Analysis of China's energy efficiency and influencing factors under carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals

Abstract

Nowadays, China's economy and energy structure are deeply adjusting to the direction of low-carbonization and non-carbonization with unprecedented efforts. This paper considered carbon emissions and energy endowments, adopted SBM-Undesirable model and spatial Durbin model to calculate the energy efficiency of 30 provinces and municipalities in China from 2015 to 2019 and analyze the direct effect, indirect effect and total effect on energy efficiency of 7 variables. Empirical results show that: Energy efficiency has spatial positive correlation and agglomeration characteristics; The main influencing factor of China's energy efficiency is energy consumption structure; Regions with strong energy endowment bear the environmental pollution cost of energy consumption areas in China; Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) exists in China, but different provinces and municipalities are distributed in disparate stages; Research and development (R&D) investment only affects local energy efficiency, and has no spillover effect on surrounding areas in China; Foreign direct investment (FDI) has negative impacts on China's energy efficiency, and there is a phenomenon of pollution paradise. The valuable conclusions obtained in this study deepens the insights about the influencing factors of China's energy efficiency under the constraints of carbon emission and energy endowment.