The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth in China for the period 1977–2011. Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach (ARDL) to ...cointegration and Johansen cointegration techniques are employed by including intermittent variables namely carbon dioxide emissions and labor. We also employed Granger causality test in order to determine the direction of the causality among the variables. The results show that there is a bi-directional long term causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth. This finding implies that growing economy in China is propitious for the development of renewable energy sector which in turn helps to boost economic growth. We also find that labor influences renewable energy consumption in the short term. However, there is no evidence of long or short run causality between carbon emissions and renewable energy consumption. This implies that actual level of renewable energy in China is still insignificant and not considerably exploited in order to contribute to the mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions.
To develop renewable energy as well as promote China's transition to a low-carbon economy, the government needs to pay attention to renewable energy technological innovation (RETI). Using China's ...provincial panel data from 2000 to 2015, and regarding the CO2 emissions as the proxy of climate change, this paper identifies the relationship between RETI and CO2 emissions as well as seeks to confirm the role of RETI on climate change. The linear regression model confirms that the RETI has a significant negative effect on CO2 emissions. In addition, considering the disparities of energy structure, the impacts of RETI on CO2 emissions may be distinct. We, therefore, construct a panel threshold model by taking into account the distinct effect of RETI under different energy structure. We find that the effect of RETI on curbing CO2 emissions decreases with the rising of coal-dominated energy consumption structure but in contrast, this effect increases with the growing proportion of renewable energy generation. This paper provides new insight into the relationship between technological innovation and climate change. Based on these findings, some relevant policy recommendations are proposed.
Display omitted
•We identify the relationship between renewable energy technological innovation (RETI) and CO2 emissions.•We find distinct effect of RETI on curbing CO2 under different energy structure.•The government should pay attention to the role of RETI.•More renewable energy should be encouraged in residential life and production process.
Renewable energy is not only an efficient way to ensure energy independence and security but also supports the transition to a low carbon economy and society. The progress of renewable energy ...technological innovation is an important factor that influences the development of renewable energy. An in-depth analysis of the driving factors that influence this progress is crucial to China's energy transition. Based on Chinese provincial data over 2000–2015 and panel data models, this paper regards the CO2 emissions as climate change and explores the response of renewable energy technological innovation to intensive CO2 emissions. We also analyze the effect of the driving factors such as energy price and R&D investment on this innovation process. The main conclusions drawn are: (1) There are significant differences in technological innovation levels across China's provinces. (2) We observe that the intensive CO2 emissions have promoted renewable energy technological innovation level, meaning that innovation process responds actively to climate changes. (3) R&D investment from government and enterprise both are conducive for promoting the innovation level. (4) Energy price has an insignificant effect on innovation in renewable energy technologies and we attribute this to the unreasonable energy price mechanism. This paper provides clear evidence for understanding the role of innovation on climate change.
•The drivers of the renewable energy technological innovation are explored.•There are significant differences in technological innovation across provinces.•Renewable energy technological innovation responds actively to climate changes.•R&D investment is conducive for promoting the technological innovation levels.•The government should give full play to the role of the energy price mechanism.
Urbanization and industrialization have significant impacts on energy consumption and CO2 emissions, but their relationship varies at different stages of economic development. Taking cognizance of ...heterogeneity and the “ratchet effect,” this paper adopts the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) framework as a starting point and re-estimates the relationship using different panel date models. The main results are obtained by dynamic panel threshold regression models, which divide a balanced panel dataset of 73 countries over the period of 1971–2010 into four groups according to their annual income levels. The key results are: (1) in the low-income group, urbanization decreases energy consumption but increases CO2 emissions; (2) in the middle-/low-income and high-income groups, industrialization decreases energy consumption but increases CO2 emissions, while urbanization significantly increases both energy consumption and CO2 emissions; (3) for the middle-/high-income group, urbanization does not significantly affect energy consumption, but does hinder the growth of emissions; while industrialization was found to have an insignificant impact on energy consumption and CO2 emissions; (4) from the population perspective, it produces positive effects on energy consumption, and also increases emissions except for the high-income group. These novel methodology and findings reveal that different development strategies of urbanization and industrialization should be pursued depending on the levels of income in a bid to conserve energy and reduce emissions.
This paper primarily studies the air quality in China's cities during the urbanization stage. Using a cross-sectional data of 282 cities, we discuss the influencing factors and the existence of the ...Kuznets Curve for three air pollutants based on the EKC (Environmental Kuznets Curve) theory and the BMA (Bayesian Model Average) method. The results show that the concentration of SO2 and PM10 presents the characteristics of an inverse-U shape. The urbanization process has a significant and negative effect on air pollutant concentration, which means that cities with higher urbanization rate tends to have lower air pollutant concentration. Population density, possession of civil motor vehicles, the proportion of secondary industry, and annual average temperature are the main influencing factors of air pollution. Based on these results, this paper suggests that China should speed up the “new” type urbanization process, constantly optimize the industrial structure, and promote the harmonious development of the economy and environment.
Human activities have led to increase in carbon dioxide emissions, and carbon tax is one of the main policy tools for reducing global emissions. This paper constructs nine scenarios considering ...different carbon tax rates and the different taxable industries to analyze the impact of Carbon Tax System (CTS) on energy, environment and the economy. We find that the negative impact of CTS on GDP is acceptable, and the maximum scenario will not exceed 0.5%. If carbon taxes are levied on energy-intensive enterprises, the impact on carbon emissions is also relatively small, even if the carbon tax rate is relatively high. Higher carbon tax rate will result in higher CO2 emission reduction and higher marginal CO2 emission reduction of CTS. The carbon tax rate follows the "law of increasing marginal emission reduction". We also argue that the focus of taxation should be on energy enterprises. It is only in this way that the efficiency of the energy market can be fully implemented to conserve energy and reduce emissions. This paper suggests that China should adopt CTS that simultaneously imposes a higher tax on energy companies and energy-intensive enterprises. This will maximize emissions reductions and have only a small impact on GDP.
•The negative impact of CTS on GDP is acceptable, and the maximum scenario will not exceed 0.5%.•The focus of carbon taxation should be on energy enterprises.•The carbon tax rate follows the "law of increasing marginal emission reduction".•China should adopt carbon tax policy that simultaneously imposes a high tax rate on energy companies and energy-intensive enterprises.
•This paper investigates the fractal contagion effects of COVID-19 on the Stock Markets.•The DMCA and DCCA techniques are used to test the fractal contagion hypothesis.•Found significant fractal ...contagion effects on the stock markets return and volatility.•The COVID-19 fractal contagion effects on the stock market fizzle over the medium and long time horizons.
This article investigates the fractal contagion effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the stock markets. The stock market information of the top 32 coronavirus affected economies (as of 31st March 2020) was sampled for ex-ante and ex-post COVID-19 outbreak analysis using the Detrended Moving Cross-Correlation Analysis (DMCA) and Detrended Cross-Correlation Analysis (DCCA) techniques. The results confirm a fractal contagion effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the stock markets. Furthermore, this fractal contagion effect fizzles out over time (in the middle and long run) for both the stock markets return and volatility. Therefore, this article provides pieces of evidence for the COVID-19 fractal contagion effect on the stock markets.
In north China, many rural and urban residents still use coal for heating in winter. However, such method would result in a large amount of GHG emissions. China intends to change the heating method ...of its citizens from coal burning to electric heating to save energy, reduce emissions, which is called the project of Coal to Electricity (CtE). A dynamic recursive computable general equilibrium model is applied to analyze the real effect if the project is widely promoted in China. We found that CtE project is effective in reducing SO2 and NOx emission than CO2 emissions. In essence, energy substitution is not energy-saving, so the contribution to CO2 reduction of CtE project is limited. There is a certain co-benefit between CtE project and other energy saving policies (new energy generation, improving heating efficiency and building energy saving etc.). The findings indicate that single CtE policy can only bring better air quality. However, with other energy saving policies, CtE project can not only bring NOx and SO2 reduction, but also lead to less CO2 emissions and more convenient life. Multiple emission reduction measures are suggested to maximize the reduction effects of these policies.
Display omitted
•CtE project is an effective way to reduce SO2 and NOx emissions than CO2 emissions.•Coal consumption of industries may increase due to CtE project.•Some energy saving policies can increase CO2 reduction potential of CtE project.•The subsidy of insulation layer is as important as that of electric heaters.
•Two total factor productivities of China are estimated by super-DEA models.•Investment-driven growth model produces the negative effect on green productivity.•Various structural transformation have ...different impacts on green productivity.
This study investigates the impacts of investment-driven economic growth model, as well as rationalization and upgrading of the industrial structure on green productivity in 30 Chinese provinces over the period 1997–2010. Two total factor productivities (TFP), namely energy adjusted TFP and energy and carbon dioxide emissions adjusted TFP (denoted as TFEE and TFCE respectively), are estimated using super-efficiency DEA models, and used as indices to reflect green productivity performance in China. The main results of the empirical study are as follow: (1) China’s economic growth model does not improve both TFEE and TFCE; (2) the flow of laborers from the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries helps to improve TFEE and TFCE, while capital transformation does not produce the same effect; (3) the structural changes in the manufacturing industry produce negative and positive effects on TFEE and TFCE respectively.
Technological progress plays a key role in promoting energy efficiency. In order to find the suitable path of technological progress to improve energy efficiency, this study adopts the ...growth-accounting method to investigate the effects of two types of technological progress, namely, the Hicks-neutral and the capital-embodied technological progress on the changes in energy productivity. Furthermore, dynamic panel data models are applied to investigate the various effects of these two types of technological progress on energy productivities 30 Chinese provinces from 1997 to 2012. The main results are: (1) the Hicks-neutral technological progress directly contributes to energy productivity improvement, and its indirect contribution comes from the optimization of manufacturing structure induced by technological catch-up; (2) the capital-embodied technological progress has a direct contribution to energy productivity improvement, while the indirect contribution is seen through its interaction with the upgrading of the manufacturing structure; (3) the energy-saving performance from the capital-embodied technological progress is poor because of energy rebound effect. These findings suggest that the capital-embodied technological progress is effective for energy-saving in China; which can be made possible only by implementing energy price reforms.
•We improved the Malmquist productivity index.•Two types of technological progress have different effects on energy productivity.•Capital-embodied technical progress is the main contributor of energy-saving.•Energy prices reform is an essential supporting measure.
PDF
