The significance of renewable energy use for economic output and environmental protection: Evidence from the next 11 developing economies

Increasing economic activities in developing economies are raising demand for energy which is mainly sourced from conventional sources. The consumption of more conventional energy sources will have a significant negative impact on the environment. Therefore, the attention of the policy makers, recently, has shifted towards the promotion of renewable energy generation and uses across the economic activities to ensure the low carbon economy. Given the recent scenario, in this paper, we aim to examine the role of renewable energy consumption on the economic output and CO2 emissions of the next fastest developing economies of the world. The study makes use of annual data from 1990 to 2012 and employs several robust panel econometric models. The empirical findings confirm the significant long-run association among the variables. Similarly, the results show that the renewable energy consumption positively contributes to economic output and has an adverse effect on the CO2 emissions. Given our findings, we suggest the policy makers of those economies to initiate further effective policies to promote more renewable energy generation and uses across the economic activities to ensure sustainable economic development.