Differential characteristics of carbon emission efficiency and coordinated emission reduction pathways under different stages of economic development: Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta, China

Regional carbon emission efficiency (CEE) has differentiated characteristics under different economic development stages and patterns, and identifying such characteristics is important for formulating corresponding policies for high-quality regional development. Using input‒output data related to economic development and energy consumption, a comprehensive evaluation model of the Super-SBM and Malmquist‒Luenberger (ML) index is constructed to evaluate the spatial and temporal changes and driving forces of CEE. Based on this index, a proposal is designed for collaborative carbon emission reduction zoning. The results indicate that the CEE of the Yangtze River Delta shows a fluctuating upward trend with obvious spatial agglomeration characteristics, and CEE changes are closely related to economic development stages. The annual average CEE values in each stage show positive changes, indicating that economic development gradually evolves to low carbonization levels. Moreover, CEE improvement gradually shifts from being driven by efficiency changes to being driven by technological changes. Finally, according to the characteristics of total carbon emissions and the efficiency of different cities, a synergistic emission reduction path is proposed with four aspects: land use optimization, ecological co-preservation, innovation cooperation and low carbon development.