Emergency management and sustainability: Understanding the link between disaster and citizen participation for sustainability efforts and climate change.

The goal of this study is to examine how disaster experience influences local government views on citizen participation in addressing issues of sustainability, such as climate change. This study considers concepts such as wicked problems, the social order, the environment, economic development, and citizen participation where sustainability can be considered a solution to help manage and solve the challenges of disaster, like climate change. The data are taken from a 2015 International City/County Management Association national survey that examines the link between disaster and sustainability. The results show that more than half of the respondents do not view public participation as having much of an impact on sustainability; however, we can expect public participation to increasingly impact sustainability efforts as communities experience more disaster. This suggests that emergency management needs to understand public pressures regarding wicked problems, such as climate change, to collectively address the global influence of environmental, economic, and social issues that have local effects on their communities.

A study of market segmentation, government competition, and public service efficiency in China: Based on a semi-parametric spatial lag model.

Despite significant growth in fiscal expenditure, the overall level of public services in China remains inadequate. One approach to improving government public service efficiency from the perspective of management psychology is to strengthen government competition. However, only a few studies have explored the improvement of public service efficiency through government competition, with even fewer addressing the phenomena of market segmentation and spatial effects that accompany the process of government competition. This paper aims to fill this research gap by examining the effects of government competition and market segmentation on public service efficiency, as well as their spatial disparities. We initially employs the DEA method to assess the efficiency of public services based on inputs and outputs, and examines its spatial variations. Subsequently, a semi-parametric spatial lag panel model is utilized to validate the effects of market segmentation and government competition on public service efficiency. Our findings indicate that inter-provincial market segmentation leads to a decline in public service efficiency. Moreover, the influence of horizontal competition between local governments on public service efficiency varies depending on the degree of positive and negative effects in their competition dynamics. The impact of vertical competition between central and local governments on public service efficiency is influenced by the degree of fiscal decentralization. When the level of fiscal decentralization is below 0.808, vertical competition between central and local governments has a promoting effect on public service efficiency. However, when the degree of fiscal decentralization exceeds 0.08, this promoting effect weakens and gradually transforms into a negative influence. The insights and evidence provided by this study offer valuable guidance for for effectively reshaping the fiscal relations between the central and local governments in China and improving public service efficiency in the context of a new round of fiscal and tax system reforms.

Association of Park Renovation With Park Use in New York City.

Importance: Equity-driven citywide park redesign and renovation, such as the Community Parks Initiative (CPI), has the potential to increase park use and opportunities for physical activity in underserved communities. Objective: To evaluate changes in patterns of park use following park redesign and renovation in low-income New York City (NYC) neighborhoods. Design, Setting, and Participants: The Physical Activity and Redesigned Community Spaces study was a prospective quality improvement preintervention-postintervention study design with matched control parks. Thirty-three intervention and 21 control neighborhood parks were selected based on specific criteria related to poverty rates, population growth, and population density in park neighborhoods and not having received more than $250 000 in investment in the past 2 decades. Data were collected at baseline (prerenovation) and 2 follow-up points (3 months and 1 year post renovation) between June 5 and December 4 from 2016 to 2022. Participants were individuals observed as users of study parks. Intervention: The CPI, which involved the redesign and renovation of neighborhood parks by the municipal government of New York City. Main Outcomes and Measures: Main outcomes encompassed park use and physical activity levels assessed using the well-validated System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities. Park use was quantified by total number of park users, categorized by age group (≤20 years vs ≥21 years), sex, and physical activity level (sitting or standing vs walking or vigorous activity). Changes in outcomes between groups were compared via the generalized estimation equation. Results: A total of 28 322 park users were observed across 1458 scans. At baseline, 6343 of 10 633 users (59.7%) were 20 years or younger, 4927 of 10 632 (46.3%) were female and 5705 (53.7%) were male, and 4641 of 10 605 (43.8%) were sitting or standing. Intervention parks showed more net park users compared with control parks from baseline to the final follow-up (difference-in-difference relative rate ratio, 1.69 [95% CI, 1.22-2.35] users/scan; P = .002). The association was driven by a significant increase in adult users at intervention parks and overall decrease in all users at control parks. Park users engaging in sitting or standing at intervention parks increased (difference, 4.68 [95% CI, 1.71-7.62] users/scan; P = .002) and park users engaging in walking or vigorous physical activity at control parks decreased (difference, -7.30 [95% CI, -10.80 to -4.26] users/scan; P < .001) over time. Conclusions and Relevance: In this quality improvement study, park redesign and renovation were positively associated with park use in low-income neighborhoods. However, park renovations may need to be accompanied by other programmatic strategies to increase physical activity.

