{"title":"Blessing or curse energy sustainability: how does climate change affect renewable energy consumption in China?","authors":"Ran Yi, An Chen","doi":"10.1007/s10668-024-05271-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The utilization of renewable energy is closely linked to the attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs). In the context of climate change, examining how climate change affects renewable energy consumption is crucial. In theory, climate change is expected to prompt governments to implement policies conducive to developing renewable energy, thereby increasing renewable energy consumption. Regarding the empirical research, we construct and measure the climate change index, policy response index, and renewable energy consumption index of 30 provinces (cities) in China from 2000 to 2021 and then test the relationships between the three variables using fixed effects and mediating effects models. The results show that (1) climate change significantly promotes renewable energy consumption, with stronger promotion observed in economically developed provinces (cities) (r<sub>High</sub>=0.848 > r<sub>Low</sub>=0.235) and heavily polluting enterprise-intensive provinces (cities) (r<sub>Intensive</sub>=3.712 > r<sub>Others</sub>=0.776); (2) the policy response has been proven to be a partial mediating effect of climate change on renewable energy consumption, with statistical significance at the 1% level; (3) in contrast to prior studies, we reveal that foreign direct investment (<i>r</i>=-30.449) and trade openness (<i>r</i>=-0.787) exert negative influences on China’s renewable energy consumption, whereas the total dependency ratio (<i>r</i> = 4.815) positively impacts China’s renewable energy consumption. China needs to address the regional disparities in the policy response to renewable energy development and should promote industrial restructuring, strengthen environmental supervision, and guide investments in renewable sectors.</p>","PeriodicalId":540,"journal":{"name":"Environment, Development and Sustainability","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environment, Development and Sustainability","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05271-4","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The utilization of renewable energy is closely linked to the attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs). In the context of climate change, examining how climate change affects renewable energy consumption is crucial. In theory, climate change is expected to prompt governments to implement policies conducive to developing renewable energy, thereby increasing renewable energy consumption. Regarding the empirical research, we construct and measure the climate change index, policy response index, and renewable energy consumption index of 30 provinces (cities) in China from 2000 to 2021 and then test the relationships between the three variables using fixed effects and mediating effects models. The results show that (1) climate change significantly promotes renewable energy consumption, with stronger promotion observed in economically developed provinces (cities) (rHigh=0.848 > rLow=0.235) and heavily polluting enterprise-intensive provinces (cities) (rIntensive=3.712 > rOthers=0.776); (2) the policy response has been proven to be a partial mediating effect of climate change on renewable energy consumption, with statistical significance at the 1% level; (3) in contrast to prior studies, we reveal that foreign direct investment (r=-30.449) and trade openness (r=-0.787) exert negative influences on China’s renewable energy consumption, whereas the total dependency ratio (r = 4.815) positively impacts China’s renewable energy consumption. China needs to address the regional disparities in the policy response to renewable energy development and should promote industrial restructuring, strengthen environmental supervision, and guide investments in renewable sectors.
期刊介绍:
Environment, Development and Sustainability is an international and multidisciplinary journal covering all aspects of the environmental impacts of socio-economic development. It is also concerned with the complex interactions which occur between development and environment, and its purpose is to seek ways and means for achieving sustainability in all human activities aimed at such development. The subject matter of the journal includes the following and related issues:
-mutual interactions among society, development and environment, and their implications for sustainable development
-technical, economic, ethical and philosophical aspects of sustainable development
-global sustainability - the obstacles and ways in which they could be overcome
-local and regional sustainability initiatives, their practical implementation, and relevance for use in a wider context
-development and application of indicators of sustainability
-development, verification, implementation and monitoring of policies for sustainable development
-sustainable use of land, water, energy and biological resources in development
-impacts of agriculture and forestry activities on soil and aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity
-effects of energy use and global climate change on development and sustainability
-impacts of population growth and human activities on food and other essential resources for development
-role of national and international agencies, and of international aid and trade arrangements in sustainable development
-social and cultural contexts of sustainable development
-role of education and public awareness in sustainable development
-role of political and economic instruments in sustainable development
-shortcomings of sustainable development and its alternatives.