Analysis of energy consumption structure on CO2 emission and economic sustainable growth

The coal-based energy consumption structure will significantly increase carbon emissions. Along with the rise in per-capita income, this energy consumption structure will reduce economy sustainable growth. The measure of sustainable economic growth is to use the DEA-SBM super efficiency model of unexpected output and calculate the green total factor productivity (GTFP). The proportion of coal consumption in energy consumption represents the structure of energy consumption. The panel data in this paper are from the records of various provinces and cities in China from 2005 to 2017 (except Tibet). In the results of the mixed panel regression, the impact of energy consumption structure on sustainable economic growth is not significantly positive, and after controlling for time and provinces, the overall impact of energy consumption structure on sustainable economic growth is positive, and significant at the 5% level, and its impact on carbon dioxide emissions is significant at the 1% level. It means that the coal-based energy consumption structure is a significant factor in increasing carbon emissions. Due to the heterogeneity of various provinces, the energy consumption structure of developed provinces and cities will significantly reduce sustainable economic growth at the 1% level, while it will increase significantly at the 5% level in less developed provinces and cities, which has uncertain impact on moderately developed provinces and cities. For developed provinces, reducing the proportion of coal consumption, improving the energy consumption structure can bring about the improvement of GTFP, that is, to promote sustainable economic growth. For other provinces, strategies to change the structure of energy consumption should be put forward according to the stage of economic development. Using the mediating effect model, it is found that both developed and underdeveloped provinces contribute to sustainable economic growth through carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, controlling carbon dioxide emissions is very important for sustainable economic growth. (C) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.