Local government attention and renewable energy innovation: Evidence from China

This paper investigates the impact of local governments’ low-carbon attention on renewable energy innovation. While existing research has examined the effects of specific policies, less is known about the impact of broader governmental actions and intentions—which we call government attention—on driving green innovation. To bridge this gap, we construct a novel dataset that captures local government attention and link this information to patent registrations in 274 Chinese cities from 2007 to 2020. We show that greater government attention to low-carbon development boosts renewable energy innovation. This effect channels through both supply-side factors, such as subsidies, and demand-side factors like growing local demand for clean energy. Furthermore, we uncover strong spillover effects, particularly in cities that are geographically or economically connected. These findings highlight the critical role of local governments in fostering technological advancement and provide valuable insights for policymakers seeking to support low-carbon innovation.