IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v133y2024ics0264999324000427.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The influence of industrial robots on firm-level pollution emissions: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Qi, Jianhong
  • Tan, Yong
  • Zhang, Zhitong

Abstract

Industrial robots are crucial in the production process, but limited literature uncovers the comprehensive channels through which they affect firms’ emissions. This paper investigates the influence of industrial robots on firm-level emissions and emissions-intensity. Using comprehensive firm-level SO2 emissions and robot import data in China during 2000–2013, we find that the robot-adoption manifests a negative effect on both firm-level emissions and emissions-intensity. Meanwhile, this reduction effect exhibits an increasing dynamic effect. Furthermore, the mechanism analysis indicates that improving abatement efficiency, increasing the share of intermediate inputs, and reducing SO2 generations per output contribute 43.25%, 22.81%, and 17.54%, respectively to the reduction effect. Finally, the counterfactual analysis implies that shutting off the abatement efficiency, share of intermediate inputs, and SO2 generation channels, will lower the reduction effect of robots on emissions by 4.83%, 2.85% and 1.96%, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Qi, Jianhong & Tan, Yong & Zhang, Zhitong, 2024. "The influence of industrial robots on firm-level pollution emissions: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:133:y:2024:i:c:s0264999324000427
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2024.106686
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999324000427
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2024.106686?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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    industrial robots; Firm-level emissions; Dynamic effect; Working mechanisms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ecmode:v:133:y:2024:i:c:s0264999324000427. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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/locate/inca/30411 .

    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.