Energy transition and carbon neutrality: Exploring the non-linear impact of renewable energy development on carbon emission efficiency in developed countries

• Published in: Resources, conservation and recycling Vol. 177; p. 106002
• Main Authors: Dong, Feng, Li, Yangfan, Gao, Yujin, Zhu, Jiao, Qin, Chang, Zhang, Xiaoyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.02.2022
• Subjects: carbon; Carbon emission efficiency; Carbon neutrality; Developed countries; energy; income; Interactive fixed effects; Panel threshold model; Renewable energy development; renewable energy sources; threshold models; Developed countries; Panel threshold model; Carbon neutrality; Carbon emission efficiency; Renewable energy development; Interactive fixed effects
• ISSN: 0921-3449; 1879-0658
• DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.106002

•The impact of renewable energy development on carbon emission efficiency is studied.•A panel threshold model with IFEs is employed to explore the nonlinear relationship.•RED has a positive but nonlinear effect on CEE.•The positive effect declines as the energy consumption intensity enhances.•The positive effect improves as the financial development, RED and CEE increase. This study aims to explore the non-linear renewables and carbon emission efficiency (CEE) nexus to optimize the energy transition path. Taking 32 developed countries that have proposed carbon neutrality targets as the research objects, the super-efficiency slacks-based measure (SE-SBM) model is first used to measure their CEE from 2000 to 2018. Then, a newly developed panel threshold model with interactive fixed effects (PTIFEs) is established to comprehensively explore the non-linear impact of renewable energy development (RED) on CEE. The results show that: (1) During the sample period, there are significant differences in CEE among countries, and most countries are inefficient. (2) On the whole, RED is conductive to CEE, but there is a significant threshold effect. Specifically, this positive effect decreases with energy consumption intensity, whereas it increases with financial development, RED, and CEE. (3) The heterogeneity analysis shows that the threshold effect persists across countries with different income levels, and the direction is consistent with the entire sample. Besides, as the incomes down, the positive correlation between RED and CEE is significantly diminished. This study provides a new perspective for optimizing the energy transition path.