Spatiotemporal variation and convergence analysis of China's regional energy security

Abstract

Energy security represents the national strength to defuse energy risks. However, to date, relatively few studies have focused on regional energy security within a country, its spatiotemporal differences, and the impact of energy governance on energy security. In this study, an energy security index was developed for 30 provinces in China during 2014–2020 from four dimensions, that is, supply security, use security, environmental security, and economic security. Kernel density estimation, Markov chain, Dagum Gini coefficient, and variance decomposition were applied to explore the spatiotemporal variations and structural sources of energy security. Convergence models were used to examine dynamic spatial convergence. The results have shown an upward trend in China's national and regional energy security with the ranking of energy security as “Western > Eastern > Central”. The imbalance in energy security predominantly caused by interregional gaps is narrowing. However, polarisation has occurred in some provinces. Supply and economic security are the primary structural sources of differences. The absolute and conditional β convergence of energy security at different regional speeds was confirmed. Energy fiscal decentralisation can improve regional energy security, and especially economic and use security. This study has provided a reference for regional energy security assessments in other newly industrialized countries and encourages consideration of the role of energy fiscal decentralisation in energy governance.