Environmental decentralization and green economic growth: Do renewable energy development play any role?

Navigating the intricate dynamics between environmental decentralization and green growth, this research meticulously explores the multifaceted relationships among these variables within China's specific socio-economic and political context from 2002 to 2022. The study unveils a nuanced picture, revealing a significant negative relationship between environmental decentralization (ED) and green growth while also highlighting the divergent impacts of environmental administrative decentralization (EAD) and environmental supervisory decentralization (ESD). Furthermore, the research illuminates the partial mediating role of renewable energy development in the relationship between environmental decentralization and green growth. Additional variables, including population, R&D investment intensity, secondary industry output, environmental regulations, and urbanization, are meticulously examined, revealing positive and negative relationships with green growth. The findings are helpful for policy-making, guiding the strategic development of environmental and economic policies that synergistically foster sustainable development amidst the multifaceted challenges and opportunities presented by environmental decentralization and green growth.