IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v324y2022ics0306261922010418.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does energy-saving and emission reduction policy affects carbon reduction performance? A quasi-experimental evidence in China

Author

Listed:
  • Du, Zhili
  • Wang, Yao

Abstract

The Energy-saving and Emission Reduction Demonstration City (ESERD) Policy brings more favorable development conditions and opportunities for the cities selected, but the carbon reduction effect of the energy-saving policy is not clear which needs to be quantified and evaluated. By measuring the Total Factor/Energy Carbon Performance Index (TCPI /ECPI) of 286 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2019 and by constructing a quasi-natural experiment, this paper contributes in three aspects. (1) we are committed to a method of calculating the energy consumption and carbon emission of prefecture-level cities in China; (2) we provide evidence to the CO2 reduction effect of the ESERD policy in a more comprehensive way; (3) we probe the paths of the policy effects. The main findings are: (1) TCPI and ECPI has been rising since 2011, the eastern cities have more outstanding achievement while the performance of the western region has been at a relatively high level during the time period of the study, and the performance of cities have diverged in recent years. (2) The policy's contribution to the demonstration cities' carbon reduction performance is significant, immediate and far-reaching, a lower share of electricity consumption due to indirectly reducing the use of coal, and higher investment in scientific research for improving the technology level of industrial development are both paths to achieve carbon emission reduction in the demonstration cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Du, Zhili & Wang, Yao, 2022. "Does energy-saving and emission reduction policy affects carbon reduction performance? A quasi-experimental evidence in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:324:y:2022:i:c:s0306261922010418
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.119758
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261922010418
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.119758?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wu, Jie & Lv, Lin & Sun, Jiasen & Ji, Xiang, 2015. "A comprehensive analysis of China's regional energy saving and emission reduction efficiency: From production and treatment perspectives," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 166-176.
    2. Wang, Qunwei & Su, Bin & Sun, Jiasen & Zhou, Peng & Zhou, Dequn, 2015. "Measurement and decomposition of energy-saving and emissions reduction performance in Chinese cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 85-92.
    3. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    4. Ouyang, Xiaoling & Li, Qiong & Du, Kerui, 2020. "How does environmental regulation promote technological innovations in the industrial sector? Evidence from Chinese provincial panel data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    5. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Han, J.Y., 2010. "Total factor carbon emission performance: A Malmquist index analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 194-201, January.
    6. Dong, Zhaoyingzi & Xia, Chuyu & Fang, Kai & Zhang, Weiwen, 2022. "Effect of the carbon emissions trading policy on the co-benefits of carbon emissions reduction and air pollution control," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    7. Chen, Xing & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "Towards carbon neutrality by implementing carbon emissions trading scheme: Policy evaluation in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    8. Yang, Lisha & Li, Yutianhao & Liu, Hongxun, 2021. "Did carbon trade improve green production performance? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    9. Zhao, Xiaomeng & Liu, Chuanjiang & Sun, Chuanwang & Yang, Mian, 2020. "Does stringent environmental regulation lead to a carbon haven effect? Evidence from carbon-intensive industries in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    10. Li, Ke & Lin, Boqiang, 2015. "The efficiency improvement potential for coal, oil and electricity in China's manufacturing sectors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 403-413.
    11. Hu, Jin-Li & Wang, Shih-Chuan, 2006. "Total-factor energy efficiency of regions in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 3206-3217, November.
    12. Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Weber, William L., 2009. "A directional slacks-based measure of technical inefficiency," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 274-287, December.
    13. Cook, Wade D. & Seiford, Larry M., 2009. "Data envelopment analysis (DEA) - Thirty years on," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 192(1), pages 1-17, January.
