GLOBAL–LOCAL DRIVING FORCES of CHINA’S GREENING of INDUSTRY

Abstract

ABSTRACT The greening of industry is an inevitable path for developing economies to achieve sustainability transition. However, the specific roles of global and local driving forces are still not substantially understood. This study develops a three-dimensional framework, which includes coercive pressures, normative pressures, and technology acquisition to analyze the influence of global and local drivers on China’s greening of industry. We measure the industrial eco-efficiency (IEE) using Super-SBM model and analyze its influencing factors using the Tobit regression model at the provincial level in China from 2010 to 2020. China’s IEE evolution and its drivers are stage-specific and regionally differentiated, and differences also exist in the roles of global and local drivers. Developing countries initially start the green development of industry under global normative pressures through integration in the global production network. Thereafter, global coercive pressures and local forces, including domestic technologies, market demands, and effective regulations, drive the further greening of industry. The different potentials of regional coercive and normative pressures depend on industrial structures and socio-technical regimes. Policy recommendations for the greening of industry in developing economies are proposed.