The role played by energy is essential when it comes to the promotion of social and economic advances, and enhancing energy efficiency is very critical towards the attainment of sustainable development in China. This paper will discuss the energy efficiency of 54 Chinese cities located in three large urban clusters during the period 20122024. Through the common frontier dynamic SBM model, which considers non-expected outputs, the research assesses energy efficiencies of these cities. In this framework, energy efficiency is considered as a dependent variable and energy policies as the main explanatory variable. The authors use the difference-in-differences approach (DID) to measure the effect of these policies on energy efficiency in the context of industrial economic growth. The findings indicate that the cities have an average yearly energy efficiency score of 1.0753, which means that the cities work on the efficiency frontier. The energy efficiency ranking of the metropolitan regions is as follows: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei is ranked first, followed by Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and Pearl River Delta (PRD). Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has the highest rate of improvement of energy efficiency, followed by PRD and YRD respectively. The standard deviation of energy efficiency also indicates that the greatest changes are experienced by PRD, YRD, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, respectively. Also, the benchmark regression analysis and PSM-DID analysis of the study supports that energy policies have a positive effect on energy efficiency, where industrial economic growth acts as a mediator. The results highlight important regional differences in the effectiveness of energy policies, which are driven by different levels of development of these regions.
