{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,6]],"date-time":"2026-06-06T15:31:14Z","timestamp":1780759874268,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,4]],"date-time":"2026-02-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770163200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The evaluation of China\u2019s Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy (LCCP) is critical to understanding its role in mitigating climate challenges associated with carbon emissions. While most existing research has concentrated narrowly on emission reductions within pilot cities, broader improvements in emission performance have often been overlooked. To address this gap, our study employs an integrated methodological framework combining Difference-in-Differences (DID) with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), enabling a dual-perspective assessment of policy effectiveness. Baseline regression results confirm that the LCCP has led to a statistically significant decrease in total urban carbon emissions. Pilot cities achieved an average reduction in emission levels that was 4.8 percentage points greater than that of non-pilot cities, underscoring the policy\u2019s tangible impact. Further analysis using DEA reveals a consistent year-on-year enhancement in the dynamic carbon emission performance of these cities. Regionally disaggregated results highlight distinct drivers of low-carbon performance: in low-emission cities such as Huangshan, gains were primarily efficiency-led; in medium-emission cities like Beijing, technological advancement served as the main catalyst; and in high-emission cities including Shanghai, both efficiency gains and technological innovation jointly propelled progress. These findings offer valuable empirical insights for customizing low-carbon transition pathways across cities with varying emission profiles.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems14020170","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,4]],"date-time":"2026-02-04T12:51:56Z","timestamp":1770209516000},"page":"170","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Does China\u2019s Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy Effectively Reduce Carbon Emissions? A Dual Perspective on Carbon Emissions and Efficiency"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Lingqi","family":"Xu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3413-2266","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shuo","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China"},{"name":"Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Han","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106042","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scs.2024.106042","article-title":"Spatiotemporal patterns and the influence mechanism of urban landscape pattern on carbon emission performance: Evidence from Chinese cities","volume":"118","author":"Li","year":"2025","journal-title":"Sustain. Cities Soc."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4354","DOI":"10.1002\/sd.2897","article-title":"How to promote the construction of low-carbon cities in China? An urban complex ecosystem perspective","volume":"32","author":"Zhu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Sustain. Dev."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"142507","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2024.142507","article-title":"Toward dual carbon targets: Spatial correlation on comprehensive carbon emission index in urban agglomerations based on a new evaluation model","volume":"458","author":"Zhang","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101718","DOI":"10.1016\/j.uclim.2023.101718","article-title":"The increasing climate inequalities of urban carbon emissions: The distributional effect of low-carbon city pilot policy","volume":"52","author":"Dong","year":"2023","journal-title":"Urban Clim."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kuang, B., Liu, J., and Fan, X. (2022). Has China\u2019s Low-Carbon City Construction Enhanced the Green Utilization Efficiency of Urban Land?. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 19.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph19169844"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fu, D., and Zhang, L. (2024). How can low-carbon help high-quality urban development?\u2014Empirical evidence from low-carbon city pilot policies. PLoS ONE, 19.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0302683"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"26891","DOI":"10.1007\/s10668-024-04815-y","article-title":"The low-carbon city initiative and urban inbound tourism economy: A spatial difference-in-differences analysis","volume":"27","author":"Gu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Environ. Dev. Sustain."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chen, G., and Liu, C. (2023). Can Low\u2013Carbon City Development Stimulate Population Growth? Insights from China\u2019s Low\u2013Carbon Pilot Program. Sustainability, 15.","DOI":"10.3390\/su152014751"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"26913","DOI":"10.1007\/s10668-024-04816-x","article-title":"Towards sustainable development: The spatial spillover effects of low-carbon city pilot policy on urban energy transition","volume":"27","author":"Liu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Environ. Dev. Sustain."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103954","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scs.2022.103954","article-title":"Does \u201clow-carbon city\u201d accelerate urban innovation? Evidence from China","volume":"83","author":"Zou","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sustain. Cities Soc."