Blessing or Curse? The Impact of the Penetration of Industrial Robots on Green Sustainable Transformation in Chinese High-Energy-Consuming Industries

Yueqi Sun, Junlong Ti, Fang Yang and Hsing Hung Chen ()
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Yueqi Sun: School of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau
Junlong Ti: School of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau
Fang Yang: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Hsing Hung Chen: School of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: The rapid development and widespread application of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots have profoundly impacted the economy, society, and the environment. This article focuses on the relationship between industrial robots and green sustainable transformation in high-energy-consuming industries. Through the Poisson distribution fixed effect, the negative binomial fixed-effect model, and the two-way fixed-effect model, we found that the penetration of industrial robots in high-energy-consuming enterprises (HEEs) has a significant and positive effect on green innovation. In particular, we verified that total factor productivity and ESG, included in the zero-inflation model, have a breakthrough-accelerating role in the application of industrial robots to promote green sustainable transformation. Further analysis indicated that the adoption of industrial robots is also positively correlated with the improvement of corporate green sustainable transformation in non-state-owned enterprises, but state-owned enterprises are not sensitive. In the classification of segmented industries, only the metallurgical industry demonstrates the empowering role of green sustainable transformation. This article provides a new avenue for reshaping the low-carbon green sustainable transformation strategy of HEEs, as well as useful insights, supporting the achievement of carbon peak and carbon neutrality by promoting the application of industrial robots and further improving total factor productivity and ESG performance.

Keywords: industrial robots; green sustainable transformation; total factor productivity (TFP); ESG (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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