Can low-carbon city pilot policy decrease urban energy poverty?

Regional energy poverty has become an important issue in sustainable development and the shared prosperity context. This paper employed a multiperiod difference-in-differences model and used panel data from 281 cities at the prefecture level and above in China from 2005 to 2021 to explore whether the pilot low-carbon city policy reduced energy poverty in China. The results show that the implementation of the low-carbon city pilot policy has had a significant positive effect on elevating energy poverty in the region. Based on indigenous characteristics and level of development, heterogeneity analysis in the paper shows that the impact of the pilot low-carbon city policy on regional energy poverty is vivid in the eastern region compared with the central and western regions of China. Similarly, the low-carbon city pilot policy has a more significant effect on elevating energy poverty in economically developed and resource-exhausted cities. Based on the empirical findings, this study provides suggestions for how to promote the pilot low-carbon city policy while keeping the local conditions in view.