More than 2 billion people around the world still rely on traditional, inefficient energy sources for cooking, such as wood, crop residues, and animal dung. The household energy transition refers to the shift toward modern, cleaner, and more efficient energy sources, including electricity, natural gas, solar power, and other renewable technologies. While facilitating this transition is essential to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, many countries continue to face significant challenges in moving away from polluting fuels.
Significant disparities exist in access to clean cooking fuels and technologies between urban and rural areas. Approximately 88% of urban households globally had access to clean cooking fuels in 2022, compared to only 54% of rural households (IEA et al. 2024). Significant regional disparities also persist. This is supported by the evidence that 46.4% of rural residents in Central and Southern Asia continued to rely on polluting fuels, compared to just 3.5% in European countries. Within Asia, the adoption of clean energy in rural areas has reached 100% in countries like the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Singapore. However, it remains alarmingly low in countries such as Mongolia (17.5%), Bangladesh (11.1%), and Timor-Leste (6.7%) (IEA et al., 2024).
Clean energy use gaps also exist among different social groups within countries. For example, in rural Pakistan, low-income families, particularly those where the household head has a lower level of education, are more likely to rely on fuelwood, dung cakes, and crop residues as primary energy sources (Rahut et al., 2019). In rural People’s Republic of China (PRC), households with older household heads are less likely to adopt clean cooking fuels than those with younger heads (Ma et al., 2022). In rural India, disadvantaged social groups are less likely to use clean energy compared to other households (Rahut et al., 2024). Gendered differences also exist in clean energy use. For example, in rural Bangladesh, women have less access to energy services than men (Moniruzzaman and Day, 2020).
Household energy transition is pivotal in fostering sustainable rural development by enhancing household objective and subjective well-being and promoting female empowerment.
Enhancing Household Objective Well-being
Objective well-being refers to the measurable and tangible aspects of rural households’ quality of life, encompassing various dimensions that reflect their material and physical living conditions, such as expenditure, income, nutrition, and education.
Transitioning from non-clean fuels to clean alternatives significantly enhances rural households’ objective well-being. The combustion of traditional fuels like coal and firewood releases high levels of pollutants and toxic gases, increasing risks of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, neurological and psychiatric disorders, and premature death. Clean energy adoption mitigates these risks by improving indoor and outdoor air quality, contributing to better physical and mental health (Zhang et al., 2020), which reduces household medical expenditure.
Additionally, clean energy adoption saves time previously spent on fuel collection, cooking, and heating, allowing rural residents to allocate more time for work and leisure activities. Transitioning from non-clean fuels to clean fuels helps increase the labor supply in the job market by alleviating health and time burdens, ultimately leading to higher household income levels. Ahmad and Jabeen (2023) reported that adopting clean energy technologies helps rural households allocate more time to income-generating activities in Pakistan, directly boosting household income. Furthermore, Fadly et al. (2023) demonstrated that reducing rural households’ reliance on traditional biomass fuels enhances nutrition intake in India. Oum (2019) found that electrification significantly positively affects households’ average school years in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
Enhancing Individuals’ Subjective Well-Being
Subjective well-being captures personal and emotional dimensions that reflect how rural households perceive and experience their lives.
The effects of household energy transition on subjective well-being have been well-documented. For example, Ma et al. (2022) found that switching from non-clean or mixed fuels to clean fuels significantly improves rural residents’ happiness and life satisfaction in the PRC. Nasrudin et al. (2022) reported that access to clean energy, such as electricity, enhances housing conditions and increases people’s comfort, ultimately boosting their happiness in Indonesia. Meanwhile, Nguyen-Phung and Le (2024) demonstrated that energy poverty significantly reduces the life satisfaction of older adults by affecting their physical and mental health in Viet Nam.
Promoting Female Empowerment
Household energy transition affects men and women differently. The gender-differential effects are attributed to the fact that in many rural areas of developing countries, women, mainly responsible for household chores, such as fuel collection and cooking, are expected to gain more from the energy transition. Consequently, the transition to cleaner energy sources contributes to female empowerment and the promotion of gender equality.
