IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v102y2025ics1059056025004526.html

Impact of low-carbon energy structure transition on rural revitalization

Author

Listed:
  • Shen, Yifei
  • Xiao, Zhonghua
  • Huang, Jingying
  • Deng, Yong
  • Yu, Junwei

Abstract

This paper investigates whether and how the low-carbon transition of energy structures promotes rural revitalization. Using a sample of Chinese cities from 2003 to 2022, the study finds that the low-carbon transition of energy structures significantly drives rural revitalization in the regions, a relationship that remains robust after a series of sensitivity tests. The mechanisms primarily operate through two pathways: industrial upgrading and improved energy efficiency. Moderation effect analysis further reveals that energy consumption intensity and the level of green finance development, as key contextual variables, significantly enhance the implementation efficacy of low-carbon policy tools by optimizing resource allocation efficiency and reducing transition costs. Heterogeneity analysis shows that spatial socioeconomic characteristics such as geographic location, urban-rural income equilibrium, and digital infrastructure levels profoundly influence the effectiveness of the low-carbon transition of energy structures.

Suggested Citation

  • Shen, Yifei & Xiao, Zhonghua & Huang, Jingying & Deng, Yong & Yu, Junwei, 2025. "Impact of low-carbon energy structure transition on rural revitalization," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:102:y:2025:i:c:s1059056025004526
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2025.104289
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056025004526
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2025.104289?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. Liu, Jiqing & Lv, Xiaojing & Zhang, Gui & Zhang, Meng, 2025. "Can fintech drive innovation in enterprise digital business models?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Yang, Junhua & Li, Ying & Zheng, Yu & Zhu, Mengqi & Shahab, Yasir & Ye, Chengang, 2025. "External audit quality and green innovation: Does environmental information disclosure matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    3. Chen, Jing & Zhou, Chunshan & Wang, Shaojian & Li, Shijie, 2018. "Impacts of energy consumption structure, energy intensity, economic growth, urbanization on PM2.5 concentrations in countries globally," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 94-105.
    4. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Dworkin, Michael H., 2015. "Energy justice: Conceptual insights and practical applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 435-444.
    5. Wang, Huan & Chen, Wenying & Shi, Jingcheng, 2018. "Low carbon transition of global building sector under 2- and 1.5-degree targets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 148-157.
    6. Pingkuo, Liu & Huan, Peng, 2022. "What drives the green and low-carbon energy transition in China?: An empirical analysis based on a novel framework," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    7. Biwei Su & Almas Heshmati, 2013. "Analysis Of The Determinants Of Income And Income Gap Between Urban And Rural China," China Economic Policy Review (CEPR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(01), pages 1-29.
    8. Junjun Tang & Xing Zhao, 2023. "Does the new digital infrastructure improve total factor productivity?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 895-916, October.
    9. Ma, Li & Li, Danna, 2024. "Would macro policy promote green and low-carbon transformation of energy companies?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    10. Wang, Linyuan & Zhao, Lin & Mao, Guozhu & Zuo, Jian & Du, Huibin, 2017. "Way to accomplish low carbon development transformation: A bibliometric analysis during 1995–2014," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 57-69.
    11. Spence, Michael, 1974. "Competitive and optimal responses to signals: An analysis of efficiency and distribution," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 296-332, March.
    12. 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.
    13. Dani Rodrik, 2014. "Green industrial policy," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 30(3), pages 469-491.
    14. Cui, Chengjie & Li, Xiaoqing & Hao, Yawen, 2025. "Pursuing fame or interests: cross non-controlling major shareholders and private information in related party transactions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    15. Erik Brynjolfsson & Kristina McElheran, 2016. "The Rapid Adoption of Data-Driven Decision-Making," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 133-139, May.
    16. Chen, Han & Yang, Lei & Chen, Wenying, 2020. "Modelling national, provincial and city-level low-carbon energy transformation pathways," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    17. Xu, Bin & Chen, Jianbao, 2021. "How to achieve a low-carbon transition in the heavy industry? A nonlinear perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    18. You, Jianmin & Zhang, Wei, 2022. "How heterogeneous technological progress promotes industrial structure upgrading and industrial carbon efficiency? Evidence from China's industries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    19. David I. Stern, 2017. "The environmental Kuznets curve after 25 years," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 7-28, April.
    20. Lu, Qing & Fang, Huaxin & Hou, Jianchao, 2024. "The impact of energy supply side on the diffusion of low-carbon transformation on energy demand side under low-carbon policies in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    21. Lee, Chi-Chuan & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "How does green finance affect green total factor productivity? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    22. Horbach, Jens & Rammer, Christian & Rennings, Klaus, 2012. "Determinants of eco-innovations by type of environmental impact — The role of regulatory push/pull, technology push and market pull," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 112-122.
    23. Tomasz Jałowiec & Henryk Wojtaszek & Ireneusz Miciuła, 2022. "Analysis of the Potential Management of the Low-Carbon Energy Transformation by 2050," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-29, March.
