Can green infrastructure investment influence low-carbon urbanization: Empirical evidence from China

Abstract Promoting new urbanization based on the concept of green development is an essential path and inherent requirement for China's modernization, and the impact of green infrastructure investment on low-carbon urbanization development urgently needs to be explored. This article, based on panel data from 203 prefecture-level cities and above in China from 2010 to 2020, employs a two-way fixed effects model to investigate the impact of green infrastructure investment on enhancing low-carbon urbanization development and its potential channels. The study finds that: (1) Investment in green infrastructure significantly promotes the development of low-carbon urbanization, a result that remains robust after a series of tests. (2) The impact of green infrastructure investment on low-carbon urbanization development varies across cities with different geographical locations, sizes, and resource endowments. The role of green infrastructure investment is more pronounced in promoting low-carbon urbanization in eastern cities, medium-sized cities, and non-resource-based cities, while its impact is relatively weaker in central and western cities, large and small cities, and resource-based cities. (3) Mechanism analysis indicates that green infrastructure investment promotes low-carbon urbanization development by enhancing total factor energy efficiency and facilitating industrial structure upgrading.