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.
Economic integration in the form of Belt and Road Initiative project opens many opportunities and hazards, especially of the participating nations' environment. The current study attempted to empirically test the economic and energy usage (renewable and non-renewable) impact on some selected countries of belt and road projects. For this purpose, the panel data set of twenty-four emerging economies of belt and road projects was selected from 1995 to 2014. The autoregressive distributed lags technique of econometric applied to determine the effect of renewable and non-renewable energy, GDP and GDP2 for EKC, and gross fixed capital formation on carbon emission in the selected countries of Belt and Road Initiative project. The outcomes of this study confirm the existence of EKC in these underlined countries. Here, fossil fuel-based energy consumption is a source of environmental degradation, while renewable and clean energy usage can help sustain environmental conditions without affecting economic growth progress. Capital fixed formation in these economies can enhance economic growth and help to sustainable environmental conditions in the belt and road countries. Thus, based on these empirical outcomes, this study suggests economic and financial assistance in green renewable energy sources and clean technological innovation to enhance economic benefits of Belt and Road Initiative project without compromising the environmental conditions of the region.