This article develops a new hybrid model of Trigonometric Envelopment Analysis for Ideal Solutions (TEA-IS) to assess the ecological efficiency of 248 Chinese cities over a 14-year period and employs a difference-in-differences approach to reveal the impact mechanism of low-carbon pilot city policies on ecological efficiency from the perspective of green technology innovation.

The TEA-IS approach not only combines the advantageous features of individual models but also enables an analysis of ecological efficiency in terms of the synergistic effects that may exist between positively and negatively correlated criteria. Machine learning methods are also employed to predict synergistic and high-low performing Chinese cities based on socioeconomic and demographic contexts.

The results indicate that ecological efficiency is generally low across Chinese cities. The low-carbon pilot city policy contributes to improving ecological efficiency, driven by the mechanism of green technology innovation.

Researcher: Peter Wanke et al.
Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (FGV EBAPE)

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