The tug of war between local government and enterprises in reducing China's carbon dioxide emissions intensity

Abstract

The respective interests of local government and enterprises have led to a tug of war that may be affecting the level of carbon dioxide emission reduction intensity in China. In order to investigate the conflicts involved, we build a model to measure the influence of local government and enterprises on actual carbon dioxide emissions reduction levels based on a two-tier stochastic frontier analysis model. This can help identify the attitudes and practical action of Chinese local governments and enterprises towards carbon dioxide emission reduction, and find out the important factors that influence their attitudes towards carbon dioxide emission reduction. The results show that an overwhelming majority of local governments have a greater influence on carbon dioxide emission intensity reduction than enterprises do, with the reduction being driven by the local government, and enterprises generally facing the resulting pressure. In this context, enhancing the participation of enterprises in carbon dioxide emission intensity reduction has become the key to achieving China's reduction targets.