Heterogeneous effect of eco-innovation and human capital on renewable & non-renewable energy consumption: Disaggregate analysis for G-7 countries

Abstract

Researchers and academia have not studied the heterogeneous effect of eco-innovation and human capital on the varying sources of energy. Where this study is the first that attempts to investigate the heterogeneous effect of eco-innovation and human capital along with energy price, financial development, research & development expenditure on the total energy consumption (TEC), non-renewable energy consumption (NREC) and renewable energy consumption (REC) by employing Westerlund and Edgerton’s panel cointegration and Augmented Mean Group (AMG) for finding the short and long-run estimates by using data of G-7 countries from 1995 to 2017. This study also uses different macroeconomic variables to conduct sensitivity analysis and to examine their impact on TEC, NREC, and REC. The empirical findings confirm a negative association of human capital, eco-innovation, energy price, and research & development expenditures with TEC and NREC. Whereas financial development has found to be positively associated with TEC and NREC. Moreover, human capital, eco-innovation, energy price, and research & development expenditures enhance REC, while financial development reduces REC. Based on the findings of this study, we recommend investment in human capital development and the formulation of regulation & policies in the financial sector for encouraging the use of eco-innovation.