Enhancing the green efficiency of fundamental sectors in China’s industrial system: A spatial-temporal analysis

Due to sectoral interactions in the economy, the overall green efficiency (GE) of China’s industrial system relies heavily on fundamental sectors that contribute substantial energy to the supply chain production of other sectors but shows low sectoral GE. For the three fundamental sectors in China’s industrial systems, namely the smelting and pressing of nonferrous metals (SPNFM), the processing of petroleum, coking, and nuclear fuel (PPCNF); and the manufacturing of nonmetallic mineral products (MNMMP), we employed a three-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to measure GE in the fundamental sectors in 30 provinces from 2010 to 2015. We then adopted a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model to evaluate the influence of technological innovation (TI), industrial agglomeration (IA), environmental regulation (ER), and intraindustry competition (IC). The results showed that GE in the three fundamental sectors varied spatially. Specifically, TI promoted GE in MNMMP, but the effect was not obvious in the SPNFM and PPCNF sectors. Moreover, ER had positive impacts on GE in the fundamental sectors. The effects of IA and IC on GE in the fundamental sectors varied in direction and strength. After eliminating the impacts of environmental effects and statistical noise, the real GE in the three fundamental sectors varied significantly compared to the comprehensive GE. Policy opportunities for enhancing GE in the fundamental sectors mainly lie in region-specific policy and regulations that avoid a “one-size-fits-all” governance approach.