Differential Improvement Path of Carbon Emissions Efficiency of China's Provincial Construction Industry: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis Approach

Improving the carbon emission efficiency of the construction industry ( CEECI) in China's provinces is critical to the realization of the "dual carbon" goal; however, under the interaction of multiple factors, the paths to achieve high-efficiency (CEECI) in different provinces are not consistent. This study uses a super-efficiency SBM model with undesired outputs to measure the CEECI of 30 provincial-level regions in China in 2018 and 2019. From the perspective of configuration, qualitative comparative analysis method is used to analyze the joint action mechanism of regional economic development level, energy consumption structure, management level, marketization degree, and technological innovation level on CEECI. The result shows that the regional construction industry has formed three equivalent low-carbon development paths: "low energy consumption management," "scale management," and "scale marketization." Finally, according to the differences in regional resource endowments, the differentiated paths for the low-carbon development of the construction industry in different regions is proposed.