市场型环境规制促进了工业低碳转型吗?——来自用能权交易的证据

Do market-based environmental regulations promote a low-carbon industrial transition?Evidence from trading energy rights

“双碳”背景下,用能权交易制度作为推动生态文明建设的市场型环境规制,能否助推城市工业低碳转型仍有待检验。基于2011—2020年我国282个城市的面板数据,通过双重差分的准自然实验法,检验用能权交易制度对城市工业碳排放和工业碳生产率的影响,并考察其作用机制。研究发现,用能权交易制度有助于城市工业碳排放减少和工业碳生产率提升,该结论经过一系列稳健性检验后依然成立。异质性分析表明:用能权交易制度对内陆城市工业低碳转型起到“雪中送炭”的作用,同时为沿海城市带来“锦上添花”的效果;相较于非资源型城市和老工业基地城市,用能权交易制度对资源型城市和非老工业基地城市工业低碳转型的促进效果更明显。机制分析表明,用能权交易制度主要通过能耗“双控”效应、产业结构效应及绿色创新效应等途径驱动城市工业低碳转型。进一步分析可知,经济增长目标削弱了用能权交易制度的产业结构效应及绿色创新效应,要素错配弱化了用能权交易制度的能耗“双控”效应,二者对用能权交易的低碳治理效果产生负向调节作用。以上结论进一步完善了市场型环境规制的低碳治理效应评估,为理解市场型环境规制与城市工业低碳转型之间的关系提供了新的经验证据,也对我国实现“双碳”目标的制度优化有重要启示意义。

In the context of China's“dual carbon”strategy,whether the energy trading system as a market-based environmental regulation to promote the construction of ecological civilization can promote the low-carbon transformation of urban industry remains to be tested.Based on the panel data of 282 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2020,this paper examines the effects of the energy trading system on urban industrial carbon emissions and industrial carbon productivity(and the mechanism for that effect)using the method of difference-in-differences.The paper concludes that the energy trading system can help reduce urban industrial carbon emissions and increase industrial carbon productivity.This conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests.The heterogeneity analysis shows that the energy trading system plays a role in the industrial low-carbon transformation of inland cities,while it brings“icing on the cake”effects for coastal cities.Compared with non-resource-based and old industrial base cities,the energy trading system has a more obvious positive effect on the industrial low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities and non-old industrial base cities.The mechanism analysis shows that the energy trading system mainly drives the industrial low-carbon transformation through the“dual control”effect of energy consumption,the effect of industrial structure and the effect of green innovation.Further analysis shows that the economic growth target weakens the industrial structure and green innovation effects of the energy trading system,and factor mismatch weakens the energy consumption“dual control”effect of the energy trading system,which negatively impact the low-carbon governance effect of the energy trading system.The above conclusions further improve the evaluation of low carbon governance effect of market-based environmental regulation,provide new empirical evidence for understanding the relationship between market-based environmental regulation and urban industrial low-carbon transition,and have important implications for the system optimization of the“double carbon”goals.