The Effects of Environmental Regulation and Low-Carbon Logistics Capacity on the Level of New Urbanization in Six Central Provinces of China

Abstract

The urbanization of a region is affected by the implementation of various policies, and to explore the specifics of the environmental regulation at today’s new level of urbanization, the increased logistics capacity of a region and the consequent carbon emissions must be the focus of our attention. For the values considered by the study, the six central provinces of China have obvious location advantages and urban–rural differences, so a static panel regression effect model was constructed based on the inter-provincial panel data of the six central provinces of China from 2005–2019, and the entropy weight method was applied to quantify the low-carbon logistics capacity and new urbanization level in the region. The model explores the relationship between environmental regulation, regional low-carbon logistics capabilities, and the level of new urbanization. The results of the study show that the levels of new urbanization in all six provinces are increasing rapidly, year on year. Environmental regulation has a positive impact on regional low-carbon logistics capabilities and the level of new urbanization, and environmental regulation promotes the improvement of the level of new urbanization through a significant positive impact on regional low-carbon logistics capabilities, and there is an intermediary conduction effect. This paper provides valuable reference suggestions for low carbon development and new urbanization in six central provinces through empirical research.