The impact of regional market integration and economic opening up on environmental total factor energy productivity in Chinese provinces

China is the world's largest energy consumer; how can Chinese limited energy resources ensure a continuous development of its economy? This paper examines the impact of China's market integration and economic opening up on the Environmental Total Factor Energy Productivity (ETFEP) of 29 provinces in China for the period 1999-2017 and have the following findings: (1) China should strengthen its resource management in improving its ETFEP by providing indispensable impetus for ETFEP to turn from negative to positive growth and, meanwhile, making technological progress to bring about a two-wheel drive mode. (2) The key to improving Chinese ETFEP lies in inland China. The inland region should take over the industries transferred from coastal areas in a scientific manner, and avoid falling into the poverty accumulation trap of "being behind.introducing.lagging behind.introducing again.and falling behind again". (3) Coastal areas should achieve the goal of increasing its ETFEP by speeding up its market integration, matching the higher economic opening up situation of the coastal areas. The key to improving the ETFEP of the inland areas is to focus on interregional market integration and the priority of this integration should be placed over the economic opening up, which seems more realistic at this stage.