Quantifying the Spatial and Temporal Variability of Carbon-Biased Technological Progress and its Driving factors in China

The carbon resource’s role in guiding energy conservation and emission reduction through technological progress has become a focal point in theoretical research and policy discussions. By introducing carbon resource as a production factor into the transcendental logarithmic function, this study comprehensively employs statistical methods and GeoDetector to investigate carbon-biased technological progress in China from 2010 to 2020. The findings reveal an overall U-shaped trend in carbon-biased technological progress. As technology advances, the high-level areas of DLC and DKC shift toward the inland northwest, and each region’s carbon-biased technological progress is demarcated by the Heihe–Tengchong Line, exhibiting higher levels in the northwest and lower levels in the southeast. The spatial variation of carbon-biased technological progress is influenced by multiple factors, with the level of economic development playing a dominant role in the earlier period and the role of R&D investment becoming more significant in the later stage. In-depth research on carbon-biased technological progress is of great significance for optimizing carbon factor market allocation and achieving sustainable green economic development in China.