IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2020i1p180-d468958.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Green Energy Complement Economic Growth for Achieving Environmental Sustainability? Evidence from Saudi Arabia

Author

Listed:
  • Montassar Kahia

    (Department of Economics and Finance, College of Business and Economics, Qassim University, P.O. Box 6640, Buraidah 51452, Qassim, Saudi Arabia)

  • Anis Omri

    (Department of Business Administration, College of Business and Economics, Qassim University, P.O. Box 6640, Buraidah 51452, Qassim, Saudi Arabia)

  • Bilel Jarraya

    (Department of Accounting, College of Business and Economics, Qassim University, P.O. Box 6640, Buraidah 51452, Qassim, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

This study extends previous environmental sustainability literature by investigating the joint impact of economic growth and renewable energy on reducing CO 2 emissions in Saudi Arabia over the period 1990–2016. Using the fully modified ordinary least-square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least-square DOLS estimators, we find that economic growth increases CO 2 emissions in all estimated models. Moreover, the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is only supported for CO 2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption. The invalidity of the EKC hypothesis in the most commonly used models implies that economic growth alone is not sufficient to enhance environmental quality. Renewable energy is found to have a weak influence on reducing the indicators of environmental degradation. We also find that the joint impact of renewable energy consumption and economic growth on the indicators of CO 2 emissions is negative and insignificant for all the estimated models, meaning that the level of renewable energy consumption in Saudi Arabia is not sufficient to moderate the negative effect of economic growth on environmental quality. Implications for policy are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Montassar Kahia & Anis Omri & Bilel Jarraya, 2020. "Does Green Energy Complement Economic Growth for Achieving Environmental Sustainability? Evidence from Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:180-:d:468958
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/180/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/180/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    2. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    3. Susana Silva & Isabel Soares & Carlos Pinho, 2011. "The impact of renewable energy sources on economic growth and CO2 emissions - a SVAR approach," FEP Working Papers 407, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    4. Charfeddine, Lanouar & Kahia, Montassar, 2019. "Impact of renewable energy consumption and financial development on CO2 emissions and economic growth in the MENA region: A panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 198-213.
    5. Bhattacharya, Mita & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Paramati, Sudharshan Reddy, 2017. "The dynamic impact of renewable energy and institutions on economic output and CO2 emissions across regions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 157-167.
    6. Bélaïd, Fateh & Youssef, Meriem, 2017. "Environmental degradation, renewable and non-renewable electricity consumption, and economic growth: Assessing the evidence from Algeria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 277-287.
    7. Paul Alagidede & George Adu & Prince Boakye Frimpong, 2014. "The Effect of Climate Change on Economic Growth: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-017, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Dong, Kangyin & Hochman, Gal & Zhang, Yaqing & Sun, Renjin & Li, Hui & Liao, Hua, 2018. "CO2 emissions, economic and population growth, and renewable energy: Empirical evidence across regions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 180-192.
    9. Sugiawan, Yogi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2016. "The environmental Kuznets curve in Indonesia: Exploring the potential of renewable energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 187-198.
    10. Cemalettin Kalayci & P nar Hayaloglu, 2019. "The Impact of Economic Globalization on CO2 Emissions: The Case of NAFTA Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(1), pages 356-360.
    11. Susana Silva & Isabel Soares & Carlos Pinho, 2012. "The Impact of Renewable Energy Sources on Economic Growth and CO2 Emissions - a SVAR approach," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 133-144.
    12. Chris Hope, 2009. "How deep should the deep cuts be? Optimal CO 2 emissions over time under uncertainty," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 3-8, January.
    13. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2010. "Coal consumption and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 1353-1359, March.
    14. Alkhathlan, Khalid & Javid, Muhammad, 2015. "Carbon emissions and oil consumption in Saudi Arabia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 105-111.
    15. Menyah, Kojo & Wolde-Rufael, Yemane, 2010. "CO2 emissions, nuclear energy, renewable energy and economic growth in the US," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 2911-2915, June.
    16. Zoundi, Zakaria, 2017. "CO2 emissions, renewable energy and the Environmental Kuznets Curve, a panel cointegration approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1067-1075.
    17. Ben Youssef, Adel & Hammoudeh, Shawkat & Omri, Anis, 2016. "Simultaneity modeling analysis of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 266-274.
    18. Omri, Anis & Daly, Saida & Rault, Christophe & Chaibi, Anissa, 2015. "Financial development, environmental quality, trade and economic growth: What causes what in MENA countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 242-252.
    19. Shafik, Nemat, 1994. "Economic Development and Environmental Quality: An Econometric Analysis," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 757-773, Supplemen.
