Exploring the effect of renewable energy on low-carbon sustainable development in the Belt and Road Initiative countries: evidence from the spatial-temporal perspective

Abstract

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has promoted the deployment of renewable energy to achieve sustainability. It is essential to reveal the influence of renewable energy on low-carbon economic development. The share of renewable energy consumption (SREC) is taken as the core explanatory variable in this paper, and its impacts on carbon emission intensity (CEI) and economic growth are investigated from the spatialtemporal perspective. First, the panel Granger causality test is applied for revealing the causal links among SREC, CEI, and economic growth during 1999-2017. Then, this paper investigates the impacts of SREC on economic growth and CEI through rigorous econometric techniques. Based on the regression results, Shapley value decomposition is utilized to account for the cross-country inequalities of economic growth and CEI.The main findings are as follows: (1) There exist bidirectional Granger causalities between SREC, economic growth, and CEI, which shows there is a systematic link between the three variables. (2) All models demonstrate the inverted U-shaped nexus between SREC and economic growth, indicating renewable energy deployment costs are urgent to be decreased with SREG increasing. Besides, capital investment and openness positively affect economic growth, but energy intensity has an opposite impact. (3) From the spatial heterogeneity perspective, the cross-country inequality in economic growth is primarily due to the regional inequality of capital investment, followed by energy intensity and SREC. By contrast, the impacts of labor and openness are negligible. (4) SREC has a negative effect on CEI. In addition, an inverted U-shaped 2 nexus between economic growth and CEI is observed. Energy intensity positively affects CEI, while the impacts of urbanization and openness are insignificant. (5) From the spatial heterogeneity perspective, the cross-country CEI inequality is mostly caused by the inequality of energy intensity, followed by SREC, urbanization and economic growth, while the contribution of the openness gap is little. This article provides important implications for low-carbon development in the BRI countries.

Renewable Energy, Economic Growth and Economic Development Nexus: A Bibliometric Analysis

“…Belt Road countries were investigated by [110,111], SAARC and ASEAN countries [112], as well as, South Korea [113], Bangladesh [114], Malaysia [115][116][117][118], Indonesia [119][120][121][122][123], Vietnam [124], Taiwan [125], Pakistan [126][127][128][129][130], Kazakhstan [131,132], and Thailand [133]. Not many studies dealing with the African continent [134] investigate the continent, [135] sub-Saharan Africa, [136] Rwanda, [137] Cameron, Nigeria [138], [139] Ethiopia and [140] Tunisia.…”

The Impact of Globalization on Renewable Energy Development in the Countries along the Belt and Road Based on the Moderating Effect of the Digital Economy

“…The BRI reaches 62% of the world's population, 30% of the GDP, and 50% of fossil fuel consumption [9]. Countries along the route are not only rich in fossil energy, but also more than half of the global energy is stored in renewable energies such as natural gas and wind [10]. In 2019, the growth rate of energy consumption in the B&R countries reached 3.57%, far higher than the global average growth rate of 1.76%.…”

“…Over the past 15 years, energy consumption in the B&R countries has grown by an average of 3%, which was higher than 1.38% for the world as a whole [4]. In this circumstance, the B&R countries should promote the renewable energy industry and reduce their dependence on the fossil energy [10]. However, most of the B&R countries are in the development phase and face issues such as outdated technologies and a lack of funds for renewable energy development [11].…”