Does Environmental Decentralization Promote Renewable Energy Development? A Local Government Competition Perspective

Yinuo Wang, Fengxiu Zhou and Huwei Wen ()
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Yinuo Wang: School of Business, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
Fengxiu Zhou: School of Business, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
Huwei Wen: School of Economics and Management, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 14, 1-18

Abstract: Renewable energy development is a long-term means of addressing the climate challenge and achieving environmental sustainability. This study examines the relationship between environmental decentralization, local government competition, and renewable energy production using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2000 to 2021. The empirical results show that environmental decentralization significantly inhibits renewable energy development, indicating a lack of foresight among local governments in environmental governance issues. In addition, local government competition amplifies the detrimental effects of environmental decentralization on renewable energy production. Although the decentralization of environmental administrative power hinders renewable energy production, the decentralization of environmental monitoring power promotes it. However, insufficient evidence is available to conclude that regional characteristics and threshold variables can alter the inhibitory effect of environmental decentralization on renewable energy production, even though the effects of environmental decentralization on the production of renewable energy exhibit geographical variation and non-linear characteristics. The findings of this study contribute to optimizing environmental policies to motivate local governments to pursue long-term environmental governance goals.

Keywords: environmental decentralization; local government competition; renewable energy production; panel threshold model; heterogeneity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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