Solar solutions to double dividends: Examining the impact of China's photovoltaic poverty alleviation pilot on pollution and carbon emissions from county-level cities

Understanding whether renewable energy programs with social objectives can generate joint pollution and carbon benefits is important for assessing their broader environmental value. This study evaluates China's Photovoltaic Poverty Alleviation Pilot (PPAP) using panel data for 2594 counties from 2010 to 2023 and a multi-period difference-in-differences design, supplemented by heterogeneity-robust estimators. PPAP reduces county-level pollution and carbon intensity. County innovation capacity and household wealth accumulation may help unlock the environmental potential. The NEBP analysis finds more evident environmental gains in counties with favorable solar conditions and moderate slopes, as well as in poverty-stricken counties. Higher information and stronger local governance capacity are also associated with more pronounced environmental benefits. These findings support regionally differentiated policy expansion that aligns project deployment with local resource conditions and implementation capacity. More broadly, PPAP offers lessons for linking poverty alleviation with low-carbon rural development in less-developed areas.