IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v145y2025ics0140988325002786.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An efficiency perspective on low carbon pilot city policy and carbon emission performance of listed enterprises: Quasi-experimental evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Lan, Jing
  • Wang, Pei

Abstract

This study decomposes the influence mechanism of low carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy on carbon emission efficiency (CEE) at enterprise-by-year level. Specifically, we measure the CEE of enterprises by using two-step stochastic frontier (SF) approach with bootstrap techniques. At first step, we apply stochastic frontier regression to estimate group-specific technology, then combine with a stochastic meta-frontier (SMF) at second step to estimate the meta technology. We also take a quasi-experimental method to evaluate the impact of the policy implementation on CEE of listed enterprises. We find that the LCCP policy improves CEE by 0.928 % and 5.86 % for high-tech industry and public utility industry at 5 % significance level, respectively. Further, it also reduces CEE by 4.17 % for construction industry, which are both economically and statistically significant. This reduction is mainly due to the negative performance of their green innovations within the industry. Thus, these imply that the LCCP policy is highly in line with China's transformation and upgrading strategies. It boosts the development of high-tech industry and enhances the efficiency of resources utilization. But it still works weak for the enterprises with little green innovations. The findings of our study provide an essential reference for the implementation of regional-based policy of LCCP project and improving CEE at enterprise level.

