Towards carbon‐neutral society: Reconciling peak carbon strategy and thermal power generation via regional eco‐efficiency analysis

Transition towards low‐carbon and carbon‐neutral society requires multiple technological solutions. Thermal power generation is the main source of power generation in China and contributes to a large portion of carbon emission. Under the goal of “carbon peak”, thermal power generation efficiency will become an important factor affecting industrial development. Based on the directional distance function, this article assumes energy used as inputs and power generation as an output. Then, energy‐oriented and energy‐generation oriented power generation efficiency analysis models are proposed. The carbon emission is treated as an undesirable output to analyze the regional power generation efficiency with and without industrial transfer. The application focuses on panel data of three regions in China over the period 2013–2017, accounting for three energy inputs: solid, oil and gaseous fuel. The results show that in regard to the factors improving power generation efficiency, pure efficiency and scale efficiency change is positive for the eastern and central regions, while pure technical efficiency change is positive for the western region. By further analyzing the power generation potential, the results also show that the eastern region exhibits potential savings in gaseous fuel, the central region has potential in three fuels, but all not prominent, and the western region has potential in solid and oil fuels. Accordingly, the article puts forward policy recommendations from the perspective of technological innovation, differentiated development, and collaborative communication.