IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i6p1353-d1608765.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effects of Foreign Direct Investment and Technological Innovation on Renewable Energy Consumption Under Varying Market Conditions in the EU

Author

Listed:
  • Godswill Osuma

    (School of Economics, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa)

  • Lumengo Bonga-Bonga

    (School of Economics, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa)

Abstract

The transition to renewable energy is a critical priority for the European Union. However, the roles of foreign direct investment and technological innovation in shaping renewable energy consumption remain unclear. This study examines their joint influence across 20 European Union countries from 2013 to 2023, employing Method of Moments Quantile Regression to capture varying effects under different market conditions. The findings reveal that technological innovation consistently enhances renewable energy consumption, strengthening its impact from 0.298 in the 10th to 0.488 in the 90th quantile, particularly in economies with a robust renewable energy infrastructure. However, FDI negatively affects renewable energy consumption across all quantiles, with coefficients ranging from −0.00000228 to −0.00000324, suggesting that foreign investments may not always align with clean energy goals. Additionally, inflation positively influences renewable energy consumption, implying that rising energy prices drive a shift toward renewables, while economic growth initially increases fossil fuel reliance before transitioning to cleaner sources. The study’s results emphasise the need for strong policy interventions to ensure that FDI aligns with renewable energy goals and that technological innovation continues to drive clean energy adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Godswill Osuma & Lumengo Bonga-Bonga, 2025. "The Effects of Foreign Direct Investment and Technological Innovation on Renewable Energy Consumption Under Varying Market Conditions in the EU," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-15, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:6:p:1353-:d:1608765
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/6/1353/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/6/1353/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ronald Wall & Stelios Grafakos & Alberto Gianoli & Spyridon Stavropoulos, 2019. "Which policy instruments attract foreign direct investments in renewable energy?," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 59-72, January.
    2. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January.
    3. Tri Wahyu Adi & Edy Susanto & Ade Caswito & R. Sapto Yuwono & Tarwaji Warsokusumo & A. Y. Agung Nugroho, 2024. "Influence of Fossil Fuel Prices on Fossil and Renewable Electricity Consumptions, GDP, Inflation and Greenflation: A Case Study in the Asia Pacific Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(4), pages 48-56, July.
    4. Paramati, Sudharshan Reddy & Ummalla, Mallesh & Apergis, Nicholas, 2016. "The effect of foreign direct investment and stock market growth on clean energy use across a panel of emerging market economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 29-41.
    5. Ji, Qiang & Zhang, Dayong, 2019. "How much does financial development contribute to renewable energy growth and upgrading of energy structure in China?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 114-124.
    6. Wei, Xiaobo & Mohsin, Muhammad & Zhang, Qiongxin, 2022. "Role of foreign direct investment and economic growth in renewable energy development," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 828-837.
    7. Matthew A. Cole & Robert J. R. Elliott & Per G. Fredriksson, 2006. "Endogenous Pollution Havens: Does FDI Influence Environmental Regulations?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 108(1), pages 157-178, March.
    8. Ang, James B., 2008. "Economic development, pollutant emissions and energy consumption in Malaysia," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 271-278.
    9. Appiah, Michael & Li, Mingxing & Sehrish, Saba & Abaji, Emad Eddin, 2023. "Investigating the connections between innovation, natural resource extraction, and environmental pollution in OECD nations; examining the role of capital formation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    10. Tan, Yan & Uprasen, Utai, 2022. "The effect of foreign direct investment on renewable energy consumption subject to the moderating effect of environmental regulation: Evidence from the BRICS countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P2), pages 135-149.
    11. Tuballa, Maria Lorena & Abundo, Michael Lochinvar, 2016. "A review of the development of Smart Grid technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 710-725.
    12. Steven Sorrell, 2010. "Energy, Economic Growth and Environmental Sustainability: Five Propositions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(6), pages 1-26, June.
    13. Zhao, Ning & You, Fengqi, 2020. "Can renewable generation, energy storage and energy efficient technologies enable carbon neutral energy transition?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    14. Hua, Weiqi & Chen, Ying & Qadrdan, Meysam & Jiang, Jing & Sun, Hongjian & Wu, Jianzhong, 2022. "Applications of blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies for enabling prosumers in smart grids: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    15. Cole, Matthew A., 2004. "Trade, the pollution haven hypothesis and the environmental Kuznets curve: examining the linkages," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 71-81, January.
    16. Shinwari, Riazullah & Wang, Yangjie & Gozgor, Giray & Mousavi, Mahdi, 2024. "Does FDI affect energy consumption in the belt and road initiative economies? The role of green technologies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    17. Doytch, Nadia & Narayan, Seema, 2016. "Does FDI influence renewable energy consumption? An analysis of sectoral FDI impact on renewable and non-renewable industrial energy consumption," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 291-301.
    18. Sbia, Rashid & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Hamdi, Helmi, 2014. "A contribution of foreign direct investment, clean energy, trade openness, carbon emissions and economic growth to energy demand in UAE," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 191-197.
    19. Mielnik, Otavio & Goldemberg, Jose, 2002. "Foreign direct investment and decoupling between energy and gross domestic product in developing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 87-89, January.
    20. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Sinha, Avik, 2019. "Foreign Direct Investment–CO2 Emissions Nexus in Middle East and North African countries: Importance of Biomass Energy Consumption," MPRA Paper 91729, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 19 Jan 2019.
    21. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Raghutla, Chandrashekar & Song, Malin & Zameer, Hashim & Jiao, Zhilun, 2020. "Public-private partnerships investment in energy as new determinant of CO2 emissions: The role of technological innovations in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    22. Pasquale Marcello Falcone, 2023. "Sustainable Energy Policies in Developing Countries: A Review of Challenges and Opportunities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-19, September.
    23. Omer, Abdeen Mustafa, 2008. "Energy, environment and sustainable development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(9), pages 2265-2300, December.
    24. Mohd Haizam Mohd Saudi & Obsatar Sinaga & Noor H. Jabarullah, 2019. "The Role of Renewable, Non-renewable Energy Consumption and Technology Innovation in Testing Environmental Kuznets Curve in Malaysia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(1), pages 299-307.
    25. 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.
    26. Blum, Helcio & Legey, Luiz F.L., 2012. "The challenging economics of energy security: Ensuring energy benefits in support to sustainable development," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1982-1989.
    27. Antonio Navas, 2019. "Does FDI generate technological spillovers in the host country? Evidence from patent citations," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 36(2), pages 399-414, July.
    28. Kim, Jeayoon & Park, Kwangwoo, 2016. "Financial development and deployment of renewable energy technologies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 238-250.
    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. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Sinha, Avik & Raghutla, Chandrashekar & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2022. "Decomposing scale and technique effects of financial development and foreign direct investment on renewable energy consumption," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PB).
    2. Faris Alshubiri & Mohamed Elheddad & Syed Ahsan Jamil & Nassima Djellouli, 2021. "The impacts of financial depth and foreign direct investment on the green and non-green energy consumption of OPEC members," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(6), pages 1-29, June.
    3. Muntasir Murshed & Mohamed Elheddad & Rizwan Ahmed & Mohga Bassim & Ei Thuzar Than, 2022. "Foreign Direct Investments, Renewable Electricity Output, and Ecological Footprints: Do Financial Globalization Facilitate Renewable Energy Transition and Environmental Welfare in Bangladesh?," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 29(1), pages 33-78, March.
    4. Muhammad Shahbaz & Mehmet Akif Destek & Michael L. Polemis, 2018. "Do Foreign Capital and Financial Development Affect Clean Energy Consumption and Carbon Emissions? Evidence from BRICS and Next-11 Countries," SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, vol. 68(4), pages 20-50, October-D.
    5. Yi, Sun & Raghutla, Chandrashekar & Chittedi, Krishna Reddy & Fareed, Zeeshan, 2023. "How economic policy uncertainty and financial development contribute to renewable energy consumption? The importance of economic globalization," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 1357-1367.
    6. Lahiani, Amine & Mefteh-Wali, Salma & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2021. "Does financial development influence renewable energy consumption to achieve carbon neutrality in the USA?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    7. 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).
    8. Festus Fatai Adedoyin & Festus Victor Bekun & Kayode Kolawole Eluwole & Samuel Adams, 2022. "Modelling the Nexus between Financial Development, FDI, and CO 2 Emission: Does Institutional Quality Matter?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-17, October.
    9. Yan Wu & Cong Hu & Xunpeng Shi, 2021. "Heterogeneous Effects of the Belt and Road Initiative on Energy Efficiency in Participating Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-21, September.
    10. Naqvi, Syed Asif Ali & Hussain, Mehvish & Hussain, Bilal & Shah, Syed Ale Raza & Nazir, Jawad & Usman, Muhammad, 2023. "Environmental sustainability and biomass energy consumption through the lens of pollution Haven hypothesis and renewable energy-environmental kuznets curve," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 621-631.
    11. Tan, Yan & Uprasen, Utai, 2022. "The effect of foreign direct investment on renewable energy consumption subject to the moderating effect of environmental regulation: Evidence from the BRICS countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P2), pages 135-149.
    12. Ghazouani, Tarek, 2022. "Dynamic impact of globalization on renewable energy consumption: Non-parametric modelling evidence," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    13. Habiba, Umme & Xinbang, Cao, 2023. "The contribution of different aspects of financial development to renewable energy consumption in E7 countries: The transition to a sustainable future," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 703-714.
    14. Appiah, Michael & Ashraf, Sania & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Gyamfi, Bright Akwasi & Onifade, Stephen Taiwo, 2023. "Does financialization enhance renewable energy development in Sub-Saharan African countries?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    15. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Hoang, Thi Hong Van & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar & Roubaud, David, 2017. "Energy consumption, financial development and economic growth in India: New evidence from a nonlinear and asymmetric analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 199-212.
    16. Soumen Rej & Barnali Nag & Md. Emran Hossain, 2024. "Foreign Direct Investment, Income Inequality and Pollution Reduction: Policy Trilemma for India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 221-248, August.
    17. Skare, Marinko & Gavurova, Beata & Sinkovic, Dean, 2023. "Regional aspects of financial development and renewable energy: A cross-sectional study in 214 countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1142-1157.
    18. Thanh Quang Phung & Ehsan Rasoulinezhad & Hang Luong Thi Thu, 2023. "How are FDI and green recovery related in Southeast Asian economies?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 3735-3755, December.
    19. Yi-Bin Chiu & Wenwen Zhang, 2023. "Moderating Effect of Financial Development on the Relationship between Renewable Energy and Carbon Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-18, February.
    20. Chao-Qun Ma & Jiang-Long Liu & Yi-Shuai Ren & Yong Jiang, 2019. "The Impact of Economic Growth, FDI and Energy Intensity on China’s Manufacturing Industry’s CO 2 Emissions: An Empirical Study Based on the Fixed-Effect Panel Quantile Regression Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-16, December.

    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:6:p:1353-:d:1608765. 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.