Energy-Saving Target Policies and Regional Energy Efficiency
How government targets drive energy efficiency improvements is an important question,and the 11th Five-Year Plan is a key opportunity for China to move toward an energy-efficient society.The policy implements standardized management of energy-saving targets,and for the first time,energy-saving targets have been included in the performance appraisal and evaluation system of local governments.In this study,we manually collect data on the constraints of energy-saving targets at the prefecture level and use the difference-in-differences method to investigate the impact of energy-saving target policies on regional energy efficiency.The results reveal that the energy-saving target policies significantly improve energy efficiency,and the average power intensity of the region will be significantly reduced by 1.7％for every unit increase in the energy-saving target,which passes a series of robustness tests.The mechanism analysis reveals that regions with high energy-saving targets can improve their energy efficiency by adjusting the economic growth target,optimizing the industrial structure,promoting technological progress,and improving the efficiency of resource allocation.Heterogeneity analysis reveals that regions with strong governance and promotion incentives have more obvious energy efficiency improvement effects,and the effect of energy-saving target policies is more significant in areas with low natural resource endowment,high marketization,and high fiscal expenditure.Based on micro-enterprise data,the study finds that energy-saving target policies help improve the energy efficiency of enterprises and enhance energy efficiency more in small and medium-sized enterprises,non-state-owned enterprises,and high energy-dependent enterprises.Compared with the current literature,this study has the following marginal contributions:in terms of research theory,it expands the empirical evidence of the theories of"target responsibility system"and"administrative contract system"and answers the theoretical question of how government drives the transformation of the economic development model.In terms of research data,the energy-saving targets of prefecture-level cities can reflect the real differences in energy-saving supervision among cities under the same province,which enhances the credibility of the empirical research results.In terms of policy practice,we supplement the relevant literature on China's environmental regulation policy and energy-saving regulatory policy and provide enlightenment for China to rationally formulate and scientifically implement energy-saving target policies in the context of"carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals."Based on the above conclusions,this study makes the following policy recommendations.First,in the context of the"carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals,"give full play to the role of energy-saving target policies in improving regional energy efficiency.It is essential to strengthen the green performance evaluation system,improve the setting and assessment of energy-saving targets and other policy elements,enhance the awareness of local governments in energy-saving governance,strengthen the incentive of energy-saving target assessment,establish the responsibility of local governments to complete the energy-saving targets issued by the province and the active awareness of completing the energy-saving targets set by the region,and guide local officials to formulate energy-saving policies according to local conditions to better improve regional energy efficiency.Second,we should give full play to the role of a promising government and an effective market and reasonably formulate industrial policies that meet the requirements of low-carbon and energy-saving.In terms of industrial guidance,guide the manufacturing industry to gradually transform into intelligent,digital,and green.Regarding innovation support,it is necessary to give full play to the role of enterprises as the main body of innovation;accelerate the research,development,and promotion of energy-saving technologies and products;support enterprises to carry out energy-saving and carbon-reduction technology research and development;and create a technology sharing platform.In terms of resource allocation,strengthen energy-saving supervision,eliminate backward production capacity,allow enterprises with low energy efficiency to exit the market,and leverage market competitive advantages.Third,comprehensively consider the heterogeneity of regions and enterprises as well as consolidate and expand the implementation effect of policies according to local conditions.It is essential to improve the incentives for local governments to achieve green performance,enhance the endogenous power of resource-based cities and old industrial bases to achieve green transformation,guide regions to optimize industrial structures,and alleviate the lock-in effect of resource-dependent economic development.Further transform government functions,strive to build a service-oriented government,give full play to the role of market resource allocation,strengthen the role of market supervision,and promote reasonable and fair competition in the energy market.Improve energy-saving policies,that is,price,fiscal,and financial policies related to energy governance,and encourage local governments and enterprises to allocate energy-saving resources,increase energy-saving investment,and improve energy efficiency.
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