IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v67y2020ics0301420720302142.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How do energy consumption and environmental regulation affect carbon emissions in China? New evidence from a dynamic threshold panel model

Author

Listed:
  • Wu, Haitao
  • Xu, Lina
  • Ren, Siyu
  • Hao, Yu
  • Yan, Guoyao

Abstract

Energy and environmental issues have already become two serious threats to China's sustainable development. In this study, the relationship between energy consumption, environmental regulation and carbon emissions is quantitatively examined after taking full control of spatial effects and potential endogeneity. To comprehensively analyze the effects of environmental regulation, it is also divided into performance-based environmental regulation and cost-based environmental regulation. To control endogenous problems caused by causal relationships between variables and allow possible nonlinear relationships between energy consumption and carbon emissions, a newly developed dynamic threshold panel model that incorporates the characteristics of generalized method of moments (GMM) is utilized to explore how energy consumption affects carbon emissions under different environmental regulations. The estimation results indicate that the rising energy consumption has an important role in promoting carbon emissions, but the promotion effect has declined as the level of environmental regulation increased. Furthermore, given that there is remarkable gap in economic and social development across different Chinese regions, the relationship is reexamined for three geographical regions (i.e., east, center and west). The results indicate that energy consumption significantly promoted carbon emissions in the three regions, and the promotion effect in the western region was highest. In addition, there is evidence that environmental regulation has effectively constrained the increase in carbon emissions in eastern and central China, while it did not function as expected to curb carbon emissions in the western region.

