Can decentralized energy transition policy achieve a sustainable green transformation of high-energy-consuming firms? Evidence from China

IF 9.2 2区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Energy Policy Pub Date : 2025-08-25 DOI:10.1016/j.enpol.2025.114829

Caiqi Bu , Kaixia Zhang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

As an important contributor to pollution and carbon emission reduction, whether high-energy-consuming firms can successfully realize a sustainable green transition is of great concern. Taking the China's New Energy Demonstration Cities (NEDC) pilot policy for instance, we explore whether the decentralized energy transition policy has driven firms' green transformation towards sustainability. Results suggest that NEDC policy can significantly improve high-energy-consuming firms' green transformation and reducing carbon emissions in the pilot cities. This effect is primarily driven by three key mechanisms: investment and financing, green technology innovation, and energy structure optimization. However, further analysis reveals that the green transformation of high-energy-consuming firms under the NEDC policy is not sustainable in the long run, largely due to the risks of greenwashing and just transition challenges during the transformation process. Additionally, we find that increased government and public concern for the environment and the environmental background of corporate top managers create a synergistic effect with the NEDC policy. This study provides an explanation for why high-energy-consuming firms have not achieved a sustainable green transition as expected, and offers new ideas for the design of energy transition policies from a transition risk perspective.

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分散的能源转型政策能否实现高耗能企业的可持续绿色转型？来自中国的证据

高耗能企业作为减少污染和碳排放的重要贡献者，能否成功实现可持续的绿色转型备受关注。以中国新能源示范城市（NEDC）试点政策为例，探讨分散式能源转型政策是否推动了企业向可持续发展的绿色转型。结果表明，新能源发展政策对试点城市高耗能企业绿色转型和碳减排具有显著的促进作用。这种效应主要由投融资、绿色技术创新和能源结构优化三个关键机制驱动。然而，进一步分析发现，高耗能企业在新能源发展政策下的绿色转型在长期内是不可持续的，这主要是由于转型过程中的“洗绿”风险和转型过程中的转型挑战。此外，我们发现政府和公众对环境的关注以及企业高层管理人员的环境背景的增加与NEDC政策产生了协同效应。本研究解释了高耗能企业未能实现可持续绿色转型的原因，并从转型风险的角度为能源转型政策的设计提供了新的思路。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Energy Policy 管理科学-环境科学

CiteScore

17.30

自引率

5.60%

发文量

540

审稿时长

7.9 months

期刊介绍： Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy conversion, distribution and use as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to contribute to climate change mitigation. The attributes of energy policy may include legislation, international treaties, incentives to investment, guidelines for energy conservation, taxation and other public policy techniques. Energy policy is closely related to climate change policy because totalled worldwide the energy sector emits more greenhouse gas than other sectors.