The effect of carbon reduction regulations on contractors' awareness and behaviors in China's building sector

Reducing carbon emissions in the building sector is of great significance to the development of Chinese society and economy. The Chinese government has issued various regulations to promote carbon reduction behaviors for contractors. However, the effect of these regulations is still unknown or confusing. To bridge this gap, this research investigated the relationships among government carbon reduction regulations, contractors' carbon reduction awareness and carbon reduction behaviors. Then a conceptual model was developed, and Structural Equation Modeling was applied to validate the model. The findings reveal that carbon reduction regulations positively correlate with carbon reduction awareness and behaviors, and carbon reduction awareness partially mediates the relationship between carbon reduction regulations and behaviors. The results show that adopting carbon reduction regulations is an effective way, and improving carbon reduction awareness is a possible way to encourage contractors' carbon reduction behaviors. Some incentives can also be taken for contractors to reduce the gap between carbon reduction awareness and behaviors. The findings are valuable for policy makers to improve the development of low carbon construction in China, and for contractors to make appropriate responses to carbon reduction regulations.