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Trends and driving forces of low-carbon energy technology innovation in China’s industrial sectors from 1998 to 2017: from a regional perspective

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Abstract

Low-carbon energy technology (LC) innovation contributes to both environmental protection and economic development. Using the panel data of 30 provinces/autonomous regions/municipalities in China from 1998 to 2017, this paper constructs a two-layer logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) model to uncover the factors influencing the variation of the innovation of LC in China’s industrial sectors, including the alternative energy production technology (AEPT) and the energy conversation technology (ECT). The results show that China’s industrial LC patent applications rapidly increased after 2005 and AEPT patent applications outweighed ECT patent applications all the time with a gradually narrowing gap. Low-carbon degree played the dominant role in promoting the increase in China’s industrial LC patent applications, followed by the economic scale, R&D (research and development) efficiency, and R&D share. Economic structure contributed to the increases in LC patent applications in the central and the western regions, while led to the decreases in the eastern region, the northeastern region, and Chinese mainland1). Low-carbon degree and economic scale were two main contributors to the growths of both industrial AEPT patent applications and ECT patent applications in Chinese mainland and the four regions. Several policy recommendations are made to further promote industrial innovation in China.

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Abbreviations

LMDI:

Logarithmic mean Divisia index

LC:

Low-carbon energy technology

AEPT:

Alternative energy production technology

ECT:

Energy conversation technology

IEA:

International Energy Agency

UNEP:

United Nations Environment Programme

OECD:

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

IDA:

Index decomposition analysis

IPC:

International Patent Classification

WIPO:

World Intellectual Property Organization

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 71810107001, 72088101 and 71690241).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Xi Zhang & Huijuan Dong

  2. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119077, Singapore

    Xi Zhang & Yen Wah Tong

  3. China Institute for Urban Governance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200030, China

    Yong Geng

  4. School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Yong Geng

  5. School of Management, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Yong Geng

  6. Department of Building, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119077, Singapore

    Harn Wei Kua

  7. Institute of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China

    Hengyu Pan

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  1. Xi Zhang
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  2. Yong Geng
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  3. Yen Wah Tong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yong Geng.

Additional information

1) Xizang (Tibet) Autonoomous Region is not considered due to lack of data. The same below.

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Zhang, X., Geng, Y., Tong, Y.W. et al. Trends and driving forces of low-carbon energy technology innovation in China’s industrial sectors from 1998 to 2017: from a regional perspective. Front. Energy 15, 473–486 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-021-0738-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-021-0738-z

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