Industrial energy and environment efficiency of Chinese cities: an analysis based on range-adjusted measure

Industrial energy and environment efficiency evaluation is essential in guiding national and environmental policy making, since the industrial sector is the largest energy consumer and major pollutants producer in China. This study utilizes the Range-Adjusted Measure (RAM)-based models to evaluate the energy and environment efficiency of industrial sectors in 31 Chinese major cities. The empirical results show that eastern Chinese cities outperform their western counterparts in terms of industrial energy efficiency, and central Chinese cities outperform their eastern counterparts in terms of industrial environment efficiency. Under natural disposability, 23 cities exhibit decreasing returns to scale, and under managerial disposability, 18 cities exhibit increasing damages to scale.