Renewable electricity generation and carbon emissions in leading European countries: Daily-based disaggregate evidence by nonlinear approaches

Abstract

This study examines the role of renewable electricity generation (EG) on environmental quality in the top 10 carbon dioxide (CO2) emitting European countries by considering ongoing energy crisis. By doing so, the research considers the environmental effect of renewable EG (such as hydro, solar, and wind) at a disaggregated level from January 2, 2019 to August 31, 2023, using the wavelet coherence (WC), quantile-on-quantile (QQ) regression and Granger causality in quantiles (GQ) methods. The outcomes demonstrate that (i) hydro, solar, and wind EG have a strong dependence on CO2 emissions, while effects vary across times and frequencies; (ii) hydro EG reduces CO2 emissions in Germany, Belgium, and Austria; (iii) at higher quantiles, solar EG curbs CO2 emissions in Italy, Spain, Romania, and Austria; (iv) at higher quantiles, wind EG lowers CO2 emissions in all countries except Bulgaria; (v) hydro, solar, and wind EG generally have a causal effect on CO2 emissions across all quantiles except for some lower (0.05–0.10), middle (0.40–0.60), and higher (0.90–0.95) quantiles. The results thus show that CO2 emissions in European countries are strongly influenced by renewable EG as a function of time, frequency, and quantile. In line with the outcomes, the study suggests continuing to rely on hydro EG for Germany, solar EG for Italy and Austria, and wind EG for all other countries as the best EG alternative for achieving a carbon-neutral economy. In this way, countries can benefit from renewable EG and at the same time contribute to their energy security.