Abstract
The slack-based measure (SBM) model was used in this study to calculate the urban green innovation efficiency (GIE) of Chinese 283 cities during 2008–2018, and the night light data from the defense meteorological satellite program/operational linescan system (DMSP/OLS) were used to characterize the economic development level. On the basis, efforts were made to analyze how ecological footprint is affected by urban GIE at varying economic development levels under the Hansen threshold regression model and reveal the mechanism for ecological footprint to receive influence from urban GIE through the mediation effect model. The results show that: (1) The improvement in the urban GIE of the investigated cities during the study period has a negative double threshold in influencing ecological footprint throughout China. However, with higher economic development level, the inhibitory effect gradually weakens, with the elastic coefficient changing from − 0.3046 and − 0.2132 to − 0.1392 at a 1% significant level. (2) The inhibitory effect on ecological footprint from urban GIE is spatially heterogeneous in Chinese cities. In eastern cities other than central and western cities, urban GIE exerts the strongest inhibitory effect on ecological footprint, with the corresponding coefficient being − 0.3972 at a 1% significant level. Moreover, the inhibition in eastern and central regions is strengthened with higher economic development level. Nevertheless, before crossing the second threshold, the inhibitory effect of urban GIE on ecological footprint in western China does not appear, with the coefficient being 0.1899 and 0.1379, respectively, with at a 1% significant level. (3) Industrial structure and energy structure play a mediating role in the effect of urban GIE on ecological footprint. By contrast, population aggregation and infrastructure are important driving forces for the increase of ecological footprint.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Global Footprint Network. (2020). Footprint for nations (data downloads, licenses, and support). [EB/OL]. GFN. https://www.footprintnetwork.org/licenses/, 2021–01–15.
Aboelmaged, M., & Hashem, G. (2019). Absorptive capacity and green innovation adoption in SMEs: The mediating effects of sustainable organisational capabilities. Journal of Cleaner Production, 220, 853–863.
Ahmad, M., Jiang, P., Majeed, A., Umar, M., Khan, Z., & Muhammad, S. (2020). The dynamic impact of natural resources, technological innovations and economic growth on ecological footprint: An advanced panel data estimation. Resources Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101817
Ahmed, Z., Asghar, M. M., Malik, M. N., & Nawaz, K. (2020). Moving towards a sustainable environment: The dynamic linkage between natural resources, human capital, urbanization, economic growth, and ecological footprint in China. Resources Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101677
Ahmed, Z., Wang, Z., Mahmood, F., Haffez, M., & Ali, N. (2019). Does globalization increase the ecological footprint? Empirical evidence from Malaysia. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26, 18565–18582.
Anand, A., & Kim, D. H. (2021). Pandemic induced changes in economic activity around African protected areas captured through night-time light data. Remote Sensing. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13020314
Anderson, K., Meloni, G., & Swinnen, O. (2018). Global alcohol markets: Evolving consumption patterns, regulations, and industrial organizations. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 10, 105–132.
Antal, M., Plank, B., Mokos, J., & Wiedenhofer, D. (2020). Is working less really good for the environment? A systematic review of the empirical evidence for resource use, greenhouse gas emissions and the ecological footprint. Environmental Research Letters, 16, 013002.
Arouri, M. E. H., Youssef, A. B., M’henni, H., & Rault, C. (2012). Energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in middle east and north African countries. Energy Policy, 45, 342–349.
Asadi, S., Pourhashemi, S. O., Nilashi, M., Abdullah, R., Samad, S., Yadegaridehkordi, E., Aljojo, N., & Razali, N. S. (2020). Investigating influence of green innovation on sustainability performance: A case on Malaysian hotel industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 258, 94–104.
Badi, S., & Murtagh, N. (2019). Green supply chain management in construction: A systematic literature review and future research agenda. Journal of Cleaner Production, 223, 312–322.
Bai, J. (2013). Regional innovation efficiency: Evidence from panel data of China’s different provinces. Regional Studies, 47, 773–788.
Barbieri, E., Tommaso, M. R., Pollio, C., & Rubini, L. (2020). Getting the specialization right. Industrialization in Southern China in a sustainable development perspective. World Development. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104701
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.
Barrahmoune, A., Lahboub, Y., & Ghmari, A. E. (2019). Ecological footprint accounting: A multi-scale approach based on net primary productivity. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 77, 136–144.