Estimating the Cost of the COVID-19 Response for Local Health Departments: Evidence From Ohio.

This study assessed the staffing allocations and associated costs incurred by Ohio local health departments (LHDs) in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were extracted from the annual financial reports of Ohio LHDs for 2020 and 2021, encompassing a sample of 38 LHDs in 2020 and 60 LHDs in 2021. Descriptive analysis showed that Ohio LHDs committed substantial resources to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although there was considerable variability across LHDs, median staffing and compensation collectively constituted 22% of total staffing and compensation. Multivariate regression analysis found minimal associations between the examined agency and community-level variables and the differences in staffing allocations and associated costs incurred by LHDs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. After decades of underfunding and understaffing, securing sustainable funding will be crucial to equip LHDs across the country with the necessary resources to deliver comprehensive public health services in their communities.

Impacts of digital finance on energy efficiency: does environmental regulation matter?

The paper examines how digital finance affects energy efficiency in China using a dynamic panel model and data from 282 cities between 2011 and 2019. The study is based on the hypothesis which is related with digital finance, environmental regulation, and energy efficiency. The results indicate that: (1) Digital finance significantly improves energy efficiency, and this finding is consistent after several tests; (2) Digital finance has a positive effect on energy efficiency in non-resource-based cities, recession and regeneration resource-based cities, and old industrial base cities, but no significant effect on energy efficiency in growth and maturity resource-based cities and non-old industrial base cities; (3) Environmental regulation positively influences how digital finance affects energy efficiency; (4) The impact of digital finance on energy efficiency depends on the degree and tools of environmental regulation. This research offers valuable insights to local governments in China for promoting financial digitization and enhancing energy efficiency.

Does business environment optimization improve carbon emission efficiency? Evidence from provincial panel data in China.

Previous research has yielded mixed conclusions regarding whether business environment (BE) optimization can enhance carbon emission efficiency (CEE). This study delves into the impact of the BE on CEE using panel data from 30 provinces in China, employing fixed effect, quantile, and mediated effect models. It innovates in three key areas: research perspective, mechanism of action, and heterogeneity analysis. The research found that the BE optimization enhances CEE. Meanwhile, the influence of the BE on CEE exhibits marginal decreasing characteristics. The mechanism analysis reveals that the BE enhances CEE through the industrial structure optimization effect and the progress of green technology, while it diminishes efficiency through the energy rebound effect. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that BE optimization has a stronger impact on improving CEE in provinces with robust government governance, younger governors, and highly educated officials. The policy implication suggests that local governments should continually optimize the BE, enhance government governance capacity, and prioritize the appointment of young and highly educated officials.

Does county financial marketization promote high-quality development of agricultural economy?: Analysis of the mechanism of county urbanization.

China's agricultural economy has been hindered by insufficient accumulation of agricultural capital and credit constraints. It is worth investigating whether China's county financial marketization reform policy can alleviate these constraints and promote high-quality development of the agricultural economy (HQDAE). This paper presents an empirical analysis of the impact of county financial marketization reform on the HQDAE, based on county panel data. The focus is on the mechanism of county urbanization in the above relationship. The results show that county financial marketization has a significant non-linear impact on the HQDAE. Specifically, it has a 'U-shaped' impact on the overall growth of the agricultural economy and an inverted 'N-shaped' impact on the quality improvement of the agricultural economy. Secondly, the relationship between county financial marketization and the HQDAE is influenced by a threshold effect based on the level of county urbanization. As the level of county urbanization increases, the promoting effect of county financial marketization on HQDAE also increases significantly. Additionally, county financial marketization helps to promote county urbanization and accelerate urban-rural integration, which in turn leads to HQDAE. The research in this paper suggests that county-level local governments should promote a differentiated county financial system. In the early stages of financial market-oriented reform, the government should enhance the capacity of financial services in rural areas through tax breaks, policy incentives, and other measures to prevent financial leakage from agriculture. In the later stages of financial marketization reform, the government should strengthen financial supervision to prevent financial resources from being diverted from industry to capital. Moreover, to achieve the HQDAE, it is necessary to promote county financial market-oriented reform and accelerate the construction of county urbanization. This will help break the dual economic structure of urban and rural areas and promote the flow of financial capital, technology, and human capital from county cities to rural areas.

