Energy efficiency assessment of RCEP member states: A three-stage slack based measurement DEA with undesirable outputs

Improving the energy efficiency of economies is the core of promoting global sustainable development. At present, improving energy efficiency is a common problem faced by all countries. In this paper, the Three-stage DEA model improved by radial slack based measure (SBM) model is used to evaluate the energy efficiency and influencing factors of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) members. Meanwhile, the dynamic changes of energy efficiency of each country are further explored by the Malmquist index model. The empirical analysis shows that the energy efficiency of China, Japan, and Australia are all 1, which is at the forefront of efficiency, while the energy efficiency of Vietnam is the lowest, which is 0.136. China's technological progress change index is 1.013, leading other countries. The results of the study are helpful to understand the trend of energy efficiency changes in various countries, to transform their energy efficiency advantages into the common advantages of each member state, and to improve the comprehensive governance capacity of energy efficiency of each country. (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This paper uses an improved Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model to evaluate the energy efficiency and influencing factors of the members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and explores the dynamic changes of energy efficiency using the Malmquist index model. The empirical analysis shows that China, Japan, and Australia have the highest energy efficiency, while Vietnam has the lowest. The results of the study are helpful in understanding the trends in energy efficiency changes among countries and improving the comprehensive governance capacity of energy efficiency.