Research on the “combination punch” effect of heterogeneous environmental regulation linkage on carbon productivity

Abstract

Abstract Building an effective environmental regulation “combination punch” to improve carbon productivity is of great significance for achieving the “dual carbon” goal. Taking 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in my country as research cases, the Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) method is used to explore the impact of command-and-control, market incentive, voluntary and recessive environmental regulation linkages on carbon productivity. The research found that: ① A single type of environmental regulation antecedent condition does not constitute a necessary condition for the improvement of carbon productivity, and the linkage of heterogeneous environmental regulation has a significant “combination punch” effect on the improvement of carbon productivity. ②There are three configuration paths to achieve high carbon productivity, namely active environmental protection under the leadership of market incentive, government restraint and public supervision and promotion type I, and government restraint and public supervision and promotion type II. ③ There is a potential substitution relationship between the combination of robust market incentive and robust voluntary environmental regulation and a single robust command-and-control environmental regulation. The conclusions can provide policy suggestions and useful references for formulating an effective and diversified environmental regulation tool portfolio.