    14. Ashenfelter, Orley & Card, David, 1985. "Using the Longitudinal Structure of Earnings to Estimate the Effect of Training Programs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(4), pages 648-660, November.
    15. Fare, Rolf, et al, 1989. "Multilateral Productivity Comparisons When Some Outputs Are Undesirable: A Nonparametric Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(1), pages 90-98, February.
    16. Alwyn Young, 2003. "Gold into Base Metals: Productivity Growth in the People's Republic of China during the Reform Period," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(6), pages 1220-1261, December.
    17. Wu, Yinyin & Wang, Ping & Liu, Xin & Chen, Jiandong & Song, Malin, 2020. "Analysis of regional carbon allocation and carbon trading based on net primary productivity in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    18. Lin, Boqiang & Zhu, Junpeng, 2019. "Impact of energy saving and emission reduction policy on urban sustainable development: Empirical evidence from China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 12-22.
    19. Sun, Chuanwang & Li, Zhi & Ma, Tiemeng & He, Runyong, 2019. "Carbon efficiency and international specialization position: Evidence from global value chain position index of manufacture," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 235-242.
    20. Tao, Xueping & Wang, Ping & Zhu, Bangzhu, 2016. "Provincial green economic efficiency of China: A non-separable input–output SBM approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 58-66.
    21. Xu, Le & Fan, Meiting & Yang, Lili & Shao, Shuai, 2021. "Heterogeneous green innovations and carbon emission performance: Evidence at China's city level," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    22. R. G. Chambers & Y. Chung & R. Färe, 1998. "Profit, Directional Distance Functions, and Nerlovian Efficiency," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 98(2), pages 351-364, August.
    23. Zhang, Ning & Choi, Yongrok, 2013. "Total-factor carbon emission performance of fossil fuel power plants in China: A metafrontier non-radial Malmquist index analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 549-559.
    24. Zhang, Yue-Jun & Sun, Ya-Fang & Huang, Junling, 2018. "Energy efficiency, carbon emission performance, and technology gaps: Evidence from CDM project investment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 119-130.
    25. Wu, Xudong & Li, Chaohui & Shao, Ling & Meng, Jing & Zhang, Lixiao & Chen, Guoqian, 2021. "Is solar power renewable and carbon-neutral: Evidence from a pilot solar tower plant in China under a systems view," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    26. Yu, Yantuan & Zhang, Ning, 2021. "Low-carbon city pilot and carbon emission efficiency: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    27. Xuan Xie & Ke Li & Zhiqiang Liu & Hongshan Ai, 2021. "Curse or blessing: how does natural resource dependence affect city‐level economic development in China?," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 65(2), pages 413-448, April.
    28. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Wang, H., 2012. "Energy and CO2 emission performance in electricity generation: A non-radial directional distance function approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 221(3), pages 625-635.
    29. Chambers, Robert G. & Chung, Yangho & Fare, Rolf, 1996. "Benefit and Distance Functions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 407-419, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yao Wang & Qiang Yang & Xuenan Wu & Ruichen Wang & Tilei Gao & Yuntong Liu, 2023. "A Study of Trends in Low-Energy Development Patterns in China: A Data-Driven Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-18, June.
    2. Zhibo Zhao & Jiamin Ren & Zheng Liu, 2023. "How Does Urbanization Affect Carbon Emission Performance? Evidence from 282 Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-20, October.
    3. Ma, Ruiyang & Lin, Boqiang, 2023. "Digitalization and energy-saving and emission reduction in Chinese cities: Synergy between industrialization and digitalization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 345(C).
    4. Li, Ge & Wen, Huwei, 2023. "The low-carbon effect of pursuing the honor of civilization? A quasi-experiment in Chinese cities," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 343-357.
    5. Shi, Wei & Li, Wei & Qiao, Fuwei & Wang, Weijuan & An, Yi & Zhang, Guowei, 2023. "An inter-provincial carbon quota study in China based on the contribution of clean energy to carbon reduction," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    6. Boqiang Lin & Chongchong Xu, 2024. "Evaluating the effect of green fiscal policy on firm energy performance: evidence from China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1-29, April.

