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The energy crisis is a major challenge to sustainable development. Governments therefore constantly seek ways to improve energy conservation. In this paper, our goal was to promote energy conservation and simultaneously increase employment. First, based on China's current regional energy conservation model, social energy costs and employment factors are comprehensively considered to construct an inter-provincial cooperative energy conservation model, the minimal core method is used to construct a cooperative interprovincial benefit-distribution model. Second, representative regions of China (Beijing, Shanghai, Shanxi, and Sichuan) were selected to demonstrate the model in an empirical analysis of cooperative provincial energy conservation. It was found that the total employment in Beijing, Shanghai, Shanxi, and Sichuan can be increased by 9.84 × 106 persons, and the total social energy cost can be decreased by US$59.22 × 106. The cooperative benefit distribution model can increase the total benefit by US$65.28 × 106. Finally, to verify the robustness and feasibility of the model, the sensitivity of the model to these changes is analyzed by changing the parameter values, and it was found that the model was both robust and feasible. The research results provide a new way to improve China's current energy conservation model. • The inter-provincial cooperation model for employment and social energy costs (i.e. bi-objective model). • Constructs a social energy cost function. • Considers energy structure factors. • Uses the minimal core method for benefit distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]