SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2023

China has made remarkable progress in its economy since the reform and opening-up period. However, its initial path towards economic growth at all costs had an irreversible impact on the environment, resulting in environmental significant issues that persist today. To address these challenges, China has updated its environmental policies and set new goals for sustainable development over the past two decades. These policies, standards, and targets have been incorporated into the performance appraisal system for local officials. This paper explores the relationship between carbon emissions and the characteristics of city leaders, such as promotion incentives, education level, major, and gender. By utilizing regression analysis, the study demonstrates that promotion incentives, educational level, and gender are significant predictor variables that influence the volume of carbon emissions. This paper starts from an innovative perspective to study the Chinese political system and combine the field of political economy with China’s goal of achieving sustainable development, provides meaningful insights in Chinese officials’ promotion system and the study of the influence of officials’ characteristics.