IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i12p5538-d1680032.html

Governing the Green Transition: The Role of Artificial Intelligence, Green Finance, and Institutional Governance in Achieving the SDGs Through Renewable Energy

Author

Listed:
  • Irina Georgescu

    (Department of Economic Informatics and Cybernetics, Bucharest University of Economics, 010374 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Ayşe Meriç Yazıcı

    (Department of International Trade and Business, Istanbul Gelisim University, 34310 Istanbul, Türkiye)

  • Vildan Bayram

    (Department of Business Management, Istanbul Aydin University, 34295 Istanbul, Türkiye)

  • Mesut Öztırak

    (Department of Aviation Management, Istanbul Medipol University, 34815 Istanbul, Türkiye)

  • Ayşegül Toy

    (Department of Finance and Banking, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, 58140 Sivas, Türkiye)

  • Mesut Dogan

    (Department of Finance, Banking and Insurance, Bilecik Seyh Edebali University, 11210 Bilecik, Türkiye)

Abstract

This study examines the effects of artificial intelligence investments, green financing, government stability, and institutional quality on renewable energy consumption from a multidimensional perspective. Using panel data for the period 2014–2023, 15 leading countries in the field of green financing were included in the analysis. The Cross-Sectionally Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) method was preferred in the empirical analysis; robustness tests were conducted with Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) and Dynamic OLS (DOLS) estimators to assess the reliability of the findings. According to the findings, artificial intelligence investments have a significant and positive impact on renewable energy consumption in both the short and long term. Similarly, green financing contributes strongly and statistically significantly by enhancing the feasibility of clean energy projects. Furthermore, stable governments and the effective functioning of institutional structures support this process; both factors are observed to have a positive effect on renewable energy consumption. This study offers concrete policy recommendations in line with the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) 7, 9, 13, and 16.

