Renewable energy technology innovation, industrial structure upgrading and green development from the perspective of China?s provinces

Based on panel data from 30 provinces and cities in China from 2013 to 2019, this paper analyses the impacts of renewable energy technology innovation and industrial structure upgrading on green development using a spatial Durbin model (SDM). The results show that renewable energy technology innovation has a significant positive impact on green development, the rationalization of the industrial structure has a significant positive impact on the green development of the region, and the advancement of the industrial structure has a significant negative impact on the green development of the region. This article further examines the interactions between renewable energy technology innovation and industrial structure upgrading and finds that the combined effect of renewable energy technology innovation and the rationalization of the industrial structure inhibited their respective positive impacts on green development, resulting in a 1 + 1<2 effect. That is, there is a mutually exclusive effect between the two variables. The joint effect of renewable energy technological innovation and the advancement of the industrial structure can promote the positive impact of renewable energy technological innovation on green development while restraining the negative effect of the advancement of the industrial structure. There is a complementary effect between the two variables.

Automated summary

Based on empirical analysis, this paper finds that renewable energy technology innovation has a significant positive impact on green development, while the rationalization of the industrial structure also has a positive effect on green development. However, the advancement of the industrial structure has a negative impact on green development. The study further reveals a mutually exclusive effect between renewable energy technology innovation and industrial structure upgrading, but their joint effect can promote the positive impact of technological innovation on green development while restraining the negative effect of industrial structure advancement.