Are Cities Saving Energy by Getting Smarter? Evidence from Smart City Pilots in China

Abstract

Taking smart city pilots (SCP) in China as a quasi-experiment, this paper uses the staggered difference-in-differences (staggered DID) to examine the impact of the SCP policy on energy consumption by using panel data of 224 prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2019. The results showed that the SCP policy reduces energy consumption and energy intensity by 3.3% and 5.3%, respectively. Heterogeneity analysis found that the energy-saving effect of the SCP policy is stronger in western cities, resource-based cities, and in cities that were the pioneering pilots. Mechanism analysis showed that smart industry transformation is the main transmission mechanism. Our findings have important practical implications for reforming urban governance models and achieving a low-carbon transition.