Suggested Citation

  • Irina Georgescu & Ayşe Meriç Yazıcı & Vildan Bayram & Mesut Öztırak & Ayşegül Toy & Mesut Dogan, 2025. "Governing the Green Transition: The Role of Artificial Intelligence, Green Finance, and Institutional Governance in Achieving the SDGs Through Renewable Energy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-21, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:12:p:5538-:d:1680032
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/12/5538/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/12/5538/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Haifa Saadaoui & Nouri Chtourou, 2023. "Do Institutional Quality, Financial Development, and Economic Growth Improve Renewable Energy Transition? Some Evidence from Tunisia," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(3), pages 2927-2958, September.
    2. Mesut Dogan & Irina Georgescu & Hamza Çeştepe & Sevgi Sümerli Sarıgül & Havanur Ergün Tatar, 2025. "Renewable Energy Consumption and the Ecological Footprint in Denmark: Assessing the Influence of Financial Development and Agricultural Contribution," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-19, April.
    3. Alpon Satrianto & Akmil Ikhsan & Evo Yunanda Dirma & Candrianto Candrianto & Egy Juniardi & Mia Ayu Gusti, 2024. "The Effect of Institutional Quality on Renewable Energy: Evidence from Developing Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(5), pages 678-686, September.
    4. Du, Juntao & Shen, Zhiyang & Song, Malin & Vardanyan, Michael, 2023. "The role of green financing in facilitating renewable energy transition in China: Perspectives from energy governance, environmental regulation, and market reforms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    5. Wang, Jun-Zhuo & Feng, Gen-Fu & Chang, Chun-Ping, 2024. "How does political instability affect renewable energy innovation?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    6. Li-Chen Sim, 2023. "Renewable Energy and Governance Resilience in the Gulf," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Liu, Xiaorui & Guo, Wen, 2025. "Dynamic impact of green finance on renewable energy development: Based on scale, structure, and efficiency perspectives," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    8. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Fuhao & Chang, Yu-Fang, 2023. "Does green finance promote renewable energy? Evidence from China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    9. T. S. Breusch & A. R. Pagan, 1980. "The Lagrange Multiplier Test and its Applications to Model Specification in Econometrics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(1), pages 239-253.
    10. He, Lingyun & Liu, Rongyan & Zhong, Zhangqi & Wang, Deqing & Xia, Yufei, 2019. "Can green financial development promote renewable energy investment efficiency? A consideration of bank credit," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 974-984.
    11. Smirnova, Elena & Kot, Sebastian & Kolpak, Eugeny & Shestak, Viktor, 2021. "Governmental support and renewable energy production: A cross-country review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    12. Wang, Bo & Wang, Jianda & Dong, Kangyin & Nepal, Rabindra, 2024. "How does artificial intelligence affect high-quality energy development? Achieving a clean energy transition society," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    13. Yazici, Ayşe Meriç & Udemba, Edmund Ntom & Öztirak, Mesut & Bayram, Vildan & Mei, Yu, 2025. "Pathway to energy transition and sustainable environmental development and management: Analysis of hydropower energy policy as part of climate actions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    14. Joakim Westerlund, 2007. "Testing for Error Correction in Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(6), pages 709-748, December.
    15. Anam Javaid & Noman Arshed & Mubbasher Munir & Zahrahtul Amani Zakaria & Faten S. Alamri & Hamiden Abd El-Wahed Khalifa & Uzma Hanif, 2022. "Econometric Assessment of Institutional Quality in Mitigating Global Climate-Change Risk," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-13, January.
    16. Wang, Erhong & Gozgor, Giray & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar & Patel, Gupteswar & Hu, Guoheng, 2022. "Effects of institutional quality and political risk on the renewable energy consumption in the OECD countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Li, Wen & Li, Jing-Ping & Wang, Yun-Feng & Stan, Sebastian-Emanuel, 2025. "Is artificial intelligence an impediment or an impetus to renewable energy investment? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    18. Yunpeng Wang & Chun-Ping Chang, 2023. "The effect of policy stability on clean energy investment," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 327-344, February.
    19. Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary & Naoyuki Yoshino, 2020. "Sustainable Solutions for Green Financing and Investment in Renewable Energy Projects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    20. Halldén, Filip & Hultberg, Anna & Ahmed, Ali & Uddin, Gazi Salah & Yahya, Muhammad & Troster, Victor, 2025. "The role of institutional quality on public renewable energy investments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    21. Bartosz Jóźwik & Sevgi Sümerli Sarıgül & Betül Altay Topcu & Murat Çetin & Mesut Doğan, 2025. "Trade Openness, Economic Growth, Capital, and Financial Globalization: Unveiling Their Impact on Renewable Energy Consumption," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-19, March.
