The impact of financial development and geopolitical risk on renewable energy consumption: evidence from emerging markets

Abstract

In the past three decades, the significance of large industrialized emerging economies has been highlighted. In terms of economic productivity and CO2 emissions, these markets play an important role in the global environment. Hence, to achieve global environmental needs, transition to renewable energy sources is essential. However, financial constraints along with geopolitical risks could act as possible barriers to the required transition. Thereby, in this paper, we aim to assess the impact of financial development and geopolitical risk on renewable energy consumption in emerging markets from 1996 to 2015. A two-step system GMM is tested, revealing a positive significant effect of financial development on transition to renewable energy. Moreover, contrary to the expected negative effect of geopolitical risk, our results reveal significant positive effect of geopolitical risk on renewable energy consumption. We highlight that the effects of both financial development and geopolitical risk are more pronounced in the long run. Finally, imperative policy implications are highlighted.