The Impact Of Environmental Regulation On Energy Efficiency Under The Background Of Government Competition In China

China has been the world’s largest energy consumer since 2009.In the following decades,the proportion of China’s energy consumption in the world’s energy consumption continues to rise,which brings great environmental pressure to China.At the same time,due to China’s low energy self-sufficiency rate,huge energy imports have also brought great pressure to China’s energy security.In this context,it is urgent to improve China’s energy efficiency.Environmental regulation is an important variable affecting energy efficiency.Therefore,it is of great practical significance to study the relationship between environmental regulation and energy efficiency.China has a wide geographical area,great cultural differences,and different levels of economic development.Local governments cooperate and compete with each other.Therefore,it is necessary to discuss the formation mechanism of local government environmental regulation in China,verify the mode of local government environmental regulation competition,and then discuss the impact of environmental regulation on energy efficiency.Based on Chinese provincial panel data,this paper uses panel data stochastic frontier model to estimate energy efficiency of 30 provinces in the mainland from 2004 to 2019,and finds that:(1)The energy efficiency of China’s provinces fluctuates greatly.Among them,the energy efficiency of Heilongjiang,Jilin,Liaoning and Inner Mongolia,Tianjin,Hebei,Shanxi,Qinghai,Ningxia,Xinjiang decreased,and the energy efficiency of Hubei,Hunan,Jiangsu,Jiangxi,Anhui,Sichuan and Guizhou in the central and western regions increased.(2)The energy efficiency of the eastern coastal areas is higher,followed by the central ones,and the energy efficiency of the western areas is generally lower.Using panel data generalized spatial simultaneous model,this paper studies the interactive relationship and spatial spillover effect between environmental regulation and regional energy efficiency under local government competition in China.The results show that:(1)There is a positive correlation between environmental regulation and regional energy efficiency,that is,the improvement of environmental regulation intensity can promote the improvement of energy efficiency.At the same time,the improvement of energy efficiency will also promote local governments to strengthen the intensity of environmental regulation.(2)Regional energy efficiency has a positive spatial spillover effect,that is,the improvement of energy efficiency in the surrounding areas is conducive to the improvement of energy efficiency in the region.On the contrary,if the energy efficiency in the surrounding areas decreases,it will also deteriorate the energy efficiency in the region.China’s environmental regulation has a positive spatial spillover effect,that is,increasing the intensity of environmental regulation in the surrounding areas may stimulate the local government to strengthen the intensity of environmental regulation,while reducing the intensity of environmental regulation in the surrounding areas will also lead the local government to follow up and reduce the intensity of environmental regulation.Based on the above research conclusions,this paper obtains some policy implications for improving energy efficiency in China.