Methods:

• Development of a three-step synergy analysis framework: emission synergy, spatial synergy, and response synergy.
• Empirical analysis of CM and PR synergy in 284 Chinese cities over a 17-year period (2006-2022).

Main Results:

• 95.77% of cities showed common reductions in carbon emission intensity and PM2.5 concentration.
• The coupling coordination degree between CM and PR increased from 0.4370 to 0.7384, indicating a shift from a transition to a moderate synergy state.
• Geographical disparities in emission synergy were observed, with central regions lagging behind eastern and western regions; spatial synergy strengthened in the southeast but showed negative relationships in northern cities.

Conclusions:

• Agglomeration, structure, innovation, and policy effects positively influenced synergy, with heterogeneous impacts across different synergy levels.
• Improving CM and PR synergy necessitates strengthening structural and innovation effects, alongside optimizing agglomeration and policy effects.
• Findings offer novel insights for coordinating climate change mitigation and environmental quality improvement.