How does the pressure of political promotion affect renewable energy technological innovation? Evidence from 30 Chinese provinces

Government policy is important for China's renewable energy technological innovation (RETI). However, little focus on the role of government officials who are the decision-makers. Using the panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2002 to 2018, we aim to examine the impact of the pressure of political promotion on RETI with the dynamic least squares (DOLS), fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), and feasibility generalized least squares (FGLS) methods. The results of FMOLS, DOLS, and FGLS show that per unit increase in pressure of political promotion decreases RETI by 3.1%, 6.2%, and 2.7%, respectively. This inhibitory effect is greatest in hydropower technological innovation, followed by technological innovations in wind power and energy storage. But no evidence supports the pressure of political promotion inhibits technological innovations in solar, biomass, and marine energy. Moreover, the results of the panel threshold model suggest that when GDP and foreign direct investment (FDI) exceed 3085 billion yuan and 7.928 billion US dollars, respectively, the inhibitory effect of the pressure of political promotion on RETI is insignificant. Finally, mechanism analysis reveals the pressure of political promotion affects RETI through reduced FDI, trade openness, and government intervention, with mediating effects of 0.054, 0.109, and 0.052, respectively. (c) 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd.