Low-carbon city pilot policies and urban carbon productivity improvement: An empirical analysis from the perspective of green competitiveness

In 2010, the Chinese government officially launched the Low-carbon city pilot policy (LCPP) to promote the construction of ecological civilization and drive green and low-carbon development. In this context, this paper examined the impact of the LCPP on the urban carbon productivity and its heterogeneity, using the difference-in-difference (DID) model with the panel data from 260 Chinese cities during the period from 2006 to 2019. The findings indicate that LCPP has exerted a long-term and significantly positive impact on the improvement of urban carbon productivity. Furthermore, this paper innovatively introduces the urban green competitiveness for mechanism analysis. The findings of mechanism test indicate that LCPP improves urban carbon productivity by enhancing the green competitiveness of pilot cities. Based on the above research results, this paper suggests that the government should further expand the scope of the pilot and strengthen the policy guidance. In particular, it is imperative for governments pay attention to the regional heterogeneity, formulate appropriate complementary measures and focus on providing long-term support for the low-carbon transition of cities. • Low-carbon city pilot policy can improve the carbon productivity of cities. • The impact of Low-carbon city pilot policy is long-term. • Regional heterogeneity in the impact of Low-carbon city pilot policy. • Green competitiveness is an important impact mechanism.