The role of renewable energy investment in tackling climate change concerns:

Abstract

In the contemporary era, tackling climate change-related problems has become a vital environmental policy agenda, especially for realizing the targets related to SDG-13. Therefore, this study aims to check the efficacy of scaling public investments in research and development for renewable energy development in countering the causes and effects of climate change in leading renewable energy-investing countries. Overall, the findings verify the climate change-inhibiting impact of such investments. In contrast, consumption of natural resources and urbanization are identified as factors responsible for piling up climate change-related concerns in the long run while no impact of net exports, in this regard, is evidenced. Moreover, the long-run results affirm that public investment in renewable energy development projects also exerts moderating effects for partially neutralizing the adverse climate change concerns associated with natural resource consumption and urbanization. Furthermore, such investments are also evidenced to mediate the repercussions of net exports on the causes and effects of climate change to further address climate change-related adversities in the long run. Based on these key findings, it is recommended to scale budgetary allocations for financing renewable energy technology development-oriented initiatives, enhance the efficiency rate of natural resource utilization, and deploy environmentally-sustainable urbanization policies for achieving the objectives of SDG-13.