Suggested Citation

  • Lan, Jing & Wang, Pei, 2025. "An efficiency perspective on low carbon pilot city policy and carbon emission performance of listed enterprises: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:145:y:2025:i:c:s0140988325002786
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2025.108454
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988325002786
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2025.108454?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brännlund, Runar & Lundgren, Tommy, 2009. "Environmental policy without costs? A review of the Porter hypothesis," Umeå Economic Studies 766, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    2. Brännlund, Runar & Lundgren, Tommy, 2009. "Environmental policy without costs? A review of the Porter hypothesis," Sustainable Investment and Corporate Governance Working Papers 2009/1, Sustainable Investment Research Platform.
    3. Meng, Fanyi & Su, Bin & Thomson, Elspeth & Zhou, Dequn & Zhou, P., 2016. "Measuring China’s regional energy and carbon emission efficiency with DEA models: A survey," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1-21.
    4. Cai, Xiqian & Lu, Yi & Wu, Mingqin & Yu, Linhui, 2016. "Does environmental regulation drive away inbound foreign direct investment? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 73-85.
    5. Lampe, Hannes W. & Hilgers, Dennis, 2015. "Trajectories of efficiency measurement: A bibliometric analysis of DEA and SFA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(1), pages 1-21.
    6. Yujiro Hayami, 1969. "Sources of Agricultural Productivity Gap Among Selected Countries," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 51(3), pages 564-575.
    7. Picazo-Tadeo, Andrés J. & Beltrán-Esteve, Mercedes & Gómez-Limón, José A., 2012. "Assessing eco-efficiency with directional distance functions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 220(3), pages 798-809.
    8. I. Fraser & W. Horrace, 2003. "Technical Efficiency of Australian Wool Production: Point and Confidence Interval Estimates," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 169-190, September.
    9. Gehrsitz, Markus, 2017. "The effect of low emission zones on air pollution and infant health," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 121-144.
    10. William C. Horrace & Peter Schmidt, 2000. "Multiple comparisons with the best, with economic applications," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(1), pages 1-26.
    11. Haque, Faizul, 2017. "The effects of board characteristics and sustainable compensation policy on carbon performance of UK firms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 347-364.
    12. Chang, Young-Tae & Zhang, Ning & Danao, Denise & Zhang, Nan, 2013. "Environmental efficiency analysis of transportation system in China: A non-radial DEA approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 277-283.
    13. Paul Lanoie & Jérémy Laurent‐Lucchetti & Nick Johnstone & Stefan Ambec, 2011. "Environmental Policy, Innovation and Performance: New Insights on the Porter Hypothesis," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 803-842, September.
    14. Pretis, Felix & Roser, Max, 2017. "Carbon dioxide emission-intensity in climate projections: Comparing the observational record to socio-economic scenarios," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 718-725.
    15. Cliff Huang & Tai-Hsin Huang & Nan-Hung Liu, 2014. "A new approach to estimating the metafrontier production function based on a stochastic frontier framework," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 241-254, December.
    16. Kawagoe, Toshihiko & Hayami, Yujiro & Ruttan, Vernon W., 1985. "The intercountry agricultural production function and productivity differences among countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1-2), pages 113-132.
    17. Ferreira, Ana & Pinheiro, Manuel Duarte & de Brito, Jorge & Mateus, Ricardo, 2018. "Combined carbon and energy intensity benchmarks for sustainable retail stores," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 877-889.
    18. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August.
    19. Zhu, Chen & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "The effects of low-carbon pilot policy on technological innovation: Evidence from prefecture-level data in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    20. Víctor Chang & Beatriz Tovar, 2022. "Correction to: Efficiency drivers for the South Pacific West coast port terminals: a two-stage non-convex metafrontier dea approach," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 2703-2705, July.
    21. Tan, Xiujie & Choi, Yongrok & Wang, Banban & Huang, Xiaoqi, 2020. "Does China's carbon regulatory policy improve total factor carbon efficiency? A fixed-effect panel stochastic frontier analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    22. Wang, Qunwei & Zhao, Zengyao & Zhou, Peng & Zhou, Dequn, 2013. "Energy efficiency and production technology heterogeneity in China: A meta-frontier DEA approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 283-289.
    23. Du, Minzhe & Wu, Fenger & Ye, Danfeng & Zhao, Yating & Liao, Liping, 2023. "Exploring the effects of energy quota trading policy on carbon emission efficiency: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    24. Wang, Chang’an & Liu, Xiaoqian & Li, Han & Yang, Cunyi, 2023. "Analyzing the impact of low-carbon city pilot policy on enterprises' labor demand: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    25. Hayami, Yujiro & Ruttan, Vernon W, 1970. "Agricultural Productivity Differences Among Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(5), pages 895-911, December.
    26. Tang, Pengcheng & Yang, Shuwang & Shen, Jun & Fu, Shuke, 2018. "Does China's low-carbon pilot programme really take off? Evidence from land transfer of energy-intensive industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 482-491.
    27. Armon Rezai & Sigrid Stagl, 2016. "Ecological Macreconomics: Introduction and Review," Ecological Economics Papers ieep9, Institute of Ecological Economics.
    28. Yang, Shubo & Jahanger, Atif & Hossain, Mohammad Razib, 2023. "How effective has the low-carbon city pilot policy been as an environmental intervention in curbing pollution? Evidence from Chinese industrial enterprises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    29. Wang, Lianghu & Shao, Jun & Ma, Yatian, 2023. "Does China's low-carbon city pilot policy improve energy efficiency?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    30. Battese, George E. & Coelli, Tim J., 1988. "Prediction of firm-level technical efficiencies with a generalized frontier production function and panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 387-399, July.
    31. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Noh, Dong-Woon & Weber, William, 2005. "Characteristics of a polluting technology: theory and practice," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 469-492, June.
    32. Bernhard Brümmer, 2001. "Estimating confidence intervals for technical efficiency: the case of private farms in slovenia," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 28(3), pages 285-306, October.
    33. Brannlund, Runar & Lundgren, Tommy, 2009. "Environmental Policy Without Costs? A Review of the Porter Hypothesis," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 3(2), pages 75-117, September.
    34. Xu, Jinghang & Guan, Yuru & Oldfield, Jonathan & Guan, Dabo & Shan, Yuli, 2024. "China carbon emission accounts 2020-2021," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 360(C).
    35. George Battese & D. Rao & Christopher O'Donnell, 2004. "A Metafrontier Production Function for Estimation of Technical Efficiencies and Technology Gaps for Firms Operating Under Different Technologies," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 91-103, January.
