• Energy Research

Russia is known to be a country with enormous energy resources both renewables and non-renewables. Much of the country’s effort towards energy generation has been on the development of the non-renewables over the years. This study examined the opportunities and challenges in Russia’s Renewable energy (RE) sector. By coupling both interviews and literature reviews, a total of 8 main opportunities and 7 key challenges were identified and discussed. The Best–Worst-Method was used to assign weights to the various factors using inputs of 30 experienced experts in Russia’s RE sector. According to the obtained results, the most significant opportunity that the country would have to take advantage of is the opportunity to export RE outside the shores of the country, it recorded 27.7 percent. This is followed by the country’s target for the RE sector which scored 18%, hydrogen production and need to meet local energy requirements followed with 12% each. The greatest challenge which also serve as a hindrance to the development of RE in the country is the low attention given to clean technologies from government, it recorded a weight of 31.4%. This is followed by unequal playing field, and strict local content requirements which recorded 17.9% and 13.5%, respectively. The study ended with some strategic recommendations to authorities for the development of the sector.

Investigating the determinants of environmental sustainability has become a very attractive and popular area of research in response to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs) and COP26 targets. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to explore the effects of renewable energy, technological innovation, and the insurance market on environmental sustainability in the United States (US). This work contributes to the extant body of knowledge by exploring the effect of the insurance market on the load capacity factor (LC), specifically regarding the US. The LC tracks a certain ecological threshold by simultaneously comparing biocapacity and ecological footprint (EF), thereby providing a comprehensive empirical analysis of ecological sustainability determinants. However, this proxy includes the combined attributes of the demand and supply sides of ecological sustainability. Using the recently developed autoregressive distributed lag method, this research reveals that the insurance market adversely affects the LC in the US. The overall outcomes highlight the positive role of renewable energy, technological innovation, and the insurance market in achieving the SDGs and COP26 targets. Policy recommendations for policymakers concerning promoting renewable energy, green innovation activities, the green insurance market, and ecological regulations are also discussed.

Considering the economic activities that trigger alarming situations for the global atmosphere and ecology, this work probes the associations of unemployment (UNE), GDP, population growth (POP), renewable (REN), non-renewable energy use (ENE), and ecological footprints (EF) for South Asian countries. The annual data of 1991-2019 is analyzed for empirical results. This is the first study that employs panel as well as country-specific estimations for South Asian countries by utilizing the Pool mean group (PMG) and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) methods, respectively. The study also validates the environmental Phillips curve (EPC) for selected counties. The empirical evidence in all models confirms the positive effects of GDP, ENE, and POP on environmental dilapidation whereas REN and UNE reduce environmental deprivation. The findings confirm the presence of the EPC in South Asian countries. This work presents some important policy instruments for south Asian countries to reduce environmental pollution. In the efforts to improve air quality, these countries have increased unemployment. These nations have to raise the share of renewable energy to the total energy consumption. This will sustain their economies with an increasing employment ratio. At the same time, there is a need to revise the urban policies because the increasing population is also a contributing factor towards environmental degradation.

Abstract Considering the set targets of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to increase research and development (R&D) expenditures, this study probes the long-term and causal association between renewable energy (RE), nonrenewable energy (NRE), economic growth (GDP), and ecological footprints (EFs) in the context of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). Empirical evidence is based on the panel data throughout the period 1990–2016 for the selected six ASEAN economies. The Westerlund co-integration test confirms the long-run association between R&D, RE, NRE, GDP, and EF. The results of Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) confirm the presence of EKC and show that R&D expenditures lower EF significantly. A 1% increase in R&D and RE decreases EF by 0.01% and 0.27%, respectively. Moreover, a 1% increase in GDP and NRE increases EF by 5.52% and 0.17%, respectively. This means that investment in R&D will enhance air quality by lowering EF in estimated panel countries. Moreover, NRE consumption and GDP increase EF. The panel causality results confirm the bidirectional association between GDP, RE use, R&D expenditures, and EF. To achieve a desirable goal of a clean environment, R&D expenditures hold a strong position for ASEAN countries. This finding should encourage governments to involve public and private investments in R&D programs for energy efficiency. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:1313–1320. © 2021 SETAC KEY POINTS Investment in research and development will enhance air quality by lowering ecological footprints in estimated panel countries. The panel causality results confirm bidirectional association between GDP, renewable energy use, R&D expenditures, and EF.

Environmental sustainability is one of the most critical issues that require efficient environmental and economic policies in modern times. Advancements in renewables and green technologies contribute significantly to sustained long-term development without affecting environmental quality. Several studies focus on the association of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e) with economic variables. However, they ignored the impact of technological innovations and renewable energy consumption on CO2e in developed countries. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between CO2e, energy consumption, gross domestic product (GDP), renewable energy consumption, and technology innovations in G-7 countries by employing cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed (CS-ARDL) lag and wavelet coherence techniques during 1990-2020. The results depict that GDP and renewable energy consumption are inversely related to CO2e. A 1% increase in CO2e will decrease GDP and renewable energy consumption by 0.459 and 0.172% in the long run and by 0.471 and 0.183% in the short run in G7 countries. Technology innovations negatively impact CO2e in the short run while positively influencing it in the long run. Considering the advancements in green technologies in different energy-dependent and manufacturing sectors is crucial for a sustainable environment in the long run. Such initiatives ensure the effective use of energy sources by limiting CO2e in the atmosphere. Moreover, the dynamic common correlated effects mean group model confirms the reliability and effectiveness of the CS-ARDL. The wavelet coherence approach revealed a causality relation between CO2e and technology innovation in Italy, Japan, the UK, and the USA during the study period.

This work investigates the impacts of female employers, renewable energy, and education expenditures on CO2 emission in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The annual data of 1990-2020 has been analyzed to present the empirical results. This work uses cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) approach to know long- and short-run coefficient values. The findings reveal that 1% increase in female employers, renewable energy, and education expenditures will decrease 0.04%, 0.64%, and 0.03% CO2 emissions, respectively, in the long run, which means female employers, renewable energy, and education spending are useful for South Asian countries to lower environmental pollution. This means that increasing female employers, ratio of renewable energy, and education expenditures are very important for South Asian countries to lower environmental pollution. This work recommends that education spending is providing environmental awareness, which is compulsory for cleaner environment.

Research scholars have diverted their attention towards the effect of biomass energy use on ecological footprints. Although recent research has investigated this association, the link between ecological footprints and biomass energy consumption has not provided consistent results. Therefore, this research attempts to fill the gap by examining the ecological footprints-biomass energy consumption nexus in the context of environmental Kuznets curve over the period of 1990-2016 in South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (SAARC) countries. Moreover, this work incorporates globalization, natural resources, and economic growth (GDP) for empirical analysis. In doing empirical analysis, we applied some econometric analysis to deal with the issue of cross-sectional dependence in the data. The outcomes of fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares estimations show that biomass energy consumption increases ecological footprints in SAARC countries. Moreover, globalization and GDP are also increasing ecological footprints. Environmental Kuznets curve cannot be validated in estimated countries. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test confirms one-way causality from biomass energy usage to ecological footprints. On the base of empirical results, several policy implications are suggested for SAARC countries.

Sustainable finance and green trade are essential to accomplish the green growth agenda. Though the literature prevails, little is known about the inclusive influence of financialization and trade openness on ecological status rather than just focusing on air pollution or inconclusive element. This study aims to analyze the role of financial dimensions and trade openness with environmental performance in the context of three panels of Asian countries consisting of low, middle, and high-income over the period 1990-2020. The estimated outcomes from the novel panel, the Granger non-causality technique, demonstrate that financialization further contributes to environmental deterioration instead of preserving the environmental quality. Regarding the low and middle-income economies, the authorities should enhance gains from trade openness to develop energy efficiency and ecological status policies. In the case of high-income Asian countries, they are even more desperate to consume energy and ignore the ecological challenges. The findings of this research offer various policy suggestions to accomplish sustainable development objectives.