Suggested Citation

  • Wu, Haitao & Xu, Lina & Ren, Siyu & Hao, Yu & Yan, Guoyao, 2020. "How do energy consumption and environmental regulation affect carbon emissions in China? New evidence from a dynamic threshold panel model," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:67:y:2020:i:c:s0301420720302142
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101678
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420720302142
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101678?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. Meng, Bo & Wang, Jianguo & Andrew, Robbie & Xiao, Hao & Xue, Jinjun & Peters, Glen P., 2017. "Spatial spillover effects in determining China's regional CO2 emissions growth: 2007–2010," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 161-173.
    2. Paul Lanoie & Michel Patry & Richard Lajeunesse, 2008. "Environmental regulation and productivity: testing the porter hypothesis," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 121-128, October.
    3. Daniela Marconi, 2012. "Environmental Regulation and Revealed Comparative Advantages in Europe: Is China a Pollution Haven?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 616-635, August.
    4. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    5. Bloch, Harry & Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa & Salim, Ruhul, 2015. "Economic growth with coal, oil and renewable energy consumption in China: Prospects for fuel substitution," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 104-115.
    6. Hansen, Bruce E., 1999. "Threshold effects in non-dynamic panels: Estimation, testing, and inference," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 345-368, December.
    7. 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.
    8. Esso, Loesse Jacques & Keho, Yaya, 2016. "Energy consumption, economic growth and carbon emissions: Cointegration and causality evidence from selected African countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 492-497.
    9. Smulders, Sjak & Tsur, Yacov & Zemel, Amos, 2012. "Announcing climate policy: Can a green paradox arise without scarcity?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 364-376.
    10. Olimpia Neagu & Mircea Constantin Teodoru, 2019. "The Relationship between Economic Complexity, Energy Consumption Structure and Greenhouse Gas Emission: Heterogeneous Panel Evidence from the EU Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-29, January.
    11. Sharma, Susan Sunila, 2011. "Determinants of carbon dioxide emissions: Empirical evidence from 69 countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 376-382, January.
    12. Daniel L. Millimet & Jayjit Roy, 2016. "Empirical Tests of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis When Environmental Regulation is Endogenous," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 652-677, June.
    13. Kelejian, Harry H. & Prucha, Ingmar R., 2010. "Specification and estimation of spatial autoregressive models with autoregressive and heteroskedastic disturbances," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 157(1), pages 53-67, July.
    14. Hao, Yu & Zhang, Zong-Yong & Liao, Hua & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2015. "China’s farewell to coal: A forecast of coal consumption through 2020," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 444-455.
    15. Shuai Shao, Zhenbing Yang, Lili Yang, and Shuang Ma, 2019. "Can China's Energy Intensity Constraint Policy Promote Total Factor Energy Efficiency? Evidence from the Industrial Sector," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    16. Gozgor, Giray & Lau, Chi Keung Marco & Lu, Zhou, 2018. "Energy consumption and economic growth: New evidence from the OECD countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 27-34.
    17. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    18. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    19. Dang, Viet Anh & Kim, Minjoo & Shin, Yongcheol, 2012. "Asymmetric capital structure adjustments: New evidence from dynamic panel threshold models," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 465-482.
    20. Xie, Rong-hui & Yuan, Yi-jun & Huang, Jing-jing, 2017. "Different Types of Environmental Regulations and Heterogeneous Influence on “Green” Productivity: Evidence from China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 104-112.
    21. Laplante, Benoit & Rilstone, Paul, 1996. "Environmental Inspections and Emissions of the Pulp and Paper Industry in Quebec," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 19-36, July.
    22. Bakirtas, Tahsin & Akpolat, Ahmet Gokce, 2018. "The relationship between energy consumption, urbanization, and economic growth in new emerging-market countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 110-121.
    23. Wang, Xue-Chao & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Dong, Xiaobin & Fan, Weiguo & Xu, Zihan & Wang, Yutao & Varbanov, Petar Sabev, 2019. "Air pollution terrain nexus: A review considering energy generation and consumption," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 71-85.
    24. Bruce E. Hansen, 2000. "Sample Splitting and Threshold Estimation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(3), pages 575-604, May.
    25. Bi, Gong-Bing & Song, Wen & Zhou, P. & Liang, Liang, 2014. "Does environmental regulation affect energy efficiency in China's thermal power generation? Empirical evidence from a slacks-based DEA model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 537-546.
    26. Hendrik Ritter & Mark Schopf, 2014. "Unilateral Climate Policy: Harmful or Even Disastrous?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 58(1), pages 155-178, May.
    27. Liguo Lin & Wei Sun, 2016. "Location choice of FDI firms and environmental regulation reforms in China," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 207-232, October.
    28. Adam B. Jaffe & Karen Palmer, 1997. "Environmental Regulation And Innovation: A Panel Data Study," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(4), pages 610-619, November.
