Journal Article

Multidimensional Energy Poverty in China: Measurement and Spatio-Temporal Disparities Characteristics

Geng, Hong, Wang, Fu, Zhang, Chaoqun, Zha, Donglan

2023

Overview

As the world's most populous country, China's energy poverty reduction achievements directly impact the global energy poverty reduction process. Analyzing energy poverty in China is therefore critical to consolidating the results of poverty eradication, eliminating relative poverty, and improving the social welfare of residents. However, prior research neither considered the applicability of existing energy poverty indicators to the current Chinese reality, nor the spatiotemporal disparities of energy poverty using micro-level data. To study the dynamics of energy poverty in China at the household level, a new multidimensional energy poverty index is constructed with seven dimensions using multiple correspondence analysis methods. Furthermore, provincial disparities and characteristics of energy poverty are compared using a spatial autocorrelation analysis method. The findings show that energy poverty has improved in China from 2012 to 2018, but its incidence and intensity remain high. Moreover, significant regional differences in energy poverty exist between different regions of China. High levels of energy poverty are mainly concentrated in the western and northeastern regions (especially in rural areas), and the urban-rural gap shows a similar pattern. The results obtained from spatial autocorrelation analysis demonstrate that China's energy poverty exhibits significant spatial clustering characteristics. Further, the results of standard deviation ellipse show that during the study period, the center of gravity of energy poverty in China was in Henan province and gradually shifted to the northwest. These findings help policymakers to formulate specific energy poverty reduction policies for various groups affected by energy poverty.

• Publisher: Springer Nature B.V,Springer Netherlands
• Subject: Clustering / Correspondence analysis / Energy / Energy policy / Energy poverty / Eradication / Gravity / Measurement / Original Research / Policy making / Poverty / Poverty eradication / Poverty reduction / Regional differences / Regions / Rural areas / Rural communities / Rural urban differences / Social welfare / Spatial analysis