Coupling Coordination of Carbon Cutting, Pollution Reduction, and Economic Growth in China: Spatiotemporal Evolution, Regional Differences, and Influence Factors

Under China’s “dual-carbon” goal, it is necessary to coordinate the relationship between economic growth and emission reduction. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2021, this paper explores the coordination level among carbon cutting (CC), pollution reduction (PR), and economic growth (EG) by using the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model, a cold and hot spot analysis, and the Dagum Gini coefficient. Furthermore, we analyze the influencing factors of CCD from a spatial perspective using the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. The results show that the coordination level of CC, PR, and EG in China has continued to improve and entered a moderately coordinated stage. Meanwhile, regional differences are also evident. The eastern region is a high-CCD concentration area, while the northwest and northeast regions are low-CCD concentration areas. However, inter-regional differences in CCD are decreasing. Urbanization, foreign direct investment, and new quality productive forces contribute significantly to achieving synergies among CC, PR, and EG. However, the effect of industry digitization on CCD fails the significance test in most provinces. The effects of the factors on CCD exhibit obvious spatial heterogeneity characteristics. These findings can provide an important basis for the formulation of regionally differentiated green and low-carbon development policies.