Does Climate Risk Impacts Government Environmental Concern in China? Insights from the Volatility of Spatial Spillover Effects

This study used the spatial Durbin model to investigate the responses of local governments to environmental stressors by analyzing panel data from 285 cities in China during 2013 to 2022, with the aim of assessing the impact of climate risk on government environmental concern. The findings indicated that escalating climate risks are associated with heightened governmental attention to environmental issues. Notably, these responses extend beyond individual jurisdictions, influencing neighboring areas, with the magnitude of such spillover effects varying according to geographic proximity. To capture regional heterogeneity, variables including population density and natural resource endowment, were integrated to enable the identification of differentiated diffusion patterns across city categories. Moving beyond previous studies focused primarily on national-level policies or static impact assessments, the study makes the following contributions: (1) introducing a text-based metric for tracking local environmental priorities from official reports, (2) applying a flexible spatial matrix to detect variations in policy transmission over distance, and (3) highlighting how local characteristics shape climate-related governance interactions. Additionally, these insights support the development of more regionally adaptive and collaborative climate policy frameworks.