The effect of household cooking fuel transition on self-rated health: evidence from China

To reduce the health risks caused by air pollution, China is actively promoting a household clean energy transition. Using Chinese Families Panel Survey (CFPS) data, this paper employs both DID and PSM-DID models to investigate the health effect of the household cooking fuel transition. It also examines the heterogeneous impact of this transition in different population groups and the mechanisms responsible for the heterogeneity. The results indicate that the clean energy transition significantly improves residents’ health, but disadvantaged groups, such as individuals with low-income and high-energy burdens who reside in rural areas, receive fewer health benefits from the transition than others. Most members of these groups cannot easily obtain clean energy or replace non-clean energy at a lower cost. To address these issues in energy-related health inequality, the government needs to improve the affordability, accessibility, and reliability of clean energy and increase health subsidies for relatively vulnerable residents.