Relationships between economic complexity, renewable energy uptake and environmental degradation: A global study

Abstract

A persistent rise in the emission of CO2 among several economies in the world makes it challenging to fulfil the aims of the Sustainable Development Goals. The present study empirically examines the connection between economic complexity, which is understood to be structural conversion headed for more refined information-based production, renewable energy demand, per capita income, trade openness, industrialisation, and CO2 emissions among income-based groups of nations from 1998–2021. It also incorporates partner economies of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) project because these cover 65% of the global population. The findings of the panel autoregressive distributed lag model confirms that virtually all of the chosen samples of the various economies, aside from high-income economies, show that economic complexity degrades the environment. On the other hand, the demand for renewable energy enhances global environmental quality. The study highlights the significance of clean energy ventures and the production of greener quality products globally to minimise environmental damage.