IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i11p8727-d1158231.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can the New Energy Demonstration City Policy Promote Green and Low-Carbon Development? Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Bo Chen

    (School of Economics, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China)

  • Feng Jin

    (School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China)

  • Guangchen Li

    (School of Economics, Beijing Wuzi University, Beijing 101149, China)

  • Yurong Zhao

    (School of Applied Science and Technology, Beijing Union University, Beijing 100012, China)

Abstract

Developing new energy is critical to China’s green and low-carbon development. Therefore, in 2014, the Chinese government promulgated a vital innovation policy, namely, the New Energy Demonstration City Policy (NEDCP), which is expected to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions in Chinese cities. Is the NEDCP facilitating green and low-carbon development in China, and if so, how? Based on unbalanced panel data from 2003 to 2017 at the city level in China, in this study we evaluate the impact of the NEDCP on green and low-carbon development using the staggered difference-in-differences (DID) method. We find that the NEDCP can significantly contribute to green and low-carbon development in China. After various robustness tests, our results are still valid. According to the heterogeneity analysis, non-resource and non-old industrial-base cities have a greater positive impact from this policy. The mechanism analysis denotes that the positive policy effect works by upgrading the industrial structure and stimulating urban innovation. The substantial empirical evidence presented in this paper supports the continued promotion and implementation of new-energy demonstration cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Bo Chen & Feng Jin & Guangchen Li & Yurong Zhao, 2023. "Can the New Energy Demonstration City Policy Promote Green and Low-Carbon Development? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8727-:d:1158231
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8727/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8727/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Destek, Mehmet Akif, 2016. "Renewable energy consumption and economic growth in newly industrialized countries: Evidence from asymmetric causality test," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 478-484.
    2. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    3. Chen, Chaoyi & Pinar, Mehmet & Stengos, Thanasis, 2020. "Renewable energy consumption and economic growth nexus: Evidence from a threshold model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    4. Zhao, Yong & Shi, Xunpeng & Song, Feng, 2020. "Has Chinese outward foreign direct investment in energy enhanced China's energy security?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    5. Raj Chetty & Adam Looney & Kory Kroft, 2009. "Salience and Taxation: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1145-1177, September.
    6. Lu, Yi & Tao, Zhigang & Zhu, Lianming, 2017. "Identifying FDI spillovers," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 75-90.
    7. Ji, Qiang & Zhang, Dayong, 2019. "How much does financial development contribute to renewable energy growth and upgrading of energy structure in China?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 114-124.
    8. Georgios Maris & Floros Flouros, 2021. "The Green Deal, National Energy and Climate Plans in Europe: Member States’ Compliance and Strategies," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, July.
    9. Neij, Lena & Heiskanen, Eva & Strupeit, Lars, 2017. "The deployment of new energy technologies and the need for local learning," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 274-283.
    10. H. Damon Matthews & Nathan P. Gillett & Peter A. Stott & Kirsten Zickfeld, 2009. "The proportionality of global warming to cumulative carbon emissions," Nature, Nature, vol. 459(7248), pages 829-832, June.
    11. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    12. Dai, Hancheng & Xie, Xuxuan & Xie, Yang & Liu, Jian & Masui, Toshihiko, 2016. "Green growth: The economic impacts of large-scale renewable energy development in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 435-449.
    13. Lai, Wangyang & Song, Hong & Wang, Chang & Wang, Huanhuan, 2021. "Air pollution and brain drain: Evidence from college graduates in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    14. Zhu, Bangzhu & Zhang, Mengfan & Zhou, Yanhua & Wang, Ping & Sheng, Jichuan & He, Kaijian & Wei, Yi-Ming & Xie, Rui, 2019. "Exploring the effect of industrial structure adjustment on interprovincial green development efficiency in China: A novel integrated approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    15. Sohag, Kazi & Taşkın, F. Dilvin & Malik, Muhammad Nasir, 2019. "Green economic growth, cleaner energy and militarization: Evidence from Turkey," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    16. Wen, Huwei & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Zhou, Fengxiu, 2021. "Green credit policy, credit allocation efficiency and upgrade of energy-intensive enterprises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    17. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2011. "The renewable energy consumption-growth nexus in Central America," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 343-347, January.
    18. Li, Guangchen & Wei, Weixian, 2021. "Financial development, openness, innovation, carbon emissions, and economic growth in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    19. Junhong Bai & Jiayu Lu & Sijia Li, 2019. "Fiscal Pressure, Tax Competition and Environmental Pollution," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(2), pages 431-447, June.
    20. Ying Li & Yung-ho Chiu & Liang Chun Lu, 2019. "New Energy Development and Pollution Emissions in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-24, May.
    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. Yuan Feng & Ying Li & Changfei Nie & Zhi Chen, 2024. "Can an Energy Transition Strategy Induce Urban Green Innovation? Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-23, April.