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Liu, J., Feng, H., and Wang, K. (2022). The Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy and Urban Land Use Efficiency: A Policy Assessment from China. Land, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/land11050604"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Yan, J., Zhao, J., Yang, X., Su, X., Wang, H., Ran, Q., and Shen, J. (2021). Does Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy Alleviate Urban Haze Pollution? Empirical Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 18.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph182111287"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106636","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eneco.2023.106636","article-title":"Does China\u2019s low-carbon city pilot intervention limit electricity consumption? An analysis of industrial energy efficiency using time-varying DID model","volume":"121","author":"Yang","year":"2023","journal-title":"Energy Econ."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chen, T., and Zhang, Z. (2023). Can the Low-Carbon Transition Impact the Urban\u2013Rural Income Gap? Empirical Evidence from the Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy. Sustainability, 15.","DOI":"10.3390\/su15075726"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"114358","DOI":"10.1007\/s11356-023-30320-2","article-title":"Impact of low-carbon city pilot policies on urban green innovation from the perspective of spatial and temporal heterogeneity","volume":"30","author":"Zhang","year":"2023","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Li, Z., and Liu, Z. (2023). Does environmental regulation affect urban green technology innovation in China? Evidence from the low-carbon city pilot policy. Front. Energy Res., 11.","DOI":"10.3389\/fenrg.2023.1068563"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ren, Y., Yang, F., Liu, K., Liang, T., and Wang, L. (2024). The effects of low-carbon city pilot policy on urban land green use efficiency: Evidence from 284 cities in China. Environ. Dev. Sustain.","DOI":"10.1007\/s10668-024-05006-5"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4725","DOI":"10.1007\/s10668-023-02906-w","article-title":"Evaluating the effect of low-carbon city pilot policy on urban PM2.5: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China","volume":"26","author":"He","year":"2023","journal-title":"Environ. Dev. Sustain."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"46703","DOI":"10.1007\/s11356-023-30203-6","article-title":"Can low-carbon cities increase urban housing prices? Evidence from China\u2019s low-carbon city pilot","volume":"31","author":"Li","year":"2023","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113989","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2024.113989","article-title":"Can low-carbon city pilot policy decrease urban energy poverty?","volume":"186","author":"Song","year":"2024","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"954","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eap.2024.04.029","article-title":"The path toward urban carbon neutrality: How does the low-carbon city pilot policy stimulate low-carbon technology?","volume":"82","author":"Wang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Econ. Anal. Policy"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104815","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cities.2024.104815","article-title":"Does low carbon city pilot promote urban carbon unlocking?\u2014A heterogeneity analysis based on machine learning","volume":"147","author":"Zhu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Cities"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"117363","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jenvman.2023.117363","article-title":"Can low-carbon city construction reduce carbon intensity? Empirical evidence from low-carbon city pilot policy in China","volume":"332","author":"Zeng","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Environ. Manag."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2168","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolecon.2009.02.018","article-title":"Exploring the existence of Kuznets curve in countries\u2019 environmental efficiency using DEA window analysis","volume":"68","author":"Halkos","year":"2009","journal-title":"Ecol. Econ."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"074010","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/aa6b09","article-title":"A Fast Track approach to deal with the temporal dimension of crop water footprint","volume":"12","author":"Tuninetti","year":"2017","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, X.E., Wang, S., Wang, X., Li, W., Song, J., Duan, H., and Wang, S. (2019). The assessment of carbon performance under the region-sector perspective based on the nonparametric estimation: A case study of the northern province in China. Sustainability, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/su11216031"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"351","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cor.2015.07.021","article-title":"Measuring regional efficiency of energy and carbon dioxide emissions in China: A chance constrained DEA approach","volume":"66","author":"Zha","year":"2016","journal-title":"Comput. Oper. Res."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"35200","DOI":"10.1007\/s11356-018-3424-x","article-title":"Comparison of energy consumption of wheat production in conservation and conventional agriculture using DEA","volume":"25","author":"Moradi","year":"2018","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"22087","DOI":"10.1007\/s11356-024-32539-z","article-title":"A DEA game cross-efficiency based improved method for measuring urban carbon emission efficiency in China","volume":"31","author":"Li","year":"2024","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111922","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolind.2024.111922","article-title":"Carbon emission efficiency of land use in urban agglomerations of Yangtze River Economic Belt, China: Based on three-stage SBM-DEA model","volume":"160","author":"Zhang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Ecol. Indic."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Luo, H., and Qu, X. (2022). Spatiotemporal Evolution Trends of Urban Total Factor Carbon Efficiency under the Dual-Carbon Background. Land, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/land12010069"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cui, W., Lin, X., Wang, D., and Mi, Y. (2022). Urban Industrial Carbon Efficiency Measurement and Influencing Factors Analysis in China. Land, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/land12010026"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.1016\/j.spc.2023.09.011","article-title":"China\u2019s cities go carbon neutral: How can new-type urbanization policies improve urban carbon performance?","volume":"42","author":"Cui","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sustain. Prod. Consum."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103862","DOI":"10.1007\/s11356-023-29465-x","article-title":"Impact of China\u2019s carbon emissions trading scheme on urban air quality: A time-varying DID model","volume":"30","author":"Sun","year":"2023","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wen, L., and Sun, S. (2023). The Impact of Urban E-Commerce Transformation on Carbon Emissions in Chinese Cities: An Empirical Analysis Based on the PSM-DID Method. Sustainability, 15.","DOI":"10.3390\/su15075659"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Luo, L., Fu, Y., and Li, H. (2023). Do Urban Innovation Policies Reduce Carbon Emission? Empirical Evidence from Chinese Cities with DID. Sustainability, 15.","DOI":"10.3390\/su15086739"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"533","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2018.02.278","article-title":"Assessing integrated water use and wastewater treatment systems in China: A mixed network structure two-stage SBM DEA model","volume":"185","author":"Zhou","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110941","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2019.110941","article-title":"Regional heterogeneity of China\u2019s energy efficiency in \u201cnew normal\u201d: A meta-frontier Super-SBM analysis","volume":"134","author":"Yu","year":"2019","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1018","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mcm.2012.09.007","article-title":"Regional environmental efficiency evaluation in China: Analysis based on the Super-SBM model with undesirable outputs","volume":"58","author":"Li","year":"2013","journal-title":"Math. Comput. Model."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"280","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolecon.2005.02.004","article-title":"Environmentally sensitive productivity growth: A global analysis using Malmquist\u2013Luenberger index","volume":"56","author":"Kumar","year":"2006","journal-title":"Ecol. Econ."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"183","DOI":"10.1007\/s11123-010-0178-y","article-title":"A global Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index","volume":"34","author":"Oh","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Prod. Anal."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"381","DOI":"10.1111\/0022-4146.00223","article-title":"Accounting for Air Pollution Emissions in Measures of State Manufacturing Productivity Growth","volume":"41","author":"Grosskopf","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Reg. Sci."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"304","DOI":"10.1038\/s41560-023-01209-8","article-title":"Burden of the global energy price crisis on households","volume":"8","author":"Guan","year":"2023","journal-title":"Nat. Energy"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"54","DOI":"10.1038\/s41597-020-0393-y","article-title":"China CO(2) emission accounts 2016-2017","volume":"7","author":"Shan","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sci Data"},{"key":"ref_45","unstructured":"Bureau, C.S.S. (2008). China Statistical Yearbook 2008, National Bureau of Statistics of China."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"140856","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2024.140856","article-title":"Spatial pattern characteristics and optimization policies of low-carbon innovation levels in the urban agglomerations in the Yellow River Basin","volume":"439","author":"Ci","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"123689","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apenergy.2024.123689","article-title":"Study on the spatial network structure of energy carbon emission efficiency and its driving factors in Chinese cities","volume":"371","author":"Cheng","year":"2024","journal-title":"Appl. Energy"},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"169284","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2023.169284","article-title":"How the digital infrastructure construction affects urban carbon emissions\u2014A quasi-natural experiment from the \u201cBroadband China\u201d policy","volume":"912","author":"Xiao","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sci. Total. Environ."}],"container-title":["Systems"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-8954\/14\/2\/170\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,4]],"date-time":"2026-02-04T13:06:49Z","timestamp":1770210409000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-8954\/14\/2\/170"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,4]]},"references-count":48,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2]]}},"alternative-id":["systems14020170"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/systems14020170","relation":{},"ISSN":["2079-8954"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2079-8954","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,4]]}}}