Renewable energy consumption, environmental degradation and economic growth: the greener the richer?
Climate change presents the greatest challenge facing all countries of the world in the new millennium. Among others, objective 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims at adopting urgent measures to contrast climate change and its consequences. Part of the decline in the global growth of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X22003831 |
| _version_ | 1818006167667867648 |
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| author | Cosimo Magazzino Pierluigi Toma Giulio Fusco Donatella Valente Irene Petrosillo |
| author_facet | Cosimo Magazzino Pierluigi Toma Giulio Fusco Donatella Valente Irene Petrosillo |
| author_sort | Cosimo Magazzino |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate change presents the greatest challenge facing all countries of the world in the new millennium. Among others, objective 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims at adopting urgent measures to contrast climate change and its consequences. Part of the decline in the global growth of emissions has been the increase in using renewable energies. In this context, the relationship among GDP, CO2 emissions, and renewable energy use has been investigated in this study, starting from a systematic review that has noticed the presence of three clusters focused on: CO2 emissions, GDP, and energy consumption. Despite the current level of interest in examining the relationship among these variables, there have been few empirical studies. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper has been focused on the Scandinavian countries, where the use of renewable energies has steadily increased, developing novel panel analysis estimates. Using a dataset of these five economies over a 1990–2018 time period, several panel data tests have been carried out, in order to robustly assess the causality issue among renewable energies, CO2 emissions, and GDP. The results of the empirical analysis imply that renewable energy consumption is a useful policy instrument to reduce CO2 emissions without adversely affecting GDP growth. The main implications have been that the decrease of CO2 emissions, by increasing renewable energy use, can guarantee high levels of energy efficiency and economic growth. These empirical findings help design innovative energy policy roadmaps and accelerate the ecological transition through the promotion of renewable energy and the reduction of GHG emissions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T04:57:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-216cf00527bd4127a9530d0bdad3d11a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T04:57:42Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj.art-216cf00527bd4127a9530d0bdad3d11a2022-12-22T02:11:07ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2022-06-01139108912Renewable energy consumption, environmental degradation and economic growth: the greener the richer?Cosimo Magazzino0Pierluigi Toma1Giulio Fusco2Donatella Valente3Irene Petrosillo4Department of Political Science, Roma Tre University, Roma, ItalyDepartment of Economics and Management, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy; Corresponding authors.Regional Institute for Social and Economic Research (IPRES), Bari, ItalyLab. of Landscape Ecology, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy; Corresponding authors.Lab. of Landscape Ecology, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, Lecce, ItalyClimate change presents the greatest challenge facing all countries of the world in the new millennium. Among others, objective 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims at adopting urgent measures to contrast climate change and its consequences. Part of the decline in the global growth of emissions has been the increase in using renewable energies. In this context, the relationship among GDP, CO2 emissions, and renewable energy use has been investigated in this study, starting from a systematic review that has noticed the presence of three clusters focused on: CO2 emissions, GDP, and energy consumption. Despite the current level of interest in examining the relationship among these variables, there have been few empirical studies. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper has been focused on the Scandinavian countries, where the use of renewable energies has steadily increased, developing novel panel analysis estimates. Using a dataset of these five economies over a 1990–2018 time period, several panel data tests have been carried out, in order to robustly assess the causality issue among renewable energies, CO2 emissions, and GDP. The results of the empirical analysis imply that renewable energy consumption is a useful policy instrument to reduce CO2 emissions without adversely affecting GDP growth. The main implications have been that the decrease of CO2 emissions, by increasing renewable energy use, can guarantee high levels of energy efficiency and economic growth. These empirical findings help design innovative energy policy roadmaps and accelerate the ecological transition through the promotion of renewable energy and the reduction of GHG emissions.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X22003831SustainabilityRenewable energyCO2 emissionsGDPPanel dataScandinavian countries |
| spellingShingle | Cosimo Magazzino Pierluigi Toma Giulio Fusco Donatella Valente Irene Petrosillo Renewable energy consumption, environmental degradation and economic growth: the greener the richer? Ecological Indicators Sustainability Renewable energy CO2 emissions GDP Panel data Scandinavian countries |
| title | Renewable energy consumption, environmental degradation and economic growth: the greener the richer? |
| title_full | Renewable energy consumption, environmental degradation and economic growth: the greener the richer? |
| title_fullStr | Renewable energy consumption, environmental degradation and economic growth: the greener the richer? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Renewable energy consumption, environmental degradation and economic growth: the greener the richer? |
| title_short | Renewable energy consumption, environmental degradation and economic growth: the greener the richer? |
| title_sort | renewable energy consumption environmental degradation and economic growth the greener the richer |
| topic | Sustainability Renewable energy CO2 emissions GDP Panel data Scandinavian countries |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X22003831 |
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