The driving effect of energy efficiency change: From the perspective of collaborative innovation development pattern

Energy efficiency enhancement and carbon reduction are essential means by which to promote carbon neutralization. However, is the constant pursuit of improving energy efficiency always conducive to urban development? The collaborative innovation development pattern has become the focus of regional competition. Thus, this paper establishes a new paradigm for analyzing the driving effect of energy efficiency change from the perspective of collaborative innovation development pattern. Using panel data from cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River urban agglomeration in China from 2009 to 2019, the DEA-Malmquist and projection pursuit models calculate the energy efficiency change and collaborative innovation city construction level. Then, we use the Tobit model to analyze the reverse forcing effect of energy efficiency change on collaborative innovation city construction level from the dual perspectives of energy efficiency changes at different levels and geographical locations. The results show that the driving effect of energy efficiency change is U-shaped. In addition, there are some city differences, and the U-shaped relationship only exists in high-efficiency cities, the Wuhan Metropolitan Area and the Poyang Urban Agglomeration. This paper also finds that industrial structure, government interaction, development level, and population density impact collaborative innovation development pattern. Finally, these findings provide policy-makers with new ideas to promote sustainable urban development.