Resource-saving campus construction and university green innovation: evidence from the establishment of demonstration units for conservation-oriented public institutions

Purpose Public institutions are the main contributors to carbon emissions, and their resource conservation demonstration construction plays a vital role in guiding and advancing the country’s green transformation. Universities, as crucial components of public institutions and sources of advanced knowledge, serve as critical drivers of energy conservation and emission reduction. Exploiting the Establishment of Conservation-oriented Public Institution (COPI) Demonstration Units, this study manually compiles a list of universities participating in these demonstration units and examines how resource-saving campus construction (RSCC) influences university green innovation (UGI). Design/methodology/approach Exploiting the Work Plan for Establishing COPI Demonstration Units as a quasi-natural experiment, and collecting university green patent data from 2011 to 2022, this study manually compiles a list of universities participating in the demonstration units and examines how RSCC influences UGI. Findings The results show that RSCC increases university green invention patents. Furthermore, the authors investigate the mechanisms driving these effects from external and internal perspectives. From the external angle they observe that RSCC as a green demonstration project not only garners governments environmental attention but also improves universities energy use efficiency through the conservation of energy water and electricity thereby fostering UGI. From the internal perspective, RSCC boosts universities investment in R&D funds and personnel thereby strengthening UGI. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that this incentive effect is remarkably more potent at non-ministry-affiliated universities and at universities located in non-resource-based and low-carbon pilot cities. Originality/value This study makes four contributions: first, it enriches research on university innovation in the field of the green economy. Using a unique university research database, we investigate how RSCC impacts UGI, offering a new perspective on how public institutions exert green demonstration effects. Second, it expands the literature on how the external policy environment, specifically non-research and development (R&D) funding policies such as COPI construction, influences university innovation behavior, which supplements research on the driving factors of university innovation and highlights the role of public governance transformation in shaping green innovation. Third, it examines both internal and external driving mechanisms of UGI, deepening the understanding of UGI motivations. Fourth, it expands research on university-industry-research collaboration in the green field, showing how COPI construction enhances university involvement in green innovation and strengthens collaboration with industry.