Role of fossil fuels resources on high-quality economic development: Evidence from China

This study examines how the efficiency of coal, crude oil, and natural gas consumption in China between 1995 and 2021 influences its sustainable development index using time series analysis. Results provided by the ARDL (Autoregressive Distributed Lag) indicate that a 1% increase in coal consumption efficiency raises the sustainable development index by 0.86% in the short term and 0.63% in the long term. Similarly, a 1% improvement in natural gas efficiency corresponds to a 0.32% short-term and 0.15% long-term index increase. However, hindrances to sustainable development include carbon emissions, healthcare costs, and energy poverty. Effective fossil fuel management, especially for high carbon-emitting sources, is crucial. The Chinese government should foster technological progress, support green patents, implement fintech and big data solutions for green finance, and introduce emission taxation policies to enhance fossil fuel efficiency and overall sustainable development. •Natural gas efficiency leads to enhance of sustainable development.•Energy poverty gap reduces the speed of sustainable development.•Coal utilization efficiency improves sustainable development index.