Peer Effects on Renewable Energy Development Across China's Provinces

Chinese government promises to reach the carbon emission peak by 2030 and achieve the carbon neutrality in 2060. Renewable energy development is significant for achieving this target. Renewable energy developments are imbalanced across regions in China. Local governments’ behaviors and attitudes might be influenced by neighboring. Therefore, this study uses SDM models to examine the peer effects on renewable energy development across China’s provinces. The outcomes provide the evidence to support the existence of peer effects. The results of heterogenous analysis show that the industry structure, energy demand, provincial society situations, and the asymmetrical incentive policies are all the factors to induce the peer effects and the imbalanced development. This research brings energy-related peer effects into provincial level to reflect the preferences of governments and reveal the underlying mechanisms. It also explains the spatial heterogeneity of renewable energy in China and tries to provide suggestions to improve related policies