    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. Wang, Qiao & Yi, Hongtao, 2021. "New energy demonstration program and China's urban green economic growth: Do regional characteristics make a difference?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    2. Hsu, Wen-Tai & Lu, Yi & Luo, Xuan & Zhu, Lianming, 2023. "Foreign direct investment and industrial agglomeration: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 610-639.
    3. Yu Qi & Jinliang Yu, 2023. "Decentralization and local pollution activities: New quasi evidence from China," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 115-159, January.
    4. Meshkatus Salehin & Judit T. Kiss, 2022. "Testing the Causal Relationship between Economic Growth and Renewable Energy Consumption: Evidence from a Panel of EAGLE Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(1), pages 281-288.
    5. Wu, Xiting & Jiang, Haiyan & Lin, Hui & You, Jiaxing, 2023. "Why Muddy the Water? Short selling and the disclosure of proprietary information," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    6. Li Wang & Qian Xie & Fei Xue & Zongxin Li, 2022. "Does Smart City Construction Reduce Haze Pollution?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-17, December.
    7. Qiao-xin Xie & Yu Zhang & Jing-er Ge, 2023. "Enterprise economic influence and implementation deviation of green credit policy: evidence from China," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(1), pages 81-111, April.
    8. Nie, Liang & Zhang, ZhongXiang, 2023. "Is high-speed rail heading towards a low-carbon industry? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    9. Lin, Boqiang & Zhou, Yicheng, 2022. "Measuring the green economic growth in China: Influencing factors and policy perspectives," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    10. Shao, Hanhua & Wang, Yuansheng & Wang, Yao & Li, Yuanjia, 2022. "Green credit policy and stock price crash risk of heavily polluting enterprises: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 271-287.
    11. Yang, Zhiqing & Liu, Peiyao & Luo, Lianfa, 2023. "Growing exports through ISO 9001 quality certification: Firm-level evidence from Chinese agri-food sectors," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    12. Beestermöller, Matthias, 2017. "Striking Evidence? Demand Persistence for Inter-City Buses from German Railway Strikes," Discussion Papers in Economics 31768, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    13. Ziheng Niu & Feng Yi & Chen Chen, 2022. "Agricultural Insurance and Agricultural Fertilizer Non-Point Source Pollution: Evidence from China’s Policy-Based Agricultural Insurance Pilot," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-16, February.
    14. Haisken-DeNew, John & Hasan, Syed & Jha, Nikhil & Sinning, Mathias, 2018. "Unawareness and selective disclosure: The effect of school quality information on property prices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 449-464.
    15. Zhang, Zibin & Yang, Wenxin & Ye, Jianliang, 2021. "Why sulfur dioxide emissions decline significantly from coal-fired power plants in China? Evidence from the desulfurated electricity pricing premium program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    16. Berger, Allen N. & Kick, Thomas & Schaeck, Klaus, 2014. "Executive board composition and bank risk taking," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 48-65.
    17. Sun, Chuanwang & Zhan, Yanhong & Du, Gang, 2020. "Can value-added tax incentives of new energy industry increase firm's profitability? Evidence from financial data of China's listed companies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    18. Jingyi Tian & Jun Nagayasu, 2023. "Financial Systemic Risk behind Artificial Intelligence:Evidence from China," TUPD Discussion Papers 44, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University.
    19. Malgouyres, Clément & Mayer, Thierry & Mazet-Sonilhac, Clément, 2021. "Technology-induced trade shocks? Evidence from broadband expansion in France," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    20. Liu, Xiangsheng & Lv, Lingli, 2023. "The effect of China's low carbon city pilot policy on corporate financialization," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).

    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:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8727-:d:1158231. 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.