Renewable energy consumption and robust globalization(s) in OECD countries: Do oil, carbon emissions and economic activity matter?

Abstract

This study examines the impact of globalization(s) on renewable energy consumption in OECD countries by endogenizing per capita GDP, oil prices and per capita carbon emissions. We use robust globalization(s) as measured by the “classic”, “reconstructed” and “revisited” globalization indexes. The novel method of Machado and Silva Panel quantile regression (2019) approach is used to obtain robust findings for the renewable energy consumption-globalization nexus. The results confirm the presence of a long-run association between renewable energy consumption with globalization(s), per capita GDP, oil prices and per capita carbon emissions. The empirical results also describe that there are positive effects for per capita income, the real price of oil and carbon emissions per capita on the renewable energy consumption. In addition, a higher level of (overall, economics, social and political) classic globalization promotes renewable energy consumption, while the “reconstructed” and “revisited” economic globalization reduces the use of renewable energy consumption, and this finding is also robust to different measures of economic globalization. Moreover, the panel quantile regression reveals that renewable energy consumption increases the domestic economy in the middle (0.50) quantile group of the population through importing more advanced technology and positive spilling over markets, while the lower quantile group and the higher quantile group of the population are using non-renewable (coal, wood) energy because of the livelihood practice that is based on coal and wood (for the lower quantiles group of the population) and for the sake of speedy growth (for the higher quantiles group of the population) that worsens the environmental quality without caring for the contents of globalization.