Is Digital Development the Answer to Energy Poverty? Evidence from China

Yaofeng Yang, Xiuqing Li, Luping Li, Lan Fang (), Yajuan Chen () and Nde Ivo Zama
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Yaofeng Yang: Northwest Institute of Historical Environment and Socio-Economic Development, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China
Xiuqing Li: Northwest Institute of Historical Environment and Socio-Economic Development, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China
Luping Li: Northwest Institute of Historical Environment and Socio-Economic Development, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China
Lan Fang: Northwest Institute of Historical Environment and Socio-Economic Development, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China
Yajuan Chen: School of Economics and Management, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China
Nde Ivo Zama: Northwest Institute of Historical Environment and Socio-Economic Development, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-43

Abstract: Energy poverty is one of the major challenges to global sustainable development, while digital development, as a significant trend of the current era, is considered a key pathway to transcend traditional energy governance frameworks. Anchored in provincial panel data spanning 30 regions across China from 2003 to 2023, this study systematically examines the impact and heterogeneity of digital development on energy poverty and further explores the underlying mechanisms and nonlinear characteristics. The findings show that digital development can significantly alleviate energy poverty, and this conclusion remains valid after addressing endogeneity issues and conducting a series of robustness tests. However, the poverty reduction effect of digital development exhibits significant regional heterogeneity: the mitigation effect in central and western regions is significantly stronger than that in eastern regions, the effect in northern regions is higher than that in southern regions, and the effect in energy-disadvantaged regions is better than that in advantageous regions. Additionally, digital development alleviates energy poverty through mediating pathways such as promoting non-agricultural employment, improving human capital levels, and driving technological innovation. Notably, digital development demonstrates threshold effects and quantile heterogeneity in relation to energy poverty, characterized by diminishing marginal returns as digital development progresses; regions with higher levels of energy poverty experience more significant poverty reduction effects from digital development. This research provides a theoretical basis for energy poverty governance under the global energy crisis and offers empirical references for other countries to achieve energy sustainability goals (SDG7) through context-specific digital transformations.

Keywords: digital development; energy poverty; SDG7; threshold effects; quantile heterogeneity (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: 2025
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