The impact of environmental regulation on industrial structure upgrading: A case study of low carbon city pilot policy

This paper uses panel data from 278 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2021 to examine the relationship between low-carbon city pilot policies and industrial structure upgrading. It is found that China's lowcarbon city pilot policy can significantly promote industrial structure upgrading. By enhancing scientific research support and improving the level of urbanization, the low-carbon city pilot policy can promote industrial structure upgrading. Compared to coastal areas in China, the promoting effect of the policy on inland areas is more obvious. The southeastern region shows a stronger promoting effect than the northwestern region. Besides, the impact of the low-carbon pilot policy on industrial structure upgrading has a non-linear characteristic at different carbon emission levels.