IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v228y2024ics0960148124007109.html

What does clean energy attract? Evidence from the transfer structure of energy-intensive projects in China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Qianxiang
  • Lin, Boqiang

Abstract

The transfer of energy-intensive projects to areas abundant in clean energy resources holds promise for optimizing the energy structure. After obtaining specific information on transferred projects of listed energy-intensive firms through search or phone contact, this paper innovatively constructs a three-dimensional panel containing 1,859,220 observations to empirically examine the attraction of clean energy to energy-intensive projects under the carbon intensity constraint policy (CICP). Our findings reveal that: (1) the CICP promotes the transfer of gray energy-intensive projects, leading to the transfer structure trending towards graying. (2) Furthermore, we observe a positive correlation between the proportion of thermal power in transfer-out areas and the outflow of gray energy-intensive projects. Conversely, areas with higher wind power and photovoltaics attract a greater inflow of gray energy-intensive projects. (3) Notably, clean energy predominantly attracts the inflow of gray projects rather than green projects. Our findings provide micro evidence and valuable insights into the transfer of energy-intensive industries, informing the design and implementation of future environmental policies for policymakers and stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Qianxiang & Lin, Boqiang, 2024. "What does clean energy attract? Evidence from the transfer structure of energy-intensive projects in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:228:y:2024:i:c:s0960148124007109
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2024.120642
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148124007109
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2024.120642?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. Li, Mengna & Pan, Xiongfeng & Yuan, Sai, 2022. "Do the national industrial relocation demonstration zones have higher regional energy efficiency?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    2. Yu, Li & Ma, Tiemeng & Wu, Sirong & Lyu, Zhuoyang, 2023. "How does broadband internet affect firm-level labor misallocation: The role of information frictions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    3. Zhou, Qian & Zhong, Shihu & Shi, Tao & Zhang, Xiaoling, 2021. "Environmental regulation and haze pollution: Neighbor-companion or neighbor-beggar?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    4. Nathan Nunn & Nancy Qian, 2014. "US Food Aid and Civil Conflict," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(6), pages 1630-1666, June.
    5. Zha, Donglan & Kavuri, Anil Savio & Si, Songjian, 2017. "Energy biased technology change: Focused on Chinese energy-intensive industries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 1081-1089.
    6. Liu, Jia & Ma, Tao & Wu, Huijun & Yang, Hongxing, 2023. "Study on optimum energy fuel mix for urban cities integrated with pumped hydro storage and green vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    7. Zhang, Pan, 2019. "Do energy intensity targets matter for wind energy development? Identifying their heterogeneous effects in Chinese provinces with different wind resources," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 968-975.
    8. repec:aen:journl:ej40-4-shao is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Shuai Shao & Zhenbing Yang & Lili Yang & Shuang Ma, 2019. "Can China’s Energy Intensity Constraint Policy Promote Total Factor Energy Efficiency? Evidence from the Industrial Sector," The Energy Journal, , vol. 40(4), pages 101-128, July.
    10. 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.
    11. Boqiang Lin & Qianxiang Zhang, 2023. "Corporate environmental responsibility in polluting firms: Does digital transformation matter?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2234-2246, September.
    12. Wei, Wei & Mushtaq, Zulqarnain & Sharif, Maimoona & Zeng, Xiaowu & Wan-Li, Zhang & Qaisrani, Mumtaz A., 2020. "Evaluating the coal rebound effect in energy intensive industries of China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    13. Xu, Le & Fan, Meiting & Yang, Lili & Shao, Shuai, 2021. "Heterogeneous green innovations and carbon emission performance: Evidence at China's city level," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    14. repec:aen:journl:ej37-si1-lei is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Zhao, Xiaoli & Yin, Haitao, 2011. "Industrial relocation and energy consumption: Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2944-2956, May.
    16. Chen, Huanyu & Yi, Jizheng & Chen, Aibin & Peng, Duanxiang & Yang, Jieqiong, 2023. "Green technology innovation and CO2 emission in China: Evidence from a spatial-temporal analysis and a nonlinear spatial durbin model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    17. Zhao, Xiaomeng & Liu, Chuanjiang & Sun, Chuanwang & Yang, Mian, 2020. "Does stringent environmental regulation lead to a carbon haven effect? Evidence from carbon-intensive industries in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    18. Lin, Boqiang & Shi, Lei, 2022. "Do environmental quality and policy changes affect the evolution of consumers’ intentions to buy new energy vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    19. Yang, Zhenbing & Fan, Meiting & Shao, Shuai & Yang, Lili, 2017. "Does carbon intensity constraint policy improve industrial green production performance in China? A quasi-DID analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 271-282.
    20. Lin, Boqiang & Zhang, Qianxiang, 2023. "The transfer of energy-intensive projects under carbon constraints: Does energy structure matter?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    21. Hongbo Duan & Lei Zhu & Gürkan Kumbaroğlu & Ying Fan, 2016. "Regional Opportunities for China to Go Low-Carbon: Results from the REEC Model," The Energy Journal, , vol. 37(1_suppl), pages 223-252, January.
    22. Wu, Haoyi & Guo, Huanxiu & Zhang, Bing & Bu, Maoliang, 2017. "Westward movement of new polluting firms in China: Pollution reduction mandates and location choice," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 119-138.
    23. Duan, Yuwan & Jiang, Xuemei, 2021. "Pollution haven or pollution halo? A Re-evaluation on the role of multinational enterprises in global CO2 emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Qianxiang & Lin, Boqiang, 2024. "The effect of energy efficiency retrofits on radical innovation: From the perspective of supply chain," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    2. Yu, Ziling & Wang, Zhe & Ma, Mengjuan & Ma, Lili, 2024. "The impact of carbon leakage from energy-saving targets: A moderating effect based on new-energy model cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 375(C).
    3. Zeming Zhao & Chunhua Li & Zengxu Wang & Tianchi Zhang & Xin Cheng, 2025. "A Hierarchical Collaborative Optimization Model for Generation and Transmission Expansion Planning of Cross-Regional Power Systems Considering Energy Storage and Load Transfer," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-23, October.
    4. Li, Pin & Zhang, Jinsuo & Zou, Shaohui & Xiong, Jing & Liu, Hong & Zhou, Lei, 2026. "Industrial relocation: its heterogeneous effects on photovoltaic development in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).

