Interaction of economic agglomeration, energy conservation and emission reduction: Evidence from three major urban agglomerations in China

With the steady progress of regional integration, economic agglomeration effect plays an irreplaceable role in energy conservation and emission reduction. However, there is relatively little research on the two-way effect of economic agglomeration, energy and carbon emissions from a spatial perspective. This paper measures the degree of economic agglomeration from three aspects: factor agglomeration, industrial agglomeration and urban agglomeration in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD) of China. Using spatial simultaneous equation models, the study analyzes the interaction between economic agglomeration, energy intensity and carbon intensity. The results show that the agglomeration level of the PRD and the YRD is higher than the BTH region. The relationship between economic agglomeration and carbon intensity is consistent with the interaction between economic agglomeration and energy intensity. Carbon intensity has spatial spillover effect on economic agglomeration in the three regions. Economic agglomeration has a negative impact on energy intensity in the BTH region. Energy intensity has a negative impact on economic agglomeration in the YRD region, and vice versa. There is an obvious two-way restraining relationship between carbon intensity and economic agglomeration in the PRD region.(c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.