Evaluation Research of Green Innovation Efficiency in China’s Heavy Polluting Industries

Abstract

Recently, green innovation efficiency, which considers innovation and environmental factors, is gradually becoming important for the sustainable development of Chinese heavy polluting industries because of the increasing strictness in China’s environmental regulations. Previous studies ignore the impact of external environmental factors on the efficiency of green industry innovation and fail to explain the complex relationship between environmental and technical efficiency fully. Therefore, a non-radial directional distance function-data envelopment analysis (DDF-DEA) three-stage green innovation efficiency evaluation model was constructed to measure the green innovation efficiency of China’s heavy polluting industries objectively and explore the impact mechanism of external factors. Then, the aforementioned model was used to conduct an empirical test on China’s heavy polluting industries. Results indicate that the green innovation efficiency of heavy polluting industries is generally low in China, and the entire industry is in the transitional stage of “effective innovation but not green.” The uncertainty of the effect of the environmental regulation policy, the over-reliance on external technologies, and the scale diseconomies of industries, which are the key factors in improving the green innovation efficiency of China’s heavy polluting industries, have a significant negative impact on green innovation efficiency. The conclusions of this study can provide a useful reference for China and other emerging markets to formulate reasonable environmental regulations and green transition of heavy polluting industries.

Spatial analysis, coupling coordination, and efficiency evaluation of green innovation: A case study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt

“…Statistical Yearbook (2014-2018) [32]; data on per unit GDP energy consumption were from China Energy Statistics Yearbook (2014-2018) [33]. The comprehensive environmental treatment rate was calculated using the entropy method based on three indexes, namely, excellent air quality rate, comprehensive utilization rate of fixed wastes, and centralized treatment rate of waste water, which were all derived from China Environmental Statistics Yearbook (2014-2018) [33]. Interpolation was used to make up for missing data from any of the years.…”

“…The index system is shown in Table 3. With regard to the input indicators, according to the Cobb-Douglas production function [40], research on green innovation efficiency generally uses three kinds of input: capital, human and resources [41]. The existing literature mostly considers R&D personnel full-time equivalent [14], and per unit GDP energy consumption [15] as human input and resources input, respectively, and internal R&D expenditures as capital input [42].…”

“…Therefore, in order to accurately measure the impact of strategic improvement in green innovation efficiency, the years from 2013 to 2017 are considered as the evaluation years. Based on the authoritativeness, availability, and continuity of the data, data on R&D personnel full-time equivalent, internal R&D expenditures, number of unauthorized patents, and number of invention patents granted were obtained from China City Statistical Yearbook (2014–2018) [ 26 ]; data on fiscal expenditure on science and technology, revenue from new product sales, “green governance” inflation pressure, and “transformative” unemployment rate were obtained from China Statistical Yearbook and China City Statistical Yearbook (2014–2018) [ 32 ]; data on per unit GDP energy consumption were from China Energy Statistics Yearbook (2014–2018) [ 33 ]. The comprehensive environmental treatment rate was calculated using the entropy method based on three indexes, namely, excellent air quality rate, comprehensive utilization rate of fixed wastes, and centralized treatment rate of waste water, which were all derived from China Environmental Statistics Yearbook (2014–2018) [ 33 ].…”

The Interaction Effect between ESG and Green Innovation and Its Impact on Firm Value from the Perspective of Information Disclosure

“…Only by combining economic development and green development can we bring new growth points for sustainable economic development. Technological progress is one of the essential forces to promote green development, but the cost of technological progress always moving towards green is high [9]. How to vigorously promote green innovation and accelerate green transformation depends on whether green development can bring environmental benefits to enterprises while bringing economic benefits and enhancing firm value.…”

Evaluation of the Green Innovation Efficiency of Chinese Industrial Enterprises: Research Based on the Three-Stage Chain Network SBM Model

“…In recent years, green technology innovation has become a research focus: Fang et al [3] evaluated green innovation efficiency in China's heavy polluting industries; Pan et al [4] used the AHP-OVP model for the evaluation of green innovation ability of manufacturing enterprises; Peng et al [5] studied the cultivation mechanism of green technology innovation in manufacturing industry from the perspective of ecological niche; and Wang and Guo [6] built an inclusive green innovation environment evaluation index and Fujian province was taken as an example.…”