Whether Digital Villages Can Alleviate Towns–Rural Clean Energy Consumption Inequality in China?

Xin Wen (), Jiaxin Wen () and Zhibo Yu
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Xin Wen: Sichuan Key Laboratory of Energy Security and Low-Carbon Development, Chengdu 610500, China
Jiaxin Wen: School of Economics and Management, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Zhibo Yu: Southwest Oil and Gas Field Company Natural Gas Economic Research Institute, Chengdu 610051, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 14, 1-29

Abstract: The equitable allocation of clean energy access across towns–rural divides is a critical benchmark of modernization in developing economies. This is because it is intricately linked to the realization of strategic goals such as shared prosperity, ecological civilization advancement, and national energy security reinforcement. This research examines the impact of China’s digital village (DV) construction in reducing the urban–rural disparity in household clean energy access, evaluates the effect on towns–rural clean energy consumption inequality (CEI), explores the mediating mechanisms, and considers regional heterogeneity. It is an innovative approach to test the influence of digital village construction on clean energy consumption inequality between urban and rural areas, beyond which conventional research is limited to infrastructure investment and policy considerations. We can reach the following three results: (1) With the continuous improvement of digital village construction, CEI between towns and rural areas shows an “inverted U-shaped” change. (2) From the perspective of the intermediary mechanism, agricultural technological progress (ATP) and industrial structure upgrading (IND) can facilitate digital village construction and reduce the disparity in clean energy consumption between towns and rural regions. (3) From the perspective of heterogeneity analysis, digital village construction in areas with low urbanization levels, high terrain undulation, and non-clean energy demonstration provinces can significantly alleviate CEI. It is on this basis that the present paper proposes a policy recommendation for the Chinese government to effectively reduce the gap between towns and rural clean energy consumption in the process of digital village construction.

Keywords: digital village; clean energy; consumption inequality; Theil index; bidirectional fixed model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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