IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v313y2024ics0360544224037113.html

Regional inequality in China's electricity trade

Author

Listed:
  • Pan, Yue
  • Chai, Jian
  • Tian, Lingyue
  • Zhang, Xiaokong
  • Wang, Jiaoyan

Abstract

The electricity industry has emerged as a key driver in the global carbon reduction initiative within the energy sector. Meanwhile, the national power grid is an essential foundation for societal well-being. However, ongoing regional inequalities in electricity trading highlight the urgent need for a thorough investigation to ensure efficiency and fairness in electrification. We strategically address the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of inter-regional electricity trade and its added value. The mismatch between carbon emissions and benefits during electricity exchanges is quantified across 30 distinct regions in China from 2005 to 2019. The conclusion indicates that, since 2005, eastern coastal areas have generally benefited, whereas inland areas have faced disadvantages in electricity trade. By 2019, an analysis of electricity trade among regions and grids revealed that areas with low net outflows of clean electricity are more prone to trade inequality. Lastly, regions with high electricity demand or economic development exhibit lower carbon emissions per unit and higher added value per unit of exported products compared to low electricity demand or economically backward regions, with the disparity between them widening. This research offers important insights into developing fair climate policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Pan, Yue & Chai, Jian & Tian, Lingyue & Zhang, Xiaokong & Wang, Jiaoyan, 2024. "Regional inequality in China's electricity trade," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:313:y:2024:i:c:s0360544224037113
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2024.133933
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544224037113
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2024.133933?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Filippidis, Michail & Tzouvanas, Panagiotis & Chatziantoniou, Ioannis, 2021. "Energy poverty through the lens of the energy-environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    2. Zhang, Chongchong & Cai, Xiangyu & Lin, Boqiang, 2023. "The low-carbon transition of China's power sector: Scale effect of grid upgrading," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    3. Naegele, Helene & Zaklan, Aleksandar, 2019. "Does the EU ETS cause carbon leakage in European manufacturing?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 93, pages 125-147.
    4. Dorninger, Christian & Hornborg, Alf & Abson, David J. & von Wehrden, Henrik & Schaffartzik, Anke & Giljum, Stefan & Engler, John-Oliver & Feller, Robert L. & Hubacek, Klaus & Wieland, Hanspeter, 2021. "Global patterns of ecologically unequal exchange: Implications for sustainability in the 21st century," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    5. Wang, Pengfei & Li, Hongbo & Huang, Zhenbin, 2023. "The inter-provincial trade inequality in China: An assessment of the impact of changes in built-up land and carbon storage," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    6. Wang, Ning & Ren, Yixin & Zhu, Tao & Meng, Fanxin & Wen, Zongguo & Liu, Gengyuan, 2018. "Life cycle carbon emission modelling of coal-fired power: Chinese case," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 841-852.
    7. Wang, Hui & Zhang, Yunyun & Lin, Weifen & Wei, Wendong, 2023. "Transregional electricity transmission and carbon emissions: Evidence from ultra-high voltage transmission projects in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    8. Cabello Eras, Juan José & Mendoza Fandiño, Jorge Mario & Sagastume Gutiérrez, Alexis & Rueda Bayona, Juan Gabriel & Sofan German, Stiven Javier, 2022. "The inequality of electricity consumption in Colombia. Projections and implications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    9. Duan, Yuwan & Yan, Bingqian, 2019. "Economic gains and environmental losses from international trade: A decomposition of pollution intensity in China's value-added trade," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 540-554.
    10. Heran Zheng & Johannes Többen & Erik Dietzenbacher & Daniel Moran & Jing Meng & Daoping Wang & Dabo Guan, 2022. "Entropy-based Chinese city-level MRIO table framework," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 519-544, October.
    11. Zhifu Mi & Jiali Zheng & Jing Meng & Jiamin Ou & Klaus Hubacek & Zhu Liu & D’Maris Coffman & Nicholas Stern & Sai Liang & Yi-Ming Wei, 2020. "Economic development and converging household carbon footprints in China," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 3(7), pages 529-537, July.
    12. Zhang, Shengling & Wang, Yao & Hao, Yu & Liu, Zhiwei, 2021. "Shooting two hawks with one arrow: Could China's emission trading scheme promote green development efficiency and regional carbon equality?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    13. Nathan Ratledge & Gabe Cadamuro & Brandon Cuesta & Matthieu Stigler & Marshall Burke, 2022. "Using machine learning to assess the livelihood impact of electricity access," Nature, Nature, vol. 611(7936), pages 491-495, November.
    14. Acheampong, Alex O. & Dzator, Janet & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2021. "Empowering the powerless: Does access to energy improve income inequality?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    15. Anton, Sorin Gabriel & Afloarei Nucu, Anca Elena, 2020. "The effect of financial development on renewable energy consumption. A panel data approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 330-338.
    16. Ren, Xiaohang & Tong, Ziwei & Sun, Xianming & Yan, Cheng, 2022. "Dynamic impacts of energy consumption on economic growth in China: Evidence from a non-parametric panel data model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    17. Qu, Shen & Wang, Hongxia & Liang, Sai & Shapiro, Avi M. & Suh, Sanwong & Sheldon, Seth & Zik, Ory & Fang, Hong & Xu, Ming, 2017. "A Quasi-Input-Output model to improve the estimation of emission factors for purchased electricity from interconnected grids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 249-259.
    18. Cole, Matthew A., 2004. "Trade, the pollution haven hypothesis and the environmental Kuznets curve: examining the linkages," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 71-81, January.
    19. Li, Rongrong & Han, Xinyu & Wang, Qiang, 2023. "Do technical differences lead to a widening gap in China's regional carbon emissions efficiency? Evidence from a combination of LMDI and PDA approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    20. Xu, Jin-Hua & Yi, Bo-Wen & Fan, Ying, 2020. "Economic viability and regulation effects of infrastructure investments for inter-regional electricity transmission and trade in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    21. Song, Yan & Gao, Jian & Zhang, Ming, 2023. "Study on the impact of energy poverty on income inequality at different stages of economic development: Evidence from 77 countries around the world," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    22. Kun Peng & Kuishuang Feng & Bin Chen & Yuli Shan & Ning Zhang & Peng Wang & Kai Fang & Yanchao Bai & Xiaowei Zou & Wendong Wei & Xinyi Geng & Yiyi Zhang & Jiashuo Li, 2023. "The global power sector’s low-carbon transition may enhance sustainable development goal achievement," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    23. Yi, Bo-Wen & Xu, Jin-Hua & Fan, Ying, 2019. "Coordination of policy goals between renewable portfolio standards and carbon caps: A quantitative assessment in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 25-35.
    24. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Xing, Wenwu & Lee, Chi-Chuan, 2022. "The impact of energy security on income inequality: The key role of economic development," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    25. Guo, Chaoyi & Zhou, Ziqiao & Liu, Xinyuan & Liu, Xiaorui & Meng, Jing & Dai, Hancheng, 2023. "The unintended dilemma of China's target-based carbon neutrality policy and provincial economic inequality," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    26. Ahmed, Tofael & Mekhilef, S. & Shah, Rakibuzzaman & Mithulananthan, N., 2017. "Investigation into transmission options for cross-border power trading in ASEAN power grid," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 91-101.
    27. Zhang, Yiyi & Fang, Jiake & Wang, Saige & Yao, Huilu, 2020. "Energy-water nexus in electricity trade network: A case study of interprovincial electricity trade in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    28. Wang, Ying & Deng, Xiangzheng & Zhang, Hongwei & Liu, Yujie & Yue, Tianxiang & Liu, Gang, 2022. "Energy endowment, environmental regulation, and energy efficiency: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    29. Dominik Wiedenhofer & Dabo Guan & Zhu Liu & Jing Meng & Ning Zhang & Yi-Ming Wei, 2017. "Unequal household carbon footprints in China," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 75-80, January.
    30. Ting Ma & Siao Sun & Guangtao Fu & Jim W. Hall & Yong Ni & Lihuan He & Jiawei Yi & Na Zhao & Yunyan Du & Tao Pei & Weiming Cheng & Ci Song & Chuanglin Fang & Chenghu Zhou, 2020. "Pollution exacerbates China’s water scarcity and its regional inequality," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    31. Wang, Yihan & Xiong, Siqin & Ma, Xiaoming, 2022. "Carbon inequality in global trade: Evidence from the mismatch between embodied carbon emissions and value added," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    32. Jia, Zhijie & Wen, Shiyan & Wang, Yao, 2023. "Power coming from the sky: Economic benefits of inter-regional power transmission in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    33. Dong, Kangyin & Dou, Yue & Jiang, Qingzhe, 2022. "Income inequality, energy poverty, and energy efficiency: Who cause who and how?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    34. Dinda, Soumyananda, 2004. "Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis: A Survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 431-455, August.
    35. Ji, Xi & Liu, Yifang & Wu, Guowei & Su, Pinyi & Ye, Zhen & Feng, Kuishuang, 2022. "Global value chain participation and trade-induced energy inequality," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    36. Zhenyu Zhuo & Ershun Du & Ning Zhang & Chris P. Nielsen & Xi Lu & Jinyu Xiao & Jiawei Wu & Chongqing Kang, 2022. "Cost increase in the electricity supply to achieve carbon neutrality in China," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    37. Xu, Zhen & Das, Debasish Kumar & Guo, Wei & Wei, Wendong, 2021. "Does power grid infrastructure stimulate regional economic growth?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    38. Anton, Sorin Gabriel, 2021. "The impact of temperature increase on firm profitability. Empirical evidence from the European energy and gas sectors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    39. Jan-Philipp Sasse & Evelina Trutnevyte, 2023. "A low-carbon electricity sector in Europe risks sustaining regional inequalities in benefits and vulnerabilities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    40. Wu, Linfei & Sun, Liwen & Qi, Peixiao & Ren, Xiangwei & Sun, Xiaoting, 2021. "Energy endowment, industrial structure upgrading, and CO2 emissions in China: Revisiting resource curse in the context of carbon emissions," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    41. Zhang, Haoran & Li, Ruixiong & Cai, Xingrui & Zheng, Chaoyue & Liu, Laibao & Liu, Maodian & Zhang, Qianru & Lin, Huiming & Chen, Long & Wang, Xuejun, 2022. "Do electricity flows hamper regional economic–environmental equity?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wei, Pengbang & Xia, He & Du, Xiaoyun & Yue, Hui & Peng, Xu, 2026. "Socio-economic implications of inter-provincial green electricity trading in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 342(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhao, Congyu & Jia, Rongwen & Dong, Kangyin, 2023. "Does financial inclusion achieve the dual dividends of narrowing carbon inequality within cities and between cities? Empirical evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    2. Pang, Qinghua & Liu, Xuan & Zhang, Lina & Chiu, Yung-ho, 2024. "Temporal-spatial evolution of environmental inequality of embodied energy transfer within inter-provincial trade of China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    3. Zhao, Congyu & Zhai, Xuan & Liu, Zhengguang & Song, Chenchen, 2025. "Enlarging or narrowing? Exploring the impact of energy poverty on carbon inequality in China," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    4. He, Ruofan & Wan, Panbing & Yang, Mian, 2024. "The resource curse in energy-rich regions: Evidence from China's ultra-high voltage transmission," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    5. Jia, Zhijie & Wen, Shiyan & Wang, Yao, 2023. "Power coming from the sky: Economic benefits of inter-regional power transmission in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    6. Zhao, Yiwen & Yang, Yi, 2026. "Exploring urban household carbon inequality in terms of ecological and economic contributions: Empirical evidence based on nighttime light data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    7. Zhu, Qingyuan & Xu, Chengzhen & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2024. "Trade-induced carbon-economic inequality within China: Measurement, sources, and determinants," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    8. Zhang, Haoran & Li, Ruixiong & Cai, Xingrui & Zheng, Chaoyue & Liu, Laibao & Liu, Maodian & Zhang, Qianru & Lin, Huiming & Chen, Long & Wang, Xuejun, 2022. "Do electricity flows hamper regional economic–environmental equity?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    9. Shiyu Sheng & Yingjie Li & Zebin Zhao, 2026. "How does regional policy coordination help achieve the low-carbon development?: a study of theoretical mechanisms and empirical analysis from China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 2779-2811, February.
    10. Long, Tengju & Wu, Ge & Miao, Zhuang & Chen, Xiaodong, 2024. "Quantifying consumption-based environmental productivity from “Energy-Environment Footprints”," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    11. Ofori, Isaac K., 2026. "Distributional energy justice and the inclusive human development Agenda in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    12. Ren, Jinhui & Zhang, Qianzhi & Chen, Wenying, 2024. "China's provincial power decarbonization transition in a carbon neutral vision," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    13. Zhao, Congyu & Dong, Kangyin & Nepal, Rabindra & Goutte, Stéphane, 2026. "From aid to equality: Uncovering the role of climate finance funds in inhibiting carbon inequality," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    14. Guo, Wen & Yang, Bo & Ji, Jiong & Liu, Xiaorui, 2023. "Green finance development drives renewable energy development: Mechanism analysis and empirical research," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    15. Xie, Bai-Chen & Yang, Yan-Shen & Chen, Xian-Peng, 2025. "Effect of grid expansion on interregional power dispatch towards carbon neutrality based on market equilibrium model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    16. Ling, Chen & Yang, Qing & Wang, Qingrui & Bartocci, Pietro & Jiang, Lei & Xu, Zishuo & Wang, Luyao, 2024. "A comprehensive consumption-based carbon accounting framework for power system towards low-carbon transition," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    17. Cheng, Zhiqiang & Cai, Jinyang, 2026. "New energy infrastructure and household energy poverty: Insights from ultra-high voltage technology," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    18. Yang, Jingna & Zhou, Kaile, 2025. "The impact of trans-regional power transmission on urban energy system resilience in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    19. Oluwarotimi Ayokunnu Owolabi & Mercy Chidera Omeire & Blessing Onyinyechi Okwudire & Oluwemimo Tomisin Bolujoko, 2024. "Education, Electricity Access, and Income Inequality in Nigeria," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(5), pages 149-161, September.
    20. Duman, Zaenhaer & Mao, Xianqiang & Zhang, Shining & Chen, Xing & Gao, Yubing & Chen, Yongpeng & Hu, Yunjun & Chang, Yifan & Si, Xiaopeng & Han, Zichen, 2025. "Spatiotemporal dynamics and spatial spillover effects of ultra-high voltage power grid expansion on carbon emissions in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:313:y:2024:i:c:s0360544224037113. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.