The Impact Mechanism of Land Use Benefits on Urban Carbon Emission Intensity: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration

Efficient land use is important to low-carbon urban development. Taking 26 cities in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration as the sample, this study constructs an evaluation index system for land use benefits covering economic, social, and ecological dimensions. The entropy method is used to measure comprehensive land use benefit scores from 2000 to 2024. Two-way fixed effects models, parallel mediation models, and spatial autocorrelation analysis are employed to examine the impact mechanism and spatial heterogeneity of land use benefits on urban carbon emission intensity. Results show that improving land use benefits significantly reduces carbon emission intensity. The mediating pathways all exhibit significant indirect emission reduction effects, collectively forming a suppression effect. Spatial analysis reveals that carbon emission intensity displays an agglomeration pattern that first strengthens and then weakens, with hot spots shifting westward and cold spots contracting eastward. These findings provide scientific evidence for optimizing territorial spatial patterns and formulating differentiated emission reduction policies in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration.