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Assessing energy efficiency in the Asia-Pacific region and the mediating role of environmental pollution: evidence from a super-efficiency model with a weighting preference scheme

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Abstract

The demand for primary energy resources has increased significantly due to the rapid growth of the global economy and increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Therefore, improving energy efficiency levels is essential for global energy, energy security, and environmental sustainability. In the context of the Asia-Pacific region, the study of energy efficiency among different countries can play a role in better energy utilization. These countries also provide a policy for the Asia-Pacific region to improve its energy utilization. This study’s primary focus is to investigate the optimal efficiency score of 15 areas of the Asia-Pacific region, and the analysis is based on super-efficiency (radical) and super slacks-based measure (SBM) data in a nonparametric DEA model. Three areas in the Asia-Pacific are selected for energy efficiency measures: South Asia, East Asia, and Australasia. The results suggest that Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, Singapore, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam obtain the most efficient score of 1 in both DEA models throughout the study period. Australia and Sri Lanka receive a low score during all study periods, while Hong Kong does not have data for all study years. The results of the study will help improve energy performance, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability, increasing the competitiveness and scalability of efficient energy sources.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available on request.

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Funding

This research is supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China, number: 20&ZD127.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 29 Jiangsu Avenue, Nanjing, 211106, China

    Zulfiqar Ali Baloch & Qingmei Tan

  2. Faculty of Basic Sciences, BUITEMS, Quetta, Pakistan

    Muhammad Zubair Khan

  3. Department of Marketing, Prince Sultan University, P.O. Box 66833, Riyadh, 11586, Saudi Arabia

    Yazeed Alfakhri

  4. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology Islamabad, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan

    Hassan Raza

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  1. Zulfiqar Ali Baloch
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  2. Qingmei Tan
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Contributions

Zulfiqar Ali Baloch: Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodology, Writing - original draft. Qingmei Tan: Data curation, Visualization. Yazeed Alfakhri: review & editing. Muhammad Zubair Khan: Writing - review & editing and software. Hassan Raza: Visualization, supervision, editing.

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Correspondence to Zulfiqar Ali Baloch.

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Baloch, Z.A., Tan, Q., Khan, M.Z. et al. Assessing energy efficiency in the Asia-Pacific region and the mediating role of environmental pollution: evidence from a super-efficiency model with a weighting preference scheme. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 48581–48594 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13663-6

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