Driving Green Growth: The Role of Intellectual Property Protection in Enhancing Urban Energy Efficiency in China

Driving Green Growth: The Role of Intellectual Property Protection in Enhancing Urban Energy Efficiency in China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Driving Green Growth: The Role of Intellectual Property Protection in Enhancing Urban Energy Efficiency in China Han Zhang, Xiaoxin Yang, Wenfan Qian This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9555297/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The global pursuit of sustainable development highlights the pivotal role of intellectual property protection (IPP) in fostering both economic growth and environmental sustainability, especially in developing nations. This study investigates the impact of IPP on green total-factor energy efficiency (GTFEE) using panel data from 284 prefecture-level and above cities in China spanning 2006 to 2020. Leveraging the 2012 launch of the National Intellectual Property Demonstration Cities (NIPDC) initiative as a quasi-natural experiment, we employ a multi-period difference-in-differences framework combined with mediation analysis. This study finds that enhanced IPP significantly improves urban GTFEE, particularly in non-western, resource-constrained, and less innovative cities, as well as in the early NIPDC pilot cohorts. Mechanism analysis indicates that improved green innovation quality mediates the positive effect of IPP on GTFEE, while constraints in industrial structure optimization serve as a negative mediator. Ultimately, these results underscore the pivotal role of IPP in facilitating energy transitions, offering actionable policy insights for reinforcing IPP frameworks to drive green growth in developing economies. Environmental Economics City Management and Urban Policy Intellectual Property Protection Green Total Factor Energy Efficiency National Intellectual Property Demonstration Cities (NIPDC) Green Innovation Energy Transition Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9555297","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":631144783,"identity":"4bad6bcb-5f2f-4d7b-a848-4950ce6f42ef","order_by":0,"name":"Han Zhang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABAElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCSBmbGBgYGNvPvjw4z8bHn7+BiK18PEcSzaWYEuTkZxxgEgtchI5ZhI8bIdtDBoS8OuQn9387OHXHXZ5bBJpyQYSPOd5DBgOMH74mINbC+OcY+bGsmeSi9l4Hh98UCBxm8ecuYFZcuY23FqYJRLMpCXbmBPb2EG2GNzmsWw4wMbMi0cLm0T6N6CW+sQ2BpBfEs7xGBxIwK+FB+hryY9thxPbOEBaDhwgrEVCIqdMmrHteGIbKJAlG5J5JGccbMbrF/kZ6dskf7ZVJ85vB0Vlg509P3/zwQ8f8WgBBwEPKh8UTQQA4w+CSkbBKBgFo2BEAwAuHVD65kMODQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7004-176X","institution":"Qingdao University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Han","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":631144784,"identity":"61f3a960-9239-4825-b587-04edbedc3dab","order_by":1,"name":"Xiaoxin Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ocean University of China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiaoxin","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""},{"id":631144785,"identity":"a4776919-f283-4aa4-9c26-f31ce7909719","order_by":2,"name":"Wenfan Qian","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Qingdao University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wenfan","middleName":"","lastName":"Qian","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-28 14:11:26","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":true,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9555297/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9555297/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108181989,"identity":"2ef4832e-3b8f-4f07-8cda-2c929cac7b3a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-30 08:59:03","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":882705,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9555297/v1_covered_4b949048-d649-4b8d-b42c-194de646e732.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDriving Green Growth: The Role of Intellectual Property Protection in Enhancing Urban Energy Efficiency in China\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Qingdao University","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Intellectual Property Protection, Green Total Factor Energy Efficiency, National Intellectual Property Demonstration Cities (NIPDC), Green Innovation, Energy Transition","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9555297/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9555297/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe global pursuit of sustainable development highlights the pivotal role of intellectual property protection (IPP) in fostering both economic growth and environmental sustainability, especially in developing nations. 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