The new energy demonstration city policy (NEDC), an essential economic system aiming to implement innovative development strategies and energy structure transformations in China, is crucial for solving the current plight of resource-based cities. This paper studies the effect of the implementation of the NEDC on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of resource-based cities in China; understanding this relation is of great significance for the further promotion of the NEDC. For this purpose, the SBM-undesirable model is employed to measure GTFP. The propensity score matching and difference-in-difference (PSM-DID) model and the mediation effect model are also utilized to empirically examine the impact of the NEDC on GTFP across a dataset of 106 resource-based cities between 2005 and 2016. The empirical results indicate that the NEDC can significantly improve the GTFP of resource-based cities. After both counterfactual and common trend tests are performed, the research conclusion of this paper is still robust. Moreover, the NEDC promotes the GTFP of resource-based cities through structural effects, technological innovation effects, and fiscal support effects. Furthermore, the effect of the NEDC on GTFP is also affected by the regions, sizes, and types of the different resource-based cities. This research provides evidence for the ability of the NEDC to improve GTFP and optimize the spatial layout of new energy demonstration cities in resource-based cities.

Taking advantage of the electrification strategy, Northwest China has made full use of its natural resources endowment, to develop renewable energy as the substitution of thermal power. To evaluate carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from electric power sector, an extended Kaya identity equation and the Logarithmic mean Divisia index decomposition method are applied to Northwest China from 1998 to 2017. Six explaining factors are analyzed, including carbon intensity, energy mixes, generating efficiency, electrification, economy and population. The results show that driving forces of CO₂ emissions from electricity system varied greatly among provinces. Generally, economic growth has mainly contributed to increase CO₂ emission, while the improvement in the power‐generating efficiency has crucially decreased CO₂ emission. In 2017, Promoting electrification directly increased CO₂ emissions from electric system, but indirectly reduced CO₂ emissions from the whole region by 5.10% through the estimation of a clean development mechanism method. Therefore, local governments are suggested continuing to promote electrification to guide future emission reduction, while enterprises and individuals need to make their own contributions to low‐carbon development.Recommendations for Resource Managers: Variations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions of all five provinces in Northwest China are analyzed. Logarithmic mean Divisia index analysis is used to study the main drivers of CO₂ emission change. Improvements in the generating efficiency significantly reduced CO₂ emissions. Due to electrification effects, CO₂ emissions from electric power increased, but CO₂ emissions from the region decreased. Economy effects were still the biggest drivers affecting CO₂ emission.