How to achieve green growth in China's agricultural sector.

Green development is the direction of China's agricultural sector. Investigating the main influencing factors of the agricultural sector's CO 2 emissions will help plan agricultural development and achieve low-carbon growth. This paper selects 2001–2016 panel data of China's 30 provinces, and uses the nonparametric additive regression models to investigate the agricultural sector's CO 2 emissions. The empirical results show that economic growth, financial capacity, and energy intensity all have a "pull first, then restrict" inverted U-shaped nonlinear effect on CO 2 emissions. However, the influencing mechanisms of these three influencing factors are different and need to be paid attention by relevant government departments. More complicated, the impact of urbanization on CO 2 emission shows a gentle "M-shaped" pattern. In addition, an inverse "N-shaped" nonlinear link exists between trade openness and CO 2 emissions. Therefore, government departments should formulate differentiated emission reduction policies at different stages. • The drivers of CO 2 emissions in China's agriculture sector are investigated. • Financial capacity has an inverse "U-shaped" effect on CO 2 emissions. • The impact of urbanization on CO 2 emission shows a gentle "M-shaped" pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]