    20. Alkhathlan, Khalid & Javid, Muhammad, 2013. "Energy consumption, carbon emissions and economic growth in Saudi Arabia: An aggregate and disaggregate analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1525-1532.
    21. Kahia, Montassar & Ben Aïssa, Mohamed Safouane & Charfeddine, Lanouar, 2016. "Impact of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on economic growth: New evidence from the MENA Net Oil Exporting Countries (NOECs)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(P1), pages 102-115.
    22. Kang, Sang Hoon & Islam, Faridul & Kumar Tiwari, Aviral, 2019. "The dynamic relationships among CO2 emissions, renewable and non-renewable energy sources, and economic growth in India: Evidence from time-varying Bayesian VAR model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 90-101.
    23. Leal, Patrícia Hipólito & Marques, António Cardoso, 2020. "Rediscovering the EKC hypothesis for the 20 highest CO2 emitters among OECD countries by level of globalization," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 36-47.
    24. Sadorsky, Perry, 2009. "Renewable energy consumption and income in emerging economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 4021-4028, October.
    25. Mezher, Toufic & Dawelbait, Gihan & Abbas, Zeina, 2012. "Renewable energy policy options for Abu Dhabi: Drivers and barriers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 315-328.
    26. Bali Swain, Ranjula & Kambhampati, Uma S. & Karimu, Amin, 2020. "Regulation, governance and the role of the informal sector in influencing environmental quality?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    27. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2010. "Renewable energy consumption and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 656-660, January.
    28. Abdmouleh, Zeineb & Alammari, Rashid A.M. & Gastli, Adel, 2015. "Recommendations on renewable energy policies for the GCC countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1181-1191.
    29. Love, Inessa & Zicchino, Lea, 2006. "Financial development and dynamic investment behavior: Evidence from panel VAR," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 190-210, May.
    30. repec:ers:journl:v:xv:y:2012:i:sie:p:133-144 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Fırat Emir & Festus Victor Bekun, 2019. "Energy intensity, carbon emissions, renewable energy, and economic growth nexus: New insights from Romania," Energy & Environment, , vol. 30(3), pages 427-443, May.
    32. Alshammari, Yousef M. & Sarathy, S. Mani, 2017. "Achieving 80% greenhouse gas reduction target in Saudi Arabia under low and medium oil prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 502-511.
    33. Radoslav S. Dimitrov, 2016. "The Paris Agreement on Climate Change: Behind Closed Doors," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 16(3), pages 1-11, August.
    34. Bouznit, Mohammed & Pablo-Romero, María del P., 2016. "CO2 emission and economic growth in Algeria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 93-104.
    35. Kivyiro, Pendo & Arminen, Heli, 2014. "Carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, economic growth, and foreign direct investment: Causality analysis for Sub-Saharan Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 595-606.
    36. Kahia, Montassar & Aïssa, Mohamed Safouane Ben & Lanouar, Charfeddine, 2017. "Renewable and non-renewable energy use - economic growth nexus: The case of MENA Net Oil Importing Countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 127-140.
    37. Ben Cheikh, Nidhaleddine & Ben Zaied, Younes & Chevallier, Julien, 2021. "On the nonlinear relationship between energy use and CO2 emissions within an EKC framework: Evidence from panel smooth transition regression in the MENA region," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    38. AkbostancI, Elif & Türüt-AsIk, Serap & Tunç, G. Ipek, 2009. "The relationship between income and environment in Turkey: Is there an environmental Kuznets curve?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 861-867, March.
    39. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E. & Menyah, Kojo & Wolde-Rufael, Yemane, 2010. "On the causal dynamics between emissions, nuclear energy, renewable energy, and economic growth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2255-2260, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rabab Triki & Bassem Kahouli & Kais Tissaoui & Haykel Tlili, 2023. "Assessing the Link between Environmental Quality, Green Finance, Health Expenditure, Renewable Energy, and Technology Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Abdul Rehman & Magdalena Radulescu & Laura Mariana Cismaș & Cristian-Mihai Cismaș & Abbas Ali Chandio & Smaranda (Toma) Simoni, 2022. "Renewable Energy, Urbanization, Fossil Fuel Consumption, and Economic Growth Dilemma in Romania: Examining the Short- and Long-Term Impact," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-18, September.
    3. Amogh Ghimire & Feiting Lin & Peifen Zhuang, 2021. "The Impacts of Agricultural Trade on Economic Growth and Environmental Pollution: Evidence from Bangladesh Using ARDL in the Presence of Structural Breaks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-15, July.
    4. Ramzan, Muhammad & Abbasi, Kashif Raza & Salman, Asma & Dagar, Vishal & Alvarado, Rafael & Kagzi, Muneza, 2023. "Towards the dream of go green: An empirical importance of green innovation and financial depth for environmental neutrality in world's top 10 greenest economies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    5. Montassar Kahia & Bilel Jarraya & Bassem Kahouli & Anis Omri, 2023. "Do Environmental Innovation and Green Energy Matter for Environmental Sustainability? Evidence from Saudi Arabia (1990–2018)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-18, January.
    6. Halmat Omer & Murad Bein, 2022. "Does the Moderating Role of Financial Development on Energy Utilization Contributes to Environmental Sustainability in GCC Economies?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-16, June.

