Can green technology innovations achieve the collaborative management of pollution reduction and carbon emissions reduction? Evidence from the Chinese industrial sector.

Abstract

An appropriate green technology innovation and industrial structural adjustment can facilitate the transition to a greener industrial economy under the Sustainable Development Goals framework. The collaborative management of industrial pollution reduction (IPR) and industrial carbon dioxide emissions reduction (ICR) in the industrial green transformation (IGT) is increasingly drawing attention internationally. Using panel data from 2008 to 2021 for provincial industrial sectors in China, this study uses a structural equation model to empirically investigate how green technologies influence IGT and its sub-goals (including IPR and ICR) through industrial restructuring approaches. The results show that industrial green development have achieved significant results in the study period. Green technologies can achieve green development by inducing changes in industrial structure. As opposed to rationalizing industrial structure, the key to fostering sustainable industrial green transformation is to stimulate the upgrading of the industrial sector structure (UISS) through green technologies. After sorting out all the mediating mechanisms, green process (GTI1) or green product innovation (GTI2), by triggering UISS, is the key to achieving the collaborative management of IPR and ICR and can provide the impetus for the long-term intensification and greening of the industrial sector. In addition, the transmission paths of green technologies affecting IGT, IPR, and ICR are spatially heterogeneous. Our empirical findings can help local governments and policymakers in developing nations construct energy strategies and lessen regional variations in sustainable environmental development.