Generally, facilitating a slick switch to cleaner cooking fuels for households in the countryside has been a challenge. Based on survey data from the China Family Panel Survey for 2022 and provincial statistics, this study examined the effects of relevant factors on household cooking fuel utilization in rural China at the province, household, and neighborhood levels using a multilevel spatial logit model. The findings clearly indicate that new quality productive forces, household cultural consumption, and neighborhood effects significantly support households to adopt cleaner cooking fuels in rural areas. Further studies show that policies on green financial reforms and innovation, straw-burning ban guidelines, and atmospheric priority control areas activate new productive forces to support rural households’ switch to cleaner cooking fuels. These findings contribute to knowledge and action programs for the green transformation of rural energy consumption.

In the context of supply chain digitization and green development in full swing, it is crucial to clarify the impact of the former on green energy innovation. Using exogenous shocks deriving from supply chain innovation and application pilot events, this study examines the impact of supply chain digitization on green energy innovation based on the data of Chinese listed companies from 2012 to 2021. The findings show that supply chain digitization significantly enhances corporate green energy innovation and that receivable asset management is a path mechanism for supply chain digitization to drive green energy innovation. Moreover, there is a significant positive intra-city spillover. Supply chain digitization contributes significantly to corporate green energy innovation in state-controlled manufacturing firms with effective internal controls in the eastern region. This study has important policy implications for promoting green energy innovation and accelerating the development of modern supply chain systems.

The digital economy has become a driving force for global economic development, resulting in high demand for balanced regional development. Using surname distance as a proxy variable for cultural distance, this study examined the impact of cultural differences on the development of a regional digital economy. The results of the analysis of panel data from 31 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2019 indicated that the development of a region's digital economy positively contributes to the development of the digital economy in areas of cultural proximity. Further analysis of the mechanisms of cultural differences in the digital economy showed that cultural distance affects the development of the digital economy in a province through three mechanisms: birth rate, divorce rate, and the share of small families. Moreover, the findings suggest regional, divorce, and demographic heterogeneity in the impact of cultural distance on the digital economy.