In order to respond to climate change and fulfill international carbon emission reduction commitments, China has carried out a series of low-carbon city pilot projects since 2010. No literature has yet explored the question of whether the pilot low-carbon city policy can enhance the level of sustainable urban development. To this end, based on the panel data of 289 prefectural-level cities in China, this paper uses the low-carbon city pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment to test the impact on the level of sustainable development. Besides, mechanisms of the process are analyzed from the perspective of multiple subjects and the spatial Durbin model is used to verify the spillover effect of policy implementation. The overall regression results show that the low-carbon city pilot policy could significantly promote the sustainable development level of the city. Further analysis reveals that the green technology innovation and the green living standards play an important role between the low-carbon city pilot policy and the level of urban sustainable development. The strength of government environmental regulation also has a significant positive moderating during this process. In addition, there are positive spatial spillover effects and urban heterogeneity of low-carbon pilot policies. These conclusions provide suggestions for promoting the construction of low-carbon cities and enhancing the level of sustainable urban development.

为应对气候变化、践行国际碳减排承诺,中国自2010年起,分三批次进行了一系列低碳城市试点建设工作,当前尚缺乏对政策实施能否提升城市可持续发展水平这一问题的深入探讨。为此,本研究基于2007—2020年中国289个地级市的面板数据,将三次低碳城市试点建设行动作为准自然实验,采用多期双重差分模型检验政策实施对城市可持续发展水平的影响。同时,从多元主体的视角出发对其中的作用机制进行分析,并利用空间杜宾模型对政策实施的溢出效应进行验证。研究结果表明:低碳城市试点政策的实施能够显著促进城市可持续发展水平的提升。进一步分析发现,在低碳城市试点政策影响城市可持续发展水平的过程中,城市企业主体的绿色技术创新和公众主体的绿色生活水平发挥着重要的中介传导作用,政府主体的环境规制力度对低碳城市试点政策的实施效果具有显著的正向调节作用。此外,低碳试点的政策效应还存在显著的空间溢出性与城市异质性。研究结论能够为进一步推进低碳城市建设、提升城市可持续发展水平提供助力。