Bi, K. X., Wang, Y. H., & Yang, C. J. (2014). Effect of innovation resources input on green innovation capability of green innovation system: empirical research from the perspective of manufacturing FDI inflows. China Soft Science, 3, 153–166.
Charfeddine, L., & Mrabet, Z. (2017). The impact of economic development and social-political factors on ecological footprint: A panel data analysis for 15 MENA countries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 76, 138–154.
Chen, C. Z., Lin, Z. S., & Zhang, X. Q. (2010). A study on driving forces of per capital ecological footprint at multiple timescales in China during the period 1953–2007. Resource Science, 32, 2003–2009.
Chiou, T. K., Chan, H. K., Lettice, F., & Chung, S. H. (2011). The influence of greening the suppliers and green innovation on environmental performance and competitive advantage in Taiwan. Transportation Research Part e: Logistics and Transportation Review, 47, 822–836.
Churchill, S. A., Inekwe, J., Smyth, R., & Zhang, X. B. (2019). R&D intensity and carbon emissions in the G7: 1870–2014. Energy Economics, 80, 30–37.
Collins, A., Galli, A., Patrizi, N., & Pulselli, F. M. (2018). Learning and teaching sustainability: The contribution of ecological footprint calculators. Journal of Cleaner Production, 174, 1000–1010.
Consonni, S., Giugliano, M., & Grosso, M. (2005). Alternative strategies for energy recovery from municipal solid waste: Part B: Emission and cost estimates. Waste Management, 25, 137–148.
Cuerva, M. C., Triguero-Cano, A., & Córcoles, D. (2014). Drivers of green and non-green innovation: Empirical evidence in Low-Tech SMEs. Journal of Cleaner Production, 68, 104–113.
Dietz, T., & Rosa, E. A. (1994). Rethinking the environmental impacts of population, affluence and technology. Human Ecology Review, 1, 277–300.
Donaldson, D., & Adam, S. (2016). The view from above: Applications of satellite data in economics. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30, 171–198.
Fama, E. F., & French, K. R. (2010). Luck versus skill in the cross section of mutual fund returns. Journal of Finance, 65, 1915–1947.
Fang, K. (2013). Ecological footprint depth and size: New indicators for a 3D model. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 33, 267–274.
Galli, A., Kitzes, J., Niccolucci, V., Wackernagel, M., Wada, Y., & Marchettini, N. (2012). Assessing the global environmental consequences of economic growth through the ecological footprint: A focus on China and India. Ecological Indicators, 17, 99–107.
Gary, M. S. (2002). Exploring the impact of organizational growth via diversification. Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, 5–7, 369–386.
George, R., & Kabir, R. (2012). Heterogeneity in business groups and the corporate diversification-firm performance relationship. Journal of Business Research, 3, 412–420.
Ghita, S. I., Saseanu, A. S., Gogonea, R. M., & Huidumac-Petrescu, C.-E. (2018). Perspectives of ecological footprint in European context under the impact of information society and sustainable development. Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093224
Grossman, G., & Krueger, A. (1995). Economic growth and the environment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110, 353–377.
Han, J. (2012). Study on the efficiency of regional green innovation in China. Research on Financial and Economic Issues, 11, 130–137.
Hansen, B. E. (1999). Threshold effects in non-dynamic panels: Estimation, testing, and inference. Journal of Econometrics, 93, 345–368.
Hassan, S. T., Xia, E., Khan, N. H., & Shah, S. M. A. (2019). Economic growth, natural resources, and ecological footprints: Evidence from Pakistan. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26, 2929–2938.
Huang, B. R., Cui, S. H., & Li, Y. M. (2016). Ecological footprint evolution characteristics and its influencing factors in China from 2000 to 2010. Environmental Science, 37, 420–426.
Hubacek, K., Guan, D., Barrett, J., & Wiedmann, T. (2009). Environmental implications of urbanization and lifestyle change in China: Ecological and water footprints. Journal of Cleaner Production, 17, 1241–1248.
Ivan, D. N., Luigi, O., & Fiorenza, B. (2018). The role of collaborative networks in supporting the innovation performances of lagging-behind european regions. Research Policy, 9, 06–19.
Jermsittiparsert, K., Somjai, S., & Toopgajank, S. (2020). factors affecting firm’s energy efficiency and environmental performance: The role of environmental management accounting, green innovation and environmental proactivity. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 10, 325–331.
Ke, H. Q., Yang, W. Y., Liu, X. Y., & Fan, F. (2020). Does Innovation Efficiency Suppress the Ecological Footprint? Empirical Evidence from 280 Chinese Cities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(18), 6826. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17186826
Khan, I., Hou, F., & Le, H. (2021). The impact of natural resources, energy consumption, and population growth on environmental quality: Fresh evidence from the United States of America. Science of The Total Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142222
Lewis, H. F., & Sexton, T. R. (2004). Network DEA: Efficiency analysis of organizations with complex internal structure. Computers and Operations Research, 31, 1365–1410.
Lewis, J. I. (2010). The evolving role of carbon finance in promoting renewable energy development in China. Energy Policy, 38, 2875–2886.
Li, F., Sun, X. D., & Zhang, L. L. (2017). Industrial agglomeration, technological innovation and environmental pollution: Empirical study based on industrial panel data of China. Technology Economics, 36, 1–7.
Liu, N., & Fan, F. (2020). Threshold effect of international technology spillovers on China’s regional economic growth. Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, 32, 923–935.
Liu, Z. S., Song, D. Y., & Gong, Y. Y. (2017). Research on the spatial-temporal differences and convergence of green innovation capacity in China. Chinese Journal of Management, 14, 1475–1483.
Long, X., Yu, H., Sun, M., Wang, X., Klemeš, J. J., Xie, W., Wang, C., Li, W., & Wang, Y. (2020). Sustainability evaluation based on the three-dimensional ecological footprint and human development index: A case study on the four island regions in China. Journal of Environmental Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110509
Mamun, A. A., Mohamad, M. R., Mohd, Y. R. B., & Mohiuddin, M. (2018). Intention and behavior towards green consumption among low-income households. Journal of Environmental Management, 227, 73–86.
Mancini, M. S., Galli, A., Niccolucci, V., Lin, D., Bastianoni, S., Wackernagel, M., & Marchettini, N. (2016). Ecological footprint: Refining the carbon footprint calculation. Ecological Indicators, 61, 390–403.
Mardani, A., Zavadskas, E. K., Streimikiene, D., Jusoh, A., & Khoshnoudi, M. (2017). A comprehensive review of data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach in energy efficiency. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 70, 1298–1322.
Muñiz, I., & Garcia-López, M. A. (2019). Urban form and spatial structure as determinants of the ecological footprint of commuting. Transportation Research Part d: Transport and Environment, 67, 334–350.
Musikavong, C., & Gheewala, S. H. (2017). Assessing ecological footprints of products from the rubber industry and palm oil mills in Thailand. Journal of Cleaner Production, 142, 1148–1157.
Navaratnam, S., Ngo, T., Gunawardena, T., & Henderson, D. (2019). Performance Review of Prefabricated Building Systems and Future Research in Australia, 9, 38.
Niccolucci, V., Bastianoni, S., Tiezzi, E. B. P., Wackernagel, M., & Marchettini, N. (2009). How deep is the footprint? A 3D Representation. Ecological Modelling, 220, 2819–2823.
Owen, R., Brennan, G., & Lyon, F. (2018). Enabling investment for the transition to a low carbon economy: Government policy to finance early stage green innovation. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 31, 137–145.
Ramdhani, M. A., Hilmi, A. H., Andri, I. A., & Mauluddin, Y. (2017). Model of green technology adaptation in small and medium-sized tannery industry. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 12, 954–962.
Rees, W. E. (1992). Ecological footprint and appropriated carrying capacity: What urban economics leaves out. Environment and Urbanization, 4, 121–130.
Sellitto, M. A., Camfield, C. G., & Buzuku, S. (2020). Green innovation and competitive advantages in a furniture industrial cluster: A survey and structural model. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 23, 94–104.
Shahzad, M., Qu, Y., Zafar, A. U., Rehman, S. U., & Islam, T. (2020). Exploring the influence of knowledge management process on corporate sustainable performance through green innovation. Journal of Knowledge Management, 24, 2079–2106.
Singh, S. K., Giudice, M. D., Chierici, R., & Graziano, D. (2020). Green innovation and environmental performance: The role of green transformational leadership and green human resource management. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2019.119762
Sman, O., Iortile, I. B., & Ike, G. N. (2020). Enhancing sustainable electricity consumption in a large ecological reserve-based country: The role of democracy, ecological footprint, economic growth, and globalization in Brazil. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27, 13370–13383.
Sohag, K., Begum, R. A., Abdullah, S. M. S., & Jaafar, M. (2015). Dynamics of energy use, technological innovation, economic growth and trade openness in Malaysia. Energy, 90, 1497–1507.
Tercan, S. H., Cabalar, A. F., & Yaman, G. (2015). Analysis of a landfill gas to energy system at the municipal solid waste landfill in Gaziantep Turkey. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 65, 912–918.
Tone, K. (2002). A slacked-based measure of super-efficiency in data development analysis. European Journal of Operations Research, 143, 32–41.
Tóth, G., Szigeti, C., Harangozó, G., & Szabó, D. R. (2018). Ecological footprint at the micro-scale-how it can save costs: The case of ENPRO. Resources. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources7030045
Tsai, W. T., & Kuo, K. C. (2010). An analysis of power generation from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration plants in Taiwan. Energy, 35, 4824–4830.
Vinuesa, R., Azizpour, H., Leite, I., Balaam, M., Dignum, V., Domisch, S., Felländer, A., Langhans, S. D., Tegmark, M., & Nerini, F. F. (2020). The role of artificial intelligence in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Nature Communication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-14108-y
Wang, R. S., & Wang, Y. L. (2015). Relationship between ecological footprint and the urbanization rate in Anhui province. Journal of Henan University of Science and Technology, 4, 66–69.
Wang, X. J., Cheng, Y., Wang, J. S., & Ding, L. (2019). China’s location choice for industrial transfer from countries along the “Belt and Road.” Economic Geography, 39, 95–105.
Wang, Y., Yuan, J., & Lu, Y. (2020). Constructing demonstration zones to promote the implementation of sustainable development goals. Geography and Sustainability, 1, 18–24.
Wang, Z., Yang, L., Yin, J., & Zhang, B. (2018). Assessment and prediction of environmental sustainability in China based on a modified ecological footprint model. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 132, 301–313.
Wei, J., Li, T. Y., & Zhao, Y. H. (2015). Innovation driven development: Current situation, realistic difficult position and countermeasures. China Soft Science, 5, 21–30.
Wu, D. C. (2020). Spatially and temporally varying relationships between ecological footprint and influencing factors in China provinces Using Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR). Journal of Cleaner Production, 261, 121089.
Xiao, R. Q., & Ding, J. (2017). Research on the Green Innovation Efficiency and Spatial Spillover Effects in Chinese Enterprises-From the Angle of the Two-Stage Value Chain. Journal of Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, 39, 45–58.
Xiong, Z., & Li, H. (2019). Ecological deficit tax: A tax design and simulation of compensation for ecosystem service value based on ecological footprint in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 230, 1128–1137.
Yang, C., & Zhu, Y. L. (2019). Analysis on driving force factors of ecological footprint in Hunan province from the perspective of green development. Economic Geography, 2, 1–15.
Yang, L., & Yang, Y. (2019). Evaluation of eco-efficiency in China from 1978 to 2016: Based on a modified ecological footprint model. Science of the Total Environment, 662, 581–590.
Yilanci, V., & Pata, U. K. (2020). Investigating the EKC hypothesis for China: The role of economic complexity on ecological footprint. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27, 32683–32694.
Yin, Y., Han, X., & Wu, S. (2017). Spatial and temporal variations in the ecological footprints in Northwest China from 2005 to 2014. Sustainability, 9, 597.
Zafar, M. W., Zaidi, S. A. H., Khan, N. R., Mirza, F. M., Hou, F., & Kirmani, S. A. A. (2019). The impact of natural resources, human capital, and foreign direct investment on the ecological footprint: The case of the United States. Resources Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2019.101428
Zhang, W. Y., Yu, Q., Yang, F. X., & Fan, H. Y. (2018). Evaluation of green innovation ability of regional manufacturing industry under innovation driven strategy-modeling and analysis of complex network based on 30 regional data. Journal of Industrial Technological Economics, 8, 86–94.
Zhang, X. Q., Chen, C. Z., & Lin, Z. S. (2010). A study on driving forces of per capital ecological footprint at multiple timescales in China during the period 1953–2007. Resources Science, 32, 2005–2011.
Acknowledgements
All authors approved the version of the manuscript to be published. This work was supported by the Major Program of the Chinese National Social Science Foundation (Grant No. 18ZDA040).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ke, H., Dai, S. & Yu, H. Effect of green innovation efficiency on ecological footprint in 283 Chinese Cities from 2008 to 2018. Environ Dev Sustain 24, 2841–2860 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01556-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01556-0