Investigating the Role of Education and R&D Investment in Reducing Environmental Pollution in China: An ARDL Analysis

China, as the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), faces the dual challenge of sustaining rapid economic growth while achieving its carbon neutrality targets. Understanding the socioeconomic drivers of emissions is critical for designing effective policies. The current research investigates the impacts of gross domestic product (GDP), education, research and development (R&D), industrialization, and population growth on CO 2 emissions in China from 1990 to 2022. The analysis applies the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing method and verifies the robustness of the results via fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), and canonical cointegrating regression (CCR). This combination allows the study to capture both short-term and long-term dynamics. The findings reveal that a 1% expansion in GDP raises CO 2 emissions by 0.54% in the long run and 0.36% in the short run, whereas industrialization and population growth also exacerbate emissions. In contrast, education and R&D significantly reduce CO 2 levels, with education lowering emissions by 0.76% in the long run and 0.16% in the short run. These results highlight the critical role of human capital and technological innovation in mitigating ecological degradation. Policy efforts should prioritize integrating environmental education into curricula, expanding investment in green technologies, and restructuring industrial activities toward cleaner production. These insights support China’s pursuit of carbon neutrality by 2060 and provide guidance for international stakeholders seeking sustainable development pathways.