IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v43y2022i5p93-116.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy Efficiency and Productivity: A Worldwide Firm-level Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Pierluigi Montalbano
  • Silvia Nenci
  • Davide Vurchio

Abstract

This work aims to explore the relationship between energy efficiency and productivity using firm-level data. Although important to policymaking, very few academic studies analyze this relationship at the firm level. Taking advantage of the national representative World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data, we contribute to the current literature by providing one of the most comprehensive firmlevel analyses to date in terms of geographical coverage. To this end, we apply a standard constant return to scale Cobb-Douglas production function expanded to energy efficiency. Our findings show a positive relationship between alternative measures of energy efficiency and firm-level productivity. This relationship holds, albeit with different magnitudes, for all industries and regional groups. This work provides further empirical support for the messages conveyed by international institutions regarding the positive relationship between environmental actions and firm performance, thus supporting collective efforts to improve the private sector’s energy efficiency, including the implementation of Agenda 2030.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierluigi Montalbano & Silvia Nenci & Davide Vurchio, 2022. "Energy Efficiency and Productivity: A Worldwide Firm-level Analysis," The Energy Journal, , vol. 43(5), pages 93-116, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:43:y:2022:i:5:p:93-116
    DOI: 10.5547/01956574.43.5.pmon
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/01956574.43.5.pmon
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/01956574.43.5.pmon?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Okereke, Chukwumerije, 2007. "An Exploration of Motivations, Drivers and Barriers to Carbon Management:: The UK FTSE 100," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 475-486, December.
    2. Jens Matthias Arnold & Aaditya Mattoo & Gaia Narciso, 2008. "Services Inputs and Firm Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Firm-Level Data," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 17(4), pages 578-599, August.
    3. Proskuryakova, L. & Kovalev, A., 2015. "Measuring energy efficiency: Is energy intensity a good evidence base?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 450-459.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Joseph Francois & Bernard Hoekman, 2010. "Services Trade and Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 642-692, September.
    2. Teimuraz Gogokhia & George Berulava, 2021. "Business environment reforms, innovation and firm productivity in transition economies," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(2), pages 221-245, June.
    3. Bikki Jaggi & Alessandra Allini & Riccardo Macchioni & Annamaria Zampella, 2018. "Do investors find carbon information useful? Evidence from Italian firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 1031-1056, May.
    4. Natalie Slawinski & Jonatan Pinkse & Timo Busch & Subhabrata Bobby Banerjeed, 2014. "The role of short-termism and uncertainty in organizational inaction on climate change: multilevel framework," Working Papers hal-00961226, HAL.
    5. Fiorini, Matteo; Lebrand, Mathilde, 2016. "The Political Economy of Services Trade Agreements," Economics Working Papers ECO2016/05, European University Institute.
    6. Islam, Asif & Hyland, Marie, 2019. "The drivers and impacts of water infrastructure reliability – a global analysis of manufacturing firms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 143-157.
    7. Mingliang Zhao & Fangyi Liu & Wei Sun & Xin Tao, 2020. "The Relationship between Environmental Regulation and Green Total Factor Productivity in China: An Empirical Study Based on the Panel Data of 177 Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-19, July.
    8. Román-Collado, Rocío & Colinet, María José, 2018. "Are labour productivity and residential living standards drivers of the energy consumption changes?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 746-756.
    9. Lisa CHAUVET & Alvaro DE MIGUEL TORRES & Alexa TIEMANN, 2018. "Electricity and manufacturing firm profits in Myanmar," Working Papers P214, FERDI.
    10. Fernando, Yudi & Hor, Wei Lin, 2017. "Impacts of energy management practices on energy efficiency and carbon emissions reduction: A survey of malaysian manufacturing firms," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 62-73.
    11. Klishchuk Bogdan & Zelenyuk Valentin, 2012. "Impact of Services LIberalization on Firm Level Productivity in Eastern Europe and Central Asia," EERC Working Paper Series 12/03e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS.
    12. Beverelli, Cosimo & Fiorini, Matteo & Hoekman, Bernard, 2017. "Services trade policy and manufacturing productivity: The role of institutions," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 166-182.
    13. Matteo Piccioni & Fabrizio Martini & Chiara Martini & Claudia Toro, 2024. "Evaluation of Energy Performance Indicators and Energy Saving Opportunities for the Italian Rubber Manufacturing Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-23, March.
    14. Da Gao & Chang Liu & Xinyan Wei & Yang Liu, 2023. "Can River Chief System Policy Improve Enterprises’ Energy Efficiency? Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-17, February.
    15. Nagler, Paula & Naudé, Wim, 2014. "Labor Productivity in Rural African Enterprises: Empirical Evidence from the LSMS-ISA," IZA Discussion Papers 8524, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. van Megen, Bram & Bürer, Meinrad & Patel, Martin K., 2019. "Comparing electricity consumption trends: A multilevel index decomposition analysis of the Genevan and Swiss economy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1-25.
    17. Tingko Lee & Wei‐Tsung Liu & Jun‐Xian Yu, 2021. "Does TMT composition matter to environmental policy and firm performance? The role of organizational slack," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 196-213, January.
    18. Bernard Hoekman & Aaditya Mattoo & André Sapir, 2007. "The political economy of services trade liberalization: a case for international regulatory cooperation?," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 23(3), pages 367-391, Autumn.
    19. Richard Kneller & Florian Misch, 2014. "The Effects Of Public Spending Composition On Firm Productivity," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(4), pages 1525-1542, October.
    20. Michaela Rankin & Carolyn Windsor & Dina Wahyuni, 2011. "An investigation of voluntary corporate greenhouse gas emissions reporting in a market governance system," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(8), pages 1037-1070, October.

    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:sae:enejou:v:43:y:2022:i:5:p:93-116. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.