ABSTRACT
Taking the panel data of 78 cities above the prefecture-level in East China from 2003 to 2017 as a sample, the STIRPAT model is used to empirically analyze the factors affecting carbon emissions in East China. The empirical results find that the carbon emission intensity, population, industrial structure, and innovation level in East China have a positive driving effect on carbon emissions, while education investment level, the level of actual use of foreign capital, and financial development have a depressing effect on carbon emissions. There is an “inverted U”-shaped nonlinear relationship between economic development level and carbon emissions. With the improvement of economic development level, carbon emissions show a trend of rising first and then falling after reaching a peak. Therefore, to reduce carbon emissions in East China, measures should be taken from five aspects: maintaining healthy and stable economic development, optimizing the industrial structure, actively introducing high-quality foreign investment, increasing education funding, and improving innovation capabilities.
