School of Economics and Management, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, People's Republic of China; School of Economics and Management, Xinjiang University, Wulumuqi 830046, People's Republic of China.
School of Economics and Management, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, People's Republic of China.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jul 15;882:163471. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163471. Epub 2023 Apr 15.
Renewable energy is a key component of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations, and is an important factor in facilitating the energy transition and carbon neutrality of countries. This study aims to examine the interaction between renewable energy consumption and carbon efficiency to achieve the goal of carbon reduction for environmental sustainability. This study measures the carbon efficiency globally and countries in each income group through the data envelopment analysis method. Then, this study empirically analyzes the impact of renewable energy consumption on carbon efficiency by controlling for heterogeneity, cross-sectional dependence and generalized moments estimation. The results show that (1) carbon efficiency enhances with the increase of income level, and the global carbon efficiency improvement is mainly due to the change of technological progress. (2) There is a weak improvement in scale efficiency in LI and LMI, dragged down by the decline in pure technical efficiency, which is the opposite of countries at higher income levels. (3) Renewable energy consumption has a positive effect on the improvement of carbon efficiency at all income levels, and there is a two-way causal relationship between renewable energy consumption and carbon efficiency. The effect of renewable energy on carbon efficiency is most significant in countries with middle income levels. Policy makers in each country should promote the renewable energy development to achieve energy transition and reduce carbon emissions. In addition, this study emphasizes that countries should consider the interaction between the renewable energy consumption and income level in ensuring sustainable development.
可再生能源是联合国可持续发展目标（SDGs）的关键组成部分，也是促进各国能源转型和碳中和的重要因素。本研究旨在探讨可再生能源消费与碳效率之间的相互作用，以实现环境可持续性的减排目标。本研究通过数据包络分析方法衡量了全球和各收入组国家的碳效率。然后，通过控制异质性、横截面相关性和广义矩估计，实证分析了可再生能源消费对碳效率的影响。结果表明：（1）碳效率随收入水平的提高而提高，全球碳效率的提高主要是由于技术进步的变化。（2）LI 和 LMI 的规模效率略有提高，被纯技术效率下降所拖累，这与高收入国家的情况相反。（3）可再生能源消费对所有收入水平的碳效率提高都有积极影响，可再生能源消费和碳效率之间存在双向因果关系。可再生能源对碳效率的影响在中等收入国家最为显著。各国政策制定者应促进可再生能源发展，以实现能源转型和减少碳排放。此外，本研究强调，各国在确保可持续发展时应考虑可再生能源消费与收入水平之间的相互作用。
