Is the construction of new energy demonstration cities conducive to improvements in energy efficiency?

As a low-cost urban development model with Chinese characteristics, the policy of new energy demonstration cities (NEDC) is very important for China's quest to achieve a green economy and meet established emissions reduction targets. Using the panel data of 285 cities from 2004 to 2020 and, on the basis of theoretical analysis of the mechanism of NEDC affecting energy efficiency, we use the difference-in-differences (DID) approach to empirically verify the influence of NEDC on energy efficiency and its role path. The research indicates that implementation of NEDC can significantly facilitate improvements in urban energy efficiency, with associated robustness tests indicating that the conclusions are sufficiently robust. The heterogeneity outcomes show that this facilitating effect is more pronounced in big cities as well as resource-based cities. An examination of the mechanism reveals that innovation effects, industrial effects, structural effects and service impacts are the main ways by which the development of NEDC promotes improvements in energy efficiency.