Addressing energy poverty through education: How does gender matter?

Abstract

Energy poverty (EPT) has emerged as a major policy concern in developed, transition, and developing economies. In China, energy has been a key enabler of economic and social development in recent decades. However, EPT can reduce the positive effects of this development. This paper studies the relationship between the nexus of key social-economic-geographic factors and EPT in the country, and further discusses the heterogeneity of various aspects and the mechanism roles of income inequality and gender educational inequality by using panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2002 to 2021. The main findings are: (1) An increase in per capita education reduces EPT; (2) the negative effect of education on EPT is stronger in the midwestern provinces; (3) the contribution of female education in alleviating urban EPT is substantially greater than that of male education; (4) in towns and villages, the impact of male education on EPT is greater than that of female education; and (5) income inequality and gender educational inequality are valid mechanisms in the education-EPT nexus. We put forward policy recommendations for improving the education level, narrowing education and gender inequality, and decreasing income gaps to alleviate EPT.