The impact and path of influence of central–local government policy synergy on renewable energy development: Evidence from China

The effectiveness of macro control and protective measures implemented via renewable energy (RE) policies relies on the synergy between the central and local governments. Therefore, exploring the synergy between central and local policies and its influence is essential for improving policy outcomes and advancing RE development. Based on 6556 RE policies of central and 30 provincial local governments from 2005 to 2022, we apply latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) to extract key topics. We then construct indicators of synergy in three dimensions: policy goal consistency, policy implementation, and policy innovation. Our fixed effects model reveals the paths by which central–local government synergy in RE policies influences the development of RE. The findings are as follows: 1) From 2005 to 2022, the overall policy synergy level saw significant improvement, rising from 0.06 to a peak of 2.81 in 2017, before slightly decreasing to 1.94. Regions such as Jiangsu and Guangdong, which are economically developed, and resource-rich provinces, such as Shaanxi and Shandong, present high levels of synergy. 2) The driving effects of the levels of policy innovation and central–local policy synergy on the development of RE are rather significant, as 1 % increases in the innovation and synergy levels lead to increases of 0.017 % and 0.023 %, respectively, in the power generation of RE. The positive effects are particularly notable in regions without abundant RE resources and weak power generation infrastructure. However, provinces with low levels of market development, such as Qinghai and Xinjiang, struggle to fully leverage the benefits of central–local policy synergy. 3) The synergy between central and local policies promotes RE development through two mechanisms: enhancing local governments' emphasis on green development (partial mediation) and expanding the scale of national subsidies for RE projects (fully mediation).