Human capital and cooking fuel choices in rural China: Perspective from cognitive and noncognitive skills

Choosing renewable fuels for household cooking is of great significance for environmental protection. Using data from the 2016 China Family Panel Studies, this study empirically explores the impact of the human capital of rural household heads, measured by cognitive and noncognitive skills, on household cooking fuel choices and their mechanisms. The findings of this study are as follows: (1) improving the cognitive and noncognitive skills of rural household heads can significantly promote the use of renewable cooking fuels; (2) these two skills influence household renewable fuel choices through income effects and information-seeking effects; (3) raising human capital significantly increases the consumption of renewable fuels for household heads aged less than or equal to 65; and (4) compared with unmarried household heads, improving the human capital of married ones can significantly increase the use of renewable cooking fuels. Therefore, universal compulsory education, village/community adult training and education, and environmental protection publicity are important measures for carbon emission reduction, environmental protection, and sustainable economic development, particularly for developing countries.