Measuring China's regional energy and carbon emission efficiency with DEA models: A survey

The use of data envelopment analysis (DEA) in China's regional energy efficiency and carbon emission efficiency (EE&CE) assessment has received increasing attention in recent years. This paper conducted a comprehensive survey of empirical studies published in 2006-2015 on China's regional EE&CE assessment using DEA-type models. The main features used in previous studies were identified, and then the methodological framework for deriving the EE&CE indicators as well as six widely used DEA models were introduced. These DEA models were compared and applied to measure China's regional EE&CE in 30 provinces/regions between 1995 and 2012. The empirical study indicates that China's regional EE&CE remained stable in the 9th Five Year Plan (1996-2000), then decreased in the 10th Five Year Plan (2000-2005), and increased a bit in the 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010). The east region of China had the highest EE&CE while the central area had the lowest. By way of conclusion, some useful points relating to model selection are summarized from both methodological and empirical aspects. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.