For example, Lee et al. (2024) found that clean fuel use empowers women across five dimensions: awareness, work, mobility, decision-making, and financial autonomy in rural India. Similarly, Zheng et al. (2025) revealed that a complete energy transition for cooking and heating reduces the decision-making power gap between men and women more than an incomplete one in rural PRC.
Macro-Level Impacts of Rural Energy Transition
Beyond the micro-level impacts, rural energy transition can also generate other benefits at the macro level. For example, it can improve environmental sustainability, mitigate climate change, and reduce deforestation and forest degradation. Zhang et al. (2020) found that rural PRC’s Winter Clean Heating Pilot project reduced AQI, PM2.5, NOx, and SO2 emissions by 20.4%, 18.6%, 34.1%, and 68.4%, respectively. Yawale et al. (2023) highlighted that energy transitions in rural India’s residential sector contribute to mitigating emissions of hazardous air pollutants such as black carbon, organic carbon, and particulate matter.
Despite the benefits of rural energy transition, one should not ignore the pollution generated from clean energy production. Coal is still an essential source of electricity production in countries such as the PRC, India, and Indonesia. Tong et al. (2021) found that approximately 92% of deaths related to power plant emissions between 2010 and 2018 occurred in low-income or emerging economies, including the PRC, India, and Southeast Asia. Coal-fired power plants emit large amounts of carbon and significantly degrade local air quality through primary and reactive air pollutants. Additionally, they contribute to water stress due to cooling requirements and expose communities to harmful contaminants, including arsenic, selenium, fluorine, and mercury, released during coal combustion.
Barriers to Rural Household Energy Transition
Despite the recognized benefits of household energy transition in promoting sustainable rural development, the process is hindered by a range of significant barriers. These include high upfront costs for clean energy technologies and limited access to modern energy services (Ahmad and Jabeen, 2023; Rahut et al., 2019).
Additionally, deep-rooted reliance on traditional energy sources, such as biomass and coal, combined with inadequate awareness of clean energy’s benefits, presents cultural and behavioral challenges (Zheng et al., 2025). The absence of comprehensive and consistent policies and weak implementation further delays progress (Moniruzzaman and Day, 2020).
Pathways to Promote Household Energy Transition for Sustainable Rural Development
A comprehensive policy approach is crucial to accelerate rural energy transitions and achieve sustainable development goals.
First, governments and international organizations should enhance financial support initiatives to overcome the barrier of high upfront costs for clean energy technologies. Offering financial incentives, such as subsidies and low-interest loans, can help reduce the initial cost burden for low-income households, making clean energy technologies more accessible. Additionally, fostering collaboration between governments and the private sector can drive the development of affordable and scalable clean energy solutions.
Second, limited access to modern energy services, particularly in remote rural areas, necessitates targeted investments in infrastructure development. This includes expanding grid connectivity to reach underserved areas, supporting off-grid and decentralized energy systems (e.g., solar home systems) to serve remote communities, and strengthening supply chains to ensure that clean energy technologies and spare parts are locally available and affordable. Furthermore, engaging local organizations to provide ongoing technical support and maintenance services can significantly enhance the sustainability and usability of these technologies.
Third, addressing the deep-rooted reliance on traditional fuels and the lack of awareness about clean energy benefits requires a multifaceted approach. Community-based campaigns can play a pivotal role in raising awareness by emphasizing the health benefits (e.g., reducing respiratory illnesses), environmental advantages (e.g., cutting emissions), and economic gains (e.g., saving time for productive activities) associated with clean energy adoption. Additionally, training programs are crucial for facilitating the adoption and effective use of clean energy technologies.
Finally, governments must establish robust policy frameworks and ensure effective implementation to remedy the absence of comprehensive and consistent policies. Policies should prioritize disadvantaged groups, including low-income families, marginalized castes, and women, to ensure equitable access to clean energy. Additionally, policies should be accompanied by clear guidelines, strong enforcement mechanisms, and systems for assessing effectiveness and adjusting strategies as needed. A solid policy foundation will help prioritize clean energy access, address disparities, and promote sustainable development.
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