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Analysis of industrial eco-efficiency and its influencing factors in China

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Abstract

Industry is the largest sector for energy consumption and pollution emissions in China. Thus, improving industrial eco-efficiency is necessary for China to achieve sustainable development. Based on panel data from 31 industrial sectors from 2001 to 2015, a three-stage data envelopment analysis model was used to empirically explore industrial eco-efficiency and its influencing factors from the perspective of industrial heterogeneity. The results show that the overall level of industrial eco-efficiency in China is not high, first declining and then rising during the study period. Low eco-efficiency was mainly due to low scale efficiency. After removing the influences of external environmental factors and noise, industry profit rates, ownership structures, and foreign direct investments were all significantly and positively correlated with eco-efficiency. Environmental regulations were significantly and negatively correlated, while the intensity of research and development exhibited no linear relationship. Industrial heterogeneity significantly affects eco-efficiency. Capital-intensive industries had the highest eco-efficiencies, followed by resource-intensive industries and labor-intensive industries, respectively.

Graphic abstract

Comparison of technical efficiency (TE) before and after adjustment on a panel of 31 industries in China from 2001 to 2015.

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Availability of data and material

The data used in this paper are from China’s statistical yearbook (2002–2016) and China’s environmental statistical yearbook (2002–2016).

Code availability

DEAP v. 2.1; Frontier4.1 software.

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Acknowledgements

The research is supported by the major program of philosophy and social science in Anhui Province (No. AHSKZD2018D04). We appreciate the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on our study.

Funding

The research is supported by the major program of philosophy and social science in Anhui Province (No. AHSKZD2018D04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Yong Zhou & Zhiying Liu

  2. Anhui Institute of Industry and Information Technology, Economy and Information Technology Department of Anhui, Hefei, 230000, China

    Yong Zhou, Xiaolu Zhang & Yong Wang

  3. Institute of Economics, Anhui University of Finance and Economics, Bengbu, 233030, China

    Shidong Liu

  4. Shenwan Hongyuan Securities Co., Ltd., 171 Changshu Road, Shanghai, 200031, China

    Mingchun Chen

Authors
  1. Yong Zhou
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  2. Zhiying Liu
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  3. Shidong Liu
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  4. Mingchun Chen
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  5. Xiaolu Zhang
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  6. Yong Wang
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Contributions

YZ contributed to methodology and writing—original draft preparation. ZL supervised and conceptualized the study. SL contributed to data curation and software. MC contributed to visualization. XZ contributed to investigation and validation. YW reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhiying Liu.

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Zhou, Y., Liu, Z., Liu, S. et al. Analysis of industrial eco-efficiency and its influencing factors in China. Clean Techn Environ Policy 22, 2023–2038 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-020-01943-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-020-01943-7

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