Quality of health service in the local government authorities in Tanzania: a perspective of the healthcare seekers from Dodoma City and Bahi District councils.

BACKGROUND: Improvement and access to quality healthcare are a global agenda. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-3) is committed to ensuring good health and well-being of the people by 2030. However, this commitment heavily depends on joint efforts by local authorities and the immediate service providers to communities. This paper is set to inform the status of health service provision in local authorities in Tanzania using the determinants for quality health services in Dodoma City and Bahi District. METHODS: A cross-sectional research design was employed to collect data from 400 households in the Local Government Authorities. The five-service quality (SERVQUAL) dimensions of Parasuraman were adopted to gauge the quality of service in public healthcare facilities. Descriptive statistics were used to compute the frequency and mean of the demographic information and the quality of health services, respectively. A binary logistic regression model was used to establish the influence of the demographic dimensions on the quality of health services. FINDINGS: The findings revealed that quality health services have not been realised for healthcare seekers. Further, the area of residence, education, and occupation are significantly associated with the perceived quality of health service delivery in the Local Government Authorities. CONCLUSION: The healthcare facilities under the LGAs offer services whose quality is below the healthcare seekers' expectations. The study recommends that the Local Government Authorities in Tanzania strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of health service delivery in public healthcare facilities.

Salary Disparities in Public Health Occupations: Analysis of Federal Data, 2021‒2022.

Objectives. To assess salary differences between workers within key public health occupations in local or state government and workers in the same occupations in the private sector. Methods. We used the US Department of Labor's Occupational Employment and Wage Survey (OEWS). Referencing previous studies matching Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes with health department occupations, we selected 44 SOC codes. We contrasted median salaries in OEWS for workers in each occupation within state or local government with workers in the same occupations outside government. Results. Thirty of 44 occupations paid at least 5% less in government than the private sector, with 10 occupations, primarily in management, computer, and scientific or research occupations paying between 20% and 46.9% less in government. Inspection and compliance roles, technicians, and certain clinicians had disparities of 10% to 19%. Six occupations, primarily in social work or counseling, paid 24% to 38.7% more in government. Conclusions. To develop a sustainable public health workforce, health departments must consider adjusting their salaries if possible, market their strong benefits or public service mission, or use creative recruitment incentives such as student loan repayment programs for hard-to-fill roles. (Am J Public Health. 2024;114(3):329-339. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307512).

The impact of green finance and local regulations on industrial green innovation efficiency in China.

When the incentive mechanism of green finance fails to fully promote green technology innovation in industrial enterprises, local government environmental regulations become an important tool in correcting this market failure. However, due to the "follow the cost" hypothesis, the moderating effect of the local government environmental regulation is heterogeneous. In order to explore the impact mechanism of green finance development on the efficiency of green technology innovation in industrial enterprises, spatial effects as well as the heterogeneous moderating effect of local government environmental regulation, this paper systematically evaluates the development level of green finance in 30 provinces in China from 2009 to 2019. It estimates the efficiency of green technology innovation in industrial enterprises using the super-efficiency SBM model, and empirically analyzes the impact mechanism and moderating effect using the spatial Durbin model. The results show that: (1) green finance not only positively impacts the efficiency improvement of green technology innovation in industrial enterprises but also has significant spatial spillover effects; (2) local government environmental regulation has a nonlinear "inverted U-shaped" moderating effect between the green finance development and the efficiency of green technology innovation in industrial enterprises. Based on the research conclusions, this paper proposes policy recommendations from the perspectives of deepening the regional connectivity of green finance and promoting joint regulation by local governments.

Does the local government multi-objective competition intensify the transfer of polluting industries in the Yangtze River Economic Belt?

