Spatial-temporal Patterns and Influencing Factors of Green and Low-Carbon Technology Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Cities

As a crucial motivator for China to advance the ‘dual carbon’ target, Green and low-carbon technology innovation (GLCTI) not only provides a technological path for the realization of carbon reduction, zero carbon, and negative carbon but also plays a role in promoting the low-carbon transformation of the socio-economic development. In this case, it is necessary to explore the spatial-temporal characteristics and influencing factors of GLCTI. Green and low-carbon patent data gathered via a web crawler were utilized to indicate the level of GLCTI from 2002 to 2020. Spatial Analysis, Spatial Autocorrelation, and Spatial Durbin Model were used to investigate the spatial-temporal evolution and influencing factors of GLCTI in China. The results show that: 1) whether it was the number of patents granted or the number of city participation, fossil energy carbon reduction technology had been leading GLCTI across the country; 2) the cities demonstrating stronger GLCTI performance in China are primarily located in the eastern coastal regions and provincial capitals of the central and western areas, with significant spatial differentiation characteristics; 3) Chinese urban GLCTI was booming in low-carbon field, and non-resource-based cities had better conditions for the development of GLCTI; 4) significant spatial spillover effects and path-dependent features were observed in Chinese urban GLCTI. Talent reserve, financial investment, foreign direct investment, urban economic scale, tertiary industry-based industrial structure, and urban air quality are the key variables to enhance cities’ capacity in GLCTI, while the secondary industry-based industrial structure has an inhibitory and constraining effect. The results could provide a practical reference for the development of GLCTI in China and promote the realization of the ‘dual-carbon’ target.