IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0261091.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A systematic bibliometric review of clean energy transition: Implications for low-carbon development

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Zhang
  • Binshuai Li
  • Rui Xue
  • Chengcheng Wang
  • Wei Cao

Abstract

More voices are calling for a quicker transition towards clean energy. The exploration and exploitation of clean energy such as wind energy and solar energy are effective means to optimise energy structure and improve energy efficiency. To provide in-depth understanding of clean energy transition, this paper utilises a combination of multiple bibliometric mapping techniques, including HistCite, CiteSpace and R Bibliometrix, to conduct a systematic review on 2,191 clean energy related articles obtained from Web of Science (WoS). We identify five current main research streams in the clean energy field, including Energy Transition, Clean Energy and Carbon Emission Policy, Impact of Oil Price on Alternative Energy Stocks, Clean Energy and Economics, and Venture Capital Investments in Clean Energy. Clearly, the effectiveness of policy-driven and market-driven energy transition is an important ongoing debate. Emerging research topics are also discussed and classified into six areas: Clean Energy Conversion Technology and Biomass Energy Utilisation, Optimisation of Energy Generation Technology, Policy-Making in Clean Energy Transition, Impact of Clean Energy Use and Economic Development on Carbon Emissions, Household Use of Clean Energy, and Clean Energy Stock Markets. Accordingly, more and more research attention has been paid to how to improve energy efficiency through advanced clean energy technology, and how to make targeted policies for clean energy transition and energy market development. This article moves beyond the traditional literature review methods and delineates a systematic research agenda for clean energy research, providing research directions for achieving low-carbon development through the clean energy transition.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Zhang & Binshuai Li & Rui Xue & Chengcheng Wang & Wei Cao, 2021. "A systematic bibliometric review of clean energy transition: Implications for low-carbon development," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0261091
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261091
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0261091
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0261091&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0261091?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rolf Wüstenhagen & Robert Wuebker & Mary Jean Bürer & Dale Goddard, 2009. "Financing Fuel Cell Market Development: Exploring the Role of Expectation Dynamics in Venture Capital Investment," Chapters, in: Stefano Pogutz & Angeloantonio Russo & Paolo Migliavacca (ed.), Innovation, Markets and Sustainable Energy, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Behera, Bhagirath & Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Jeetendra, Aryal & Ali, Akhter, 2015. "Household collection and use of biomass energy sources in South Asia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 468-480.
    3. Managi, Shunsuke & Okimoto, Tatsuyoshi, 2013. "Does the price of oil interact with clean energy prices in the stock market?," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 1-9.
    4. Shankar, Anita V. & Quinn, Ashlinn K. & Dickinson, Katherine L. & Williams, Kendra N. & Masera, Omar & Charron, Dana & Jack, Darby & Hyman, Jasmine & Pillarisetti, Ajay & Bailis, Rob & Kumar, Praveen , 2020. "Everybody stacks: Lessons from household energy case studies to inform design principles for clean energy transitions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    5. Yanjun Yang & Rui Xue & Dong Yang, 2020. "Does market segmentation necessarily discourage energy efficiency?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-19, May.
    6. Henriques, Irene & Sadorsky, Perry, 2008. "Oil prices and the stock prices of alternative energy companies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 998-1010, May.
    7. Philippe Menanteau & Dominique Finon & Marie-Laure Lamy, 2003. "Prices versus quantities :environmental policies for promoting the development of renewable energy," Post-Print halshs-00480457, HAL.
    8. Sanya Carley & Elizabeth Baldwin & Lauren M. MacLean & Jennifer N. Brass, 2017. "Global Expansion of Renewable Energy Generation: An Analysis of Policy Instruments," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(2), pages 397-440, October.
    9. Felix Groba & Barbara Breitschopf, 2013. "Impact of Renewable Energy Policy and Use on Innovation: A Literature Review," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1318, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    10. Sadorsky, Perry, 2012. "Correlations and volatility spillovers between oil prices and the stock prices of clean energy and technology companies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 248-255.
    11. Weijie Cheng & Renli Cheng & Jun Shi & Cong Zhang & Gaoxing Sun & Dong Hua, 2018. "Interval Power Flow Analysis Considering Interval Output of Wind Farms through Affine Arithmetic and Optimizing-Scenarios Method," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-23, November.
    12. Heltberg, Rasmus, 2004. "Fuel switching: evidence from eight developing countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 869-887, September.
    13. Kumar, Surender & Managi, Shunsuke & Matsuda, Akimi, 2012. "Stock prices of clean energy firms, oil and carbon markets: A vector autoregressive analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 215-226.
