The impact of natural resources on renewable energy consumption

In this paper, we examine the relationship between natural resources and renewable energy consumption. We employ robust econometric modelling on a large sample of 162 developed and developing countries between 1990 and 2021. Consistent with expectation, we find a positive and significant association between natural resources and renewable energy consumption, suggesting that the extraction of natural resources promotes renewable energy consumption. Contrary to prior studies, we find that oil-producing countries have high renewable energy consumption. In cross-sectional analyses we found that relationship between natural resources and renewable energy consumption is stronger in developed countries than developing countries. Our results are robust to advanced econometric identification such as autoregressive fixed effect modelling and two-step system generalized method of movement. These findings extend the debate on the role of natural resources in the greening of economic recovery. •The role of natural resources in renewable energy.•The fixed effects and autoregressive fixed effect estimation were used for 162 countries.•Natural resources promote renewable energy consumption.•The impact of natural resource is more pronounced in developed than the developing economies.