Research on the Spillover Effects of Green Infrastructure: From the Perspectives of Market Structure, Spatial Governance, and Environmental Value of Charging Station Networks

Ruoxi Li; Joanna Rosak-Szyrocka; Yongshun Tong

doi:10.53941/eem.2026.100006

Abstract

Propelled by the urgent global context of sustainable development and China’s “dual carbon” strategic goals, green infrastructure has emerged as the core of urban low-carbon transition. This analytical framework is used to study how it impacts urban carbon emission reduction. It provides new content on the existing green infrastructure theory and comes up with a new perspective on using station networks’ to reduce carbon emissions. The study shows that the emission reduction effect of charging station networks depends not on quantity, but on the systemic linkage and collaborative promotion of three key aspects. First, changing the market structure from “oligopolistic scale competition” to “coexistence of a variety of ecosystems” leads to the deep integration of technology innovation and business model, which produces industrial and economic spillover effects. Secondly, optimizing spatial governance from an “efficiency-first” approach to a “balance between equity and efficiency” can reduce ineffective transportation emissions and improve service accessibility, thus creating social equity spillover value. Lastly, the increase in environmental value from “isolated electricity supply” to “system-integrated charging interaction” places the network as a major enabler of flexible grid regulation and renewable energy integration, achieving environmental spillover effects at the transportation-energy system level. By comparing domestic and foreign research and multiple city cases, this paper shows that only through the use of policy guidance and market mechanisms to promote the coordinated development of these three aspects can the multidimensional value of charging station networks as important green infrastructure be fully realized. This gives a vital theoretical basis and real path for cities to reach the full integration of transport and power systems and accomplish carbon neutral objectives.

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