IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v244y2025ics0960148125003337.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decarbonizing the G7: Renewable energy, economic growth, globalization, and policy Pathways to sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Huangxin
  • Zhang, Li
  • Pinzon, Stefania
  • Chen, Hongxi
  • Chen, Bin

Abstract

In light of the COP28 directive, which encourages G7 countries to intensify their emissions efforts that may contribute to accomplishing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Given that, it is vital to investigate the link between renewable energy consumption (REC), research and development expenditure (RDE), globalization (GI), energy intensity (EI), and GDP on CO2 emissions from 1990 to 2022. To achieve this goal, the study using a rigorous econometric methodology includes the Method of Moment Quantile Regression (MMQR), robustness confirmed by FMOLS, DOLS, and DKSE models, and Dumitrescu Hurlin (2012) Panel Causality tests. The most striking finding is that REC significantly reduces CO2 emissions across all quantiles; GI, EI, and GDP increase emissions in different quantiles, thereby balancing economic growth, which is a complex challenge for environmental sustainability. In addition, FMOLS, DOLS and DKSE advocate the robustness of the outcome, whereas causality outcome revealed that REC-RDE and EI have a bidirectional causal association. These results highlight the important role of renewable energy investments and the importance of planning for the environmental impacts of globalization. This study makes a unique contribution to the literature by providing granular insights into the drivers of carbon emissions and actionable policy recommendations to achieve SDGs 7, 12, and 13 that are important and consistent with the goals of the COP28 agreement.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Huangxin & Zhang, Li & Pinzon, Stefania & Chen, Hongxi & Chen, Bin, 2025. "Decarbonizing the G7: Renewable energy, economic growth, globalization, and policy Pathways to sustainability," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:244:y:2025:i:c:s0960148125003337
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.122671
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148125003337
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2025.122671?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Murshed, Muntasir & Saboori, Behnaz & Madaleno, Mara & Wang, Hong & Doğan, Buhari, 2022. "Exploring the nexuses between nuclear energy, renewable energy, and carbon dioxide emissions: The role of economic complexity in the G7 countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 664-674.
    2. Cem Işık & Serdar Ongan & Hasibul Islam & Stefania Pinzon & Gul Jabeen, 2024. "Navigating sustainability: Unveiling the interconnected dynamics of ESG factors and SDGs in BRICS‐11," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 5437-5451, October.
    3. Cem Ișik & Munir Ahmad & Uğur Korkut Pata & Serdar Ongan & Magdalena Radulescu & Festus Fatai Adedoyin & Engin Bayraktaroğlu & Sezi Aydın & Ayse Ongan, 2020. "An Evaluation of the Tourism-Induced Environmental Kuznets Curve (T-EKC) Hypothesis: Evidence from G7 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-11, November.
    4. Muhammad Umar & Xiangfeng Ji & Dervis Kirikkaleli & Muhammad Shahbaz & Xuemei Zhou, 2020. "Environmental cost of natural resources utilization and economic growth: Can China shift some burden through globalization for sustainable development?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1678-1688, November.
    5. Machado, José A.F. & Santos Silva, J.M.C., 2019. "Quantiles via moments," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 213(1), pages 145-173.
    6. Dumitrescu, Elena-Ivona & Hurlin, Christophe, 2012. "Testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 1450-1460.
    7. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2009. "Journal of Applied Econometrics Dissertation Prize," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(1), pages 207-207.
    8. Namahoro, J.P. & Wu, Q. & Zhou, N. & Xue, S., 2021. "Impact of energy intensity, renewable energy, and economic growth on CO2 emissions: Evidence from Africa across regions and income levels," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    9. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2015. "Testing Weak Cross-Sectional Dependence in Large Panels," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(6-10), pages 1089-1117, December.
    10. Kashif Raza Abbasi & Qingyu Zhang, 2024. "Augmenting agricultural sustainability: Investigating the role of agricultural land, green innovation, and food production in reducing greenhouse gas emissions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(6), pages 6918-6933, December.
