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Evaluating the low-carbon development of urban China

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Abstract

Facing the ever-increasing serious pollution from carbon emission and the pressing need for sustainable development, China initiated the strategy of low-carbon development in 2010. Since then, eight cities and five provinces have been selected as pilot areas to develop a low-carbon economy. Under such a circumstance, this study aimed to construct a indicator system and evaluating model so that the low-carbon development levels of the pilot cities can be quantified. Therefore, this study, based the on Driving Force–Pressure–State–Impact–Response model, established a regional low-carbon development indicator system. Second, the weight of each indicator was calculated by taking the entropy method. Third, the low-carbon development levels were measured and evaluated by taking the comprehensive approach of Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution. Then, taking 10 cities from those 13 pilot areas as case studies, this study measured and compared the low-carbon development levels of those 10 cities before and after being pilot areas. The research findings showed that though the low-carbon development levels changed greatly, only five pilot cities’ growth rate is positive. The reasons for changes in the low-carbon development levels were analyzed. The urbanization level and energy consumption elasticity coefficient were the main factors affecting the low-carbon development levels. Additionally, the study traced the effective policies hidden behind the indicators, which provided policy insights to help decision makers prepare their low-carbon development strategies, including legislation efforts, economic instrument, renewable energy and energy-saving technology improvement and low-carbon transportation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China Project (71473029, 71103024) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China International (regional) Joint Research Project (71320107006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Management and Economics, Dalian University of Technology, No. 2 Linggong Road, Ganjingzi District, Dalian, 116024, Liaoning, China

    Ying QU & Yue LIU

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  1. Ying QU
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  2. Yue LIU
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Correspondence to Yue LIU.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest. And the founding sponsors had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; and in the decision to publish the results.

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QU, Y., LIU, Y. Evaluating the low-carbon development of urban China. Environ Dev Sustain 19, 939–953 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-016-9777-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-016-9777-8

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