The impact of industrial circular combinations on green low-carbon economy: evidence from national industrial ecological demonstration parks

Throughout the entire lifecycle of products, industrial circular combinations (ICC) enhance resource utilization efficiency by recycling and reusing waste. Compared to traditional production methods, they are more energy-efficient, effective, and low-carbon. This not only improves resource utilization but also promotes collaborative development of green low-carbon economies (GLCE) between regions. This paper integrates ICC into the current production model analysis framework and estimates their impact on GLCE. The study finds that ICC generally promote the GLCE, but this process is constrained by the scale of waste. Once the waste scale exceeds a threshold, it negatively affects the GLCE. Furthermore, the paper finds that ICC represent a Pareto improvement for surrounding cities’ GLCE, with a significant positive impact within a 100-kilometre radius. Beyond this range, the positive impact gradually decreases. The paper suggests that subsidy policies for ICC should be refined for different regions, promoting the development of key economic belts and surrounding urban areas in the direction of ICC, and avoiding abandonment of this production mode due to constraints from waste scale and geographical distance.