Sustainability-Driven Energy Efficiency Assessment: Divergent Policy Impacts of Single Factor Limits Versus Total Factor Coordination

While China’s current energy policies predominantly adopt single-factor energy efficiency (SFEE) as the benchmark, academic research increasingly advocates total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) assessments. This study examines the differences between these two energy efficiency evaluation paradigms in the context of sustainable development goals, particularly exploring the extent of such divergences. Guided by the “energy input minimization” principle, we construct a time-series dynamic analytical framework to systematically compare the impact of SFEE and TFEE on regional energy efficiency rankings from a sustainable development perspective. Specifically, this paper innovatively incorporates “new driving forces” into the production function, establishing a green development-oriented evaluation system that reveals the measurement bias of traditional production frameworks on energy efficiency and its influence on regional rankings. The results demonstrate: (1) China’s regional energy efficiency rankings remain largely consistent under both evaluation systems, with only minor adjustments for individual provinces, confirming the feasibility of adopting SFEE in policy formulation as an effective method for evaluating and comparing regional energy efficiency; (2) For most provinces under the “new normal” economic development context, continued use of traditional production frameworks would lead to underestimation of TFEE. After introducing factors such as human capital, intangible capital, technological innovation, and business environments, China’s energy efficiency polarization gap widens. The evaluation of efficiency indicators provides theoretical foundations and micro-level evidence for energy policy formulation under the “dual-carbon” goals.