Spatial - temporal evolution and driving factors of carbon emission efficiency of cities in the Yellow River Basin

Carbon attainment and carbon neutrality are inherent requirements for promoting high-quality development, and the carbon emission efficiency of cities in the Yellow River Basin(YRB) directly affects the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin. In this paper,we measures the carbon emission efficiency of 61 cities in the YRB from 2004 to 2018 using the super-efficiency Slack-Based Measure model (super-efficient SBM model), and explores the spatial and temporal heterogeneity and spillover effects of the new carbon emission efficiency values by combining empirical orthogonal functions and spatial autoregressive models. The results show that: (1) The spatial pattern of cities in the YRB has changed from “pretty high in the centre and low in the surroundings” to “agglomeration in high-value zones as well as dispersion in low-value zones”. (2) GDP per capita and government involvement are positively related to carbon emission efficiency, while GDP per capita squared, energy intensity and industrial structure are negatively correlated with carbon emission efficiency. (3) Reducing the proportion of fossil energy consumption, strengthening government regulation and optimising​ industrial structure are effective ways to improving the efficiency of carbon emissions in the YRB.