Dynamic evolution and influencing factors of industrial green total factor energy efficiency in China

Abstract

This paper sets up an evaluation index system (EIS) for industrial green total factor energy efficiency (IGTFEE), which contains undesired outputs. Next, the directional distance function (DDF) model was adopted to evaluate the IGTFEEs in 2003–2017 of 30 provincial administrative regions (provinces) in China. The results show that: The 30 provinces differed greatly in mean IGTFEE through the sample period. Most eastern coastal provinces had relatively high IGTFEE, while most inland provinces had undesirable IGTFEE. Eastern region had far better IGTFEE than central and western regions, while central and western regions had similar IGTFEEs. Through kernel density estimation (KDE), it is learned that the kernel density curves of IGTFEE in most years have only one peak, and moved to the left with the elapse of time, revealing the declining trend of China’s IGTFEE. The results of the Tobit model indicate that IGTFEE is greatly promoted by technological progress, opening-up, and environmental regulation, obviously suppressed by energy structure, and insignificantly promoted by human capital.