Author(s)

Chunyu Peng¹, Wenxing Zhou^2*, Guo Xie², Linyue Ge²

¹Department of Economics, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
²Department of Applied Economics, School of Economics and Business Administration, Chongqing University (Campus A), Chongqing, China.

Allocating the national carbon neutrality target seems to be a difficult problem, in which there is a tradeoff between spatial equity and energy-based efficiency. However, if preferentially developing low-carbon economy for some areas rich in renewable energy sources is a national strategy considering domestic air mobility, then the relationship between equity and efficiency may be balanced. Based on Tone’s Super-SBM model and “Aversion to CO₂”-SBM model with two different scenarios, etc., the results sustain that some provincial regions of China had a bigger contribution to carbon neutrality by improving the energy efficiency under a new hypothetical standard of very low carbon emissions, and the national industrial structure adjustment of China might obtain a longer strategic opportunity period. In addition, the author detected a seemingly bizarre idea from the vast sea of literature, and advisedly named it as “Herman Cycle”. Deduced from the results and inspired by the “Herman Cycle”, this paper proposes an alternative scheme or a strategic path for China to move smoothly towards carbon neutrality in the coming future.

Energy Efficiency, Low-Carbon Dividends, Carbon Neutralization, Sustainable Development, Regional Development Policy

Peng, C. , Zhou, W. , Xie, G. and Ge, L. (2022) Study on Updating the Spatial Strategy for the Carbon Neutrality Target of China. Theoretical Economics Letters, 12, 1749-1772. doi: 10.4236/tel.2022.126095.