    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. Lin, Boqiang & Zhang, Qianxiang, 2023. "The transfer of energy-intensive projects under carbon constraints: Does energy structure matter?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    2. Zhang, Wei & Liu, Xuemeng & Wang, Die & Zhou, Jianping, 2022. "Digital economy and carbon emission performance: Evidence at China's city level," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    3. Yanwei Lyu & Jinning Zhang & Fei Yang & Di Wu, 2022. "The “Local Neighborhood” Effect of Environmental Regulation on Green Innovation Efficiency: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-20, August.
    4. Chao Wu & Yu Hua, 2023. "Does Environmental Regulation Have an Employment Dividend? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, April.
    5. Fang Qu & Wensen She, 2025. "Artificial Intelligence Technology and Regional Carbon Emission Performance: Does Energy Transition or Industrial Transformation Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-31, February.
    6. Li, Pin & Zhang, Jinsuo & Zou, Shaohui & Xiong, Jing & Liu, Hong & Zhou, Lei, 2026. "Industrial relocation: its heterogeneous effects on photovoltaic development in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    7. 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).
    8. Sun, Yonghe & Huang, Zihang & Chi, Fudong, 2023. "Analysis of systemic factors affecting carbon reduction in Chinese energy-intensive industries: A dual-driven DEMATEL model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    9. Shunbin Zhong & Huafu Shen & Ziheng Niu & Yang Yu & Lin Pan & Yaojun Fan & Atif Jahanger, 2022. "Moving towards Environmental Sustainability: Can Digital Economy Reduce Environmental Degradation in China?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-23, November.
    10. Nie, Yongyou & Cheng, Dandan & Liu, Kui, 2020. "The effectiveness of environmental authoritarianism: Evidence from China's administrative inquiry for environmental protection," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    11. Zhang, Shengling & Wang, Yao & Hao, Yu & Liu, Zhiwei, 2021. "Shooting two hawks with one arrow: Could China's emission trading scheme promote green development efficiency and regional carbon equality?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    12. Jianzhong Xu & Bingjun Tong & Manman Wang & Shi Yin, 2024. "Does environmental pollution governance contribute to carbon emission reduction under heterogeneous green technological innovation? Empirical evidence from China’s provincial panel data," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(12), pages 31727-31756, December.
    13. Yuping Deng & Yanrui Wu & Helian Xu, 2022. "Emission Reduction and Value-added Export Nexus at Firm Level," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 22-19, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    14. He, Yongda & Du, Anna Min & Lin, Boqiang & Scrimgeour, Frank, 2025. "Energy-capital substitution, technological innovation, and monetary policy," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    15. Zulqarnain Mushtaq & Wei Wei & Jie Liu, 2026. "Unleashing China's coal conservation potentials by analyzing efficiency of energy intensive industries: A Logarithm Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model," Energy & Environment, , vol. 37(1), pages 196-220, February.
    16. Lin, Boqiang & Ullah, Sami, 2023. "Towards the goal of going green: Do green growth and innovation matter for environmental sustainability in Pakistan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    17. Ke Xu & Rui Zhang & Yun Tong, 2024. "The Impact of High-Standard Scenic Areas Construction on County-Level Carbon Emissions and Its Spatial Spillover Effects: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, November.
    18. Tang, Chang & Xu, Yuanyuan & Hao, Yu & Wu, Haitao & Xue, Yan, 2021. "What is the role of telecommunications infrastructure construction in green technology innovation? A firm-level analysis for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    19. Jiang, Wei & Li, Xitao & Liu, Ruoxi & Song, Yijia, 2022. "Local fiscal pressure, policy distortion and energy efficiency: Micro-evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PB).
    20. Ying Jiang & Jin Xu & Guofei Wang, 2024. "Trade in green patents: How do green technologies flow in China?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 823-856, June.

    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:renene:v:228:y:2024:i:c:s0960148124007109. 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.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    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.