Influential Factors and Convergence of Total Factor Energy Efficiency in China Based on the Malmqulist-Luenberger Index
中国区域全要素能源效率收敛性及影响因素分析——基于Malmqulist-Luenberger指数法

With the rising demands for energy and the impact of energy consumption and CO2 emissions on our environment and climate, sustainable economic development faces new challenges across China. In this paper, we use input and output panel data from 28 provinces and cities in China from 1999-2010, and based on the sequence DEA-Malmquist-Luenberger （ML） productivity index measure total factor energy efficiency by considering the constraints of CO2 emissions and decomposition. We found that the average total factor energy efficiency follows a growing trend and that technological progress is the source of this improvement. Without considering constraints on CO2 emissions total factor energy efficiency is overestimate; when the constraints of CO2 emissions are considered, industrial structure is optimized and adjusted, showing improvements in scale efficiency. Total factor energy efficiency shows regional differences: the best performance is in the eastern region, then central, followed by western China. The change in technical efficiency in the central region is greatest; the scale efficiency in western China is improved after 2000, and the western region has a positive impact on industrial structure optimization and configuration. The innovation provinces such as Tianjin, Liaoning, Shanghai, Fujian and Yunnan play a promoting role in energy efficiency. Absolute β convergence test shows total factor energy efficiency has a significant convergence at the 1% level in three regions. The western region convergence rate is higher than the central and eastern regions and the western region exhibits a catch-up effect and convergence trend. Fixed-effects panel regression results shows that economic development and total factor energy efficiency follow a U trend. The adjustment of industrial structure on total factor energy efficiency has been significantly inhibited in the central and western regions, but impact on the eastern coastal cities is not significant. We conclude that as a rapidly developing country, China needs to transform its mode of economic growth, improve energy consumption structure and optimize industrial structure in the western regions in order to achieve sustainable growth of green GDP.