The mediating effect of climate change on the relationship between energy resources and cost-saving sustainability and energy security in urban context

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Energy is widely acknowledged as a critical aspect of economic development, and a country’s ability to sustain economic growth depends on the security of its energy supply. Malaysia’s persistent energy demand and diminishing local energy supplies have recently increased energy industry operators’ and policymakers’ concerns about the country’s energy supply security. Finding economical energy options with secure production and a minimum environmental impact has long been the key goal for developing countries. For developing countries, energy security is a challenging task to meet rising energy demands in a long-term, environmentally sustainable manner. The study aims to examine the mediating effect of climate change on energy resources to achieve cost-saving sustainability and energy security in Sabah, Malaysia. METHODS: This study adopts quantitative research in which a public survey was conducted between April 28 and May 10, 2023, focusing on how Sabah’s energy resources, including nuclear, fossil, and renewable fuels, relate to Sabah’s cost-effective sustainability and energy security. In total, 100 questionnaires were distributed to different geographic or regional regions that are likely to differ from one another in terms of their beliefs or perceptions, educational backgrounds, income levels, and occupations. According to this study, the population of Sabah, Malaysia, will be 3.39 million in 2022. The sampling strategy used in the present research was non-probability convenience sampling. However, only 80 valid questionnaires were used as the sample size for this paper based on the Smart PLS sample size table. The response rate was 86.96%. A smaller sample was chosen in the study rather than a more thorough census due to the magnitude of the population. FINDINGS: The findings showed that protection motivation, theory consistency theory, and behavioral reasoning theory play important roles in planned behavior when looking at practical, long-term solutions to the problems of cost-effective sustainability, energy security, and climate change as mediating factors. The results showed five (5) hypotheses have been accepted with p-value at 0.000 to 0.031. Unfortunately, there are twelve (12) hypotheses were not supported with p-value at 0.085 to 0. 0.563 due to most of Sabah’s people had a poor understanding of and lack of acceptance of the need for energy. CONCLUSION: The study empirically confirms and conceptually proves that policy on the conceptual framework of environmental literacy and pro-environmental behavior should be adopted and reviews the country’s existing energy policy, the renewable energy policy, and the legal framework in resolving renewable energy sources that are still underutilized, environmentally responsible, and have a great deal of potential to satisfy the energy needs of both established and emerging nations.