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Abstract Global climate change associated with increased carbon emissions has become a global concern. Resource-based cities, by estimations, have emerged as major contributors to carbon emissions, accounting for approximately one-third of the national total. This underscores their pivotal role in the pursuit of carbon neutrality goals. Despite this, resource-based cities have long been neglected in current climate change mitigation policy discussions. Accordingly, using exploratory spatial data analysis and Geographical Weighted Regression method, this study investigates the determinants of carbon emissions and their spatial pattern in 113 resource-based cities in China. It can be concluded that: (1) The proportion of carbon emissions from resource-based cities in the national total has shown a marginal increase between 2003 and 2017, and the emissions from these cities have not yet reached their peak. (2) A relatively stable spatial pattern of “northeast high, southwest low” characterizes carbon emissions in resource-based cities, displaying significant spatial autocorrelation. (3) Population size, economic development level, carbon abatement technology, and the proportion of resource-based industries all contribute to the increase in carbon emissions in these cities, with carbon abatement technology playing a predominant role. (4) There is a spatial variation in the strength of the effects of the various influences.

As an important part of regional coordinated development, the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin has become a national strategy. It is imminent for resource-based cities to perform a high-quality transformation. The analysis of carbon emission efficiency in the Yellow River Basin includes the examination of spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and the main driving factors. This is done by utilizing the super-efficiency SBM-DEA and panel Tobit regression models, with the assistance of night light data. Our findings are as follows: (1) Carbon emissions continue to grow. The "Jiziwan" basin is an area where plenty of high-emitting cities agglomerate. The carbon emission of resource-based cities presents a W-shaped pattern in time. (2) In time, the carbon emission efficiency follows a U-shaped curve. Spatially, the carbon emission efficiency in the middle reaches is comparatively low, whereas it is relatively high in both the upper and lower reaches. And that in high carbon-emitting resource-based cities are in the low to medium range. (3) Carbon emission efficiency has a significant negative relationship with energy intensity, urbanization rate, and population density and a significant positive relationship with industrial proportion. Energy intensity is the most direct driving force. That is to say, we can increase carbon emission efficiency effectively by reducing energy intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the gradual implementation of strategies to achieve the goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality, the heterogeneous performance of low-carbon technological progress driving carbon emission reduction in different situations has become an important basis for targeted technological carbon reduction. As an important special subject of national energy resource security and carbon emission reduction, whether resource-based cities can reach peak carbon emissions simultaneously is a key to the achievement of the ' dual carbon' goals. This paper reviewed the theoretical literature on low-carbon technology progress and carbon emissions in resource-based cities, and extracted the their driving mechanisms. Based on the panel data of 116 prefecture-level resource-based cities in China from 2005 to 2019, this paper innovatively considered six undesirable outputs with resource-based city characteristics to define the low-carbon technological progress of such cities, and used the DEA-Malmquist index model, STIRPAT model, and threshold model to clarify the current situation of low-carbon technological progress and carbon emissions in resource-based cities. The study also carried out a deep analysis of the driving relationship and threshold effect between low-carbon technological progress and carbon emission reduction, and compared and analyzed their multiple heterogeneity. The study found that during the sample period, the low-carbon technology progress of these 116 prefecture-level resource-based cities showed a phased upward trend, and that carbon emissions had obvious regional heterogeneity and type heterogeneity. The progress of low-carbon technology in resource-based cities had a certain inhibitory effect on carbon emissions and presented type heterogeneity, regional heterogeneity, and a double threshold effect. In different threshold ranges, the driving effects of low-carbon technology on carbon emission reduction effect and carbon emission reduction rebound effect were different. The driving effects of other seven control variables, such as gross domestic product, command-based environmental regulation, market-based environmental regulation, voluntary environmental regulation, industrial structure, energy consumption structure, and foreign direct investment, on carbon emissions were also different. Finally, based on the research conclusions, regarding different regional resource-based cities, different types of resource-based cities, and different levels of low-carbon technology progress in resource-based cities, policy recommendations related to low-carbon technology progress and carbon emission reduction are proposed in a targeted manner, aiming to promote the improvement of low-carbon technology progress in resource-based cities and the simultaneous achievement of carbon emission reduction targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and low-carbon strategies represent governance orientations for resource-based cities to respond to global changes and achieve sustainable development. Designating the Yellow River Basin (YRB), an important ecological functional area and an ecologically fragile area, as the research area, this study used the super-efficiency SBM model while considering undesirable outputs, including carbon emissions, to analyze green land use efficiency (GLUE) and its temporal and spatial differentiation, then used the Tobit regression model to analyze the influencing factors. The results were as follows: (1) The GLUE of the YRB presented a spatial pattern of "high in the west and low in the east". (2) Overall, the efficiency values of all areas and types increased annually, but differences occurred in various areas and types of resource-based cities. (3) Overall, the efficiency values of the Yellow River Basin showed a "high-low" polarization. (4) Economic development and population growth factors substantially impacted the GLUE of resource-based cities in this region. It is concluded that increasing the efficiency improvement of low-efficiency regions or cities can improve regional GLUE. To ensure regional green and low-carbon transformation and development, it is essential to enhance urban economic vitality, promote an orderly population flow, and strive to improve social and public services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and low-carbon strategies represent governance orientations for resource-based cities to respond to global changes and achieve sustainable development. Designating the Yellow River Basin (YRB), an important ecological functional area and an ecologically fragile area, as the research area, this study used the super-efficiency SBM model while considering undesirable outputs, including carbon emissions, to analyze green land use efficiency (GLUE) and its temporal and spatial differentiation, then used the Tobit regression model to analyze the influencing factors. The results were as follows: (1) The GLUE of the YRB presented a spatial pattern of “high in the west and low in the east”. (2) Overall, the efficiency values of all areas and types increased annually, but differences occurred in various areas and types of resource-based cities. (3) Overall, the efficiency values of the Yellow River Basin showed a “high-low” polarization. (4) Economic development and population growth factors substantially impacted the GLUE of resource-based cities in this region. It is concluded that increasing the efficiency improvement of low-efficiency regions or cities can improve regional GLUE. To ensure regional green and low-carbon transformation and development, it is essential to enhance urban economic vitality, promote an orderly population flow, and strive to improve social and public services.

