Assessing the impact of R&D Investments, government subsidies on energy efficiency: empirical analysis from the Chinese listed firms.

China's "Made in China (2025)" strategic plan aims to increase the industrial sector's ability to innovate independently. Cleaner production and green technology will also be used to build green industrial systems. To help achieve these goals, the Chinese government has implemented research and development (R&D) preferential policies. Over the years 2010-2020, this article examines how government subsidies and R&D spending will affect China's energy-intensive enterprises' energy efficiency using the CS-ARDL approach. It also evaluates the effectiveness of economic growth, urbanization, and financial resources on energy efficiency. The outcome reveals that R&D expenditures and economic growth contribute to energy efficiency. Likewise, the findings of urbanization, financial resources, and government subsidies are inversely associated with energy efficiency. Moreover, the panel causality test results show the bi-directional association between urbanization and energy efficiency, government subsidies and energy efficiency, and economic growth and energy efficiency. Likewise, the one-way causal association from R&D expenditures to energy efficiency and from financial resources to energy efficiency. The findings suggest the imperative policies to boost the level of energy efficiency.