Exploring the effect of local government multi-objective competition on the transfer of polluting industries is of great practical significance for promoting the high-quality development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. This paper adopted the extended shift-share analysis method to measure the scale of inter-provincial transfer of polluting industries in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2008 to 2020. Considering local governments' economic, innovation, talent and environmental protection competition, the paper examined the effects of local government multi-objective competition on the transfer of polluting industries in the region, and tested its spatial spillover effects. The results showed that: 1. Different competitions had different effects on the transfer of polluting industries. Economic competition intensified the transfer of polluting industries, while talent, innovation, and environmental protection competition all restrained it, among which environmental protection competition had the strongest restraining effect. 2. Compared with the transfer of polluting industries, the direction of economic competition and environmental protection competition on the transfer of industries did not change, but the degree of influence was reduced, talent competition instead promoted industrial transfer of the research region to some extent. 3. From the basin level, government competition in the upstream region more obviously intensified the transfer of polluting industries; while from the economic scale level, the restraining effect of government competition in the developed region on the transfer of polluting industries was much stronger. 4. Both innovation and environmental protection competition had positive spatial spillover effects. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the promotion and assessment mechanism of local officials, adopt differentiated competitive constraint mechanisms in accordance with local conditions, guide local governments to transform their development concepts, promote the sharing and common use of technological innovations, and promote the orderly transfer of industries in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Conducting a Comprehensive Assessment of the Public Health Workforce: Lessons Learned and Opportunities for the Future.

Indiana was one of the earliest states to conduct a comprehensive public health workforce assessment in preparation for the use of federal funds for infrastructure strengthening. Experiences from this assessment provide insights that may be useful to other public health agencies and partners. This brief summarizes key lessons and highlights opportunities for improved workforce assessments. For example, the lack of standardized job titles within local health departments (LHDs) can be mitigated by collecting the top 3 job tasks employees engage in daily and reassigning standardized titles based on nationally collected workforce data. This facilitates comparisons across LHD employees nationally. In addition, many employees felt their job tasks did not align well with the Foundational Public Health Services (FPHS) areas and capabilities, which contributed to the likely overestimation of effort. Further consideration of how to better align and/or integrate FPHS assessment within current practice is needed in addition to improved ways of assessing efforts toward FPHS.

Will economic development come at the cost of environmental pollution under fiscal pressure? evidence from resource-based cities in China.

The traditional view is that local governments are inclined to ease environmental regulations in response to fiscal pressure (FP) and alleviate FP by sacrificing the environment for economic development (ED). This paper takes Chinese Mainland resource-based cities (RBC) as the research sample but draws different conclusions. The research results are as follows: firstly, for RBC, although FP reduces environmental pollution (EP), it is not conducive to ED. Compared with non-resource-based cities (NRBC), the economic negative effect of FP in RBC is more obvious. Secondly, FP is detrimental to ED by reducing EP, and RBC have not sacrificed the environment to promote ED in the context of FP. This paper summarizes that the development path of RBC should be "optimizing government behavior → increasing FP → improving environmental quality → reducing ED level." Thirdly, the impact of FP on cities with slower economic growth and smaller economic gap is greater, and the impact of FP on cities with better environment is more obvious. This paper argues that facing FP, RBC in China will not trade EP for ED; at the same time, we suggest RBC in other countries in the face of the FP, not only thinking of promoting ED at the expense of the EP and ease the FP, but also the development of green ecological requirement, overall consideration of the relationship between EP and ED, and then achieve green and sustainable ED without degrading the environment as far as possible.

A game-theoretic approach to promoting waste management within the framework of a circular economy: implications for environmental protection.

Currently, waste management classification is a critical topic that concerns not only environmental protection, but also the advancement of a circular economy. To address this issue within the context of a circular economy, this study develops an uncooperative triumvirate paradigm consisting of "central regulation, local promotion, and universal participation." The model analyzes the strategy choices of both the central and local governments while using an evolutionary game method to encourage residents to promote waste separation. Using numerical simulations, this study examines the variables that impact the strategy choices of the three parties over time. The results show that (1) the desire of the central government, local governments, and citizens to engage has varying effects on each of these entities; the conduct of local government is significantly influenced by the preparedness of the central government, but residents' behavior is comparatively less influenced by the central government's intention; in comparison, it is mainly affected by psychological expectations of income and expenditure; (2) the impact of the local government and residents on each other is characterized by an unbalanced relationship, with the local government being more sensitive to residents' willingness to participate and changes in policy support being more sensitive; and (3) residents show more sensitivity to incentive funds, compensation, penalties, and benefit distribution coefficients. To promote waste separation in China, it is crucial to establish a reasonable expectation of ecological civilization, establish an efficient mechanism for environmental protection supervision, refine local waste separation programs, increase local governments' responsibility for promoting them, ensure legal methods for universal participation, and improve the regulatory mechanism for universal participation to protect the environment. In addition, it is essential to improve the education system for waste separation and continue research related to waste separation.