    22. Ajagekar, Akshay & You, Fengqi, 2022. "Quantum computing and quantum artificial intelligence for renewable and sustainable energy: A emerging prospect towards climate neutrality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    23. Li, ChangZheng & Umair, Muhammad, 2023. "Does green finance development goals affects renewable energy in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 898-905.
    24. Li, Menghan & Hamawandy, Nawzad Majeed & Wahid, Fazle & Rjoub, Husam & Bao, Zongke, 2021. "Renewable energy resources investment and green finance: Evidence from China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    25. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2021. "General diagnostic tests for cross-sectional dependence in panels," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 13-50, January.
    26. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2006. "Estimation and Inference in Large Heterogeneous Panels with a Multifactor Error Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(4), pages 967-1012, July.
    27. Zhang, Peng & Li, Zeyun & Ghardallou, Wafa & Xin, Yan & Cao, Jie, 2023. "Nexus of institutional quality and technological innovation on renewable energy development: Moderating role of green finance," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 233-241.
    28. Saadaoui, Haifa & Omri, Emna & Chtourou, Nouri, 2024. "The transition to renewable energies in Tunisia: The asymmetric impacts of technological innovation, government stability, and democracy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    29. Xia Zhong & Arshad Ali & Ling Zhang, 2024. "The Influence of Green Finance and Renewable Energy Sources on Renewable Energy Investment and Carbon Emission: COVID-19 Pandemic Effects on Chinese Economy," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(4), pages 16395-16418, December.
    30. Pesaran M.H. & Schuermann T. & Weiner S.M., 2004. "Modeling Regional Interdependencies Using a Global Error-Correcting Macroeconometric Model," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 22, pages 129-162, April.
    31. Vinothini Arumugham & Hayder M. A. Ghanimi & Denis A. Pustokhin & Irina V. Pustokhina & Vidya Sagar Ponnam & Meshal Alharbi & Parkavi Krishnamoorthy & Sudhakar Sengan, 2023. "An Artificial-Intelligence-Based Renewable Energy Prediction Program for Demand-Side Management in Smart Grids," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-26, March.
    32. Shao, Hanhua & Wang, Yaning & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wen, Huwei, 2024. "How does political stability affect renewable energy finance? International evidence," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    33. Boza, Pal & Evgeniou, Theodoros, 2021. "Artificial intelligence to support the integration of variable renewable energy sources to the power system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    34. Uzar, Umut, 2020. "Political economy of renewable energy: Does institutional quality make a difference in renewable energy consumption?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 591-603.
    35. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Yan, Jingyang, 2024. "Will artificial intelligence make energy cleaner? Evidence of nonlinearity," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 363(C).
    36. Sabina-Cristiana Necula, 2023. "Assessing the Potential of Artificial Intelligence in Advancing Clean Energy Technologies in Europe: A Systematic Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-24, November.
    37. Zheng, Huanyu & Wu, Jie & Li, Runze & Song, Yanwu, 2025. "The role of artificial intelligence in renewable energy development: Insights from less developed economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    38. Andile Dube & Sylvester Senyo Horvey, 2023. "Institutional quality and renewable energy capital flows in Africa," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, December.
    39. Vatamanu, Anca Florentina & Zugravu, Bogdan Gabriel, 2023. "Financial development, institutional quality and renewable energy consumption. A panel data approach," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 765-775.
    40. Alharbi, Samar S. & Al Mamun, Md & Boubaker, Sabri & Rizvi, Syed Kumail Abbas, 2023. "Green finance and renewable energy: A worldwide evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    41. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2007. "A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross-section dependence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 265-312.
    42. Zhou, Mingxiang & Li, Xing, 2022. "Influence of green finance and renewable energy resources over the sustainable development goal of clean energy in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    43. Kingsley Ukoba & Kehinde O. Olatunji & Eyitayo Adeoye & Tien-Chien Jen & Daniel M. Madyira, 2024. "Optimizing renewable energy systems through artificial intelligence: Review and future prospects," Energy & Environment, , vol. 35(7), pages 3833-3879, November.
    44. Rahman, Mohammad Mafizur & Sultana, Nahid, 2022. "Impacts of institutional quality, economic growth, and exports on renewable energy: Emerging countries perspective," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 938-951.