    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. Cheng, Zhonghua & Li, Lianshui & Liu, Jun & Zhang, Huiming, 2018. "Total-factor carbon emission efficiency of China's provincial industrial sector and its dynamic evolution," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 330-339.
    2. Zhang, Ning & Zhao, Yu & Wang, Na, 2022. "Is China's energy policy effective for power plants? Evidence from the 12th Five-Year Plan energy saving targets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Ning Zhang & Jong-Dae Kim, 2014. "Measuring sustainability by Energy Efficiency Analysis for Korean Power Companies: A Sequential Slacks-Based Efficiency Measure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-13, March.
    4. Wu, Rongxin & Tan, Zhizhou & Lin, Boqiang, 2023. "Does carbon emission trading scheme really improve the CO2 emission efficiency? Evidence from China's iron and steel industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    5. Nabavieh, Alireza & Gholamiangonabadi, Davoud & Ahangaran, Ali Asghar, 2015. "Dynamic changes in CO2 emission performance of different types of Iranian fossil-fuel power plants," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(PA), pages 142-150.
    6. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Yuan, Yan & Goto, Mika, 2017. "A literature study for DEA applied to energy and environment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 104-124.
    7. Ying Xie & Minglong Zhang, 2023. "Influence of Clean Energy and Financial Structure on China’s Provincial Carbon Emission Efficiency—Empirical Analysis Based on Spatial Spillover Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-25, February.
    8. Zhu, Runqing & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "Energy and carbon performance improvement in China's mining Industry:Evidence from the 11th and 12th five-year plan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    9. Zebin Zheng & Wenjun Xiao & Ziye Cheng, 2023. "China’s Green Total Factor Energy Efficiency Assessment Based on Coordinated Reduction in Pollution and Carbon Emission: From the 11th to the 13th Five-Year Plan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-20, April.
    10. Lin, Boqiang & Bai, Rui, 2020. "Dynamic energy performance evaluation of Chinese textile industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    11. Zhang, Ning & Kong, Fanbin & Choi, Yongrok, 2014. "Measuring sustainability performance for China: A sequential generalized directional distance function approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 392-397.
    12. Yao, Xin & Guo, Chengwen & Shao, Shuai & Jiang, Zhujun, 2016. "Total-factor CO2 emission performance of China’s provincial industrial sector: A meta-frontier non-radial Malmquist index approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1142-1153.
    13. Zhang, Ning & Zhou, Peng & Kung, Chih-Chun, 2015. "Total-factor carbon emission performance of the Chinese transportation industry: A bootstrapped non-radial Malmquist index analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 584-593.
    14. Zhang, Ning & Wang, Bing & Chen, Zhongfei, 2016. "Carbon emissions reductions and technology gaps in the world's factory, 1990–2012," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 28-37.
    15. Gang Tian & Jian Shi & Licheng Sun & Xingle Long & Benhai Guo, 2017. "Dynamic changes in the energy–carbon performance of Chinese transportation sector: a meta-frontier non-radial directional distance function approach," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 89(2), pages 585-607, November.
    16. Zhang, Ning & Kong, Fanbin & Choi, Yongrok & Zhou, P., 2014. "The effect of size-control policy on unified energy and carbon efficiency for Chinese fossil fuel power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 193-200.
    17. Lin, Boqiang & Sai, Rockson, 2022. "Towards low carbon economy: Performance of electricity generation and emission reduction potential in Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    18. Wang, H. & Zhou, P. & Zhou, D.Q., 2013. "Scenario-based energy efficiency and productivity in China: A non-radial directional distance function analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 795-803.
    19. Kounetas, Konstantinos & Stergiou, Eirini, 2019. "Technology heterogeneity in European industries' energy efficiency performance. The role of climate, greenhouse gases, path dependence and energy mix," MPRA Paper 92314, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Zhang, Ning & Choi, Yongrok & Wang, Wei, 2019. "Does energy research funding work? Evidence from the Natural Science Foundation of China using TEI@I method," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 369-380.

    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:eee:appene:v:324:y:2022:i:c:s0306261922010418. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    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.