Government attention and energy poverty: empirical evidence from China

Abstract

Improving human well-being and sustainable development worldwide are severely hampered by energy poverty. This study investigates the impact of the Chinese government's policy priorities on energy poverty and analyzes the underlying mechanisms driving this relationship. The findings aim to inform more effective policies for alleviating energy poverty. To assess energy poverty comprehensively, the study constructs a multidimensional index encompassing four key dimensions: service accessibility, infrastructure completeness, consumption cleanliness, and energy affordability and efficiency. From 2010 to 2022, the degree of energy poverty in 30 Chinese provinces (excluding Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, due to data unavailability) is evaluated using the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method. Furthermore, a policy tool theory-based dynamic spatial Durbin model is used to test the mediating functions of three policy tools—technological support, market regulation, and green investment—and investigate the spatial spillover effects of government attention to energy poverty. The findings show that government intervention reduces energy poverty in nearby areas through a “demonstration effect,” in addition to improving local energy poverty. Additionally, examination of the mediating effect demonstrated that market regulation, green investment, and technological support significantly mediate the impact of government attention on energy poverty. In particular, the government may improve the efficiency of energy poverty alleviation by bolstering market regulation, boosting technological support, and encouraging green investment.