IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i8p3263-d1375348.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can an Energy Transition Strategy Induce Urban Green Innovation? Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China

Author

Listed:
  • Yuan Feng

    (College of City Construction, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China)

  • Ying Li

    (College of City Construction, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China)

  • Changfei Nie

    (School of Economics and Management, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China)

  • Zhi Chen

    (School of Economics and Trade, Hubei University of Economics, Wuhan 430205, China)

Abstract

Green innovation is a new driving force to promote green and low-carbon development. Whether an energy transition strategy can induce green innovation is an important question that has not been clearly answered. With the help of panel data from 281 cities in China during 2007–2021, this study considers China’s new energy exemplary city policy as a quasi-natural experiment and conducts a difference-in-differences model to explore the effects and mechanisms of energy transition strategy on urban green innovation. The results show that a new energy exemplary city effectively induces urban green innovation, with mediating mechanisms of increasing government financial support, promoting human capital agglomeration, and improving energy efficiency. The moderating mechanisms test reveals that environmental regulation and intellectual property protection play a positive moderating role in the promotion of green innovation through the new energy exemplary city policy. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that the new energy exemplary city policy has a stronger effect on promoting green innovation in eastern regions and non-resource-based cities. Our findings not only enrich our understanding of the relationship between energy transition strategy and green innovation but also provide a reference for policymakers to promote energy transition and green innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuan Feng & Ying Li & Changfei Nie & Zhi Chen, 2024. "Can an Energy Transition Strategy Induce Urban Green Innovation? Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-23, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:8:p:3263-:d:1375348
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3263/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3263/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nie, Changfei & Ye, Susu & Feng, Yuan, 2024. "Place-based policy and urban green technology innovation: Evidence from the revitalization of old revolutionary base areas in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1257-1272.
    2. Hasan, Mohammad Maruf & Du, Fang, 2023. "Nexus between green financial development, green technological innovation and environmental regulation in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 218-228.
    3. Bo Chen & Feng Jin & Guangchen Li & Yurong Zhao, 2023. "Can the New Energy Demonstration City Policy Promote Green and Low-Carbon Development? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, May.
    4. Jintao Ma & Qiuguang Hu & Weiteng Shen & Xinyi Wei, 2021. "Does the Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy Promote Green Technology Innovation? Based on Green Patent Data of Chinese A-Share Listed Companies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-18, April.
    5. Peng Liang & Shuangyi Xie & Fengyu Qi & Yu Huang & Xiuwen Wu, 2023. "Environmental Regulation and Green Technology Innovation under the Carbon Neutrality Goal: Dual Regulation of Human Capital and Industrial Structure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, January.
    6. Farooq, Umar & Wen, Jun & Tabash, Mosab I. & Fadoul, Modawi, 2024. "Environmental regulations and capital investment: Does green innovation allow to grow?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 878-893.
    7. Min Hong & Zhenghui Li & Benjamin Drakeford, 2021. "Do the Green Credit Guidelines Affect Corporate Green Technology Innovation? Empirical Research from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-21, February.
    8. Liu, Xuan & Yang, Dujuan & Arentze, Theo & Wielders, Tom, 2023. "The willingness of social housing tenants to participate in natural gas-free heating systems project: Insights from a stated choice experiment in the Netherlands," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    9. Liang Li & Yanghong Wang & Meixuen Tan & Huaping Sun & Bangzhu Zhu, 2023. "Effect of Environmental Regulation on Energy-Intensive Enterprises’ Green Innovation Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-21, June.
