Energy Consumption Transformation, Cleaner Production, and Regional Carbon Productivity in China: Evidence Based on a Panel Threshold Model

It has become an urgent issue for all countries to ease the sharp conflict between economic growth and ecological conservation. The fundamental way to achieve low-carbon economic growth is to make the energy consumption structure upgrade and develop towards a cleaner direction. Standing at the point of clean production, this study empirically analyses the nonlinear mechanism of the transformation of energy consumption structure on China's regional carbon productivity by using the threshold model based on the inter-provincial data from 2009 to 2017 (30 provinces in China). The research shows that there are significant differences in cleaner production levels in different parts of China. In contrast, the cleaner production capacity in most regions has been significantly improved during the sample period. It shows the energy consumption structure transformation has a remarkable double threshold effect on regional carbon productivity in China. While clean production keeps crossing the threshold value, the effect direction of energy consumption transformation on regional carbon productivity changes from negative to positive, with both the coefficient value and significance increasing. According to the research results, the paper focuses on adjusting energy resource consumption and improving the clean production level. Eventually, some policy inspirations are proposed for the lower emissions and sustainable process of the Chinese economy.