    36. Wang, Keying & Wu, Meng & Sun, Yongping & Shi, Xunpeng & Sun, Ao & Zhang, Ping, 2019. "Resource abundance, industrial structure, and regional carbon emissions efficiency in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 203-214.
    37. Yu, Yantuan & Zhang, Ning, 2021. "Low-carbon city pilot and carbon emission efficiency: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    38. George E. Battese & D. S. Prasada Rao, 2002. "Technology Gap, Efficiency, and a Stochastic Metafrontier Function," International Journal of Business and Economics, School of Management Development, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, vol. 1(2), pages 87-93, August.
    39. Reinhard, Stijn & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Thijssen, Geert J., 2000. "Environmental efficiency with multiple environmentally detrimental variables; estimated with SFA and DEA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 287-303, March.
    40. Trinks, Arjan & Mulder, Machiel & Scholtens, Bert, 2020. "An Efficiency Perspective on Carbon Emissions and Financial Performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    41. Alam, Md. Samsul & Atif, Muhammad & Chien-Chi, Chu & Soytaş, Uğur, 2019. "Does corporate R&D investment affect firm environmental performance? Evidence from G-6 countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 401-411.
    42. Víctor Chang & Beatriz Tovar, 2022. "Efficiency drivers for the South Pacific West coast port terminals: a two-stage non-convex metafrontier dea approach," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 2667-2701, July.
    43. Pan, An & Zhang, Wenna & Shi, Xunpeng & Dai, Ling, 2022. "Climate policy and low-carbon innovation: Evidence from low-carbon city pilots in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    44. Jianhuan Huang & Yantuan Yu & Chunbo Ma, 2018. "Energy Efficiency Convergence in China: Catch-Up, Lock-In and Regulatory Uniformity," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(1), pages 107-130, May.
    45. Zhou, Yacheng & Huo, Weidong & Bo, Lan & Chen, Xiaoxian, 2023. "Impact and mechanism analysis of ESG ratings on the efficiency of green technology innovation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).
    46. Li, Hai-ling & Zhu, Xue-hong & Chen, Jin-yu & Jiang, Fei-tao, 2019. "Environmental regulations, environmental governance efficiency and the green transformation of China's iron and steel enterprises," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    47. Cheng, Zhonghua & Liu, Jun & Li, Lianshui & Gu, Xinbei, 2020. "Research on meta-frontier total-factor energy efficiency and its spatial convergence in Chinese provinces," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    48. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    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. Xi Chen & Mingzhe Pu & Yu Zhong, 2022. "Evaluating China Food’s Fertilizer Reduction and Efficiency Initiative Using a Double Stochastic Meta-Frontier Method," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-21, June.
    2. Phuc Trong Ho & Pham Xuan Hung & Nguyen Duc Tien, 2023. "Effects of varieties and seasons on cost efficiency in rice farming: A stochastic metafrontier approach," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 13(2), pages 120-129.
    3. Economou, Polychronis & Malefaki, Sonia & Kounetas, Konstantinos, 2019. "Productive Performance and Technology Gaps using a Bayesian Metafrontier Production Function: A cross-country comparison," MPRA Paper 94462, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. John N. Ng’ombe, 2017. "Technical efficiency of smallholder maize production in Zambia: a stochastic meta-frontier approach," Agrekon, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(4), pages 347-365, October.
    5. Owusu, Eric S. & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E., 2022. "Reap when you sow? The productivity impacts of early sowing in Malawi," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    6. Zarkovic, Maja, 2020. "Cap-and-trade and produce at least cost? Investigating firm behaviour in the EU ETS," Working papers 2020/12, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    7. Owusu, Rebecca & Kwadzo, Moses & Ghartey, William, . "Regional Productivity Differential and Technology Gap In African Agriculture: A Stochastic Metafrontier Approach," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 10(01).
    8. Osei-Mensah, Isaac & Asante, Bright Owusu & Owusu, Victor & Donkor, Emmanuel & Boansi, David, 2021. "Productivity Differences in Small Scale Palm Oil Processors Using Different Processing Technologies in Ghana," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315850, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Li, Hong-Zhou & Kopsakangas-Savolainen, Maria & Xiao, Xing-Zhi & Lau, Sim-Yee, 2017. "Have regulatory reforms improved the efficiency levels of the Japanese electricity distribution sector? A cost metafrontier-based analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 606-616.
    10. Thanh Pham Thien Nguyen & Son Hong Nghiem & Eduardo Roca & Parmendra Sharma, 2016. "Efficiency, innovation and competition: evidence from Vietnam, China and India," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 1235-1259, November.
    11. Saeid Hajihassaniasl & Recep Kök, 2016. "Scale effect in Turkish manufacturing industry: stochastic metafrontier analysis," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 5(1), pages 1-17, December.
    12. Zhang, Hui & Zhou, Peng & Sun, Xiumei & Ni, Guanqun, 2024. "Disparities in energy efficiency and its determinants in Chinese cities: From the perspective of heterogeneity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    13. Wei, Chuanhui & Zhang, Yongji & Lan, Minghui & Su, Zhi & Du, Heran & Wang, Ke, 2024. "How could we benefit from a low-carbon economy? Evidence from Chinese regional labor markets," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 523-537.
    14. Tanko, Mohammed & Ismaila, Salifu, 2021. "How culture and religion influence the agriculture technology gap in Northern Ghana," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    15. Chiu, Yung-Ho & Lee, Jen-Hui & Lu, Ching-Cheng & Shyu, Ming-Kuang & Luo, Zhengying, 2012. "The technology gap and efficiency measure in WEC countries: Application of the hybrid meta frontier model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 349-357.
    16. Huang, Tai-Hsin & Chiang, Dien-Lin & Tsai, Chao-Min, 2015. "Applying the New Metafrontier Directional Distance Function to Compare Banking Efficiencies in Central and Eastern European Countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 188-199.
    17. K Hervé Dakpo & Laure Latruffe & Yann Desjeux & Philippe Jeanneaux, 2022. "Modeling heterogeneous technologies in the presence of sample selection: The case of dairy farms and the adoption of agri‐environmental schemes in France," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(3), pages 422-438, May.
    18. Liu, Yishuang & Huang, Jinpeng & Xu, Jianxiang & Xiong, Shufei, 2024. "Natural resource dependence and sustainable development policy: Insights from city-level analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    19. Ng’ombe, John N., 2017. "Technical efficiency of smallholder maize production in Zambia: a stochastic meta-frontier approach," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 56(3), December.
    20. Joachim Nyemeck BINAM & Jim GOCKOWSKI & Guy Blaise NKAMLEU, 2008. "Technical Efficiency And Productivity Potential Of Cocoa Farmers In West African Countries," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 46(3), pages 242-263, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:eneeco:v:145:y:2025:i:c:s0140988325002786. 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/locate/eneco .

    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.