Bootstrap-DEA analysis of BRICS' energy efficiency based on small sample data

Highlights: ► The BRICS' economies have flourished with increasingly energy consumptions. ► The analyses and comparison of energy efficiency are conducted among the BRICS. ► As a whole, there is low energy efficiency but a growing trend of BRICS. ► The BRICS should adopt relevant energy policies based on their own conditions. - Abstract: As a representative of many emerging economies, BRICS' economies have been greatly developed in recent years. Meanwhile, the proportion of energy consumption of BRICS to the whole world consumption has increased. Therefore, it is significant to analyze and compare the energy efficiency among them. This paper firstly utilizes a Super-SBM model to measure and calculate the energy efficiency of BRICS, then analyzes their present status and development trend. Further, Bootstrap is applied to modify the values based on DEA derived from small sample data, and finally the relationship between energy efficiency and carbon emissions is measured. Results show that energy efficiency of BRICS as a whole is low but has a quickly increasing trend. Also, the relationship between energy efficiency and carbon emissions vary from country to country because of their different energy structures. The governments of BRICS should make some relevant energy policies according to their own conditions