Can industry-university-research collaborative innovation efficiency reduce carbon emissions?

•The Industry-university-research Collaborative Innovation Efficiency is studied.•The Malmquist index was used to decompose the ICIE.•Regional differences in efficiency collaborative innovation are revealed.•The impact of ICIE on carbon emissions was studied.•ICIE influences carbon emissions by the mediation of green innovation capabilities. Industry-university-research cooperation is an important component of the national innovation system. It is of great significance to promote scientific and technological achievements, promote industrial transformation and upgrading, and build a country that is powerful in science and technology. As an organizational form of technological progress, the efficiency of industry-university-research (IUR) cooperation can also affect carbon emissions. Based on panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2009 to 2017, this paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to study regional differences in industry-university-research collaborative innovation efficiency (ICIE) and the impact of carbon emissions. The results show that (1) the average efficiency of China's industry-university-research collaboration innovation is 0.65, and many provinces have not reached the effective frontier. Compared with the efficiency of South China at the regional level, ICIE in North China, Northeast China, Northwest China, and Southwest China is low, and the efficiency of ICIE needs to be further improved. (2) Based on the Malmquist index (MI) decomposition of ICIE, the overall ICIE in China is increasing, of which technological progress (TECH) is the main driving factor. (3) According to the results of the regression model, China's carbon emissions exhibit a path dependence, and improving ICIE can reduce carbon emissions. (4) Green innovation plays an intermediary role. The improvement of ICIE promotes the improvement of green innovation capabilities, and the improvement of green innovation capabilities can effectively suppress carbon emissions.