    11. Chen, Yu & Wang, Yuandi & Zhao, Changyi, 2024. "From riches to digitalization: The role of AMC in overcoming challenges of digital transformation in resource-rich regions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    12. Pata, Ugur Korkut, 2021. "Linking renewable energy, globalization, agriculture, CO2 emissions and ecological footprint in BRIC countries: A sustainability perspective," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 197-208.
    13. Jahanger, Atif & Hossain, Mohammad Razib & Awan, Ashar, 2024. "Exploring the critical nexus among energy mineral, globalization, and CO2 emissions in NAFTA: What's the forum's response amid asymmetries?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    14. Işık, Cem & Bulut, Umit & Ongan, Serdar & Islam, Hasibul & Irfan, Muhammad, 2024. "Exploring how economic growth, renewable energy, internet usage, and mineral rents influence CO2 emissions: A panel quantile regression analysis for 27 OECD countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    15. Dong, Kangyin & Sun, Renjin & Hochman, Gal & Li, Hui, 2018. "Energy intensity and energy conservation potential in China: A regional comparison perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 782-795.
    16. Danish & Recep Ulucak & Salah‐Ud‐Din Khan, 2020. "Relationship between energy intensity and CO2 emissions: Does economic policy matter?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1457-1464, September.
    17. Awan, Ashar & Abbasi, Kashif Raza & Rej, Soumen & Bandyopadhyay, Arunava & Lv, Kangjuan, 2022. "The impact of renewable energy, internet use and foreign direct investment on carbon dioxide emissions: A method of moments quantile analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 454-466.
    18. Abbasi, Kashif Raza & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Zhang, Jinjun & Irfan, Muhammad & Alvarado, Rafael, 2022. "Analyze the environmental sustainability factors of China: The role of fossil fuel energy and renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 390-402.
    19. 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).
    20. Muhammad Ramzan & Mohammad Razib Hossain & Kashif Raza Abbasi & Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo & Rafael Alvarado, 2024. "Unveiling time-varying asymmetries in the stock market returns through energy prices, green innovation, and market risk factors: wavelet-based evidence from China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1-36, June.
    21. Wurlod, Jules-Daniel & Noailly, Joëlle, 2018. "The impact of green innovation on energy intensity: An empirical analysis for 14 industrial sectors in OECD countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 47-61.
    22. Ramzan, Muhammad & Abbasi, Kashif Raza & Iqbal, Hafiz Arslan & Adebayo, Tomiwa Sunday, 2023. "What's at Stake? The empirical importance of government revenue and debt and renewable energy for environmental neutrality in the US economy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 475-489.
    23. Arshian Sharif & Najia Saqib & Kangyin Dong & Syed Abdul Rehman Khan, 2022. "Nexus between green technology innovation, green financing, and CO2 emissions in the G7 countries: The moderating role of social globalisation," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1934-1946, December.
    24. Sun, Yunpeng & Anwar, Ahsan & Razzaq, Asif & Liang, Xueping & Siddique, Muhammad, 2022. "Asymmetric role of renewable energy, green innovation, and globalization in deriving environmental sustainability: Evidence from top-10 polluted countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 280-290.
    25. Tian, Binbin & Yu, Baixue & Chen, Shi & Ye, Jingjing, 2020. "Tax incentive, R&D investment and firm innovation: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    26. Abdullah Albaker & Kashif Raza Abbasi & Akram Masoud Haddad & Magdalena Radulescu & Catalin Manescu & Georgiana Tatiana Bondac, 2023. "Analyzing the Impact of Renewable Energy and Green Innovation on Carbon Emissions in the MENA Region," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-19, August.
    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. 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).
    2. Kashif Raza Abbasi & Qingyu Zhang, 2024. "Augmenting agricultural sustainability: Investigating the role of agricultural land, green innovation, and food production in reducing greenhouse gas emissions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(6), pages 6918-6933, December.
