Mitigating collaborative inertia: how leadership transfer networks improve the low-carbon governance of local governments

This study offers a novel theoretical explanation for the governance pathways of collaborative inertia in local governments’ low-carbon governance from the perspective of leadership transfer networks. Utilizing panel data from 225 Chinese prefecture-level city governments from 2013-2022, We integrated social network analysis, machine learning, and data envelopment analysis. Found that: The higher the centrality of a local government within the leadership transfer network, the weaker its collaborative inertia in low-carbon governance, thus resulting in higher low-carbon governance efficiency. Additionally, the preference of local governments for innovative public value can significantly amplify the positive effects of the leadership transfer network.