Research on technological innovation effect of environmental regulation from perspective of industrial transfer: Evidence in China's thermal power industry

Technological innovation is the key to the sustainable development of the regional economy. With the adjustment of China's regional economic structure, the industrial transfer is also intensified. Under the industrial transfer background, how environmental regulation affects technological innovation in the thermal power industry becomes a key problem for regional economic development. Given this problem, this paper selected data related to the thermal power industry in each province of China during the period 2008–2017, built a threshold model, and explored the relationship between environmental regulation and technological innovation from the perspective of industrial transfer. The results revealed that: (1) The transfer of the thermal power industry from eastern to western achieves some success. (2) The regional geographical differences led to different influences of environmental regulations on technological innovation. (3) There is a non-linear correlation between environmental regulation and technological innovation. These findings not only provide a new perspective on sustainable regional economic development but also provide a decision basis for the formulation of reasonable environmental regulation policies in China.