This paper examines the energy efficiency performance of a sample of 71 developed and developing countries between 1990 and 2014. In most current energy literature, the transition to green technology ...is seen as a sustainable way to achieve a low-carbon or carbon-free environment. Bearing this in mind, we argue further that adopting green technology needs a strong backing and funding of reliable government institutions to shift the country's paradigm. Considering this issue, we adopt the parametric stochastic frontier approach built on the shepherd distance function to evaluate the effects of both governmental institutions and green technologies on energy efficiency. We find evidence of a significant positive influence of both green innovation and institutional quality on energy efficiency enhancement having controlled for some variables. Regarding energy efficiency levels of the individual countries- USA, Japan, Germany and Australia lead the chart while Belize, Panama, Singapore, Malta, Sierra Leone, Iceland, Jamaica, Bahrain and Ghana are the least energy efficient countries. Policy implications are further discussed.
•Examining the impact of green technology on energy efficiency.•Accounting for the effects of institutional quality on energy efficiency.•Modelling energy efficiency in the parametric Shephard energy distance model.•Clarifying the cross-country disparities in energy efficiency for 71 economies.
It is of great significance to study the impact of financial development on carbon emissions for the development of low-carbon economy. Although many empirical studies reveal significant correlations ...between financial development and various environmental pollution variables, few studies differentiate financial scale and efficiency from other factors, and pay attention to the impact of securities capital market on carbon emissions. In view of the complexity of financial development impact mechanism on carbon emissions in China, this paper classifies financial development into two dimensions: financial scale and securities size. We establish a broader autoregressive distributed lag-error correction model (ARDL-ECM), which is used to measure the dynamic relationship among financial scale, securities size, urbanization, economic development, trade openness and China’s carbon emission intensity. The study indicates that there is positive short-run and long-run relationship among financial scale, economic growth and carbon emission intensity. This reflects that the current development of financial scale has stimulated the development of China’s economy, but brought carbon emissions. The size of securities has a relatively small impact on carbon emission intensity both in the short run and long run. This shows that China’s current securities market mechanism of regulating carbon emissions needs further improvement. The above conclusions are convinced by the robustness tests. This paper provides empirical evidence for policy makers to support the implementation of financial and low carbon economy growth.
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•The extend autoregressive distributed lag-error correction model is adopted.•Financial development is closely related to economic and ecological environment.•The impact of securities size is relatively small.•The positive effect exists both in the short run and long run.
Tax incentives for new energy industry have been adopted at various stages of an emerging economy. However, there is little evidence on the effectiveness of tax incentives from the perspective of ...firm's profitability. We compare value-added tax (VAT) incentives in different kinds of new energy enterprises in China and study the effect of VAT incentives on new energy listed companies through the Difference-In-Difference (DID) approach empirically. The results show that VAT refunds of new energy industry could decrease the return on equity (ROE) of the experiment group, which is lower than the control group by 4.7%. This is mainly due to the distorted industrial chain, overcapacity and insufficient innovation motivation caused by the tax incentives. We also find out that the policy impact has a time lag and varies considerably across time by examining the dynamic effects of VAT incentives. This study provides some new evidence on the efficiency of tax incentives toward new energy industry by firm-level data.
•This paper studies the effect of China's VAT incentives on new energy industry.•Evidence for the effectiveness of VAT incentives is investigated.•The VAT incentives are insufficient to increase the corporate ROE.•The policy impact has a time lag and heterogeneity across time.
China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO
2). As exports account for about one-third of China's GDP, the CO
2 emissions are related to not only China's own consumption but also ...external demand. Using the input–output analysis (IOA), we analyze the embodied CO
2 emissions of China's import and export. Our results show that about 3357 million tons CO
2 emissions were embodied in the exports and the emissions avoided by imports (EAI) were 2333 million tons in 2005. The average contribution to embodied emission factors by electricity generation was over 35%. And that by cement production was about 20%. It implies that the production-based emissions of China are more than the consumption-based emissions, which is evidence that carbon leakage occurs under the current climate policies and international trade rules. In addition to the call for a new global framework to allocate emission responsibilities, China should make great efforts to improve its energy efficiency, carry out electricity pricing reforms and increase renewable energy. In particular, to use advanced technology in cement production will be helpful to China's CO
2 abatement.
After the Fukushima nuclear accident, more and more attention has been paid to the safety issues of nuclear power in China, even though it is a clean and necessary substitution to coal power. Due to ...the consideration about the uncertainty of nuclear safety, the local citizens may resist the nuclear power programs in their neighborhood, as indicated by the anti-nuclear movement in Jiangmen 2013. This phenomenon is often related to the public perceptions of “not-in-my-back-yard” (NIMABY). The explosion of anti-nuclear movements will impose adverse effects on the nuclear power decision-making in China. Based on the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), we evaluate the public Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) for avoiding the construction of nuclear power plants in their neighborhood. Moreover, we analyze whether more information about nuclear energy could improve the public acceptance. Our results show that the comprehensive information will decrease the public risk perception of nuclear power and increase the public support for nuclear power policy. This paper further suggests that China׳s decision makers should improve policy transparency and encourage the public involvement of nuclear energy decision making.
•We firstly evaluate the WTP for avoiding nuclear construction in China.•The study is based on the CV survey data after the Fukushima accident.•More understanding of nuclear energy could improve public acceptance.•Decision-makers should improve policy transparency and public involvement.
