ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Research on Carbon Emission Efficiency
and Its Improvement Path of China’s Provinces
Based on SBM-ML Model and fsQCA Model
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1
School of Economics and Management, Southwest University of Science and Technology,
Mianyang 621010, Sichuan, China
2
School of Environment and Resources, Southwest University of Science and Technology,
Mianyang Sichuan 621010, Sichuan, China
Submission date: 2022-10-05
Final revision date: 2022-10-27
Acceptance date: 2022-11-18
Online publication date: 2023-01-13
Publication date: 2023-02-23
Corresponding author
Pan Jiang
School of Environment and Resources, Southwest University of Science and Technology, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2023;32(2):1239-1251
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ABSTRACT
The realization of the “double-carbon” goal will contribute to the high-quality and sustainable
development of China’s economy and society, while the improvement of carbon emission efficiency in
Chinese provinces will lay a solid foundation for the realization of the “double-carbon” goal. In this
paper, 30 Chinese provinces are selected as research cases. MatLab software is applied to build the
slacks-based measure Malmquist-Luenberger (SBM-ML) model to measure carbon efficiency. By the
analysis of their carbon efficiency with the fuzzy qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method, this
paper aims to find new ways to improve carbon emission efficiency. Among the data of all the provinces
and municipalities, there are only four are greater than 1, revealing much room for improvement
in Chinese carbon emission efficiency. The carbon emission efficiency of each province and municipality
is synergistically influenced by five elements: environmental regulation, urbanization rate, marketization
level, consumer price index, and government environmental expenditure. Different configurations of the
five elements constitute four feasible ways to improve carbon emission efficiency. The total consistency
level of 0.822277 indicates that the four paths are sufficient conditions for achieving high carbon
emission efficiency. The conclusions of this paper are not only helpful in accurately grasping the carbon
emission efficiency in Chinese provinces but also provide theoretical support and practical guidance for
improving the carbon emission efficiency in China.