The unanticipated role of fiscal environmental expenditure in accelerating household carbon emissions: Evidence from China

Fiscal environmental expenditure (FEE) is crucial to achieving climate change mitigation targets; however, its role in reducing household carbon emissions has received little attention. By matching household-level data from the Chinese General Social survey 2015; Cgss 2015) with city-level data, this study investigated the impact of FEE on household carbon emissions. The results show that FEE significantly increased household carbon emissions through reduced satisfaction with environmental governance. Meanwhile, public service satisfaction, household income, energy intensity and location are important moderating mechanisms. Moreover, FEE has a more significant impact on carbon emissions for households with urban hukou status and light burdens, as well as for those living in big northern cities with a slow GDP growth rate. This study reveals the unexpected mechanism underlying FEE's impact on carbon emissions in the household sector.