Environmental value co-creation in the power system: The role of green transformation on both power supply and demand sides

Under the “dual carbon” goals, the incoordinated green transformation between power-supply and power-demand sides has constrained the creation of environmental value in the power system, leading to imbalanced and inadequate green development among regional power systems. This study introduces the value co-creation theory to analyze the role of green transformation on both the power-supply and power-demand sides in co-creating environmental value of power system using fsQCA. The research findings are as follows: (1) Achieving a high-level power environmental value cannot rely on any single power-supply or power-demand green transformation. (2) The co-creation paths of high-level power environmental value is dominated by power-supply green transformation, while the green efficiency and green demand of power consumption need to be improved. Specifically, there are 3 co-creation paths: the policy-type path created by green capacity, the innovation-type path co-created by green technology and green awareness, and the integration-type path co-created by green capacity, green technology and green awareness. The commonality of non-high-level power environmental value is the absence of green technology and green awareness. (3) The heterogeneity analysis reveals the co-creation paths in power-scarcity provinces are more scattered, whereas those in power-affluence provinces are more complete. Based on these findings, we propose targeted policy recommendations for regions to promote synergistic green transformation on both power-supply and power-demand sides.