How technological innovation influences carbon emission efficiency for sustainable development? Evidence from China

Exploring the impact of technological innovation on carbon efficiency is conducive to achieving a better low-carbon transition and thus reaching sustainable development goals. However, the academic community still has no consensus about the impact of technological innovation on carbon efficiency. China is a vast country with differences in resource endowment and economic development in different regions. Therefore, this paper first assesses the level of technological innovation and carbon emission efficiency in China through panel data of 30 provinces in China. Then, the PVAR (Panel Vector Autoregressive) model is utilized to explore the regional differences in the impact of technological innovation on carbon emission efficiency. The findings reveal that: First, the level of technological innovation in China shows a continuous development trend, but the level as a whole is relatively low. Technological innovation in western China is far behind that in eastern China. Second, China’s carbon emission efficiency is generally at a high level but shows a trend from rise to fall. The efficiency of carbon emission in eastern China is higher than in central China, and the efficiency of carbon emission in central China is higher than in western China. Third, the impulse response reveals that the influence of China’s technological innovation on the efficiency of carbon emission has experienced a change from negative impact to positive impact. The initial influence of technological innovation on carbon emission efficiency is negative, with the largest negative impact seen in central China (−0.100), followed by the eastern area of China (−0.050), and finally the western region of China (−0.005). After one period, technological innovation turned to have positive effect on the efficiency of carbon emission, with eastern China having the most positive impact (0.060), followed by central China (0.010), and western China ranking last (0.001). The above findings have implications for the formulation of technological innovation policies in different regions of China to improve the efficiency of carbon emissions in accordance with local conditions.