Rural energy policy in China: Achievements, challenges and ways forward during the 40-year rural reform
Abstract
Purpose
Rural energy policy is a critical measure to fight the long-standing poverty issue in China. Energy poverty, per se, is one important yet too often neglected dimension of poverty, and one of the biggest challenges in rural China during the 40-year rural reform. Reducing energy poverty is one of the poverty alleviation tasks and the goals of energy transition in the rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the status of energy poverty in China, discussing the challenges of energy poverty reduction, and then proposing the potential measures.
Design/methodology/approach
Using various data (including the authors’ survey data), this paper analyzes the volume and structure of energy use, and affordability of energy for the rural households, then examines the impacts of energy poverty on health, social and productivity, and finally discusses the infrastructure, cognitive ability, culture, income, etc., that shape the challenges to energy poverty reduction.
Findings
In addition to raising the household income, it is urgently needed to enforce the collaborations among government departments, and to improve the energy infrastructure according to local conditions, helping the residential environment cognition.
Originality/value
Energy poverty is almost a too often neglected issue in rural China. Few in existing literature comprehensively investigate this critically important social economic problem. This paper contributes to the profound understanding in energy poverty and the possible approaches to alleviate it.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the supports from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 71573258, 71273261, 71673026, 71642004, 71521002, and 71322306), China’s National Key R&D Program (2016YFA0602801), Special Fund for Joint Development Program of Beijing Municipal Commission of Education and Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation. The authors also appreciate the editing and proofreading aids from the Fangzhi Wang and Tianqi Chen. The academic opinions expressed in this paper are solely authors’ own responsibility, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the supporting agencies and authors’ affiliations.
Citation
He, L.-Y., Hou, B. and Liao, H. (2018), "Rural energy policy in China: Achievements, challenges and ways forward during the 40-year rural reform", China Agricultural Economic Review, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 224-240. https://doi.org/10.1108/CAER-10-2017-0190
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited