The welfare performance of low-carbon city practice: An innovative tool for assessing urban sustainable development

Extreme climate change is challenging the sustainable development of human beings. The practice of low-carbon cities is an urgent mission worldwide. While previous studies evaluate low-carbon cities from either an input or output perspective, lacking of evaluation based on welfare perspective. This study introduces an innovative tool, the Welfare Performance of Low-Carbon City Practice (WPLCC), to assess urban sustainable development performance. The Super-SBM method is employed as the measurement model. An empirical study of 256 Chinese cities from 2006 to 2020 reveals the spatial-temporal evolution of WPLCC. The findings indicate that: (1) there is an imbalance in WPLCC in China, with the ecological welfare transformation stage significantly outperforming the production transformation stage. (2) Spatially, the overall WPLCC in China shows a circular distribution pattern, exhibiting poor performance in central areas and better performance in surrounding regions. (3) WPLCC performances display significant regional heterogeneity; for example, four municipalities excel in both production and welfare transformation stages. (4) Tailored strategies should be implemented based on performance types and low-carbon process while maintaining policy flexibility. The developed evaluation tool provides a novel perspective for LCC assessment, and empirical findings can offer valuable insights for formulating effective strategies to achieve urban sustainable development goals.