Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Kirsehir Ahi Evran University, Kirsehir, 40100, Türkiye.
Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Sep;30(45):101725-101743. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-29464-y. Epub 2023 Sep 1.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), spearheaded by China, is anticipated to bolster trade, investment, and economic growth among participating countries to advance the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 7 through international trade. Within this context, renewable energy has emerged as a promising avenue to address environmental degradation and foster sustainable development. However, the impact of BRI's trade volume on renewable energy development and adoption in these nations remains unresolved. To address this, our study examines the influence of trade openness, foreign direct investment, economic growth, and oil prices on renewable energy consumption in 94 BRI countries with varying income levels from 2000 to 2019. Employing panel data analysis, including fixed effects (FE), random effects (RE), and the system generalised method of moments (GMM), we present findings across income groups: i) Trade openness exhibits a positive effect on renewable energy consumption in high-income and upper-middle-income countries; ii) In contrast, it diminishes renewable energy consumption in lower-middle-income countries; iii) Trade openness demonstrates insignificant effects on renewable energy consumption in low-income countries; iv) On the panel level, trade openness significantly and positively impacts renewable energy consumption. Our research underscores the significance of trade openness as a crucial instrument for advancing renewable energy development in high-income BRI countries, thereby fostering environmental sustainability. Policy interventions targeting renewable energy hold promise for enhancing environmental quality in low-income countries.
“一带一路”倡议（BRI）由中国主导，预计将通过国际贸易促进参与国家的贸易、投资和经济增长，从而推进联合国可持续发展目标 7。在这一背景下，可再生能源已成为解决环境恶化和促进可持续发展的有希望的途径。然而，BRI 贸易量对这些国家可再生能源发展和采用的影响仍未得到解决。为了解决这个问题，我们的研究考察了贸易开放度、外国直接投资、经济增长和石油价格对 94 个“一带一路”国家在 2000 年至 2019 年期间可再生能源消费的影响。我们采用面板数据分析，包括固定效应（FE）、随机效应（RE）和系统广义矩方法（GMM），并按收入水平分组呈现结果：i）贸易开放度对高收入和中上收入国家的可再生能源消费具有积极影响；ii）相比之下，它减少了中下收入国家的可再生能源消费；iii）贸易开放度对低收入国家的可再生能源消费没有显著影响；iv）在面板层面上，贸易开放度对可再生能源消费具有显著的积极影响。我们的研究强调了贸易开放度作为推进高收入“一带一路”国家可再生能源发展的重要工具的重要性，从而促进环境可持续性。针对可再生能源的政策干预措施有望提高低收入国家的环境质量。