Balancing fiscal expenditure competition and long-term innovation investment: Exploring trade-offs and policy implications for local governments.

The mobility of economic factors across jurisdictions has led to increased fiscal competition among decentralized subnational governments. This study examines the relationship between fiscal competition and long-term investment in innovation at the local government level. Panel data analysis, encompassing expenditures, taxes, and innovation inputs from 18 municipalities over a 10-year period, is employed using fixed effects regression. The results reveal a negative correlation between fiscal competition and expenditure on innovation, indicating that intensified competition for mobile capital diverts resources away from essential long-term investments crucial for knowledge-driven growth. Even after controlling for economic and institutional factors, a one standard deviation increase in competition corresponds to an average decline of 25% in per capita innovation investment. These findings highlight the unintended trade-off resulting from heightened competition and underscore the need for policy frameworks that promote localized flexibility while curbing uncoordinated competition that undermines innovation capacity. While fiscal decentralization aims to foster competitive governance, this study provides empirical evidence that short-term expenditure incentives often displace long-term innovation objectives without sufficient coordination. The insights contribute significant empirical evidence on the concealed costs of fiscal competition for regional development. Consequently, a re-evaluation of conventional perspectives on decentralization and competition is warranted, emphasizing the importance of developing cooperative policy solutions that strike a delicate balance between decentralized decision autonomy and strategic coordination. Adopting such an approach is essential to fully leverage the advantages of competitive governance while simultaneously nurturing innovation ecosystems.

Exploring the carbon emission reduction effect of local government attention: an analysis based on an environmental policy perspective.

Government attention and policy implementation are important for achieving environmental goals. This study uses 257 cities in China from 2013-2019 as the sample and measures local government attention through text mining, thus exploring the carbon emission reduction effect of government attention. Threshold regression is further used to examine the role and nonlinear relationship that environmental policies assume in the effect of government attention on carbon emission reduction. The conclusions are as follows: first, government attention can significantly reduce carbon emissions: with a 1% increase in local government attention to environmental protection, China's urban CO2 can be reduced by 0.04%. Second, the impact of government attention on carbon emissions is more significant in cities in non-air pollution prevention areas, in non-SO2 and acid rain control areas, with longer tenure of officials, and with female officials serving during the sample period. Third, the effect of government attention on carbon emission reduction can be significantly increased under policy influence, especially when two policies are implemented in concert. Fourth, market incentive policies play a stronger role in the first place, while traditional energy-saving policies have strong sustainability. In general, the study concludes that municipalities should allocate more attention to the environment, and it gives some reasons supporting policy choices.

Does the setting of local government economic growth targets promote or hinder urban carbon emission performance? Evidence from China.

Growth target management drives China's economic expansion, leading to potential carbon emission externalities. This study examines the impact of economic growth target setting on carbon emission performance in 257 Chinese localities from 2004 to 2020. Using cluster standard error regression, 2SLS instrumental variable regression, and the spatial Durbin model, the results show that moderate growth targets improve urban carbon emission performance. Conversely, aggressive targets do not enhance regional carbon emission performance. Moderate growth targets foster innovation in green technology, while aggressive ones encourage investment in fixed assets and new city growth, impeding performance. Cities in the eastern and western regions, with larger populations and less reliance on natural resources, benefit more from effective economic development targets. The establishment of local targets negatively affects neighboring regions' carbon emissions performance, particularly at a spatial scale of 100 to 200 km. This paper contributes to understanding the environmental consequences of growth target setting and offers insights for balancing economic growth with carbon emission governance in emerging market countries.

Assessing the barriers and facilitators of climate action planning in local governments: a two-round survey of expert opinion.