    24. Xu, Bin & Lin, Boqiang, 2025. "How does green credit effectively promote green technology innovation?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    25. Bartholdsen, Hans-Karl & Eidens, Anna & Löffler, Konstantin & Seehaus, Frederik & Wejda, Felix & Burandt, Thorsten & Oei, Pao-Yu & Kemfert, Claudia & Hirschhausen, Christian von, 2019. "Pathways for Germany's Low-Carbon Energy Transformation Towards 2050," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12(15), pages 1-33.
    26. Mingxing Chen & Yuan Zhou & Xinrong Huang & Chao Ye, 2021. "The Integration of New-Type Urbanization and Rural Revitalization Strategies in China: Origin, Reality and Future Trends," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-16, February.
    27. Benjamin K. Sovacool & Steve Griffiths, 2020. "Culture and low-carbon energy transitions," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 3(9), pages 685-693, September.
    28. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Leonardo Bursztyn & David Hemous, 2012. "The Environment and Directed Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 131-166, February.
    29. Deng, Guoying & Fu, Xu & Zou, Jin & Yan, Jingzhou, 2025. "Enterprise digitalization and bank-enterprise ESG consistency: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    30. Tao, Weiliang & Weng, Shimei & Chen, Xueli & ALHussan, Fawaz Baddar & Song, Malin, 2024. "Artificial intelligence-driven transformations in low-carbon energy structure: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    31. Jiang, Lixia & Cao, Xiaojing & Wang, Zeyu & Zhan, Yun & Zhang, Jiali & Chen, Shuai, 2025. "Promoting energy saving and emission reduction benefits in small and medium-sized enterprises supply chains through green finance - Evidence based on artificial intelligence intervention," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(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. Michael Peneder & Spyros Arvanitis & Christian Rammer & Tobias Stucki & Martin Wörter, 2022. "Policy instruments and self-reported impacts of the adoption of energy saving technologies in the DACH region," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 369-404, May.
    2. Chang, Juin-Jen & Wang, Wei-Neng & Shieh, Jhy-Yuan, 2018. "Environmental rebounds/backfires: Macroeconomic implications for the promotion of environmentally-friendly products," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 35-68.
    3. Zhang, Yuanchao & Yang, Yanbing & Chai, Yongdong & Liang, Tianmei & Li, Lingjun, 2025. "China's financial opening, green technical innovation and low-carbon economy," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    4. Xie, Ronghui & Teo, Thompson S.H., 2022. "Green technology innovation, environmental externality, and the cleaner upgrading of industrial structure in China — Considering the moderating effect of environmental regulation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    5. Chiappinelli, Olga & Giuffrida, Leonardo M. & Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 2025. "Public procurement as an innovation policy: Where do we stand?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    6. Waseem Alam & Mohd Afjal & Abdul Moeed, 2026. "Technological innovation as a moderator in the nexus between economic growth and environmental quality: evidence from Kuwait," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, December.
    7. Aldieri, Luigi & Bruno, Bruna & Makkonen, Teemu & Vinci, Concetto Paolo, 2023. "Environmental innovations, geographically mediated knowledge spillovers, economic and environmental performance," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    8. Yan Su & Chien‐Chiang Lee, 2025. "Green finance, environmental quality and technological innovation in China," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 405-425, January.
    9. Xu, Ye & Wen, Shuang & Tao, Chang-Qi, 2023. "Impact of environmental tax on pollution control: A sustainable development perspective," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 89-106.
    10. Lin, Boqiang & Zhu, Yitong, 2025. "The impact of artificial intelligence policy on green innovation of firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    11. Shijing Nan & Zhaomin Wang & Jinwei Wang & Jianluan Wu, 2022. "Investigating the Role of Green Innovation in Economic Growth and Carbon Emissions Nexus for China: New Evidence Based on the PSTR Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-19, December.
    12. Spyros Arvanitis & Michael Peneder & Christian Rammer & Tobias Stucki & Martin Wörter, 2016. "Competitiveness and ecological impacts of green energy technologies: firm-level evidence for the DACH region," KOF Working papers 16-420, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    13. Zhang, Fuyu & Wang, Qiang & Li, Rongrong, 2025. "How does clean energy reshape the relationship between artificial intelligence and carbon emissions? Evidence from renewable and nuclear energy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    14. Hu, Hui & Qi, Shaozhou & Chen, Yuanzhi, 2023. "Using green technology for a better tomorrow: How enterprises and government utilize the carbon trading system and incentive policies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    15. Cristina Peñasco, 2025. "France's Green Horizon: Supply-Side Drivers for a Competitive Transition in Export Markets," Working papers 990, Banque de France.
    16. Giovanni Marin & Francesca Lotti, 2017. "Productivity effects of eco-innovations using data on eco-patents," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 26(1), pages 125-148.
    17. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Fuhao & Lou, Runchi & Wang, Keying, 2023. "How does green finance drive the decarbonization of the economy? Empirical evidence from China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 671-684.
    18. Qiang Wang & Yuanfan Li & Rongrong Li, 2024. "Rethinking the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis across 214 countries: the impacts of 12 economic, institutional, technological, resource, and social factors," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, December.
    19. Jing Song & Mengyuan Li & Shaosong Wang & Tao Ye, 2022. "To What Extent Does Environmental Regulation Influence Emission Reduction? Evidence from Local and Neighboring Locations in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-9, August.
    20. Xie, Li & Li, Siyi, 2024. "Climate risk and energy-saving technology innovation: Evidence from Chinese prefecture-level cities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).

    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:reveco:v:102:y:2025:i:c:s1059056025004526. 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/620165 .

    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.