Abstract
The Basin Horizontal Ecological Compensation Mechanism (BHEC) is a significant institutional innovation in China’s water environment management, aimed at achieving green, low-carbon, and high-quality development in the basin. This paper examines the current status of the spatial association network of green low-carbon development in Xin’an River basin, using social network analysis based on data from prefecture-level cities between 2006 and 2019. Using a dual difference model, the paper explores the important role of BHEC in promoting green low-carbon development from the perspectives of production and consumption and analyzes the path of BHEC’s promotion of green low-carbon development in detail. The results indicate that (1) the green low-carbon development in the Xin’an River basin is universally connected in space, but this connection is uneven among the cities in the basin, presenting a network spatial structure with the central region as the core and the north and south regions approaching the core. (2) BHEC contributes to green low-carbon development, and the “two-wheel drive” of green technology progress and green technology efficiency is essential to improve green low-carbon development. (3) From the perspective of consumption affecting green low-carbon development, the positive impact of BHEC on green low-carbon development is inseparable from the synergistic guarantee of public participation. (4) From the production side of green low-carbon development, the ecological effect, structural effect, and technological effect are significant transmission factors of compensation policies affecting green low-carbon development. (5) The “blood transfusion” pilot policy is more helpful to improve green low-carbon development, and compensation policy has positive spillover effects. Finally, the paper argues that the trans-basin ecological compensation policy is expected to become a long-term mechanism to promote green low-carbon and high-quality development in the basin, providing a theoretical and practical basis for developing countries to achieve green low-carbon development through an ecological compensation system.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article.
Notes
Unfortunately, due to the lack of Baidu Index data before 2011, interpolation method is used to complete, which may lead to a decline in the timeliness of observations and data.
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We will thank the editor in charge and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions on the early draft of this article. As a rule, the author should be responsible for any remaining omissions.
Funding
This work was supported by the General Program of National Social Science Fund (21BGL167): Research on the Green Benefit Sharing Mechanism of Ecological Protection in the Yangtze River Basin (2021–2024). Additionally, the National Social Science Fund Major Program (21&ZD101): Research on the Realization Path and Policy System of High Quality Development of China’s Food Industry.
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Conceptualization, Tianshu Quan, Hui Zhang; methodology, Tianshu Quan, Binqiang Lu, and Jing Li; software, Tianshu Quan and Jing Li; validation, Tianshu Quan and Jing Li; formal analysis, Tianshu Quan and Binqiang Lu; resources, Tianshu Quan; data curation, Tianshu Quan and Jing Li; writing—original draft preparation, Tianshu Quan, Jing Li, and Hui Zhang; writing—review and editing, Tianshu Quan and Hui Zhang; visualization, Tianshu Quan; supervision, Tianshu Quan.; project administration, Hui Zhang; funding acquisition, Hui Zhang.
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Quan, ., Zhang, H., Li, J. et al. Horizontal ecological compensation mechanism and green low-carbon development in river basins: evidence from Xin’an River basin. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 88463–88480 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28679-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28679-3