Considering that retailers have corporate social responsibility(CSR), a tripartite game model consisting of government, manufacturers, and retailers was established to compare and analyze the social welfare, carbon emission reduction rate, demand for low-carbon products, and environmental improvement under four different subsidy strategies: no government subsidy, R&D subsidy, production subsidy, and a dual subsidy which composed of R&D subsidy and production subsidy, the optimal subsidy strategy of the government was studied. The results indicate that the improvement of consumer low-carbon preferences and research and development efficiency will promote environmental improvement and increase product emission reduction rates, demand for low-carbon products, corporate profits, and social welfare levels. As the CSR level of retailers increases, the government will reduce subsidies, but the overall social welfare, product emission reduction rate and demand for low-carbon products will not decrease. All four subsidy strategies are conducive to increasing carbon emission reduction rates, demand for low-carbon products, social welfare levels, and promoting environmental improvement, thereby better achieving economic, social, and environmental goals. Manufacturers prefer the government's dual subsidy strategy, while retailers prefer the R&D subsidy policy when their CSR level is high, otherwise, they prefer the dual subsidy strategy.
