The impact of energy security, energy mix, technological advancement, trade openness, and political stability on energy efficiency: Evidence from Arab countries

This study unveils the effects of energy security, energy mix, technological advancement, trade openness, and political stability on energy efficiency (EE) in 13 Arab countries (2001–2019). In the first stage, the study applied the Super-SBM model with undesirable outputs to measure the EE. Also, the Malmquist-Luenberger index is used to evaluate the energy productivity change. In the second stage, FGLS is used to examine the parameters mentioned above empirically. Results revealed that the average EE score in 13 Arab countries is 0.7521, indicating that Arab countries still have a growth potential of 24.79 percent in their energy conversion process. United Arab Emirates, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia emerged as the most efficient countries. Energy productivity results illustrate the growth of 12.55 percent. Further, technological change is the primary determinant of productivity growth. The FGLS results show that energy security negatively impacts EE in oil-producing countries. Fossil fuel consumption has varying effects on EE across different country types. Renewable energy adoption positively influences EE in non-oil Arab countries. Imports of ICT goods and trade openness have negative impacts on EE. Additionally, political stability plays a crucial role, with more stable countries positively impacting EE while less stable countries have a negative impact.