IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v45y2024i3p177-202.html

The Effects of The Multi-Target Policy on Green Productivity: Evidence from China’s Fossil Fuel Power Plants

Author

Listed:
  • Yu Zhao
  • Yunning Ma
  • Yongrok Choi
  • Ning Zhang

Abstract

We propose the non-radial meta-frontier global Luenberger productivity index, which addresses the issues of technology heterogeneity, slack variable, and linear programming infeasibility, and decompose it based on the technology perspective and factor perspective. With the dataset of China’s power plants from 2005 to 2015, we identify the effects of the multi-targets, including energy-saving targets and S O 2 reduction targets, in the 12th Five-Year Plan on green productivity encompassing all channels of effects. A 1 % increase in the average energy-saving target cumulatively increases green productivity by 0 . 50 % , while a 1 % increase in the average S O 2 reduction target cumulatively decreases that by 0 . 03 % . In all channels, the technology leadership effect and generation efficiency exhibit sensitivity. Differential effects of the multi-targets on state-owned versus non-stateowned plants imply significant differences in observed production technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Yu Zhao & Yunning Ma & Yongrok Choi & Ning Zhang, 2024. "The Effects of The Multi-Target Policy on Green Productivity: Evidence from China’s Fossil Fuel Power Plants," The Energy Journal, , vol. 45(3), pages 177-202, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:45:y:2024:i:3:p:177-202
    DOI: 10.5547/01956574.45.3.yzha
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/01956574.45.3.yzha
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/01956574.45.3.yzha?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, Ning & Choi, Yongrok, 2013. "Total-factor carbon emission performance of fossil fuel power plants in China: A metafrontier non-radial Malmquist index analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 549-559.
    2. Zhang, Ning & Zhao, Yu & Wang, Na, 2022. "Is China's energy policy effective for power plants? Evidence from the 12th Five-Year Plan energy saving targets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Michael Greenstone & Rema Hanna, 2014. "Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3038-3072, October.
    4. Simona Bigerna & Maria Chiara D’Errico & Paolo Polinori, 2019. "Environmental and Energy Efficiency of EU Electricity Industry: An Almost Spatial Two Stages DEA Approach," The Energy Journal, , vol. 40(1), pages 30-56, January.
    5. Shihe Fu & V Brian Viard & Peng Zhang, 2021. "Air Pollution and Manufacturing Firm Productivity: Nationwide Estimates for China [Management and shocks to worker productivity]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(640), pages 3241-3273.
    6. Caves, Douglas W & Christensen, Laurits R & Diewert, W Erwin, 1982. "The Economic Theory of Index Numbers and the Measurement of Input, Output, and Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1393-1414, November.
    7. Yu, Yantuan & Zhang, Ning, 2021. "Low-carbon city pilot and carbon emission efficiency: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    8. repec:aen:journl:ej40-4-shao is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Simona Bigerna & Maria Chiara D ’Errico & Paolo Polinori, 2019. "Environmental and Energy Efficiency of EU Electricity Industry: An Almost Spatial Two Stages DEA Approach," The Energy Journal, , vol. 40(1_suppl), pages 29-54, June.
    10. Ouyang, Xiaoling & Sun, Chuanwang, 2015. "Energy savings potential in China's industrial sector: From the perspectives of factor price distortion and allocative inefficiency," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 117-126.
    11. 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.
    12. Nakaishi, Tomoaki & Takayabu, Hirotaka & Eguchi, Shogo, 2021. "Environmental efficiency analysis of China's coal-fired power plants considering heterogeneity in power generation company groups," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    13. Li, Mingquan & Patiño-Echeverri, Dalia, 2017. "Estimating benefits and costs of policies proposed in the 13th FYP to improve energy efficiency and reduce air emissions of China's electric power sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 222-234.
    14. Fujii, Hidemichi & Managi, Shunsuke & Matousek, Roman, 2014. "Indian bank efficiency and productivity changes with undesirable outputs: A disaggregated approach," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 41-50.
    15. Lee, Chia-Yen & Zhou, Peng, 2015. "Directional shadow price estimation of CO2, SO2 and NOx in the United States coal power industry 1990–2010," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 493-502.
    16. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Yuan, Yan & Goto, Mika, 2017. "A literature study for DEA applied to energy and environment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 104-124.
