IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i15p9272-d874821.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Energy Saving and Emission Reduction Effect of Carbon Trading Pilot Policy in China: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Huan Zhang

    (School of Economics, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing 211815, China)

  • Jingyu Wu

    (Reading Academy, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China)

Abstract

Promoting the carbon emission trading system has been a crucial measure for China to fulfill its carbon neutrality commitment. Taking the carbon emission trading system implemented in China in 2013 as a quasi-natural experiment, based on the provincial panel data of China from 2005 to 2019, this paper adopts the difference-in-difference (DID) method and the synthetic control method (SCM) to evaluate the impact of the carbon emission trading system on energy conservation and emission reduction in pilot provinces and cities. The research findings reveal that, on the whole, the carbon emission trading system has significantly promoted the process of energy conservation and emission reduction in pilot provinces and cities. Other robustness tests, including the parallel trend test, PSM–DID stationarity test and placebo test have also been passed. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the most significant policy effects occur in Tianjin and Shanghai, followed by Hubei. The emission reduction effect of Guangdong displays a trend of first decreasing and then increasing. The test results demonstrate that the carbon emission trading system can strengthen the process of energy conservation and emission reduction by optimizing the industrial structure and energy structure. In conclusion, policy makers should coordinate the relationship between the government and the market and speed up the transformation of environmental policy from command control type to market incentive type. Meanwhile, improve the property right system and accelerate the promotion of carbon emission trading pilot policies in China according to local conditions. By encouraging technological innovation, a new market-oriented path of energy conservation and emission reduction guided by the enhancement of energy efficiency and the optimization of energy and industrial structures ought to be formed.

Suggested Citation

  • Huan Zhang & Jingyu Wu, 2022. "The Energy Saving and Emission Reduction Effect of Carbon Trading Pilot Policy in China: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-25, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9272-:d:874821
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9272/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9272/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wu, Qingyang & Wang, Yanying, 2022. "How does carbon emission price stimulate enterprises' total factor productivity? Insights from China's emission trading scheme pilots," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    2. Yang, Xinyu & Jiang, Ping & Pan, Yao, 2020. "Does China's carbon emission trading policy have an employment double dividend and a Porter effect?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    3. Cao, Jing & Ho, Mun S. & Ma, Rong & Teng, Fei, 2021. "When carbon emission trading meets a regulated industry: Evidence from the electricity sector of China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(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. Jianfeng Guo & Xiaotong Ou & Yan Li & Kecheng Liu, 2024. "Can the Carbon Emissions Trading Pilot Policy Improve the Ecological Well-Being Performance of Cities in China?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-19, January.
    2. Mengyao Liu & Yan Hou & Hongli Jiang, 2023. "The Energy-Saving Effect of E-Commerce Development—A Quasi-Natural Experiment in China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-22, June.

    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. Hu, Yucai & Li, Ranran & Du, Lei & Ren, Shenggang & Chevallier, Julien, 2022. "Could SO2 and CO2 emissions trading schemes achieve co-benefits of emissions reduction?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    2. Ren, Shenggang & Yang, Xuanyu & Hu, Yucai & Chevallier, Julien, 2022. "Emission trading, induced innovation and firm performance," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Wu, Qingyang & Tan, Chang & Wang, Daoping & Wu, Yongtao & Meng, Jing & Zheng, Heran, 2023. "How carbon emission prices accelerate net zero: Evidence from China's coal-fired power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    4. Heijmans, Roweno J.R.K. & Engström, Max, 2024. "Time Horizons and Emissions Trading," Discussion Papers 2024/2, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    5. Lei Ding & Xuejuan Fang, 2022. "Spatial–temporal distribution of air-pollution-intensive industries and its social-economic driving mechanism in Zhejiang Province, China: a framework of spatial econometric analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 1681-1712, February.
    6. Zhang, Ming-ang & Lu, Shuling & Zhang, Sihan & Bai, Yanfeng, 2023. "The unintended consequence of minimum wage hikes: Evidence based on firms' pollution emission," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    7. Tan, Xiujie & Sun, Qian & Wang, Meiji & Se Cheong, Tsun & Yan Shum, Wai & Huang, Jinpeng, 2022. "Assessing the effects of emissions trading systems on energy consumption and energy mix," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    8. 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).
    9. Tunahan Degirmenci & Mehmet Aydin, 2023. "The effects of environmental taxes on environmental pollution and unemployment: A panel co‐integration analysis on the validity of double dividend hypothesis for selected African countries," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2231-2238, July.
    10. Jie Deng & Xuwei Luo & Mengsi Hu, 2022. "Implications of a Carbon Tax Mechanism in Remanufacturing Outsourcing on Carbon Neutrality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-21, May.
    11. Wenke Wang & Xiaoqiong You & Kebei Liu & Yenchun Jim Wu & Daming You, 2020. "Implementation of a Multi-Agent Carbon Emission Reduction Strategy under the Chinese Dual Governance System: An Evolutionary Game Theoretical Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-21, November.
    12. Po Kou & Ying Han & Xiaoyuan Qi & Yuanxian Li, 2022. "Does China's policy of carbon emission trading deliver sulfur dioxide reduction co-benefits?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 6224-6245, May.
    13. Huo, Xiaolin & Jiang, Dayan & Qiu, Zhigang & Yang, Sijie, 2022. "The impacts of dual carbon goals on asset prices in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    14. Enci Wang & Jianyun Nie & Hong Zhan, 2022. "The Impact of Carbon Emissions Trading on the Profitability and Debt Burden of Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-20, October.
    15. Yu, Jian & Liu, Peng & Fu, Dahai & Shi, Xunpeng, 2023. "How do power shortages affect CO2 emission intensity? Firm-level evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    16. Guoen Xia & Zenghui Yu & Xuwu Peng, 2023. "How Does Enterprise Digital Transformation Affect Total Factor Productivity? Based on the Information Intermediary Role of Analysts’ Attention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-22, May.
    17. Jiang, Qichuan & Ma, Xuejiao, 2021. "Spillovers of environmental regulation on carbon emissions network," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    18. Zheng, Yan & Zhou, Min & Wen, Fenghua, 2021. "Asymmetric effects of oil shocks on carbon allowance price: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    19. Wu, Qingyang & Wang, Yanying, 2022. "How does carbon emission price stimulate enterprises' total factor productivity? Insights from China's emission trading scheme pilots," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    20. Palesa Milliscent Lefatsa & Kin Sibanda & Rufaro Garidzirai, 2021. "The Relationship between Financial Development and Energy Consumption in South Africa," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-21, October.

    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:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9272-:d:874821. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.