Measurement and convergence of carbon productivity across Shanghai’s manufacturing sectors

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Purpose Increasing carbon productivity is an effective way to reduce carbon emissions, while boosting economic prosperity. For appropriate formulating and enforcement of energy saving and carbon emissions reduction policies in various sectors, it is of great significance to investigate the evolution characteristics and convergence modes of carbon productivity across the manufacturing sectors. Design/methodology/approach Using slack-based measure directional distance function (SBM-DDF) and global Malmquist–Luenberger (GML) productivity index, this paper measures the carbon productivities of 29 manufacturing subsectors in Shanghai, China, from 2001 to 2016 under the total factor framework. Furthermore, based on the convergence theories, it empirically examines the convergence of carbon productivity across these manufacturing sectors. Findings The measurement results suggest that the carbon productivities of the manufacturing sectors in Shanghai show an increasing tendency on the whole, and technical efficiency instead of technological change makes a main contribution to the increase. It is found that there is no obvious σ convergence across the manufacturing sectors in Shanghai, but there exist both absolute ß convergence and conditional ß convergence. Moreover, there is heterogeneity in convergence characteristics between the clean sectors and polluting sectors. The findings also show that firm size and industry structure have significant positive impacts on the growth of carbon productivities of the manufacturing sectors, whereas the impacts of capital deepening and energy consumption structure are significantly negative. Originality/value This paper measures the carbon productivities of the manufacturing subsectors by applying SBM-DDF and GML index, so as to improve the accuracy. It provides an insight into the convergence of carbon productivity across the manufacturing sectors.