BACKGROUND: Climate change is one of the greatest threats to public health in this century. The UK is one of six countries that has enshrined in law a commitment to become net zero by 2050. However, there is a lack of guidance and structure for local government in the UK, which has responsibility for public health, to reach this goal and help their communities mitigate and adapt to the health and health inequality impacts of climate change. This study aimed to identify common barriers and facilitators related to addressing the health and health inequality impacts of climate change in local governments. METHODS: Using Normalisation Process Theory, we developed a two-round survey for people working in local authorities to identify the barriers and facilitators to including the health and health inequality impact of climate change in their climate action plans. The survey was delivered online via Qualtrics software. In the first-round respondents were able to express their views on barriers and facilitators and in the second round they ranked common themes identified from the first round. Two hundred and fifty people working in local government were invited to take part and n = 28 (11.2%) completed the first round of the survey and n = 14 completed the second round. Thematic analysis was used in Round 1 to identify common themes and weighted rankings were used to assess key barriers and facilitators in Round 2. RESULTS: Key facilitators were the need to save money on energy, and successful partnership working already in place including across local government, with local communities and external stakeholders. Key barriers were insufficient staff, resources and lack of support from management/leaders, and lack of local evidence. CONCLUSION: To mitigate and adapt to the health impacts of climate change, local government must nurture a culture of innovation and collaboration to ensure that different departments work together This means not just working with external partners, but also collaborating and co-producing with communities to achieve health equity and mitigate the debilitating effect of climate change on public health.

Smallpox Prevention and Public Healthcare in China in the 1920s and 1930s: Focusing on the Cases of Shanghai and Beijing.

Beijing and Shanghai, representative modern cities in China, witnessed the development of various urban infrastructures and quarantine systems in the 1920s and 1930s. Both cities established Health Demonstration Stations in the 1930s, as part of their implementation of modern health administration. This foundation played a pivotal role for making health administration more practical. Huang Zi-fang (1899-1940) and Hu Hung-ji (1894-1932), the inaugural directors of the health bureau in the respective cities, were both graduates of the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in the United States. They shared a similar view of public health. Active exchanges occurred between the heads of the health administration in the two cities who were the leading forces in the health reform, encompassing various health experiments including the Health Demonstration Station. During the 1930s in China, state medicine gained prominence as the most ideal medical model for constructing a modern state. As such, the quarantine activities they promoted were also considered the most ideal model. The public health care centered on Health Demonstration Stations in the 1920s and 1930s that developed in large Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai pursued similar goals by strengthening quarantine administration through free medical treatment and modern spatial control. Nonetheless, each city exhibited differences in terms of the subjects and targets of quarantine, as well as the primary bases of quarantine, which were either Health Demonstration Stations or hospitals. Both municipal governments and the civilian sector led the sanitary infrastructure development. While Shanghai showed stronger development in terms of the number of vaccinations, Shanghai's dualized quarantine system did not necessarily create a better health environment than Beijing in terms of spatial control. In the 1940s, the Japanese occupation government implemented measures to inherit and further develop existing health administrations in Beijing and Shanghai. Existing international settlements were incorporated into the Japanese occupation government, and the occupation government pursued homogenization of urban space and tried to maintain the existing urban policy as much as possible to preserve the status quo. However, the intensification of the Anti-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War brought an end to the health experiment centered around the Health Demonstration Station in China in the first half of the twentieth century.

Regional impact of aging population on carbon dioxide emissions in China: Evidence from panel threshold regression (PTR).

Carbon dioxide emission is a high-profile issue that can affect both the human economy and human existence, but few scholars have studied the relationship between these two. Therefore, this study constructs the panel threshold regression (PTR) based on the National Bureau of Statistics of China's panel data from 2002 to 2019 in 19 regions. One of the advantages of PTR is to leverage segmented functions, allowing for a more detailed analysis of the data. Besides, by introducing the idea of a threshold, PTR can effectively avoid structural changes in the data. The different between this study and other research is that this study divides 19 regions into two parts: Eastern China and Central China. Based on that, this study researches and compares the different influences of the aging population on carbon emissions in these two regions. The results show that although the Environment Kuznets Curve has been confirmed in both Eastern China and Central China, with the development of the economy, the carbon emissions will increase in Eastern China and decrease in Central China, respectively. In addition, the key factors affecting carbon emissions in Eastern China and Central China are trade dependence and urbanization rate separately. Hence, this study suggests that the regional governments in Eastern China may guide and encourage more international trading companies to move to Central China, and at the same time, the regional governments in Central China should issue more policies to attract these companies, such as: reducing land lease fees and building better transportation infrastructure. Apart from that, the governments in Central China should vigorously increase the rate of urbanization to reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency.