Abstract
The energy–environment–growth nexus has been examined for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, mainly using time series data. However, the important role of renewable energy and population has largely been ignored in previous studies. As such, this study is conducted to investigate a causal link between renewable energy usage, population, carbon dioxide emissions, and economic growth. In addition, a relatively new and advanced panel vector autoregressive model and the Granger non-causality test for heterogeneous panels are utilized with a sample of seven ASEAN countries for almost three decades since 1990. Key findings from this paper are as follows. First, renewable energy usage responds to population growth and leads to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Second, economic growth and renewable energy usage explain a substantial proportion of the change in energy consumption. Third, a bidirectional Granger causality does exist in each pair among energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions. We argue that moderating population growth and extending renewable energy usage are vital to achieving sustainable economic growth in the ASEAN region.
Highlights
A growing concern on the interaction among carbon emissions, economic growth, and energy consumption has been driven by the trade-off between economic growth and environmental degradation
When financial development is added to the system of endogenous variables, we find a bidirectional causality between C O2 emissions and population growth and a unidirectional causality running from renewable energy to economic growth
Conclusions and policy implications This study investigates the relationship between Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, economic growth, energy consumption, population growth and renewable energy usage for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) nations
Summary
A growing concern on the interaction among carbon emissions, economic growth, and energy consumption has been driven by the trade-off between economic growth and environmental degradation. Renewable energy releases lesser carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, mitigating the negative impact on the environment. Apart from not being depleted, renewable energy offers a wide range of merits: increased energy security, sustainable economic growth, and pollution reduction [4, 5]. The ASEAN members have acknowledged that the use of renewable energy is associated with a reduction of reliance on fossil fuels, achieving targeted economic growth and energy security, affordability and sustainability. Renewable energy has played an increasingly important role in supporting economic growth and reducing a negative impact on the environment in the region. The sample of seven ASEAN members, the ASEAN-7, is used in this study
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