    29. Hancevic, Pedro Ignacio, 2016. "Environmental regulation and productivity: The case of electricity generation under the CAAA-1990," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 131-143.
    30. Yu, Shiwei & Zheng, Shuhong & Li, Xia, 2018. "The achievement of the carbon emissions peak in China: The role of energy consumption structure optimization," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 693-707.
    31. Hao, Yu & Peng, Hui, 2017. "On the convergence in China's provincial per capita energy consumption: New evidence from a spatial econometric analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 31-43.
    32. ., 2017. "A General Theory of Economic Development," Chapters, in: A General Theory of Economic Development, chapter 7, pages 115-150, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    33. Cairns, Robert D., 2014. "The green paradox of the economics of exhaustible resources," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 78-85.
    34. Cheng, Zhonghua & Li, Lianshui & Liu, Jun, 2018. "Industrial structure, technical progress and carbon intensity in China's provinces," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2935-2946.
    35. Wang, Shaojian & Li, Guangdong & Fang, Chuanglin, 2018. "Urbanization, economic growth, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions: Empirical evidence from countries with different income levels," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2144-2159.
    36. Zhao, Xiaoli & Yin, Haitao & Zhao, Yue, 2015. "Impact of environmental regulations on the efficiency and CO2 emissions of power plants in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 238-247.
    37. Hans-Werner Sinn, 2008. "Public policies against global warming: a supply side approach," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 15(4), pages 360-394, August.
    38. Bildirici, Melike E. & Gökmenoğlu, Seyit M., 2017. "Environmental pollution, hydropower energy consumption and economic growth: Evidence from G7 countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 68-85.
    39. Maddison, David, 2006. "Environmental Kuznets curves: A spatial econometric approach," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 218-230, March.
    40. van der Ploeg, Frederick & Withagen, Cees, 2012. "Is there really a green paradox?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 342-363.
    41. Li, Ke & Lin, Boqiang, 2015. "Impacts of urbanization and industrialization on energy consumption/CO2 emissions: Does the level of development matter?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1107-1122.
    42. Yang, Zhenbing & Shao, Shuai & Yang, Lili & Miao, Zhuang, 2018. "Improvement pathway of energy consumption structure in China's industrial sector: From the perspective of directed technical change," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 166-176.
    43. P. Srinivasan & Inder Siddanth Ravindra, 2015. "Causality among Energy Consumption, CO2 Emission, Economic Growth and Trade," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 50(3), pages 168-189, August.
    44. Arouri, Mohamed El Hedi & Ben Youssef, Adel & M'henni, Hatem & Rault, Christophe, 2012. "Energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in Middle East and North African countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 342-349.
    45. Wu, Haitao & Hao, Yu & Weng, Jia-Hsi, 2019. "How does energy consumption affect China's urbanization? New evidence from dynamic threshold panel models," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 24-38.
    46. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    47. Levinson, Arik, 1996. "Environmental regulations and manufacturers' location choices: Evidence from the Census of Manufactures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1-2), pages 5-29, October.
    48. Kuishuang Feng & Yim Ling Siu & Dabo Guan & Klaus Hubacek, 2012. "Analyzing Drivers of Regional Carbon Dioxide Emissions for China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 16(4), pages 600-611, August.
    49. Schot, Johan & Steinmueller, W. Edward, 2018. "Three frames for innovation policy: R&D, systems of innovation and transformative change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1554-1567.
    50. Sun, Chuanwang & Zhang, Wenyue & Luo, Yuan & Xu, Yonghong, 2019. "The improvement and substitution effect of transportation infrastructure on air quality: An empirical evidence from China's rail transit construction," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 949-957.
    51. Hao, Yu & Guo, Yunxia & Guo, Yitong & Wu, Haitao & Ren, Siyu, 2020. "Does outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) affect the home country’s environmental quality? The case of China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 109-119.
    52. Bilen, K. & Ozyurt, O. & BakIrcI, K. & KarslI, S. & Erdogan, S. & YIlmaz, M. & ComaklI, O., 2008. "Energy production, consumption, and environmental pollution for sustainable development: A case study in Turkey," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 1529-1561, August.
    53. ., 2017. "A general theory of infrastructure and economic development," Chapters, in: Time, Space and Capital, chapter 8, pages 158-173, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    54. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Chaudhary, A.R. & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2017. "Does urbanization cause increasing energy demand in Pakistan? Empirical evidence from STIRPAT model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 83-93.
    55. Mandal, Sabuj Kumar, 2010. "Do undesirable output and environmental regulation matter in energy efficiency analysis? Evidence from Indian Cement Industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 6076-6083, October.
    56. Elliott, Robert J.R. & Sun, Puyang & Zhu, Tong, 2017. "The direct and indirect effect of urbanization on energy intensity: A province-level study for China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 677-692.
