How does energy poverty eradication promote green growth in China? The role of technological innovation

ØWe construct an indicator system to measure the green growth in China.ØThe effect of energy poverty eradication on green growth is explored.ØWe check the mediating effect of energy poverty on green growth.ØEnergy poverty is negatively associated with green growth.ØEnergy poverty eradication can promote green growth by improving technological innovation. To empirically investigate the potential impact of energy poverty on green growth in China, we employ a balanced panel dataset of 30 provinces for the period 2004–2017. For this purpose, we first construct an indicator system to measure a comprehensive index of green growth in China, and then examine the mediating effect of technological innovation on the energy poverty-green growth nexus. The main findings indicate that: (1) China's annual green growth index exhibits a significant upward trend; in other words, green growth in China has shown remarkable achievements; (2) energy poverty eradication and increasing technological innovation can effectively promote the country's green growth, and the interaction role of energy poverty and technological innovation affects green growth positively; and (3) energy poverty eradication not only directly promotes green growth, but also has an indirect impact on green growth by accelerating the process of technological innovation. Following the above conclusions, we highlight some policy implications for promoting green growth in China.