The Impact of Governments’ Environmental Attention on Carbon Reduction: Threshold Effect and Moderating Effect

The carbon-reducing effect of attention is scarcer than that of material resources, and when the government focuses its attention on the environment, resources will be allocated in a direction that is conducive to reducing carbon. Using panel data and government work reports from 30 Chinese provinces from 2007 to 2019, this study revealed the non-linear impact of governments’ environmental attention on carbon emissions and the synergistic mechanism between governments’ environmental attention and informatization level. The findings suggested that (1) governments’ environmental attention had the effect of reducing carbon emissions; (2) the emission-reducing effect of governments’ environmental attention was more significant in the western region but not in the central and eastern regions; (3) there was a significant threshold effect on the carbon reduction effect of governments’ environmental attention; (4) informatization level played a positive moderating role in the relationship between governments’ environmental attention and carbon emissions. Based on the findings, this study proposed policy implications from the perspectives of promoting the sustainable enhancement of environmental attention, bringing institutional functions into play, emphasizing the ecological benefits and strengthening the disclosure of information.