Impact of formal and informal environmental regulations on agricultural carbon emissions: Empirical evidence from China

Agricultural carbon emissions (ACE) is a critical contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, which have already become a common challenge for global carbon reduction. As a major agricultural producer and largest carbon emitter, China has made great efforts to reduce ACE. Using the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2022, this study explores the heterogeneous impacts of formal environmental regulations (FER) and informal environmental regulations (IER) on ACE. The results reveal that both FER and IER have significant effect on reducing ACE, with FER showing a more pronounced effect. The mechanism analysis indicates that agricultural technological innovation and planting structure adjustment play important mediating roles in this impact mechanism. The effect of FER is more remarkable in major grain producing areas than in non-major grain producing areas, while the effect of IER is completely opposite. Compared with coastal regions, both FER and IER have significant inhibitory effect on ACE in inland regions. Additionally, the marketisation level may reinforce the inhibitory effect of both FER and IER on ACE. Based on the empirical results, this study suggests to strengthen the synergistic effect of FER and IER, promote agricultural technology innovation, and formulate targeted policies according to regional differences.