Sustainable development serves as a cornerstone for balancing human needs, economic growth, and environmental well being essential elements for a successful transition to clean energy. This research explores the impact of bioenergy expansion, a crucial part of the European Union's clean energy strategy, on early mortality rates across both more developed and less developed EU countries from 1990 to 2025. It particularly emphasizes the influence of legal regulations and business practices on this outcome. Using a detailed model that incorporates economic, social, environmental, and regulatory factors, researchers discovered that increased food availability, higher incomes, and better healthcare have boosted human security and lowered mortality rates across the EU. Yet, in less developed EU nations, higher death rates associated with biomass use remain a concern. This issue points to significant weaknesses in regulatory enforcement and the adoption of clean production standards by businesses. These findings highlight the urgent need for unified EU efforts at the intersection of clean energy laws and business practices. Implementing stricter regulations on biomass combustion, establishing strong clean production standards for the bioenergy sector, and enforcing rigorous quality control for imported biomass materials are crucial steps. Such actions will ensure that bioenergy expansion aligns with public health goals and supports the EU’s larger objectives of sustainable, law-driven clean energy development.

Dr. Mohamad Alsaleh is an Associate Professor in Economics. He earned his PhD in Economics from Universiti Putra Malaysia. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at Shanghai Ocean University and a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Tropical Agriculture & Food Security, Universiti Putra Malaysia (2025 2026). His core research interests cover environmental economics and management, natural resource economics and management, and sustainable development. He is an active guest editor and editorial board member for multiple peer-reviewed international journals. Dr. Alsaleh has served as a keynote and invited speaker for numerous international conferences and webinars. He has published more than 75 peer reviewed journal articles in SSCI/SCI indexed high impact journals. He is among the Stanford Elsevier World’s Top 2% Scientists and a recipient of multiple international and national academic honours, including the Shanghai High Level Overseas Talent award. Dr. Alsaleh supervises master and PhD students, and teaches advanced economics, environmental economics, development economics and related subjects at doctoral, master and undergraduate levels across multiple Sino foreign joint universities. He has taken part in a wide range of ministerial, provincial, municipal and university-funded research projects focusing on marine sustainability, marine environment, energy transition and environmental governance.