Environmental Regulation, Technological Innovation and Industrial Environmental Efficiency: An Empirical Study Based on Chinese Cement Industry

Abstract

China’s cement production has been the highest worldwide for decades and contributes significant environmental pollution. Using the DEA-Tobit model, the paper empirically analyzes the impact of environmental regulation and technological innovation on industrial environmental efficiency with data from the Chinese Cement Industry. The results show that both environmental regulation and technological innovation have a significant role in promoting the environmental efficiency of the cement industry. Among all the influencing factors, the improvement of pollution disposal capacity has the biggest positive effect on environmental efficiency, while the energy-saving effect caused by environmental regulation is not obvious, the factor endowment structure has no substantial impact on environmental efficiency. Adhering to the strategy of “reducing emissions mainly and saving energy as auxiliary”, continuously optimizing the energy consumption structure, raising the level of industrialization and industrial agglomeration are conducive to the sustainable development of the Chinese cement industry.