Search

As a major institutional innovation in the practice of the green development concept, the energy‑consuming transaction system is a major measure to promote the reform of the ecological civilization system. The implementation of the energy‑consuming transaction system is important for improving energy utilization efficiency and achieving ‘dual control’ of energy consumption and intensity. Using the energy‑consuming transaction system pilots as an entry point, and based on the panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2019, this paper used the difference‑in‑differences method to examine the impact and mechanism of energy‑consuming transaction system on energy efficiency. The research results showed that the energy‑consuming transaction system could significantly improve energy utilization efficiency. Specifically, it could reduce the energy consumption per unit of GDP in the pilot provinces by 5.78%. The mechanism test showed that the energy‑consuming transaction system mainly improved energy utilization efficiency by promoting green technology innovation. Heterogeneity analysis showed that the energy‑consuming transaction system would have a diminishing effect on energy utilization efficiency along with the energy saving potential. The energy ‑consuming transaction system could play a significant role in promoting the energy utilization efficiency of Henan and Sichuan, while the impact on Zhejiang and Fujian was not significant. In addition, this article also found that the energy‑consuming transaction system had environmental dividends, which could effectively reduce sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide emissions while promoting energy efficiency. After parallel trend test, structural breakpoint test, PSM‑DID, placebo test, and other robustness tests, the conclusion of this article was still valid. This study has the following implications: In the process of building the energy‑consuming transaction market, it is necessary to promptly summarize the pilot experience, gradually expand the piloting scope, constantly improve the regulatory mechanism to reduce institutional transaction costs, promote efficient energy allocation and rational use, and at the same time, adhere to local conditions and set out to formulate and implement supporting measures for energy‑consuming transactions with local characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]