    57. Wang, S.S. & Zhou, D.Q. & Zhou, P. & Wang, Q.W., 2011. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in China: A panel data analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 4870-4875, September.
    58. Michael E. Porter & Claas van der Linde, 1995. "Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 97-118, Fall.
    59. Soytas, Ugur & Sari, Ramazan & Ewing, Bradley T., 2007. "Energy consumption, income, and carbon emissions in the United States," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3-4), pages 482-489, May.
    60. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    61. Begum, Rawshan Ara & Sohag, Kazi & Abdullah, Sharifah Mastura Syed & Jaafar, Mokhtar, 2015. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption, economic and population growth in Malaysia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 594-601.
    62. Cheong, Tsun Se & Li, Victor Jing & Shi, Xunpeng, 2019. "Regional disparity and convergence of electricity consumption in China: A distribution dynamics approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    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. Wu, Haitao & Hao, Yu & Ren, Siyu, 2020. "How do environmental regulation and environmental decentralization affect green total factor energy efficiency: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    2. Wu, Haitao & Hao, Yu & Weng, Jia-Hsi, 2019. "How does energy consumption affect China's urbanization? New evidence from dynamic threshold panel models," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 24-38.
    3. Kais, Saidi & Sami, Hammami, 2016. "An econometric study of the impact of economic growth and energy use on carbon emissions: Panel data evidence from fifty eight countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1101-1110.
    4. Liu, Xiaoguang & Ji, Qiang & Yu, Jian, 2021. "Sustainable development goals and firm carbon emissions: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    5. Seo, Myung Hwan & Shin, Yongcheol, 2016. "Dynamic panels with threshold effect and endogeneity," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 195(2), pages 169-186.
    6. Zhao, Jun & Jiang, Qingzhe & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin, 2020. "Would environmental regulation improve the greenhouse gas benefits of natural gas use? A Chinese case study," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    7. Wu, Haitao & Xia, Yufeng & Yang, Xiaodong & Hao, Yu & Ren, Siyu, 2021. "Does environmental pollution promote China's crime rate? A new perspective through government official corruption," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 292-307.
    8. Zhang, Kun & Zhang, Zong-Yong & Liang, Qiao-Mei, 2017. "An empirical analysis of the green paradox in China: From the perspective of fiscal decentralization," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 203-211.
    9. Yanchao Feng & Yong Geng & Zhou Liang & Qiong Shen & Xiqiang Xia, 2021. "Research on the Impacts of Heterogeneous Environmental Regulations on Green Productivity in China: The Moderating Roles of Technical Change and Efficiency Change," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-21, October.
    10. Mohamed Abdouli & Sami Hammami, 2017. "Economic growth, FDI inflows and their impact on the environment: an empirical study for the MENA countries," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 121-146, January.
    11. Fangyu Ju & Mengfan Ke, 2022. "The Spatial Spillover Effects of Environmental Regulation and Regional Energy Efficiency and Their Interactions under Local Government Competition in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-27, July.
    12. Xie, Li & Li, Zexin & Ye, Xiuhua & Jiang, Yanru, 2021. "Environmental regulation and energy investment structure: Empirical evidence from China's power industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    13. Dang, Viet Anh & Kim, Minjoo & Shin, Yongcheol, 2014. "Asymmetric adjustment toward optimal capital structure: Evidence from a crisis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 226-242.
    14. Vinayagathasan, Thanabalasingam, 2013. "Inflation and economic growth: A dynamic panel threshold analysis for Asian economies," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 31-41.
    15. Xu, Hao & Xu, Jingxuan & Wang, Jie & Hou, Xiang, 2023. "Reduce production or increase efficiency? Hazardous air pollutants regulation, energy use, and the synergistic effect on industrial enterprises' carbon emission," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    16. Yue Dou & Muhammad Shahbaz & Kangyin Dong & Xiucheng Dong, 2022. "How natural disasters affect carbon emissions: the global case," 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. 113(3), pages 1875-1901, September.
    17. repec:cep:stiecm:/2014/577 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Su, Hsin-Ning & Moaniba, Igam M., 2017. "Does innovation respond to climate change? Empirical evidence from patents and greenhouse gas emissions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 49-62.
    19. Dong, Xiao-Ying & Hao, Yu, 2018. "Would income inequality affect electricity consumption? Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 215-227.
    20. Luan, Bingjiang & Zou, Hong & Chen, Shuxing & Huang, Junbing, 2021. "The effect of industrial structure adjustment on China’s energy intensity: Evidence from linear and nonlinear analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    21. Abid, Mehdi, 2016. "Impact of economic, financial, and institutional factors on CO2 emissions: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa economies," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 85-94.

    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:jrpoli:v:67:y:2020:i:c:s0301420720302142. 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/inca/30467 .

    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.