Does new-type urbanization policy promote green energy efficiency? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

Although economy-centered urbanization has been favored by many developing countries, it has brought about serious economic and social challenges while creating an economic miracle. To achieve sustainable development and address the issue of excessive energy consumption caused by traditional urbanization, China began to implement the new-type people-centered urbanization policy since 2014. This paper is the first to theoretically analyze the mechanism and impact of new-type urbanization policy (NUP) on green energy efficiency (GEE). By using the panel data of 285 Chinese cities during 2003–2017, after measuring GEE considering environmental constraints, this paper examines the impact and its mechanism of NUP on GEE. The results show that in comparison to non-pilot cities, the implementation of NUP could prevent GEE from improving, and lower GEE by 0.060 on average. After a series of tests, the main conclusion remains robust. Mechanism analysis indicates that NUP can affect GEE through green technical efficiency and green technological progress. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that under the constraints of different urban industries, resource endowment, city size, economic development stage, and urban administrative level, NUP has diverse impacts on GEE. Corresponding policy implications are proposed accordingly to improve GEE.