Cross-county Carbon Governance in Zhejiang Province, China under Rescaling and Institutional Embedding

Abstract

Abstract Driven by China's dual carbon target and considering the heterogeneity and fragmentation of county-level cities, this study explored cross-county collaborative carbon reduction through regional rescaling and institutional embedding. Taking Zhejiang Province, China, as an example, a cross-county collaborative governance model was established using a gravity model and social network analysis to establish a new carbon governance boundary and a carbon locus of authority and responsibility. The results show that: (1) Counties with higher carbon linkages have linear characteristics, while lower counties have network structures. (2) The direction of county cooperation is central-oriented and geo-oriented. (3) The radiation region of low-carbon counties presents multi-polarization features, including three main growth poles and four secondary growth poles. According to the above, this study breaks through the existing barriers of prefecture-level administrative regionalization to reorganize counties with high interaction intensity of carbon factors. Eventually, the regions of Zhejiang Province were reconstructed into 12 cross-county carbon governance alliances.