Low-Carbon System Optimization Driven by Science and Technology Finance Policy: Evidence from Urban Energy Efficiency in Chinese Cities

As the global energy situation grows increasingly complex, energy efficiency has become a core issue that draws international attention. Leveraging panel data from 282 prefecture-level cities in China, this paper applies a difference-in-differences (DID) model to explore how science and technology finance policy (STFP) impacts urban energy efficiency (UEE) and its underlying mechanisms.