Abstract Achieving global sustainability is heavily reliant on China’s low-carbon transition, considering its position as the world’s top carbon emitter. This study utilizes the super-efficient DEA-SBM model and the Malmquist index to evaluate the efficiency and productivity of China’s provincial low-carbon economic development from 2016 to 2022. A novel evaluation system has been developed, incorporating undesirable outputs such as carbon emissions. The study reveals significant spatial disparities, with coastal provinces like Shanghai (mean efficiency 1.60) outperforming Northeast China’s technical bases like Heilongjiang (0.37). The policy implications emphasize inter-regional technology transfer and innovation-driven decarbonization, providing a methodological framework for multi-dimensional sustainability assessment.
Song et al. (Wed,) studied this question.