The contribution of non-fossil power generation to reduction of electricity-related CO2 emissions: A panel quintile regression analysis

Abstract The rise of renewable and clean power is seen as the key to alleviating environmental problems, especially for the emerging country heavily dependent on fossil energy such as China, which treats the clean-oriented generation mix as the inevitable part of power reform and improvement of environment. Thus, this paper studied the contribution of non-fossil fuel power generation to CO 2 emission reduction from electricity sector for 30 provinces over the period 1991–2015. The empirical results of panel quintile regression model show that, a 1% increase of non-fossil fuel power generation share can generally reduce electricity-related CO 2 emissions by over 2%, however, those effects appear heterogeneous among quantiles from low to high. Moreover, comparing the two sub-samples, i.e., the pre-reform period (1991–2002) and post-reform period (2003–2015), the separate estimates indicate the emission reduction effects of non-fossil fuel power generation are more obvious even for each corresponding quantile in the post-reform period, implying the essentiality of market-oriented and clean-oriented power reform.