How do corruption and energy efficiency affect the carbon emission performance of China's industrial sectors?

Existing research on the relationship among corruption, energy efficiency, and industrial carbon emissions is limited, while incorporating them into one analytical framework might provide new insights for the mechanism between corruption and industrial carbon emissions. Using the provincial panel data in China's industry from 2005 to 2015, this study applies the System Generalized Method of Moments (SYS-GMM) to explore the impacts of corruption and energy efficiency on industrial carbon emissions. The results indicate that under current economic development status, the effects of corruption and energy efficiency on industrial carbon emissions are divergent; i.e., corruption can enhance carbon emissions, whereas energy efficiency facilitates carbon emission reduction. Energy efficiency plays a mediating role in the relationship between corruption and carbon emissions for both the whole sample and the sub-samples. In other words, corruption aggravates industrial carbon emissions through lowering energy efficiency. Additionally, for the eastern region in China, there is an inverted U-shaped curve relationship between corruption and carbon emissions, as well as a U-shaped curve relationship between energy efficiency and carbon emissions. For the other regions, there is little sign of nonlinearity. Based on the results, policy implications regarding carbon emissions curbing are proposed.