Pathway to develop a low-carbon economy through energy-substitution technology in China

Yajun Wang and Junbing Huang

Energy, 2022, vol. 261, issue PA

Abstract: As China is determined to develop a low-carbon economy, this study develops a carbon index as a proxy for a low-carbon economy and employs energy-substitution patents as an important technical factor to influence the low-carbon economy. The impact of heterogeneous energy-substitution technology on the low-carbon economy in China is also investigated. The conventional analysis methods, including the generalised method of moments, propensity score matching and difference-in-differences estimator, are employed. The heterogeneity and influencing mechanism of technology are also considered. Using the 2000–2016 data collected from 30 provinces in mainland China, we confirm that energy-substitution technology effectively promotes a low-carbon economy and that this kind of technology coming from enterprises also provides a better low-carbon economy than those from research institutions, university and individuals. We also find that utility-oriented technology effectively promotes a low-carbon economy than invention-oriented ones. However, invention-oriented technology does raise the degree of the low-carbon economy when it serves to complement utility-oriented technology. The influencing mechanism analysis following a two-step method clearly shows that energy-substitution technology promotes the degrees of low-carbon economy by increasing the use of clean energy.

Keywords: Low-carbon economy; Energy-substitution technology; Two-step analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:261:y:2022:i:pa:s0360544222018631

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2022.124964

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