    14. Guo, Zhengquan & Zhang, Xingping & Zheng, Yuhua & Rao, Rao, 2014. "Exploring the impacts of a carbon tax on the Chinese economy using a CGE model with a detailed disaggregation of energy sectors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 455-462.
    15. Cheng, Long & Wu, Zhiqiang & Zhang, Zhiguo & Guo, Changqing & Ellis, Naoko & Bi, Xiaotao & Paul Watkinson, A. & Grace, John R., 2020. "Tar elimination from biomass gasification syngas with bauxite residue derived catalysts and gasification char," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    16. Shikhar Ghosh & Ramana Nanda, 2010. "Venture Capital Investment in the Clean Energy Sector," Harvard Business School Working Papers 11-020, Harvard Business School.
    17. Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo & Pachauri, Shonali, 2007. "Fuel choices in urban Indian households," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(6), pages 757-774, December.
    18. Lin, Boqiang & Chen, Yufang, 2019. "Dynamic linkages and spillover effects between CET market, coal market and stock market of new energy companies: A case of Beijing CET market in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1198-1210.
    19. 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.
    20. Yao, Dingding & Wang, Chi-Hwa, 2020. "Pyrolysis and in-line catalytic decomposition of polypropylene to carbon nanomaterials and hydrogen over Fe- and Ni-based catalysts," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    21. Dutta, Anupam & Bouri, Elie & Noor, Md Hasib, 2018. "Return and volatility linkages between CO2 emission and clean energy stock prices," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 803-810.
    22. Menanteau, Philippe & Finon, Dominique & Lamy, Marie-Laure, 2003. "Prices versus quantities: choosing policies for promoting the development of renewable energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 799-812, June.
    23. Pham, Linh, 2019. "Do all clean energy stocks respond homogeneously to oil price?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 355-379.
    24. Anne Held & Mario Ragwitz & Reinhard Haas, 2006. "On the Success of Policy Strategies for the Promotion of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources in the Eu," Energy & Environment, , vol. 17(6), pages 849-868, November.
    25. Paramati, Sudharshan Reddy & Apergis, Nicholas & Ummalla, Mallesh, 2017. "Financing clean energy projects through domestic and foreign capital: The role of political cooperation among the EU, the G20 and OECD countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 62-71.
    26. Gupta, Gautam & Kohlin, Gunnar, 2006. "Preferences for domestic fuel: Analysis with socio-economic factors and rankings in Kolkata, India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 107-121, April.
    27. Martina K Linnenluecke & Mauricio Marrone & Abhay K Singh, 2020. "Conducting systematic literature reviews and bibliometric analyses," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 45(2), pages 175-194, May.
    28. Bhattacharya, Mita & Paramati, Sudharshan Reddy & Ozturk, Ilhan & Bhattacharya, Sankar, 2016. "The effect of renewable energy consumption on economic growth: Evidence from top 38 countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 733-741.
    29. Linnenluecke, Martina K. & Chen, Xiaoyan & Ling, Xin & Smith, Tom & Zhu, Yushu, 2017. "Research in finance: A review of influential publications and a research agenda," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 188-199.
    30. Guido C. Guerrero-Liquet & Juan Miguel Sánchez-Lozano & María Socorro García-Cascales & María Teresa Lamata & José Luis Verdegay, 2016. "Decision-Making for Risk Management in Sustainable Renewable Energy Facilities: A Case Study in the Dominican Republic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-21, May.
    31. Fouquet, Doerte & Johansson, Thomas B., 2008. "European renewable energy policy at crossroads--Focus on electricity support mechanisms," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 4079-4092, November.
    32. Wan, Daoxia & Xue, Rui & Linnenluecke, Martina & Tian, Jinfang & Shan, Yuli, 2021. "The impact of investor attention during COVID-19 on investment in clean energy versus fossil fuel firms," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    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. Zeng, Li & Wong, Wing-Keung & Fu, Hu & Mahmoud, Haitham A. & Cong, Phan The & Thuy, Dinh Thi Thanh & Bach, Pham Xuan, 2024. "FinTech and sustainable financing for low carbon energy transitions: A biodiversity and natural resource perspective in BRICS economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    2. Ahmed, Walid M.A. & Sleem, Mohamed A.E., 2023. "Short- and long-run determinants of the price behavior of US clean energy stocks: A dynamic ARDL simulations approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    3. Phemelo Tamasiga & Hope Mfuni & Helen Onyeaka & El houssin Ouassou, 2025. "Green industrial policy as an enabler of the transition to sustainability: challenges, opportunities and policy implications for developing countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 355-376, January.
