Green Development Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors in China’s Iron and Steel Industry

Abstract

Analyzing the potential for green development and its influencing factors is an important part of the energy savings and low-carbon economic growth of China’s iron and steel industry (ISI). Many studies have concentrated on improving the ISI’s energy use and pollution control efficiencies, analyzing the influencing factors from the perspectives of regions and firms. However, no study has focused on measuring the provincial green development efficiency (GDE) in the ISI. The selected driving forces of the GDE do not consider regional or industrial characteristics. In this study, based on provincial panel data for 2006–2015 in China, the GDE of the Chinese ISI was evaluated using the super-slack-based measure (super-SBM) model. China’s 28 provinces were divided into different groups through cluster analysis. Then, a Tobit model was constructed to explore the factors influencing the GDE. The key results show the following: (1) The GDE values decline, fluctuating from 0.628 in 2006 to 0.571 in 2015, decreasing by 1.1% annually. Among the provinces, wide differences exist in the GDE values for the ISI, with the highest average GDE value being observed in Beijing and the lowest in Shanxi. (2) The provinces with high R&D expenditure inputs and high GDE values are mostly located in the eastern region, while the provinces with low R&D expenditure inputs and low GDE values are located in the central and western regions. (3) The export demand, property structure, and capital investment have significant positive effects on the ISI’s GDE in the eastern and western regions, while the energy consumption structure and industry scale have negative impacts on the improvement of the GDE in the central region. (4) Specific policy recommendations for sustainable development in the ISI mainly include further strengthening investment in R&D, expanding exports, adjusting energy consumption structures, and deepening the reform of stated-own enterprises.