    17. repec:aen:journl:ej40-si1-d'errico is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Du, Minzhe & Liu, Yunxiao & Wang, Bing & Lee, Myunghun & Zhang, Ning, 2021. "The sources of regulated productivity in Chinese power plants: An estimation of the restricted cost function combined with DEA approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(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. Zhao, Yu & Zhang, Ning, 2025. "Energy Trade Access and Market Monopoly: Evidence from China’s Power Sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    2. Zhao, Yu & Gong, Maoyu & Zhang, Ning, 2025. "The digital effects on structural change: data as a new driver of China’s economic growth," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 801-814.
    3. Ma, Yunning & Huang, Xuhui & Lee, Hyoungsuk & Choi, Yongrok & Tsai, Fu-Sheng, 2026. "Can the financial scheme of emission trading affect technology development and sustainability?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(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. Zhao, Yu & Zhong, Honglin & Kong, Fanbin & Zhang, Ning, 2023. "Can China achieve carbon neutrality without power shortage? A substitutability perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    2. Zhang, Ning & Zhao, Yu & Wang, Na, 2022. "Is China's energy policy effective for power plants? Evidence from the 12th Five-Year Plan energy saving targets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Chuanxin Xia & Yu Zhao & Qingxia Zhao & Shuo Wang & Ning Zhang, 2022. "Exact Eco-Efficiency Measurement in the Yellow River Basin: A New Non-Parametric Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Zhou, Tao & Huang, Xuhui & Zhang, Ning, 2023. "The effect of innovation pilot on carbon total factor productivity: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    5. Zhang, Hua & Xu, Tiantian & Feng, Chao, 2022. "Does public participation promote environmental efficiency? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of environmental information disclosure in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    6. Huang, Yumeng & Jiang, Mingdong & Bai, Yang & Zhao, Pujie & Wang, Qi, 2023. "Coordination or contradiction: Evidence from water and air pollution regulation in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PB).
    7. Du, Limin & Lu, Yunguo & Ma, Chunbo, 2022. "Carbon efficiency and abatement cost of China's coal-fired power plants," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    8. Zhu, Ning & Streimikis, Justas & Yu, Zhiqian & Balezentis, Tomas, 2023. "Energy-sustainable agriculture in the European Union member states: Overall productivity growth and structural efficiency," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PA).
    9. Jia, Ce & Guo, Xiaodan & Tian, Ziyue & Xiao, Bowen, 2025. "Unintended consequences of SO2 mitigation: Increased PM and infant mortality in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    10. Ju, Heng & Tang, Yao & Zhang, Meilan, 2024. "Air Pollution's Grip: Drug Cost and Its Heterogeneity in China," MPRA Paper 121154, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Ruijing Zheng & Yu Cheng & Haimeng Liu & Wei Chen & Xiaodong Chen & Yaping Wang, 2022. "The Spatiotemporal Distribution and Drivers of Urban Carbon Emission Efficiency: The Role of Technological Innovation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-22, July.
    12. Abad, A. & Ravelojaona, P., 2025. "An unified framework for measuring environmentally-adjusted productivity change: Theoretical basis and empirical illustration," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 320(3), pages 642-654.
    13. Arnaud Abad & Michell Arias & Paola Ravelojaona, 2023. "Environmental Productivity Assessment: an Illustration with the Ecuadorian Oil Industry," Post-Print hal-03574542, HAL.
    14. Hou, Zheng & Ramalho, Joaquim J.S. & Roseta-Palma, Catarina, 2025. "Dealing with endogeneity in stochastic frontier models: A comparative assessment of estimators," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    15. Xiwen Fu & Shuxin Wang, 2022. "How to Promote Low-Carbon Cities with Blockchain Technology? A Blockchain-Based Low-Carbon Development Model for Chinese Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-17, October.
    16. Li, Zhen & Wu, Baijun & Wang, Danyang & Tang, Maogang, 2022. "Government mandatory energy-biased technological progress and enterprises' environmental performance: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of cleaner production standards in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    17. Xu, Hao & Xu, Jingxuan & Wang, Jie & Hou, Xiang, 2023. "Reduce production or increase efficiency? Hazardous air pollutants regulation, energy use, and the synergistic effect on industrial enterprises' carbon emission," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    18. Zhang, Xin & Wang, Yixuan & Hu, Xingyi & Chen, Xi, 2024. "Fetal Pollution Exposure, Cognitive Ability, and Gender-Specific Parental Investment," IZA Discussion Papers 17288, IZA Network @ LISER.
    19. Gan, Hongwu & Guo, Mengmeng & Li, Jian & Niu, Geng & Zhou, Yang, 2025. "Air pollution and household stock market participation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    20. Khoshroo, Alireza & Izadikhah, Mohammad & Emrouznejad, Ali, 2022. "Total factor energy productivity considering undesirable pollutant outputs: A new double frontier based malmquist productivity index," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(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:sae:enejou:v:45:y:2024:i:3:p:177-202. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.