Education and technological innovation in mitigating CO₂ emissions and fostering green economic growth in China: Marginal effects and policy threshold analyses

This study makes a significant contribution to China's ambitious goals of achieving carbon dioxide (CO₂) neutrality and transitioning to green economic growth (GEG), and integrating the theoretical framework of the impact, population, affluence, and technology (IPAT) theory, with real-world application to reduce CO₂ and promote GEG for sustainable development. Furthermore, the study examines the ongoing theoretical debate on whether an inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) exists between technological innovations (TI) in environment-related fields and CO₂ emissions in China, using data from 1990 to 2020 and employing the threshold instrumental variable two-stage least-squares (Th-IV2SLS) model. The findings indicate that all the variables representing education contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions. The cost-effective levels of these variables to achieve CO₂ reduction are as follows: a 93% literacy rate index, 12% education expenditure as a percentage of GDP, and an average of 6 years of schooling. Furthermore, TI also contributes to CO₂ reduction, with a cost-effective level of 10.16% of TI. Educational variables promote GEG, with their respective cost-effective levels being 84% of the literacy rate index, 11.9% of education expenditure as a percentage of GDP, and an average of 5.5 years of schooling. In addition, TI promotes GEG, with a cost-effectiveness level of 10.4%. Moreover, there is a synergistic effect between education and TI that reduces CO₂ emissions; however, the synergy that promotes GEG is relatively weak. Based on these findings, policy recommendations are provided to enhance the effectiveness of education and TI in reducing CO₂ emissions and promoting GEG.