Towards Carbon Neutrality: A Comprehensive Analysis on Total Factor Carbon Productivity of the Yellow River Basin, China.

Increasing total factor carbon productivity (TFCP) is crucial to mitigate global climate change and achieve carbon neutrality target. The Yellow River Basin is a critical energy area in China, but its TFCP is relatively low, which results in particularly prominent environmental problems. This paper investigates TFCP using MCPI, Global Moran's I and kernel density estimation based on panel data of the 9 provinces along this vast basin in 2007–2017. The results demonstrate that: the average value of TFCP fluctuates around 1 and overall TFCP evolution exhibits significant spatial aggregation effect, and technological progress is the dominant impetus for TFCP growth. At regional level, regional heterogeneities of TFCP change and its dynamics exactly exist, with Qinghai the lowest performance and Shandong the highest performance. Moreover, global Moran's I index reflects there is a significant positive spatial correlation between provincial TFCP, and cumulative TFCP takes on a certain degree of club convergence features. Furthermore, specific and targeted recommendations have drawn from this paper, in particular for the Yellow River Basin, to increase TFCP and achieve sustainable development in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]