Role of the sharing economy in the achievement of energy efficiency and sustainable economic development: Evidence from China

Globally, the sharing economy is considered a significant factor in achieving energy efficiency and sustain-able economic development (SED) which needs regulatory and academic focus. This article investigates the impact of the sharing economy, including sharing economy users and sharing economy values, on efficient energy use and SED in China. The research uses exports, population growth, and foreign direct investment (FDI) as control variables. The article uses secondary data extracted from Statista, the sustainable develop-ment solution network, and World Development Indicators (WDI), from 1986 to 2020. The research applies the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lagged (NARDL) model to examine the associations among the vari-ables. The results reveal that sharing economy users, sharing economy values, exports, population growth, and FDI have a positive association with efficient energy use and SED in China. This article guides policy-makers establishing policies related to the achievement of SED and energy efficiency using the sharing econ-omy. Governments, in particular, are recommended to actively encourage the growth of the sharing economy and create governance structures that support this growth.& COPY; 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. on behalf of Journal of Innovation & Knowledge. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Automated summary

This study investigates the impact of the sharing economy on efficient energy use and sustainable economic development in China. The results reveal that sharing economy users, sharing economy values, exports, population growth, and FDI have a positive association with efficient energy use and SED in China.