Renewable energy and technological innovation: Which one is the winner in promoting net-zero emissions?

Abstract

The fourth industrial revolution has transformed into a rapid development process centered on renewable energy and technological innovation (TI), which provides feasible paths for mitigating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Therefore, this paper employs the Wavelet-Based quantile on quantile approach to investigate the capacity of renewable energy consumption (REC) and TI of promoting net-zero emissions in the U.S., respectively. We overall find the significant emissions-mitigating effect of REC and suggest that renewable energy serves as an effective driver to contain environmental degradation; this conclusion is endorsed by the interaction mechanism between environment and energy. However, TI captures less influence on emissions than REC, revealing a weak role in promoting emissions reduction. Therefore, industries should boost environmental awareness and incentives for TI related to REC to encourage structure energy adjustment and reduce carbon footprint. Concerning the government, corresponding policies and measures should be adopted to emphasize increasing renewable energy consumption, especially in high-emission areas.