    3. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Nwani, Chinazaekpere & Bekun, Festus Victor & Gyamfi, Bright Akwasi & Agozie, Divine Q., 2022. "Discerning the role of renewable energy and energy efficiency in finding the path to cleaner consumption and production patterns: New insights from developing economies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    4. Ma, Qiang & Li, Sa & Aslam, Misbah & Ali, Naveed & Alamri, Ahmad Mohammed, 2023. "Extraction of natural resources and sustainable renewable energy: COP26 target in the context of financial inclusion," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    5. Zhou, Hui & Awosusi, Abraham Ayobamiji & Dagar, Vishal & Zhu, Guohua & Abbas, Shujaat, 2023. "Unleashing the asymmetric effect of natural resources abundance on carbon emissions in regional comprehensive economic partnership: What role do economic globalization and disaggregating energy play?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    6. Opeoluwa Seun Ojekemi & Mehmet Ağa & Cosimo Magazzino, 2023. "Towards Achieving Sustainability in the BRICS Economies: The Role of Renewable Energy Consumption and Economic Risk," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-18, July.
    7. Zhang, Xuan & Hasan, Mohammad Maruf & Waris, Umra, 2024. "Assessing the nexus between natural resources and government effectiveness: Role of green innovation in shaping environmental sustainability of BRICS nations," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    8. Tingli, Liu & Ishtiaq, Muhammad & Saud, Shah & Rasheed, Muhammad Qamar, 2025. "Achieving sustainable development in emerging economies: Interplay between markets, resources, and environment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    9. Zhang, Cong & Teng, Wei, 2023. "Natural resources led financing of investment: A prospect of China's provincial data," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    10. Chukwuemeka Chinonso Emenekwe & Robert Ugochukwu Onyeneke & Chinedum Uzoma Nwajiuba & Ifeoma Quinette Anugwa & Obioma Uchenna Emenekwe, 2025. "Determinants of consumption-based and production-based carbon emissions," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(5), pages 10303-10339, May.
    11. Hassan, Hassan & Tian, Shanwu & Safi, Adnan & Umar, Muhammad, 2024. "Climate commitments and financial moderation: A deep dive into renewable energy's influence on OECD carbon footprints," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1484-1495.
    12. Bright Akwasi Gyamfi & Divine Q. Agozie & Festus Victor Bekun & Cihat Köksal, 2024. "Beyond the Environmental Kuznets Curve in South Asian economies: accounting for the combined effect of information and communication technology, human development and urbanization," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 11263-11288, May.
    13. Aslam, Naveed & Yang, Wanping & Saeed, Rabia, 2024. "Environmental regulations or environmental-related technology to overcome energy security risk? Empirical analysis for top manufacturing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    14. Xie, Peijun & Jamaani, Fouad, 2022. "Does green innovation, energy productivity and environmental taxes limit carbon emissions in developed economies: Implications for sustainable development," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 66-78.
    15. Muhammad Anas & Wei Zhang & Satar Bakhsh & Liaqat Ali & Cem Işık & Jie Han & Xuemeng Liu & Hamad Ur Rehman & Amjad Ali & Min Huang, 2024. "Moving towards sustainable environment development in emerging economies: The role of green finance, green tech‐innovation, natural resource depletion, and forested area in assessing the load capacity," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 3004-3020, August.
    16. Zhao, Xue & Huang, Lu, 2022. "Understanding the dynamic role of natural resources, green technology, economic integration and social globalization towards sustainable environment in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Nooshin Karimi Alavijeh & Narges Salehnia, 2024. "Climate change, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and agricultural development in the Middle East and North African countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(8), pages 21125-21145, August.
    18. Feng, Yanchao & Yan, Tong & Zhang, Ci & Zhang, Zhenhua & Pan, Yuxi, 2025. "Assessing the internal nexus of energy transition at the global level: Insights from triple aspects of scale, structure, and efficiency," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    19. Yang, Shuangpeng & umar, Muhammad, 2022. "How globalization is reshaping the environmental quality in G7 economies in the presence of renewable energy initiatives?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 128-135.
    20. Li, Ruoyu & Gan, Yufei & Bao, Yifei & Zhou, Yun & Si, Dingwen & Liu, Qian, 2024. "Natural resources efficiency in terms of digital economy: Institutional efficiency and digital economy from the lens of natural resources," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(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:eee:renene:v:244:y:2025:i:c:s0960148125003337. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    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.