Resource-based cities generally face the dual pressures of ecological damage and high carbon emissions. Taking the National Sustainable Development Plan for Resource-Based Cities (NSDP) issued in China as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper for the first time, uses the difference-in-difference method to test the coordinated effect of green expansion and carbon reduction brought by NSDP at the county level using rich remote sensing data. The results show that NSDP has significantly promoted the ecological quality improvement and CO 2 emission mitigation in resource-based cities, and the above coordinated benefits mainly occur in energy, mature, declining, northeastern, and municipal resource-based cities. Through the mechanism analysis, we find that NSDP mainly works by promoting the transformation of industry sector to agriculture, animal husbandry, accommodation and catering, finance, and environment management sectors, which are reflected in output, employment, product yield, land type and land transaction area. Further discussion on the tertiary industry suggests that developing tourism, easing financing constraint and strengthening environment regulation, are the key channels to borne fruit in green expansion and carbon reduction. • Analysis of placed-based policy on resource at the county-level. • Coordinated effects of green expansion and carbon reduction are tested. • Key areas of policy effects are identified. • Industrial structure transformation and its related mechanisms are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities consume most of the global energy and account for approximately 75% of global CO 2 emissions. Moreover, resource-based cities tend to consume higher amounts of fossil fuel and produce higher carbon emissions than other cities, whereas there are still insufficiencies about energy carbon reduction in resource-based cities in developed urban agglomerations. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the energy planning of such cities to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and this is crucial for achieving carbon neutrality in urban agglomerations. This study aims to apply a scenario-based analysis approach to a resource-based heavy industrial city in China, Tangshan, based on the Long-range Energy Alternative Planning model, to explore Tangshan's future energy consumption, generation, and associated carbon emissions from 2010 to 2050. The impacts of different energy policies are analyzed for the Tangshan energy system by considering four scenarios. Under each scenario, energy consumption increased steadily by 2050, but the growth rate is different. The business as usual scenario is the fastest, and the low-carbon scenario is the slowest. In the comprehensive and integrated low-carbon transition scenarios, CO 2 is expected to peak at 298.34 million tons (Mt) in 2028. The main industrial sectors of Tangshan with high output value, high energy consumption, and high carbon emissions include smelting and pressing of ferrous metals, petroleum processing and coking, raw chemical materials and chemical products, etc. Combining Tangshan's coal resource endowment, the development of renewable energy, and introducing advanced technology can effectively reduce carbon emissions and increase the diversity of energy supply. We analyzed the cost-benefit of the energy system and found that the implementation of carbon capture and storage technology could effectively reduce carbon emissions by 219.62 Mt and increased costs by 563.12 billion yuan. The research could provide a scientific basis for the medium and long-term energy sustainable transformation of resource-based cities, especially for resource-based cities in urban agglomerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon intensity of China's resource-based cities (RBCs) is much higher than the national average due to their relatively intensive mode of development. Low carbon transformation of RBCs is an important way to achieve the goal of reaching the carbon emissions peak in 2030. Based on the panel data from 116 RBCs in China from 2003 to 2018, this study takes the opening of high-speed railway (HSR) lines as a quasi-experiment, using a time-varying difference-in-difference (DID) model to empirically evaluate the impact of an HSR line on reducing the carbon intensity of RBCs. The results show that the opening of an HSR line can reduce the carbon intensity of RBCs, and this was still true after considering the possibility of problems with endogenous selection bias and after applying the relevant robustness tests. The opening of an HSR line is found to have a significant reducing effect on the carbon intensity of different types of RBC, and the decline in the carbon intensity of coal-based cities is found to be the greatest. Promoting migration of RBCs with HSR lines is found to be an effective intermediary way of reducing their carbon intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]