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Is renewable energy a path towards sustainable development?

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  • Fangying Liu
  • Chi Wei Su
  • Meng Qin
  • Muhammad Umar

Abstract

In the process of global environmental governance, renewable energy (RE) has been the focus of government attention as an effective avenue to enhance environmental sustainability. Hence, this paper utilises the rolling‐window Granger causality test to probe the connection between RE and sustainable development (SD) and further probe whether RE can be a solution to reduce air pollution and boost ecological sustainability. The results reveal that RE has both positive and negative impacts on SD, which means that RE can effectively mitigate the ecological burden and progress toward SD in a certain period. This favourable impact supports the conclusions of the energy‐environment model, which indicates that the increasing share of RE is beneficial to improving environmental benefits. Conversely, the rise in SD drives more sustainable investment in clean energy projects and further contributes to RE generation growth. However, economic and government policy changes will affect sustainable investment in the renewable sector and transmit negative shocks to RE development. In the context of the increasingly severe environmental situation, the government should take some proactive measures favouring RE development and ecological sustainability to mitigate ecological deterioration and boost environmental quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Fangying Liu & Chi Wei Su & Meng Qin & Muhammad Umar, 2023. "Is renewable energy a path towards sustainable development?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(5), pages 3869-3880, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:31:y:2023:i:5:p:3869-3880
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.2631
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    2. Emrah Kocak & Mohammed Alnour, 2025. "The path to China's zero‐carbon target: Implications for the relationship between de‐coal, economic output, and carbon dioxide emissions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 100-112, February.
    3. Shoeib Faraji Abdolmaleki & Pastora M. Bello Bugallo, 2025. "Advancing Sustainability Assessment of Renewable Energy: A Study on Indicator‐to‐Framework Methods and Associated Rule Mining," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(3), pages 4393-4427, June.
    4. 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.
    5. Pata, Ugur Korkut, 2025. "How to progress towards sustainable development by leveraging renewable energy sources, technological advances, and human capital," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).

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