How does education affect urban carbon emission efficiency under the strategy of scientific and technological innovation?

Low-carbon economy is not only an important topic for the globe but also a serious challenge for China with its economy entering a new level. Based on the DEA-undesirable model and Malmquist index model, urban agglomeration of the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area from 2010 to 2021 were selected as research samples. Based on that, a panel generalized method of moments model was constructed to analyze the effects of the education level, technological development, and their interaction on urban carbon emission efficiency. It found that 1) the carbon emission efficiency of the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area urban agglomerations shows a steady growth trend, but the overall level is low and there are regional differences, among which pure technical efficiency mainly limits the improvement of comprehensive efficiency; 2) the education level and technological development have a high positive correlation on urban carbon emission, and their interaction is conducive to the improvement of carbon emission efficiency. The carbon emission efficiency has a significant advantage under the influence of control variables, such as the economic development level, industrial structure upgrading, opening-up degree, and Internet penetration rate. 3) According to the economic dimension and population dimension, the samples of the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area were divided into large cities and small cities, and regression results showed no substantial changes. It shows that the research conclusion is scientific. According to the aforementioned conclusion, this paper puts forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions.