Energy inequality and carbon emission efficiency: from the perspective of environmental regulation

Improving carbon emission efficiency is crucial for tackling climate change and enhancing environmental quality. This paper uses a fixed-effects model to analyze whether energy inequality can enhance carbon emission efficiency across 270 Chinese cities from 2010 to 2019. This study finds that energy inequality exerts a significant positive impact on carbon emission efficiency, and this conclusion remains consistent even after a series of robustness tests. Environmental regulation serves to augment the effect of energy inequality on carbon emission efficiency, with market-based environmental regulation exerting the greatest influence and voluntary environmental regulation having the least impact. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that cities, characterized by resource-based economies, high-quality foreign direct investment and strong environmental preference, experience a more pronounced effect. Mechanism analysis supports the theoretical hypothesis that energy inequality can stimulate clean technology innovation, facilitate the realization of green industrial structure, and optimize energy consumption structure, consequently enhancing carbon emission efficiency. These findings contribute to the existing literature on energy inequality and carbon emission efficiency. Local governments should strengthen environmental regulations and actively promote green R&D investment to achieve continuous improvements in carbon emission efficiency. Additionally, future research can explore the impact of energy inequality on carbon emission efficiency from a more microscopic perspective.