IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i2p510-d476258.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Green Development Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors in China’s Iron and Steel Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Junfeng Zhang

    (School of Economics, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China)

  • Jianxu Liu

    (School of Economics, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China)

  • Jing Li

    (College of Economics and Management, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China)

  • Yuyan Gao

    (School of Economics, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China)

  • Chuansong Zhao

    (School of Economics, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China)

Abstract

Analyzing the potential for green development and its influencing factors is an important part of the energy savings and low-carbon economic growth of China’s iron and steel industry (ISI). Many studies have concentrated on improving the ISI’s energy use and pollution control efficiencies, analyzing the influencing factors from the perspectives of regions and firms. However, no study has focused on measuring the provincial green development efficiency (GDE) in the ISI. The selected driving forces of the GDE do not consider regional or industrial characteristics. In this study, based on provincial panel data for 2006–2015 in China, the GDE of the Chinese ISI was evaluated using the super-slack-based measure (super-SBM) model. China’s 28 provinces were divided into different groups through cluster analysis. Then, a Tobit model was constructed to explore the factors influencing the GDE. The key results show the following: (1) The GDE values decline, fluctuating from 0.628 in 2006 to 0.571 in 2015, decreasing by 1.1% annually. Among the provinces, wide differences exist in the GDE values for the ISI, with the highest average GDE value being observed in Beijing and the lowest in Shanxi. (2) The provinces with high R&D expenditure inputs and high GDE values are mostly located in the eastern region, while the provinces with low R&D expenditure inputs and low GDE values are located in the central and western regions. (3) The export demand, property structure, and capital investment have significant positive effects on the ISI’s GDE in the eastern and western regions, while the energy consumption structure and industry scale have negative impacts on the improvement of the GDE in the central region. (4) Specific policy recommendations for sustainable development in the ISI mainly include further strengthening investment in R&D, expanding exports, adjusting energy consumption structures, and deepening the reform of stated-own enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Junfeng Zhang & Jianxu Liu & Jing Li & Yuyan Gao & Chuansong Zhao, 2021. "Green Development Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors in China’s Iron and Steel Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-15, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:2:p:510-:d:476258
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/2/510/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/2/510/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cooper, William W. & Seiford, Lawrence M. & Zhu, Joe, 2000. "A unified additive model approach for evaluating inefficiency and congestion with associated measures in DEA," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Woo, Chungwon & Chung, Yanghon & Chun, Dongphil & Seo, Hangyeol & Hong, Sungjun, 2015. "The static and dynamic environmental efficiency of renewable energy: A Malmquist index analysis of OECD countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 367-376.
    3. Zhu, Bangzhu & Zhang, Mengfan & Zhou, Yanhua & Wang, Ping & Sheng, Jichuan & He, Kaijian & Wei, Yi-Ming & Xie, Rui, 2019. "Exploring the effect of industrial structure adjustment on interprovincial green development efficiency in China: A novel integrated approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    4. Tone, Kaoru, 2002. "A slacks-based measure of super-efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 32-41, November.
    5. Timilsina, Govinda R. & Shrestha, Ashish, 2009. "Transport sector CO2 emissions growth in Asia: Underlying factors and policy options," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4523-4539, November.
    6. Zhe Li & Renjin Sun & Manman Qin & Dongou Hu, 2020. "Gasoline to Diesel Consumption Ratio: A New Socioeconomic Indicator of Carbon Dioxide Emissions in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-14, July.
    7. Chang, Young-Tae & Zhang, Ning & Danao, Denise & Zhang, Nan, 2013. "Environmental efficiency analysis of transportation system in China: A non-radial DEA approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 277-283.
    8. Gozgor, Giray & Lau, Chi Keung Marco & Lu, Zhou, 2018. "Energy consumption and economic growth: New evidence from the OECD countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 27-34.
    9. Rahman, Sanzidur & Anik, Asif Reza, 2020. "Productivity and efficiency impact of climate change and agroecology on Bangladesh agriculture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    10. Wong, Wing-Keung, 2007. "Stochastic dominance and mean-variance measures of profit and loss for business planning and investment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 182(2), pages 829-843, October.
    11. Zha, Jianping & He, Lamei & Liu, Yang & Shao, Yuhong, 2019. "Evaluation on development efficiency of low-carbon tourism economy: A case study of Hubei Province, China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 47-57.
    12. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    13. Xi Qin & Xiaoling Wang & Yusen Xu & Yawen Wei, 2019. "Exploring Driving Forces of Green Growth: Empirical Analysis on China’s Iron and Steel Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-11, February.
    14. Song, Malin & Peng, Jun & Wang, Jianlin & Zhao, Jiajia, 2018. "Environmental efficiency and economic growth of China: A Ray slack-based model analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(1), pages 51-63.
    15. Cheng, Zhonghua & Liu, Jun & Li, Lianshui & Gu, Xinbei, 2020. "Research on meta-frontier total-factor energy efficiency and its spatial convergence in Chinese provinces," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    16. Lin, Boqiang & Wang, Xiaolei, 2014. "Exploring energy efficiency in China׳s iron and steel industry: A stochastic frontier approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 87-96.
