The threshold effect of agricultural energy consumption on agricultural carbon emissions: a comparison between relative poverty regions and other regions

Environmental pollution, such as agricultural carbon emissions (ACE), is one of the main causes of health problems in the relative poverty (RP) regions in China. Therefore, it is of great significance to study ACE in RP regions, not only to accelerate the green upgrading of agriculture, but also to alleviate the high health burden brought by it. However, most studies on ACE were based on the classification of carbon emission sources, and few studies were based on agricultural energy consumption. Moreover, the threshold regression model is rarely used in the limited relevant literatures. This paper used 2001–2017 panel data of 30 provinces to explore the relationship between agricultural carbon emission (ACE) and agricultural energy consumption intensity (AECI) to sudden development in different regions based on the threshold regression model. Some meaningful results were discovered. For example, energy intensity has a significant threshold effect on the growth of ACE, but only a single threshold effect in the RP regions, while a double threshold effect in the high income (HI)regions. Compared with the HI regions, the requirements of environmental protection quality in RP regions are increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate regional carbon emission reduction policies suitable for the characteristics of RP regions. Among them, how to balance the health or health expenditure caused by economic growth and environmental pollution should be put in the first place.