Analysis On The Impact Path And Effect Of Outward Foreign Direct Investment On Energy Efficiency Of Home Country

Since its reform and opening up,China’s economic growth has been a world-renowned achievement.However,this miracle of economic growth has come at the cost of excessive energy consumption and environmental pollution,and it is clear that China’s "resource dividend" is disappearing.The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19 th Central Committee clearly proposed to implement the "double control" action of total energy consumption and intensity,in order to help achieve the goal of carbon peak and green transformation of the economy and society.In addition,with the introduction of the "go global" initiative in 2000,China’s outward foreign direct investment(OFDI)has stepped into a new process of rapid development.By 2020,China’s OFDI flow has been ranked No.1 in the world,and now,"going global" has already had a far-reaching impact on various aspects of China,such as social,economic and environmental,while the impact of OFDI on energy efficiency is gaining attention of academic circles.Through literature review,it is found that most studies focus on the impact of technological progress,industrial structure adjustment and economic growth on energy efficiency.However,the research on the impact of OFDI on energy efficiency is still in its infancy.The following three aspects need to be further explored:(1)what is the conduction path of OFDI affecting energy efficiency.(2)Whether regional OFDI will affect the energy efficiency of nearby areas through spatial spillover effect.(3)Whether there are some economic variables that play a regulatory role between OFDI and energy efficiency.Based on the review of relevant theories and literature,this paper puts forward the research model and research hypothesis.Further,based on China’s provincial panel data,this paper empirically tests the research hypothesis proposed in this paper.The research results are as follows:(1)OFDI plays a positive role in the improvement of energy efficiency,and domestic technological progress,industrial structure adjustment and economic growth play a mediating role between OFDI and energy efficiency.That is,OFDI indirectly affects domestic energy efficiency through three paths: domestic technological progress,industrial structure adjustment and economic growth.Specifically,the values of technological progress effect,industrial structure adjustment effect and economic growth effect of OFDI affecting energy efficiency are 0.0215,0.0099 and 0.0228 respectively.In other words,China’s OFDI has played an important and positive role in improving the energy efficiency of its home country.From the comprehensive perspective of the three paths,for every 1% increase in OFDI,energy efficiency will increase by 5.42%.(2)Energy efficiency has a significant positive autocorrelation in spatial distribution,and OFDI has a significant direct impact and positive spatial spillover effect on the improvement of energy efficiency.That is,the improvement of energy efficiency in a province benefits not only from the OFDI activities in the region,but also from the OFDI activities in the surrounding areas.After considering the spatial correlation,China’s energy efficiency will increase by 29.8% for every 1% increase in OFDI.In addition,technological progress,industrial structure adjustment and economic growth also have a significant direct impact and positive spatial spillover effect on the improvement of energy efficiency.(3)The home country’s OFDI scale,environmental regulation and innovation ability play a regulatory role between OFDI and energy efficiency,that is,there is a nonlinear relationship between OFDI and energy efficiency.Specifically,the scale of OFDI makes the two show an "inverted U-shaped" relationship;The higher the level of national environmental regulation,the stronger the positive impact of OFDI on energy efficiency;The higher the level of innovation ability,the stronger the positive impact of OFDI on energy efficiency.Finally,based on the theoretical analysis and the results of empirical test,this study puts forward relevant policy suggestions from three aspects: firmly promoting the "going out" strategy,strengthening cross regional exchanges and cooperation,and paying attention to the constraint condition of OFDI on energy efficiency,so as to give better play to the positive impact of OFDI on energy efficiency.