Air pollution is one of the most predominant challenges in China. In order to ensure the smog governance projects could be promoted smoothly and the public shoulder the environmental responsibilities ...consciously, it is necessary for the policymakers to take public attitude into consideration, and understand the public willingness to pay (WTP) for smog mitigation. This paper adopts a CV method framework to assess the value of WTP and analyze the determinants. Given the consideration of the possible presence of the selectivity bias caused by protest responses, the bivariate sample selection model is constructed for estimation. Results show that up to 14% of respondents hold the protest responses, and neglecting the selection bias caused by protest responses would lead to downward biased estimates. The mean value of WTP for the smog mitigation is 1590.36 RMB per year, accounting for about 1% of annual income. Moreover, the NIMBY (not in my backyard) attitude among public is found to be significantly correlated with their WTP, and the other determinants such as household annual income, energy expenditure and economic loss caused by smog could also substantially affect the value of WTP. We further recommend grading governance and policy transparency to address the smog crisis.
•Evaluating the social acceptance towards the air pollution in China.•Up to 14% of respondents hold the protest responses.•WTP for the smog mitigation accounts for about 1% of income.•Household energy expenditure is closely related with public's WTP.•The grading governance and policy transparency are recommended.
With the shale gas revolution and the maturity of new energy technologies, the global oil-based energy pattern began to be remodeled worldwide. From the perspective of China, coal has played a ...dominant leading role in the energy structure. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly irrational to replace fossil fuels with oil. This paper considers the impact of fluctuations of three fossil energy (oil, coal and natural gas) prices on new energy companies stock prices to meet the needs of policy makers and investors in this rapidly developing field. Due to the incomplete substitution among fossil fuels, this paper uses the Divisia price synthesis method to synthesize these three prices into a composite price index. Furthermore, we use a variable vector autoregressive model to explore dynamic relationships among stock prices of new energy companies and technology companies, fossil energy prices and carbon futures prices. The results reveal that previous stock prices of new energy companies had the most significant impact on the current level. However, fossil energy prices account for only a small part of stock price fluctuations of new energy companies.
•Synthesizing prices of coal, oil and natural gas into a Divisia price index.•Exploring impacts of fossil energy price changes on new energy stock prices.•Historical stock prices of new energy company have the most significant impact on the current level.•Technology stock prices have a greater impact on new energy stock prices than fossil energy prices.
The Chinese households that make up approximately a quarter of world households are facing a residential power tariff reform in which a rising block tariff structure will be implemented, and this ...tariff mechanism is widely used around the world. The basic principle of the structure is to assign a higher price for higher income consumers with low price elasticity of power demand. To capture the non-linear effects of price and income on elasticities, we set up a translog demand model. The empirical findings indicate that the higher income consumers are less sensitive than those with lower income to price changes. We further put forward three proposals of Chinese residential electricity tariffs. Compared to a flat tariff, the reasonable block tariff structure generates more efficient allocation of cross-subsidies, better incentives for raising the efficiency of electricity usage and reducing emissions from power generation, which also supports the living standards of low income households.
•We design a rising block tariff structure of residential electricity in China.•We set up a translog demand model to find the non-linear effects on elasticities.•The higher income groups are less sensitive to price changes.•Block tariff structure generates more efficient allocation of cross-subsidies.•Block tariff structure supports the living standards of low income households.
This paper adopts data envelopment analysis, namely the range adjusted measure (RAM) which is based on the additive structure, to measure the technical efficiency and productivity change. Note that ...we distinguish among energy and non-energy inputs in the analysis. The Luenberger productivity indicator is decomposed for the provinces of China for the period of 2006–2015. Specifically, we seek to identify the key directions for energy conservation and emission reduction by analyzing the environmental productivity change decomposition. The results show that sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide emissions from primary energy consumption along with primary energy consumption are important variables contributing to atmospheric environmental inefficiency in Chinese provinces. Furthermore, static efficiency scores associated with energy consumption and atmospheric emission (sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide emissions) are lower for Hebei, Shandong, Henan and Shanxi in North China, whereas Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangdong and Fujian show higher values of this kind of efficiency. Atmospheric emissions contribute to the growth in the atmospheric environmental productivity to a higher extent if compared to energy consumption. Therefore, Chinese energy policy should address the environmental regulation of energy consumption.
•Joint decomposition of RAM and Luenberger productivity indicator.•Identify the key directions for energy conservation and emission reduction.•Atmospheric emissions contribute to the growth in the productivity.•Government can opt for source control or end-of-pipe control.
•More than 70% of the surveyed residents understand the TPHE reform.•The electricity expenditures of 80% households almost remained constant.•Households in the third electricity price tier are more ...sensitive to the price change.•TPHE helps households to change the inefficient pattern of electricity consumption.•Income has a significant impact on elasticity of electricity consumption.
After almost three years of preparation, the tiered pricing for household electricity (TPHE) was implemented across China in July 2012. The feedbacks of household electricity consumption to the new pricing policy are investigated in this paper based on the micro household-level data from China’s Residential Energy Consumption Survey (CRECS). We document that electricity consumption of 82% surveyed households did not affected by the TPHE, which is in conformity with the principle that the TPHE policy based on. More importantly, factors that influence elasticity of household electricity consumption are examined by empirical model in this paper. Results indicate that factors such as the energy price, household income, and demographic attributes have significant impacts on residential electricity consumption. Further discussion outcomes show that the publicity of the TPHE, energy price and some other factors are strongly correlated with the probability that households change the inefficient and lavish pattern of electricity consumption. Future directions for the design and improvement of residential electricity pricing reform are thus suggested.
