Spatiotemporal characteristics and strategies of synergistic effect of pollution and carbon reduction in China

With the shift in international environmental ideology from a focus on pollutant treatment to an emphasis on carbon emissions, global environmental governance is accelerating its transition to a coordinated model of pollution and carbon emission reduction. This paper expounds on the relationship between environmental pollution and carbon emission in different fields, makes a systematic compilation of the research progress on the coordinated effect of pollution and carbon reduction both domestically and internationally, and analyses the spatiotemporal characteristics and influencing factors of the coordinated effect of pollution and carbon reduction in China. The results indicate that while pollutants are emitted in various domains such as water, atmosphere and soil, there are also emissions of greenhouse gases such as CH₄ and CO₂, and there is potential for coordinated emission reduction between pollutants and carbon. The degree of coordination between pollutant and carbon reduction in China exhibited a fluctuating upward trend from 2006 to 2019, but there have been noticeable differences among the regions of East China, West China, North China and South China, generally showing a pattern of "higher in the east and lower in the west, higher in the south and lower in the north". The coordination effect is mainly influenced by the energy structure, industrial structure, transportation structure and land use structure, while various factors such as economic growth, technological innovation capacity, population density, emission reduction policies and lifestyle directly or indirectly affect the coordinated effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. In addition, strategic proposals are made to promote the coordination of pollution and carbon reduction: taking source prevention and adhering to coordination as the central tenet; accelerating the fundamental transformation of the energy structure and industrial structure; focusing on promoting the green transformation of transportation and lifestyles; emphasizing diversified research on technological innovation and basic scientific research; strengthening the close interaction of differentiated management and multi-party coordination; and conducting coordinated assessments in key regions and key industries