IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i22p7486-d1276039.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Review and Analysis of Green Energy and the Environmental Policies in South Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Hassan Qudrat-Ullah

    (School of Administrative Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M9V 3K7, Canada)

Abstract

This paper explores the challenges and opportunities for green energy and environment transition in South Asia, a region that faces the dilemma of meeting its growing energy demand while reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and environmental vulnerability. The region has rich renewable energy sources and potential for energy efficiency improvement, but it also relies heavily on fossil fuels and suffers from various barriers and constraints that hinder its green energy development. The region needs policies that can achieve economic growth, social welfare, and environmental sustainability coherently and effectively. Utilizing the thematic literature review approach, this paper examines the literature on four main topics: (1) the estimation of green energy resources potential and scenarios in South Asia; (2) the comparison of green energy targets and policies in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries; (3) the evaluation of green energy deployment and performance in different sectors; and (4) the identification of green energy transition challenges and opportunities in South Asia. This paper fills some research gaps in the literature by providing a comprehensive, comparative, holistic, and integrated analysis of green energy and environment policies in South Asia, using various data sources, methods, frameworks, criteria, indicators, scenarios, impacts, trade-offs, drivers, barriers, best practices, lessons learned, and policy recommendations. This paper also develops a conceptual model for the green energy transition in South Asia, which consists of five key variables: green energy potential, green energy policies, green energy deployment, green energy performance, and green energy transition. The main findings and implications of this paper are that South Asia has a huge opportunity to pursue a green energy and environment transition that can address its multiple challenges and aspirations, but this requires overcoming various obstacles and constraints that hinder its progress. This paper suggests some policy options and strategies to enhance the green energy and environment policies in South Asia, such as developing a clear and consistent policy framework, enhancing regional cooperation and collaboration, leveraging information technology and data analytics, emphasizing sustainability and resilience, and engaging with other stakeholders and partners.

Suggested Citation

  • Hassan Qudrat-Ullah, 2023. "A Review and Analysis of Green Energy and the Environmental Policies in South Asia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-17, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:22:p:7486-:d:1276039
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/22/7486/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/22/7486/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hassan Qudrat-Ullah & Muhammad Ashiq & Naveed Subhani, 2018. "How to make better energy policy decisions? The stock and flow perspective," International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 14(2/3), pages 250-275.
    2. Jiang, Tangyang & Cao, Chi & Lei, Leyuan & Hou, Jie & Yu, Yang & Jahanger, Atif, 2023. "Temporal and spatial patterns, efficiency losses and impact factors of energy mismatch in China under environmental constraints," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    3. Palit, Debajit & Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Cooper, Christopher & Zoppo, David & Eidsness, Jay & Crafton, Meredith & Johnson, Katie & Clarke, Shannon, 2013. "The trials and tribulations of the Village Energy Security Programme (VESP) in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 407-417.
    4. Shahiduzzaman, Md. & Alam, Khorshed, 2014. "The long-run impact of Information and Communication Technology on economic output: The case of Australia," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 623-633.
    5. Hassan Qudrat-Ullah & Chinedu Miracle Nevo, 2022. "Analysis of the Dynamic Relationships among Renewable Energy Consumption, Economic Growth, Financial Development, and Carbon Dioxide Emission in Five Sub-Saharan African Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-19, August.
    6. Qudrat-Ullah, Hassan & Kayal, Aymen & Mugumya, Andrew, 2021. "Cost-effective energy billing mechanisms for small and medium-scale industrial customers in Uganda," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hendalianpour, Ayad & Liu, Peide & Amirghodsi, Sirous & Hamzehlou, Mohammad, 2022. "Designing a System Dynamics model to simulate criteria affecting oil and gas development contracts," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Vallecha, Harshit & Bhattacharjee, Debraj & Osiri, John Kalu & Bhola, Prabha, 2021. "Evaluation of barriers and enablers through integrative multicriteria decision mapping: Developing sustainable community energy in Indian context," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    3. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2017. "Contestation, contingency, and justice in the Nordic low-carbon energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 569-582.
    4. Charles Shaaba Saba & Nicholas Ngepah, 2021. "Nexus between telecommunication infrastructures, defence and economic growth: a global evidence," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 139-177, December.
    5. Holstenkamp, Lars, 2019. "What do we know about cooperative sustainable electrification in the global South? A synthesis of the literature and refined social-ecological systems framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 307-320.
    6. Ronald Ravinesh Kumar & Peter Josef Stauvermann & Nikeel Kumar & Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad, 2019. "Exploring the effect of ICT and tourism on economic growth: a study of Israel," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 221-254, August.
    7. Lv, Zhike & Liu, Wangxin & Xu, Ting, 2022. "Evaluating the impact of information and communication technology on renewable energy consumption: A spatial econometric approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Sivarasu, S.R. & Chandira Sekaran, E. & Karthik, P., 2015. "Development of renewable energy based microgrid project implementations for residential consumers in India: Scope, challenges and possibilities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 256-269.
    9. Atif Jahanger & Muhammad Usman, 2023. "Investigating the Role of Information and Communication Technologies, Economic Growth, and Foreign Direct Investment in the Mitigation of Ecological Damages for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals," Evaluation Review, , vol. 47(4), pages 653-679, August.
    10. Chambon, Clementine L. & Karia, Tanuj & Sandwell, Philip & Hallett, Jason P., 2020. "Techno-economic assessment of biomass gasification-based mini-grids for productive energy applications: The case of rural India," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 432-444.
    11. Charles Shaaba Saba & Nicholas Ngepah, 2022. "Nexus between telecommunication infrastructures, defence and economic growth: a global evidence," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 139-177, October.
    12. Comello, Stephen D. & Reichelstein, Stefan J. & Sahoo, Anshuman & Schmidt, Tobias S., 2017. "Enabling Mini-Grid Development in Rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 94-107.
    13. Shi, Hongxu & Xu, Hao & Gao, Wei & Zhang, Jinhao & Chang, Ming, 2022. "The impact of energy poverty on agricultural productivity: The case of China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    14. Kallal, Rahim & Haddaji, Abir & Ftiti, Zied, 2021. "ICT diffusion and economic growth: Evidence from the sectorial analysis of a periphery country," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    15. Appiah-Otoo, Isaac & Song, Na, 2021. "The impact of ICT on economic growth-Comparing rich and poor countries," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    16. Raga M. Elzaki, 2023. "Impact of Financial Development Shocks on Renewable Energy Consumption in Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-23, November.
    17. Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno, 2021. "Renewable Energy and Energy Saving: Worldwide Research Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-3, November.
    18. Tisdell, Clem, 2014. "Information Technology's Impacts on Productivity, Welfare and Social Change: Second Version," Economic Theory, Applications and Issues Working Papers 195701, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    19. Pradhan, Rudra P. & Arvin, Mak B. & Norman, Neville R., 2015. "The dynamics of information and communications technologies infrastructure, economic growth, and financial development: Evidence from Asian countries," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 135-149.
    20. Aparna Katre & Arianna Tozzi, 2018. "Assessing the Sustainability of Decentralized Renewable Energy Systems: A Comprehensive Framework with Analytical Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:22:p:7486-:d:1276039. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.