Digitalization and energy: How could digital economy eliminate energy poverty in China?

Energy poverty has threatened the sustainability of countries. Meanwhile, digital economy is reshaping the global energy system, and its impacts on energy poverty deserves attention and exploration. Energy poverty by province in China is reassessed between 2007 and 2019, multiple estimation methods are applied to test the impacts of digital economy on energy poverty, and the varied impacts are investigated using heterogeneity analyses. Based on the technological innovation perspective, indirect effect model and dynamic panel threshold model are further constructed to test the indirect and nonlinear effects of digital economy on energy poverty. The results indicate that digital economy significantly reduces energy poverty in China. Specifically, such positive impact is more pronounced in the eastern China, and the government's energy planning reinforces it. Besides, the energy poverty reduction impact of digital economy is mainly reflected in affordability and efficiency of energy, and cleanliness of energy consumption. Further, digital economy may alleviate energy poverty by enhancing technological innovation, under the technological innovation threshold constraint, its impact is nonlinear. This study provides policy insights for accelerating poverty eradication in China and also offers evidence that digital economy empowers sustainable development.

Automated summary

Digital economy has a significant impact on energy poverty in China, particularly in the eastern region and under government energy planning. It reduces energy poverty by enhancing affordability, efficiency, and cleanliness of energy consumption. Technological innovation plays a crucial role in alleviating energy poverty, and its impact is nonlinear under certain technological innovation thresholds.