The energy-saving effect of industrial chain synergistic division: Evidence from China's industrial chain

Under the influence of global trade policies, countries gradually build their entire industrial chains, and industrial policies show a localized development trend. In this context, what impact will the industrial chain localization policy have on the low-carbon transition and high energy efficiency? It is significant for achieving the energy conservation and emission reduction goal. Therefore, this paper uses non-competitive input-output tables from 2002 to 2017 to construct China's domestic industrial chain panel data. We combined the econometric model to explore the influence of industrial chain synergistic division on energy intensity. The research found that the industrial chain synergistic division effect can significantly reduce energy intensity. The results were robust after some endogeneity tests. Secondly, the energy-saving effect brought by the synergistic division is more obvious in high-energy dependence and high-stage industrial chains. There is still room to improve the production efficiency brought by the division network effect. Finally, the industrial chain synergistic division can reduce energy intensity by improving labor productivity, enterprise productivity, and enterprise competition mechanism. This study can provide targeted policy recommendations for China to achieve structural energy-saving. It can also provide a reference for other countries to achieve carbon neutrality.