Rural energy policy in China: Achievements, challenges and ways forward during the 40-year rural reform

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.