Evaluating the Effects of Renewable Energy Consumption on Carbon Emissions of China’s Provinces: Based on Spatial Durbin Model

Abstract

Renewable energy consumption is considered as the main form of energy consumption in the future. The carbon emissions produced by renewable energy can be approximately ignored, and renewable energy is essential for regional sustainable development. In this study, we used the Durbin model with panel data to explore the spatial dependence between renewable energy consumption the and carbon emissions of China’s 30 provinces from 1997 to 2017. The results show that: (1) there is a negative spatial correlation between renewable energy consumption and carbon emissions, and “High-Low” areas are mainly concentrated in southern provinces in 1997–2011; (2) the center of gravity of renewable energy consumption moves southwest, which is consistent with the center of gravity of carbon emissions; (3) renewable energy consumption has a significant inhibitory effect on carbon emissions of a local region, but the spatial spillover effect is not significant. Specifically, a 1% increase in renewable energy consumption in a region will reduce carbon emissions by 0.05%. Finally, on the basis of this study, it was proposed to give full play to the advantages of renewable energy in the western region, and further accelerate the development of the renewable energy industry.