Tackling clean energy transition challenge in developing rural areas: Does college-educated village official matter?

Andi Cao, Lili Guo and Houjian Li

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2025, vol. 208, issue C

Abstract: Many developing countries are prioritizing the transition to clean energy in rural areas but research on the causal relationship between college-educated village officials and rural clean energy accessibility is still in its infancy. This research uses administrative village samples from the national agriculture census in China to estimate the effect of college-educated village officials on clean energy accessibility. Results show that college-educated officials significantly increase the opportunity for villages to access natural gas and raise the natural gas access rate within villages. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that college-educated village officials greatly improve clean energy accessibility in villages in the developed eastern region as well as in the plains. The positive effect of college-educated village officials on clean energy accessibility is strengthened as the level of village organization rises, while the positive effect is weakened as the village area increases. Additionally, the greatest positive influence of college-educated officials on clean energy accessibility is the greatest when the percentage of college-educated officials among village cadres is 4 %. Furthermore, college-educated officials play a more significant role in enhancing clean energy accessibility in villages that are less inclined to have college-educated officials. Finally, this research confirms that college-educated officials increase accessibility to clean energy in three paths: developing the catering industry, promoting rural commercialization, and improving the village collective economy. These findings provide policy-making with some meaningful enlightenment about alleviating energy poverty in rural areas.

Keywords: College-educated village official; Clean energy accessibility; Heterogeneity; Channels; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032124007160
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:208:y:2025:i:c:s1364032124007160

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2024.114990

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().