How Do Green Transformation Policies for Industrial Parks Affect Urban Green Total-Factor Energy Efficiency? Evidence from National-Level Green Industrial Parks

As the growth poles of regional development, industrial parks realize green transformation, which boosts green development in host cities while potentially generating impacts on neighboring cities. Drawing on the construction practices of national green industrial parks, this paper utilizes China’s city-level panel data spanning 2007–2023 and employs the multi-period DID model and spatial DID model to empirically examine the impacts, transmission mechanisms, and spatial spillover effects of the industrial park green transformation policy on urban green total-factor energy efficiency (GTFEE). The findings indicate that green industrial park construction boosts urban GTFEE by approximately 11.6%, with industrial agglomeration, green technological innovation, and optimized capital allocation serving as its mediating channels. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that green industrial park construction generates stronger improvements in GTFEE for cities in eastern and western China, as well as those with abundant green industrial parks, advanced green finance, ample general higher education institutions, and underdeveloped digital infrastructure. Compared with national-level industrial parks, provincial ones transformed into green industrial parks exert a stronger positive effect on GTFEE. From a spatial perspective, green industrial park construction hinders the improvement in GTFEE in neighboring cities, and the negative spillover effect is more prominent for those that also build such parks.