The main objective of this paper is to fill the gap noted on the mediating role that inequality of opportunity can play in the link between economic inequalities and the quality of the environment in China. We start with data from the CFPS[1] survey (2012, 2014 and 2016), and we first calculate the share of inequalities explained by factors that households do not control, and which have an impact on their annual electricity consumption. We then estimate via a fixed-effect model, the link between household electricity consumption, income inequality, and inequality of opportunity.

The results obtained show that the factors not controlled by households and mainly: Hukou status, Hukou status at the age of 3, father's level of education, membership of the Chinese Communist Party, membership in an ethnic minority or even the region of birth, contribute almost 10% to inequalities in terms of electricity consumption at the provincial level. Our results also show that inequality of opportunity has a negative and significant effect on the electricity consumption of Chinese households. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of the inequality of opportunity on electricity consumption id significant from the 50th percentile.