School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Xuanwu District, Xiaolingwei Street 200, Nanjing, 210094, China.
Research Base on Industrial Agglomeration Decision-Making Consulting of Jiangsu Province, Xuanwu District, Xiaolingwei Street 200, Nanjing, 210094, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Jun;28(24):31403-31420. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-13032-3. Epub 2021 Feb 19.
Existing research on the relationship among corruption, energy efficiency, and industrial carbon emissions is limited, while incorporating them into one analytical framework might provide new insights for the mechanism between corruption and industrial carbon emissions. Using the provincial panel data in China's industry from 2005 to 2015, this study applies the System Generalized Method of Moments (SYS-GMM) to explore the impacts of corruption and energy efficiency on industrial carbon emissions. The results indicate that under current economic development status, the effects of corruption and energy efficiency on industrial carbon emissions are divergent; i.e., corruption can enhance carbon emissions, whereas energy efficiency facilitates carbon emission reduction. Energy efficiency plays a mediating role in the relationship between corruption and carbon emissions for both the whole sample and the sub-samples. In other words, corruption aggravates industrial carbon emissions through lowering energy efficiency. Additionally, for the eastern region in China, there is an inverted U-shaped curve relationship between corruption and carbon emissions, as well as a U-shaped curve relationship between energy efficiency and carbon emissions. For the other regions, there is little sign of nonlinearity. Based on the results, policy implications regarding carbon emissions curbing are proposed.
现有研究对腐败、能源效率和工业碳排放之间的关系研究有限，而将它们纳入一个分析框架中可能为腐败与工业碳排放之间的机制提供新的见解。本研究利用中国工业 2005 年至 2015 年的省级面板数据，采用系统广义矩估计法（SYS-GMM）探讨腐败和能源效率对工业碳排放的影响。结果表明，在当前经济发展状况下，腐败和能源效率对工业碳排放的影响是不一致的；即腐败会增加碳排放，而能源效率则有利于减少碳排放。能源效率在腐败和碳排放之间以及整个样本和子样本中都起到了中介作用。换句话说，腐败通过降低能源效率加剧了工业碳排放。此外，对于中国东部地区，腐败与碳排放之间存在着倒 U 型曲线关系，而能源效率与碳排放之间存在着 U 型曲线关系。对于其他地区，几乎没有非线性的迹象。基于这些结果，提出了有关遏制碳排放的政策建议。
