IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i17p4702-d1741989.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Complementarity and Substitution Effects of Investments in Renewable Energy and Global Economic Growth: Strategic Planning Opportunities for Development of Rural Areas

Author

Listed:
  • Szczepan Figiel

    (Department of Economics, Agricultural Policy and Development of Rural Areas, Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics—National Research Institute, 00-002 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Zbigniew Floriańczyk

    (Department of Agricultural Holdings Accountancy, Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics—National Research Institute, 00-002 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Barbara Wieliczko

    (Department of European Integration, Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00-330 Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract

Economic growth and societal well-being are highly dependent on the availability and efficient use of energy resources. This process evolves over time, along with changing developmental challenges, leading to an alteration of the world energy mix. The role of renewable energy sources in addressing these challenges has been widely recognized, but mostly from the ecological and climate change perspectives. Not enough focus has been paid to economic growth effects, such as potential job creation and income increases related to this process, often taking place in rural areas due to the availability of space and raw materials. In this context, the first objective of this study is to analyze the complementarity and substitution effects of investments in renewables and their connectedness with global economic growth. The second is to discuss the importance of effective strategic planning in supporting the growth of rural areas by promoting the production of renewable energy, based on selected international examples, including the EU Vision for Agriculture and Food recently presented by the European Commission. Using various data sources and employing basic statistical tools, we found that investing in renewable energy contributes to global economic growth. We also show how different countries view the indispensable role of rural areas in this process differently in their strategic policy documents.

Suggested Citation

  • Szczepan Figiel & Zbigniew Floriańczyk & Barbara Wieliczko, 2025. "Complementarity and Substitution Effects of Investments in Renewable Energy and Global Economic Growth: Strategic Planning Opportunities for Development of Rural Areas," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-21, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:17:p:4702-:d:1741989
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/17/4702/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/17/4702/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Poggi, Francesca & Firmino, Ana & Amado, Miguel, 2018. "Planning renewable energy in rural areas: Impacts on occupation and land use," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 630-640.
    2. Patrice Ollivaud & David Turner, 2015. "The effect of the global financial crisis on OECD potential output," OECD Journal: Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2014(1), pages 41-60.
    3. David Popp, 2002. "Induced Innovation and Energy Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 160-180, March.
    4. 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.
    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. Michail Michailidis & Eleni Zafeiriou & Apostolos Kantartzis & Spyridon Galatsidas & Garyfallos Arabatzis, 2025. "Governance, Energy Policy, and Sustainable Development: Renewable Energy Infrastructure Transition in Developing MENA Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-45, May.
    2. Samant, Shantala & Thakur-Wernz, Pooja & Hatfield, Donald E., 2020. "Does the focus of renewable energy policy impact the nature of innovation? Evidence from emerging economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    3. Chanyuan Liu & Long Xin & Jinye Li & Huaping Sun, 2022. "The Impact of Renewable Energy Technology Innovation on Industrial Green Transformation and Upgrading: Beggar Thy Neighbor or Benefiting Thy Neighbor," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-28, September.
    4. Zhang, Zhanren & Karimi, Mohammad Sharif & Weerasinghe, Naveen Mahasen & Bilan, Yuriy & Shahzad, U., 2024. "Interplay between economic progress, carbon emissions and energy prices on green energy adoption: Evidence from USA and Germany in context of sustainability," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    5. Bai, Caiquan & Feng, Chen & Du, Kerui & Wang, Yuansheng & Gong, Yuan, 2020. "Understanding spatial-temporal evolution of renewable energy technology innovation in China: Evidence from convergence analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    6. Bosetti, Valentina & Carraro, Carlo & Duval, Romain & Tavoni, Massimo, 2011. "What should we expect from innovation? A model-based assessment of the environmental and mitigation cost implications of climate-related R&D," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1313-1320.
    7. Xu, Ru-Yu & Wang, Ke-Liang & Miao, Zhuang, 2024. "The impact of digital technology innovation on green total-factor energy efficiency in China: Does economic development matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    8. Ismael Pérez-Franco & Agustín García-García & Juan J. Maldonado-Briegas, 2020. "Energy Transition Towards a Greener and More Competitive Economy: The Iberian Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-14, April.
    9. Hu, Hui & Qi, Shaozhou & Chen, Yuanzhi, 2023. "Using green technology for a better tomorrow: How enterprises and government utilize the carbon trading system and incentive policies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Nisamudheen, P.P. & Shareef, K. Hassan, 2025. "The role of human capital in driving renewable energy and sustainable development in India," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    11. Carrión-Flores, Carmen E. & Innes, Robert, 2010. "Environmental innovation and environmental performance," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 27-42, January.
    12. KAMKOUM, Arnaud Cedric, 2023. "The Federal Reserve’s Response to the Global Financial Crisis and its Effects: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis of the Impact of its Quantitative Easing Programs," Thesis Commons d7pvg, Center for Open Science.
    13. Aryal, Kishor & Maraseni, Tek & Apan, Armando, 2023. "Examining policy−institution−program (PIP) responses against the drivers of ecosystem dynamics. A chronological review (1960–2020) from Nepal," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    14. Al-mulali, Usama & Fereidouni, Hassan Gholipour & Lee, Janice Y.M., 2014. "Electricity consumption from renewable and non-renewable sources and economic growth: Evidence from Latin American countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 290-298.
    15. Nicholas Bloom & Tarek Alexander Hassan & Aakash Kalyani & Josh Lerner & Ahmed Tahoun, 2021. "The diffusion of disruptive technologies," CEP Discussion Papers dp1798, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    16. Hille, Erik & Althammer, Wilhelm & Diederich, Henning, 2020. "Environmental regulation and innovation in renewable energy technologies: Does the policy instrument matter?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    17. de la Croix, David & Gosseries, Axel, 2012. "The natalist bias of pollution control," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 271-287.
    18. Luigi Aldieri & Jonas Grafström & Kristoffer Sundström & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2019. "Wind Power and Job Creation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-23, December.
    19. Boulanouar, Zakaria & Essid, Lobna & Omri, Anis, 2024. "Achieving carbon neutrality in emerging markets: The dual impact of energy transition investments on economic growth and carbon emissions," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(PC).
    20. Todd D. Gerarden & Richard G. Newell & Robert N. Stavins, 2025. "Assessing the Energy-Efficiency Gap," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Economics of Environment, Climate Change, and Wine Selected Papers of Robert N Stavins Volume 3 (2011–2023), chapter 4, pages 53-118, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:18:y:2025:i:17:p:4702-:d:1741989. 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.