    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. Montassar Kahia & Anis Omri & Bilel Jarraya, 2021. "Green Energy, Economic Growth and Environmental Quality Nexus in Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-13, January.
    2. Tiba, Sofien & Omri, Anis, 2017. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy, environment and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1129-1146.
    3. Kangyin Dong & Xiucheng Dong & Qingzhe Jiang, 2020. "How renewable energy consumption lower global CO2 emissions? Evidence from countries with different income levels," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(6), pages 1665-1698, June.
    4. Sofien, Tiba & Omri, Anis, 2016. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy variables, environment and economic growth," MPRA Paper 82555, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Sep 2016.
    5. Paul Terhemba Iorember & Gideon G. Goshit & Dalis T. Dabwor, 2020. "Testing the nexus between renewable energy consumption and environmental quality in Nigeria: The role of broad‐based financial development," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 163-175, June.
    6. Muhammad Farhan Bashir & Benjiang MA & Muhammad Shahbaz & Zhilun Jiao, 2020. "The nexus between environmental tax and carbon emissions with the roles of environmental technology and financial development," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-20, November.
    7. Charfeddine, Lanouar & Kahia, Montassar, 2019. "Impact of renewable energy consumption and financial development on CO2 emissions and economic growth in the MENA region: A panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 198-213.
    8. Le, Thanh Ha, 2022. "Connectedness between nonrenewable and renewable energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emission in Vietnam: New evidence from a wavelet analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 442-454.
    9. Marra, Alessandro & Colantonio, Emiliano, 2021. "The path to renewable energy consumption in the European Union through drivers and barriers: A panel vector autoregressive approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Chen, Chaoyi & Pinar, Mehmet & Stengos, Thanasis, 2022. "Renewable energy and CO2 emissions: New evidence with the panel threshold model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 117-128.
    11. Radmehr, Riza & Henneberry, Shida Rastegari & Shayanmehr, Samira, 2021. "Renewable Energy Consumption, CO2 Emissions, and Economic Growth Nexus: A Simultaneity Spatial Modeling Analysis of EU Countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 13-27.
    12. Marques, António Cardoso & Fuinhas, José Alberto & Neves, Sónia Almeida, 2018. "Ordinary and Special Regimes of electricity generation in Spain: How they interact with economic activity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 1226-1240.
    13. Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Roubaud, David & Farhani, Sahbi, 2018. "How economic growth, renewable electricity and natural resources contribute to CO2 emissions?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 356-367.
    14. Cong Khai Dinh & Quang Thanh Ngo & Trung Thanh Nguyen, 2021. "Medium- and High-Tech Export and Renewable Energy Consumption: Non-Linear Evidence from the ASEAN Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-16, July.
    15. Mehmet Balcilar & Zeynel Abidin Ozdemir & Huseyin Ozdemir & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2018. "Carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption and economic growth: The historical decomposition evidence from G-7 countries," Working Papers 15-41, Eastern Mediterranean University, Department of Economics.
    16. Abdullah Emre ÇAĞLAR & Çiğdem DEMİR, 2018. "Yenilenebilir Kaynaklı Enerji Tüketimi ve Ekonomik Büyüme İlişkisi: Avrupa Birliğine Ait Yeni Bulgular," EKOIST Journal of Econometrics and Statistics, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 14(28), pages 9-30, December.
    17. Bölük, Gülden & Mert, Mehmet, 2014. "Fossil & renewable energy consumption, GHGs (greenhouse gases) and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of EU (European Union) countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 439-446.
    18. Mehmet Balcilar & Zeynel Abidin Ozdemir & Bedriye Tunçsiper & Huseyin Ozdemir & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2020. "On the nexus among carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in G-7 countries: new insights from the historical decomposition approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(8), pages 8097-8134, December.
    19. Iftikhar Yasin & Nawaz Ahmad & M. Aslam Chaudhary, 2020. "Catechizing the Environmental-Impression of Urbanization, Financial Development, and Political Institutions: A Circumstance of Ecological Footprints in 110 Developed and Less-Developed Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 621-649, January.
    20. Yang, Mian & Wang, En-Ze & Hou, Yaru, 2021. "The relationship between manufacturing growth and CO2 emissions: Does renewable energy consumption matter?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).

    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:jsusta:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:180-:d:468958. 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.