    17. Fang Zhang & Hong Fang & Junjie Wu & Damian Ward, 2016. "Environmental Efficiency Analysis of Listed Cement Enterprises in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-19, May.
    18. Timilsina, Govinda R. & Shrestha, Ashish, 2009. "Why have CO2 emissions increased in the transport sector in Asia ? underlying factors and policy options," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5098, The World Bank.
    19. Tone, Kaoru, 2001. "A slacks-based measure of efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 498-509, May.
    20. Zhu, Bangzhu & Zhang, Mengfan & Huang, Liqing & Wang, Ping & Su, Bin & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2020. "Exploring the effect of carbon trading mechanism on China's green development efficiency: A novel integrated approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    21. Albert G. Z. Hu & Gary H. Jefferson & Qian Jinchang, 2005. "R&D and Technology Transfer: Firm-Level Evidence from Chinese Industry," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(4), pages 780-786, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qiu, Ziyang & Yue, Qiang & Yan, Tianyi & Wang, Qi & Sun, Jingchao & Yuan, Yuxing & Che, Zichang & Wang, Yisong & Du, Tao, 2023. "Gas utilization optimization and exergy analysis of hydrogen metallurgical shaft furnace," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PC).
    2. Chen, Jingwei & Huang, Yizhen & Liu, Yang & Jiaqiang, E., 2024. "System development and thermodynamic performance analysis of a system integrating supercritical water gasification of black liquor with direct-reduced iron process," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huang, Hongyun & Wang, Fengrong & Song, Malin & Balezentis, Tomas & Streimikiene, Dalia, 2021. "Green innovations for sustainable development of China: Analysis based on the nested spatial panel models," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    2. Liang-Han Ma & Jin-Chi Hsieh & Yung-Ho Chiu, 2020. "Comparing regional differences in global energy performance," Energy & Environment, , vol. 31(6), pages 943-960, September.
    3. Rongrong Liu & Dong Chen & Suchang Yang & Yang Chen, 2021. "Evaluation of Green Development Efficiency of the Major Cities in Gansu Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    4. Wei, Wei & Hu, Haiqing & Chang, Chun-Ping, 2022. "Why the same degree of economic policy uncertainty can produce different outcomes in energy efficiency? New evidence from China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 467-481.
    5. Yitian Ren & Heng Li & Liyin Shen & Yu Zhang & Yang Chen & Jinhuan Wang, 2018. "What Is the Efficiency of Fast Urbanization? A China Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-26, September.
    6. Li, Tao & Yang, Wenyue & Zhang, Haoran & Cao, Xiaoshu, 2016. "Evaluating the impact of transport investment on the efficiency of regional integrated transport systems in China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 66-76.
    7. Cabrera-Jiménez, Richard & Mateo-Sanz, Josep M. & Gavaldà, Jordi & Jiménez, Laureano & Pozo, Carlos, 2022. "Comparing biofuels through the lens of sustainability: A data envelopment analysis approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    8. Demiral, Elif E. & Sağlam, Ümit, 2021. "Eco-efficiency and Eco-productivity assessments of the states in the United States: A two-stage Non-parametric analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    9. Huali Sun & Mengzhen Li & Yaofeng Xue, 2019. "Examining the Factors Influencing Transport Sector CO 2 Emissions and Their Efficiency in Central China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-15, August.
    10. Li, Hai-ling & Zhu, Xue-hong & Chen, Jin-yu & Jiang, Fei-tao, 2019. "Environmental regulations, environmental governance efficiency and the green transformation of China's iron and steel enterprises," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    11. Shengyun Wang & Yaxin Zhang & Huwei Wen, 2021. "Comprehensive Measurement and Regional Imbalance of China’s Green Development Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-20, January.
    12. Zhang, Junfeng & Fang, Hong & Wang, Hongxia & Jia, Mingshun & Wu, Junjie & Fang, Siran, 2017. "Energy efficiency of airlines and its influencing factors: A comparison between China and the United States," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 1-8.
    13. Khalid Mehmood & Yaser Iftikhar & Shouming Chen & Shaheera Amin & Alia Manzoor & Jinlong Pan, 2020. "Analysis of Inter-Temporal Change in the Energy and CO 2 Emissions Efficiency of Economies: A Two Divisional Network DEA Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.
    14. Ashrafi, Ali & Seow, Hsin-Vonn & Lee, Lai Soon & Lee, Chew Ging, 2013. "The efficiency of the hotel industry in Singapore," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 31-34.
    15. Chen, Yufeng & Ni, Liangfu & Liu, Kelong, 2021. "Does China's new energy vehicle industry innovate efficiently? A three-stage dynamic network slacks-based measure approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    16. Ruijing Zheng & Yu Cheng & Haimeng Liu & Wei Chen & Xiaodong Chen & Yaping Wang, 2022. "The Spatiotemporal Distribution and Drivers of Urban Carbon Emission Efficiency: The Role of Technological Innovation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-22, July.
    17. Junlong Li & Chuangneng Cai & Feng Zhang, 2020. "Assessment of Ecological Efficiency and Environmental Sustainability of the Minjiang-Source in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, June.
    18. Senhua Huang & Lingming Chen, 2023. "The Impact of the Digital Economy on the Urban Total-Factor Energy Efficiency: Evidence from 275 Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    19. Muliaman Hadad & Maximilian Hall & Karligash Kenjegalieva & Wimboh Santoso & Richard Simper, 2011. "Banking efficiency and stock market performance: an analysis of listed Indonesian banks," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 1-20, July.
    20. Jo, Ah-Hyun & Chang, Young-Tae, 2023. "The effect of airport efficiency on air traffic, using DEA and multilateral resistance terms gravity models," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:2:p:510-:d:476258. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.