    10. Du, Kerui & Li, Pengzhen & Yan, Zheming, 2019. "Do green technology innovations contribute to carbon dioxide emission reduction? Empirical evidence from patent data," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 297-303.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shang, Hua & Jiang, Li & Pan, Xianyou & Pan, Xiongfeng, 2022. "Green technology innovation spillover effect and urban eco-efficiency convergence: Evidence from Chinese cities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    2. Xiaosan Zhang & Xiaojie Hu & Fang Wu, 2022. "Fiscal Decentralization, Taxation Efforts and Corporate Green Technology Innovation in China Based on Moderating and Heterogeneity Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-21, November.
    3. Xiaoyang Xu & Muhammad Imran & Muhammad Ayaz & Sonia Lohana, 2022. "The Mediating Role of Green Technology Innovation with Corporate Social Responsibility, Firm Financial, and Environmental Performance: The Case of Chinese Manufacturing Industries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-20, December.
    4. Shangram Bahadur Shah & Jirakiattikul Sopin & Kua-Anan Techato & Bibek Kumar Mudbhari, 2023. "A Systematic Review on Nexus Between Green Finance and Climate Change: Evidence from China and India," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(4), pages 599-613, July.
    5. Kopyrina, Olga & Wu, Kai & Ying, Zhanyu, 2023. "Greening through central inspection: The role of legitimacy pressure and risk-taking," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Lina Liu & Yunyun Zhang & Bei Liu & Pishi Xiu & Lipeng Sun, 2022. "How to Achieve Carbon Neutrality: From the Perspective of Innovative City Pilot Policy in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-20, December.
    7. Zhaohan Wang & Ying Fu & Junqian Wu, 2024. "The Impact of Environmental Regulation on Collaborative Innovation Efficiency: Is the Porter Hypothesis Valid in Chengdu–Chongqing Urban Agglomeration?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-28, March.
    8. Emmanuel Ebo Arthur & Solomon Gyamfi & Wolfgang Gerstlberger & Jan Stejskal & Viktor Prokop, 2023. "Towards Circular Economy: Unveiling Heterogeneous Effects of Government Policy Stringency, Environmentally Related Innovation, and Human Capital within OECD Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Ostadzad, Ali Hossein, 2022. "Innovation and carbon emissions: Fixed-effects panel threshold model estimation for renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 602-617.
    10. Zhao, Jun & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Dong, Kangyin, 2022. "How does energy poverty eradication promote green growth in China? The role of technological innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    11. Chemirbayeva Mergul Berikhanovna & Bekmukhametova Assemgul Bauirzhanovna & Niyetalina Gaukhar Kudaibergenovna & Bodaukhan Gulbagda & Yerkulova Gulmira Serikovna, 2023. "The Influence of Green Credit Policy on Green Innovation and Transformation and Upgradation as a Function of Corporate Diversification: The Case of Kazakhstan," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-18, August.
    12. Xueyang Wang & Xiumei Sun & Haotian Zhang & Chaokai Xue, 2022. "Digital Economy Development and Urban Green Innovation CA-Pability: Based on Panel Data of 274 Prefecture-Level Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-21, March.
    13. Wang, Xiong & Wang, Xiao & Ren, Xiaohang & Wen, Fenghua, 2022. "Can digital financial inclusion affect CO2 emissions of China at the prefecture level? Evidence from a spatial econometric approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    14. Sumin Hu & Qi Zhu & Xia Zhao & Ziyue Xu, 2023. "Digital Finance and Corporate Sustainability Performance: Promoting or Restricting? Evidence from China’s Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-16, June.
    15. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Fuhao & Lou, Runchi & Wang, Keying, 2023. "How does green finance drive the decarbonization of the economy? Empirical evidence from China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 671-684.
    16. Jia, Zhijie & Lin, Boqiang, 2020. "Rethinking the choice of carbon tax and carbon trading in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    17. Losacker, Sebastian, 2022. "‘License to green’: Regional patent licensing networks and green technology diffusion in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    18. Sandra Chukwudumebi Obiora & Olusola Bamisile & Evans Opoku-Mensah & Adasa Nkrumah Kofi Frimpong, 2020. "Impact of Banking and Financial Systems on Environmental Sustainability: An Overarching Study of Developing, Emerging, and Developed Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-21, September.
    19. Paramati, Sudharshan Reddy & Mo, Di & Huang, Ruixian, 2021. "The role of financial deepening and green technology on carbon emissions: Evidence from major OECD economies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    20. Ali Maâlej, 2022. "The role of entrepreneurship and innovation in the environmental and economic dimensions of growth," Insights into Regional Development, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 4(2), pages 85-95, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:8:p:3263-:d:1375348. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.