Promoting or Inhibiting? The Impact of Urban Land Marketization on Carbon Emissions in China

Urban land marketization is a strategy to alleviate land resource misallocation caused by government intervention, but there has been a debate regarding its effectiveness in reducing carbon emissions. This study examines the impact of market-oriented allocation of land resources on carbon emissions using panel data from 284 Chinese cities from 2007 to 2021. The results indicate four findings: (1) Urban land marketization can effectively reduce both the total carbon emission and carbon emission intensity, especially in the central and western cities, non-provincial capital cities, and resource-dependent cities. (2) Promoting land financing, expanding trade openness, and stimulating entrepreneurship are all significant mechanisms for the carbon emission reduction effect of urban land marketization. (3) As per capita income and environmental regulation increase, the impacts of land marketization on carbon emissions are nonlinear. (4) Surrounding cities’ carbon emissions are not mitigated due to administrative border barriers and regional protectionism. This paper sheds light on the role of land marketization in carbon emission reduction and thus provides practical policy implications for promoting economic transition and low-carbon development.