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

Issam Khelfaoui,Muhammad Waqas Akbar,Almalki Sultan Musaad O,Liu Jie,Muhammad Hafeez,Chunhui Yuan

doi:10.3390/en12071358

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.

Highlights

China officially used the term the “One Belt and One Road initiative (BRI)” in 2015, containing economies around the globe [1,2]
The energy inequality of BRI economies is calculated by utilizing Equation (4)
The energy inequality dynamics show that the BRI region has a deviation of energy consumption in production, consumption, income level, and climate condition across its economies

Summary

Introduction

China officially used the term the “One Belt and One Road initiative (BRI)” in 2015, containing economies around the globe [1,2]. An adequate level of energy is required to achieve the maximum level of output because energy is an essential feature share of of global global gross gross domestic domestic product product (GDP),. An. Rapid the economic growth to an because increaseenergy in energy use, adequatealllevel level of energy energy processes is required required[3,4]. To achieve achieve the maximum levelleads of output output because energy is an an adequate of is to maximum level of is essential feature for nurturing all development processes [3,4].

Methods

Results

Conclusion