非正式环境规制促进农业碳减排了吗——基于社会公众环境关注的视角

Has Informal Environmental Regulation Promoted Carbon Emis⁃sion Reduction in Agriculture?—From the Perspective of Public Environmental Concern

在“双碳”目标和农业绿色低碳转型的背景下,非正式环境规制对农业碳排放产生的影响亟待探讨。本文基于社会公众环境关注的视角,系统阐释了非正式环境规制影响农业碳减排的内在机制,并选取2011—2021年中国31个省份的面板数据,运用双向固定效应模型、中介效应模型和调节效应模型实证检验了非正式环境规制对农业碳排放的影响效应及作用机制。研究发现:(1)以社会公众为代表的非正式环境规制显著促进了农业碳减排,这一结论在经过一系列稳健性检验和内生性分析后依然成立;(2)机制分析显示,增强正式环境规制力度、促进农业绿色技术创新、降低农业能源消耗强度是非正式环境规制促进农业碳减排的关键路径;(3)数字基础设施在非正式环境规制影响农业碳排放的过程中产生了正向调节作用,即数字基础设施建设水平越高,非正式环境规制促进农业碳减排的作用越大;(4)对于信息化水平高、受教育程度高、金融排斥程度低以及胡焕庸线东侧的区域,非正式环境规制对农业碳排放的抑制作用更大。为此,进一步提升社会公众的环境关注度,充分发挥非正式环境规制的效能,需要拓宽社会公众环境治理参与渠道,优化协同增效环境,提升数字基础设施建设水平,因地制宜采取适合各地区的最优农业碳减排策略。

In the context of the“dual carbon”goal and the green and low-carbon transformation of agriculture,the impact of informal environmental regulations on agricultural carbon emissions is in urgent need of discussion.From the perspective of environmental concern of the public,this paper systematically explains the internal mechanism of informal environmental regulation affecting agricultural carbon emission reduction,and empirically examines the effect and mechanism of informal environmental regulation on agricultural carbon emission by using the two-way fixed effect model,the mediated effect model,and the moderated effect model with the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2021.It is found that:(1)informal environmental regulation represented by the public has significantly promoted agricultural carbon emission reduction,and this conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests and endogenous analysis;(2)mechanism analysis shows that strengthening formal environmental regulation,promoting agricultural green technology innovation,and reducing the intensity of agricultural energy consumption are the key paths for informal environmental regulation to promote agricultural carbon emission reduction;(3)digital infrastructure has a positive moderating effect on the impact of informal environmental regulation on agricultural carbon emissions,that is,the higher the level of digital infrastructure construction,the greater the role of informal environmental regulation in promoting agricultural carbon emission reduction;(4)for regions with high level of informatization,high level of education,low degree of financial exclusion,and the east side of the Hu Huanyong Line,informal environmental regulation has a greater inhibitory effect on agricultural carbon emissions.Therefore,to further enhance the public’s environmental concern and maximize the effectiveness of informal environmental regulation,it is necessary to broaden the channels of public participation in environmental governance,create an optimal synergistic environment,improve the level of digital infrastructure,and adopt the optimal agricultural carbon emission reduction strategies according to local conditions.