Renewable energy and sustainable development: Evidence from 17 OECD countries

The achievement of sustainable development goals is depending on different factors. The aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between the renewable energy and the sustainable development. We employed the endogenous variable the adjusted net savings as the sustainable development factor, the renewable energy consumption as the exogenous variable, following by the control variables the gross fixed capital formation and the labour force. This work is done for 17 OECD countries during the period of 1990-2017. We assumed a balanced panel model, and we employed a panel random effect model and a panel ARDL cointegration model. The outcomes showed that the renewable energy consumption has a negative and significant impact on the adjusted net saving in the short-run, but in the long-term the renewable energy consumption has a positive influence on the sustainable development factor. Also, a bidirectional panel Granger causality was established between both variables.