The role of sustainable energy utility, natural resource utilization and waste management in reducing energy poverty: Evidence from South Asian countries

Energy poverty is still viewed as a central global challenge which is risking billions of lives belonging to all economies, particularly, developing and under developing economies. It is subjected that more than 1 billion people are still struggling to have access to electricity and around 2.7 billion burns non-renewable resources to make their daily meals ready. The encourages academia to explore the plausible solutions to alleviate energy poverty. In this regard, the present study attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of sustainable energy and utility, natural resource utilization and waste management on energy poverty reduction. The study chose South Asian economies as a sample study and assessed the data from 2011 to 2020. By utilizing MMQR, the obtained results expose that RE output and consumption, natural resource utilization, waste management, inflation, and indus-trialization are helpful in reducing energy poverty due to their positive linkage. Under the evidence, the study is able to offer empirical baseline for future researchers to address the similar problem in other set of countries.

Automated summary

Energy poverty remains a critical global challenge, posing a risk to billions of lives across all economies, particularly in developing and underdeveloped economies. More than 1 billion people are still without access to electricity, and about 2.7 billion rely on non-renewable resources for cooking. This study examines the effectiveness of sustainable energy and utility, natural resource utilization, and waste management in reducing energy poverty, focusing on South Asian economies from 2011 to 2020. The findings indicate that renewable energy output and consumption, natural resource utilization, waste management, inflation, and industrialization are positively linked to reducing energy poverty, providing an empirical baseline for future research in other countries facing similar challenges.