Efficiency or Fairness? Research on the Allocation of Energy Consumption and Carbon Emission Rights among Chinese Provinces

Abstract

Abstract Using a dynamic ZSG-SBM model under the common frontier, this paper allocates provincial energy consumption and carbon emission rights in China and conducts theoretical analysis and efficiency analysis from the perspective of balancing efficiency and fairness. The research results show that, under the allocation method that prioritizes efficiency, fossil energy consumption and carbon emission rights are significantly adjusted from the central and western regions to the economically developed eastern regions. Under the allocation model that considers fairness indicators, the net inflow of energy consumption and carbon emission rights from the eastern region is significantly reduced, with a greater focus on regional coordinated development, and a tendency to allocate more indicators to the relatively underdeveloped central and western regions in terms of energy consumption and carbon emissions. In addition, there is a significant regional difference in the initial technical efficiency gap between different regions, with the efficiency value in the eastern region significantly higher than that in the central and western regions. The allocation method that prioritizes efficiency can significantly improve energy consumption and carbon emission efficiency nationwide, but the allocation method that balances efficiency and fairness will cause some efficiency losses. Improving the national technical efficiency is the key to achieving the national “dual-carbon” and “dual-control” goals.