How does Low-Carbon Development of Logistics and Tourism Contribute to China's Economy? Evidence from Technological Innovation and Renewable Energy

With the intensification of the conflict between environmental pollution and economic growth, low-carbon development has increasingly become one of the important goals for the sustainable development of various industries. Using panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2019, this paper adopts fixed effect models and threshold effect models to study the non-linear threshold effects of low-carbon development of logistics and tourism on economic growth from the perspective of technological innovation and renewable energy. We find that (1) low-carbon development of logistics and tourism can promote economic growth. Meanwhile, technological innovation and renewable energy have a positive impact on the low-carbon development of logistics and tourism; (2) only when the level of technological innovation development reaches a certain threshold will the low-carbon development of logistics promote economic growth significantly; (3) with the increasing use of renewable energy, the promoting effects of low-carbon development of logistics and tourism on economic growth are gradually enhanced; (4) in advancing economic growth via low-carbon logistics development, these threshold effects exhibit pronounced regional heterogeneity, reflecting varied characteristics across different areas. That is to say, in each threshold interval, the promoting effect of low-carbon development of logistics in central and western regions on economic growth are stronger than those in eastern region. Based on this, promoting low-carbon development in the logistics and tourism industries, while improving technological innovation and increasing the use of renewable energy, should be fully considered to effectively achieve economic growth. Furthermore, considering that the low-carbon development of logistics and tourism has become more complex due to regional differences, this paper proposes a targeted differentiated low-carbon development strategy.