    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. Zheng, ShiYong & Li, Jiaying & Lu, Wen & Hafeez, Muhammad & Sohail, Muhammad Tayyab & Akbar, Muhammad Waqas & Attar, Razaz Waheeb, 2025. "How does the productivity of renewable energy respond to institutional pressures and higher education?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    2. Clement Olalekan Olaniyi & Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al‐Faryan & Eyitayo Oyewunmi Ogbaro, 2025. "Do institutional quality and its threshold matter in the sensitivity of the renewable energy transition to financial development? New empirical perspectives," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 5-43, January.
    3. Umut Uzar, 2024. "Free Speech, Green Power: The Impact of Freedom of Expression on Renewable Energy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-21, October.
    4. Uddin, Gazi Salah & Hasan, Md. Bokhtiar & Park, Donghyun & Ali, Md. Sumon & Wadström, Christoffer, 2025. "Exploring the economic and non-economic determinants of investments in renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    5. Zhang Zheng & Liu Zhe & Wang Huihui, 2026. "The Relationship Between Institutional Quality, Renewable Energy Investment, Financial Development, and Ecological Hazards: Evidence from ASEAN Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 17(1), pages 2153-2181, February.
    6. Zhao, Qian & Qin, Chuan & Ding, Longfei & Cheng, Ying-Yue & Vătavu, Sorana, 2023. "Can green bond improve the investment efficiency of renewable energy?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PB).
    7. Altaf, Asma & Anwar, Muhammad Awais & Shahzad, U. & Bilan, Yuriy, 2025. "Exploring the nexus among green finance, renewable energy and environmental sustainability: Evidence from OECD economies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    8. Yang, Zhenghan & Wei, Changjing & Fang, Zhen & Song, Xiaowei & Shi, Yang, 2024. "What role green finance and natural resources play for energy transition in ASEAN nations? A pathway to mitigating environmental degradation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    9. Biswanath Behera & Puspanjali Behera & Narayan Sethi, 2024. "Decoupling the role of renewable energy, green finance and political stability in achieving the sustainable development goal 13: Empirical insight from emerging economies," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 119-137, February.
    10. Heng Luo & Lianping Zhang & YING SUN & Fakarudin Kamarudin & Arum Setyowati, 2025. "Nonlinear relationship between intellectual property protection and renewable energy innovation in 27 countries," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    11. Aijun Guo & Obaid Ullah & Ali Zeb & Naeem Ud Din & Shujaat Hussain, 2025. "Unveiling health dynamics: Exploring the impact of CO2 emissions, urbanization, and renewable energy on life expectancy and infant mortality in SAARC countries (1990–2022)," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(2), pages 1795-1822, May.
    12. Clement Olalekan Olaniyi & Nicholas Mbaya Odhiambo, 2025. "Do natural resource rents aid renewable energy transition in resource‐rich African countries? The roles of institutional quality and its threshold," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(2), pages 1330-1375, May.
    13. Mariam Camarero & Sergi Moliner & Cecilio Tamarit, 2025. "Which are the long-run determinants of US outward FDI? Evidence using large long-memory panels," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 259-290, February.
    14. Usman, Muhammad & Makhdum, Muhammad Sohail Amjad, 2021. "What abates ecological footprint in BRICS-T region? Exploring the influence of renewable energy, non-renewable energy, agriculture, forest area and financial development," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 12-28.
    15. Sampene, Agyemang Kwasi & Li, Cai & Wiredu, John, 2024. "An outlook at the switch to renewable energy in emerging economies: The beneficial effect of technological innovation and green finance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    16. Muhammad Sadiq & Syed Tauseef Hassan & Irfan Khan & Mohammad Mafizur Rahman, 2024. "Policy uncertainty, renewable energy, corruption and CO2 emissions nexus in BRICS-1 countries: a panel CS-ARDL approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(8), pages 21595-21621, August.
    17. Maha Kalai & Hamdi Becha & Kamel Helali, 2024. "Effect of artificial intelligence on economic growth in European countries: a symmetric and asymmetric cointegration based on linear and non-linear ARDL approach," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 13(1), pages 1-37, December.
    18. Taimoor Arif Kiani & Samina Sabir & Unbreen Qayyum & Sohail Anjum, 2023. "Estimating the effect of technological innovations on environmental degradation: empirical evidence from selected ASEAN and SAARC countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 6529-6550, July.
    19. Jin, Taeyoung, 2022. "Impact of heat and electricity consumption on energy intensity: A panel data analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PA).
    20. Eugene Kouassi & Gnoudentiho G Silue & Oluyele Akinkugbe & Jean Marcelin B Brou, 2017. "Health expenditures and Income with Nonstationary Panel Data: Evidence from ECOWAS Member Countries," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(3), pages 2198-2218.

    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:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:12:p:5538-:d:1680032. 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.