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The impact of eco-environmental regulation on green energy efficiency in China - Based on spatial economic analysis

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  • Mingran Wu

Abstract

To figure out at what extent of China's investment in energy technology in recent years has helped economic growth and improved the environment. From the basic theory of environmental regulation’s influence on energy consumption efficiency, this study uses the super-efficiency slack base model to measure the green energy efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019, and uses the kernel density function to analyze evolution trajectory. Then, the spatial Dubin model is used to test the influence of some important economic variables. The results of value show that although China's green energy efficiency improved significantly from 2010 to 2019, the overall performance was lacking. However, the overall efficiency value was significantly improved during the study period. Moreover, the efficiency value was closely related to the performance of economic development. From the dynamic trajectory perspective, efficiency values of all years show the type of "two peaks".Altough the width between the two peaks did not change noticeably, but the efficiency still had a significantly improved. In addition, according to the results of spatial economic regression analysis, eco-environmental constraints, foreign direct investment, and industrial agglomeration were not conducive to the efficiency value, while industrial structure and manufacturing enterprise scale had positive effects. In addition, the influence effects had obvious spatial phenomena. Therefore, for the Chinese government, enterprises and society, the next step is not only to vigorously exploit energy-saving and emission reduction technologies to improve energy consumption efficiency but also to establish reasonable environmental regulation policies to push enterprises to produce in a cleaner way. Additionally, a reasonable regional development plan should be established to promote the rational distribution and flow of the energy industry across different places. This paper provides a novel perspective for the study of energy input and usage.

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  • Mingran Wu, 2023. "The impact of eco-environmental regulation on green energy efficiency in China - Based on spatial economic analysis," Energy & Environment, , vol. 34(4), pages 971-988, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:engenv:v:34:y:2023:i:4:p:971-988
    DOI: 10.1177/0958305X211072435
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