The COVID-19 pandemic and energy transitions: Evidence from low-carbon power generation in China

Kai Li; Shaozhou Qi; Xunpeng Shi

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132994

The COVID-19 pandemic and energy transitions: Evidence from low-carbon power generation in China

J Clean Prod. 2022 Sep 25:368:132994. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132994. Epub 2022 Jul 8.

Authors

Kai Li^{1

2}, Shaozhou Qi^{1

2}, Xunpeng Shi^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Climate Change and Energy Economics Study Center, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
² European Studies Center, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
³ Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.
⁴ Center of Hubei Cooperative Innovation for Emissions Trading System, China.

Abstract

The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to a decline in carbon emissions or an improvement in air quality. Yet little is known about how the pandemic has affected the "low-carbon" energy transition. Here, using difference-in-differences (DID) models with historical controls, this study analyzed the overall impact of COVID-19 on China's low-carbon power generation and examined the COVID-19 effect on the direction of the energy transition with a monthly province-specific, source-specific dataset. It was found that the COVID-19 pandemic increased the low-carbon power generation by 4.59% (0.0648 billion kWh), mainly driven by solar and wind power generation, especially solar power generation. Heterogeneous effects indicate that the pandemic has accelerated the transition of the power generation mix and the primary energy mix from carbon-intensive energy to modern renewables (such as solar and wind power). Finally, this study put forward several policy implications, including the need to promote the long-term development of renewables, green recovery, and so on.

Keywords: China; Energy transition; Low-carbon power generation; The COVID-19 pandemic.