A probation of eco-friendly production by eco-output elasticity of energy consumption

Energy is one of the critical factors for economic growth, and carbon emissions are by-products of energy use that degrade environmental quality. This research thus establishes an index of eco-output elasticity of energy consumption to find an eco-friendly production stage in which not only output increases, but also energy consumption degrades. Our observation subject is China, which employs its own energy intensity index to monitor the nexus of economy, energy, and environment. While its energy intensity index is unable to point out the eco-friendly production stage, the index of eco-output elasticity of energy consumption herein does. This paper offers three main empirical findings on China: (i) it presents an eco-friendly production stage from 2012 to 2013; (ii) it has better improvement on energy savings than CO 2 reduction; and (iii) in general, its status quo is still high energy consumption, but this phenomenon is improving.