    4. Zhen Liu & Xiaodan Li & Haoyu Tao & Qi Yang & Zhiping Liu & Jing Li, 2025. "Synergistic Evolution Characteristics and Driving Factors of High-Quality Economic Development and Green Space Ecological Benefits at Multiple Spatial Scales: Evidence from Shanxi Province, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-46, April.
    5. Hanan Wehbi, 2024. "Powering the Future: An Integrated Framework for Clean Renewable Energy Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-24, 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. Fernanda Fuentes & Rodrigo Herrera, 2020. "Dynamics of Connectedness in Clean Energy Stocks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-19, July.
    2. Ahmed, Walid M.A. & Sleem, Mohamed A.E., 2023. "Short- and long-run determinants of the price behavior of US clean energy stocks: A dynamic ARDL simulations approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    3. Liu, Yongtuan & Wang, Kewei, 2024. "Asymmetric impacts of coal prices, fintech, and financial stress on clean energy stocks," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    4. Gargallo, Pilar & Lample, Luis & Miguel, Jesús A. & Salvador, Manuel, 2024. "Sequential management of energy and low-carbon portfolios," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    5. Gu, Fu & Wang, Jiqiang & Guo, Jianfeng & Fan, Ying, 2020. "How the supply and demand of steam coal affect the investment in clean energy industry? Evidence from China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    6. Matteo Foglia & Eliana Angelini, 2020. "Volatility Connectedness between Clean Energy Firms and Crude Oil in the COVID-19 Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-22, November.
    7. Dutta, Anupam & Park, Donghyun & Uddin, Gazi Salah & Kanjilal, Kakali & Ghosh, Sajal, 2024. "Do dirty and clean energy investments react to infectious disease-induced uncertainty?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    8. Capucine Nobletz, 2021. "Return spillovers between green energy indexes and financial markets: a first sectoral approach," EconomiX Working Papers 2021-24, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    9. Fahmy, Hany, 2022. "The rise in investors’ awareness of climate risks after the Paris Agreement and the clean energy-oil-technology prices nexus," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    10. Ozkan, Oktay & Olanipekun, Ifedolapo Olabisi & Olasehinde-Williams, Godwin, 2024. "Dynamic correlation among renewable energy, technology, and carbon markets: Evidence from a novel nonparametric time-frequency approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(PB).
    11. Cody Yu-Ling Hsiao & Weishun Lin & Xinyang Wei & Gaoyun Yan & Siqi Li & Ni Sheng, 2019. "The Impact of International Oil Prices on the Stock Price Fluctuations of China’s Renewable Energy Enterprises," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-17, December.
    12. Tan, Xueping & Geng, Yong & Vivian, Andrew & Wang, Xinyu, 2021. "Measuring risk spillovers between oil and clean energy stocks: Evidence from a systematic framework," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    13. Ansaram, Karishma & Petitjean, Mikael, 2024. "A global perspective on the nexus between energy and stock markets in light of the rise of renewable energy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    14. Pilar Gargallo & Luis Lample & Jesús A. Miguel & Manuel Salvador, 2021. "Co-Movements between Eu Ets and the Energy Markets: A Var-Dcc-Garch Approach," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(15), pages 1-36, July.
    15. Dutta, Anupam & Bouri, Elie & Rothovius, Timo & Uddin, Gazi Salah, 2023. "Climate risk and green investments: New evidence," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    16. Zhang, Hao & Cai, Guixin & Yang, Dongxiao, 2020. "The impact of oil price shocks on clean energy stocks: Fresh evidence from multi-scale perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    17. Matteo Foglia & Eliana Angelini & Toan Luu Duc Huynh, 2024. "Tail risk connectedness in clean energy and oil financial market," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 334(1), pages 575-599, March.
    18. Asl, Mahdi Ghaemi & Canarella, Giorgio & Miller, Stephen M., 2021. "Dynamic asymmetric optimal portfolio allocation between energy stocks and energy commodities: Evidence from clean energy and oil and gas companies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    19. Bhattacherjee, Purba & Mishra, Sibanjan & Kang, Sang Hoon, 2023. "Does market sentiment and global uncertainties influence ESG-oil nexus? A time-frequency analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PA).
    20. Xiaohui Zhao, 2020. "Do the stock returns of clean energy corporations respond to oil price shocks and policy uncertainty?," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, December.

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0261091. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.