Regional Differences And Spatial Convergence Of Green Energy Efficiency In China

At present,China's economy has entered a new normal.Economic growth has changed from high-speed to medium-high-speed,from extensive growth of scale and speed to intensive growth of quality and efficiency.In this context,focusing on the development of green economy,implement energy conservation and emission reduction work,and improving green energy efficiency are the only way for China to pursue high-quality economic development.Based on this,this paper focuses on the analysis of the regional differences and convergence of current green energy efficiency in China,and provides a valuable reference for the Chinese government to implement energy conservation strategies and improve green energy eff-iciency levels nationwide.Firstly,this paper systematically sorts out the relevant literature and theory of green energy efficiency,puts forward the measurement ideas of green energy efficiency,and analyzes the impact mechanism of green energy efficiency from four levels:technological progress,economic scale,system and industrial structure.Secondly,using relative GDP as the output indicator,labor,material capital,and energy consumption as input indicators,using the super-SBM method,the green energy efficiency of China's 30 provincial administrative regions(excluding Tibet,Hong Kong,Macao and Taiwan)in 2000-2016 is estimated,and analyzed from two dimensions of regional differences and time evolution.Further,comparing the energy saving potential of each region.Among them,referring to the idea of green GDP accounting,seven indicators were selected from the perspective of environmental pollution discharge and governance to construct a Green Economic Index(GEI)to measure relative green GDP.Finally,from the perspective of spatial econometrics,the spatial convergence and influencing factors of green energy efficiency in China are analyzed.The spatial convergence is divided into ? convergence,? absolute convergence and ? conditional convergence.The main conclusions of the paper are as follows:(1)China's green energy efficiency value showed a downward trend in 2000-2016.Among them,the green energy efficiency value in the eastern region has been higher than the national average over the years,and the green energy efficiency values in the central and western regions have been lower than the national average over the years,especially in the west.The green energy efficiency has gradually declined from east to west,and the annual global Moran's I index is significantly greater than 0.1,showing a significant spatial correlation.(2)Ningxia,Qinghai,Xinjiang,Guizhou,Inner Mongolia in the western region and Shanxi in the central region are the key provinces and cities with the greatest energy-saving potential in China.Their energy-saving potential is over 70%.Beijing,Shanghai and Guangdong in the eastern region have achieved remarkable results in energy-saving work,with their energy-saving potential being only-12.59%,0 and 8.70%.(3)The difference in green energy efficiency within the national,eastern and central regions is gradually shrinking over time,and there is ? convergence,while the difference in green energy efficiency within the western region is gradually increasing over time,there is no ? convergence.(4)There is ? absolute convergence of green energy efficiency in the eastern region,but there is no ? absolute convergence in the central and Western regions.It is indicated that due to different factors such as economic scale,technological progress and industrial structure,the green energy efficiency of the three major regions will not converge to the same steady state level over time.(5)There is ? conditional convergence of green energy efficiency in the eastern,central and western region.It shows that with the improvement of technology level,the expansion of economic scale,the optimization of industrial structure and the strengthening of foreign investment,the green energy efficiency of the three regions will converge to their own steady-state levels.Among them,the green energy efficiency of the central region will return to its steady state first,followed by the eastern region and finally the western region.(6)The number of authorized patents(T)has a significant positive effect on the improvement of green energy efficiency in the national,eastern,central and western regions;R&D input has a significant positive effect on the improvement of green energy efficiency in the western region,and a significant negative effect on the improvement of green energy efficiency in the central region;Per capita GDP has a significant positive effect on the improvement of green energy efficiency in the eastern region,but has a significant negative effect on the improvement of green energy efficiency in the western region;Foreign direct investment has a significant positive effect on the improvement of green energy efficiency in the national,eastern and western regions.The industrial structure has a significant negative effect on the improvement of green energy efficiency in the national and central regions.In view of the above research conclusions,this paper puts forward the following four suggestions:(1)Increase R&D investment and enhance capability of independent innovation;(2)Strengthen opening up and integrate into global market competition;(3)Optimize the industrial structure and accelerate economic transformation and development;(4)Accelerate the layout of energy conservation and strengthen the national energy strategy.