The impact analysis of energy industry structure optimization on urban low-carbon transition

Accelerating urban low-carbon transition is vital for high-quality economic growth and sustainable development. The energy industry, a key driver of socioeconomic progress, is the main source of carbon emissions and is crucial for decarbonization. Optimizing its structure is essential for urban low-carbon transformation. Based on the panel data of 284 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2022, this study decomposes the optimization of the energy industry structure into basic structure optimization and spatial structure optimization, uses green total factor productivity (GTFP) to measure the level of urban low-carbon transformation, and uses the super-efficiency SBM model to calculate it, deeply explores whether and how the optimization of the energy industry structure affects the low-carbon transformation of cities and analyzes the mechanism effect of the level of green technology innovation in it. The results show that both the optimization of the energy industry basic structure and the optimization of the energy industry spatial structure can promote the low-carbon transformation of the city, and the results are still valid after the endogenous test and robustness test. The level of urban green innovation will play a positive moderating effect on the optimization of the energy industry structure on its low-carbon transformation and development. The relationship between energy industry structure optimization and urban low-carbon transformation is obviously heterogeneous in different regions, not only in different geographical locations, but also in different levels of economic development.