Evaluating the Energy Consumption Inequalities in the One Belt and One Road Region: Implications for the Environment

Muhammad Hafeez, Chunhui Yuan, Issam Khelfaoui, Almalki Sultan Musaad O, Muhammad Waqas Akbar and Liu Jie
Additional contact information
Muhammad Hafeez: School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
Chunhui Yuan: School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
Issam Khelfaoui: School of Insurance, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China
Almalki Sultan Musaad O: College of Economic Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Muhammad Waqas Akbar: School of Finance, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030006, China
Liu Jie: School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: Additional energy demand is needed to accomplish the mega-projects of the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI). As energy consumption is one of the prime determinants of environmental degradation, the present study investigates the impact of energy inequalities on environmental degradation along with financial development. The entropy approach is applied to quantify the three energy consumption inequalities; average, between, and total energy consumption inequality respectively. The energy consumption inequality of BRI economies follows an uprising temporal trend. The estimates reveal that East Asia and South Asia have the highest and lowest energy consumption inequality among the BRI regions. Within regions, it is found that Central Asia has the lowest, and East Asia has the highest energy inequality among the BRI regions, respectively. Based on bootstrapping, the generalized least square (GLS) is applied to quantify the impact of energy consumption inequalities on environmental degradation along financial development. The energy inequalities have a statistically positive impact on environmental degradation in BRI regions, East Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and North African region (MENA), and Southeast Asia respectively. In contrast, South Asian economies are sustaining environmental quality despite the energy consumption inequalities. Financial development also has a significantly major impact on environmental degradation in BRI, and its regions except for Central Asia, and MENA.

Keywords: energy inequality; energy consumption; One Belt and One Road; environmental degradation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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