Evaluation of regional metafrontier total factor carbon emission performance in China's construction industry: Analysis based on modified non-radial directional distance function

We establish a metafrontier total factor carbon emission performance index (NMTCPI) of 30 provinces' construction industry in China during 2004-2017. In order to avoid the problem of two efficiency decomposition terms which includes the best practice gap ratio and technical gap ratio greater than 1, the non-radial directional distance function is modified. The results are concluded as follows: (1) Carbon emissions efficiency in China's construction industry is at low level and grows rapidly during 2004-2017, the potential for CO2 emission reduction is huge. (2) Decomposition analysis reveals that the increase of NMTCPI principally attributed to technical progress. Technical efficiency has gone through a process of first decline and then rise, which means that the construction industry has changed from extensive development to a low-carbon development model. However, the regional technology gap continues to widen after 2011. (3) Different regions have different driving forces. The improvement of carbon emission efficiency in the eastern region comes from the narrowing technical gap and technical progress, while the increase of carbon emission efficiency in the central and western regions is due to rapid technical progress. For most provinces in western group, the sharp decline in technical efficiency hinders the growth of carbon emission efficiency. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.