Renewable energy consumption, carbon emissions and human development: Empirical comparison of the trajectories of world regions

Abstract

In an attempt to ensure improved human welfare from the angle of a serene environment, the world is presenting advocating for an increased use of renewable energy and the mitigation of carbon emissions. Hence, the goal of this study is to evaluate the role of renewable energy consumption and carbon emissions in human development of world regions using the fixed individual effects and the fixed temporal effects models. Our annual data span through 2000 to 2014 for 126 countries, divided into 8 regions of the world. In summary, we find that, depending on the control for fixed effects, renewable energy consumption affects human development in most cases, although the results are heterogeneous across regions. Specifically, under both models, the results are consistent in four regions. While the impact is strictly negative for MENA and Central America & Caribbean, it is positive for Europe and insignificant for sub-Saharan Africa. The nature of effect is not consistent across the models for other regions. In addition, human development responds positively to carbon emissions in all the regions, implying that stern and careless policies formulated to reduce emissions level might be detrimental to human development. These findings have important policy implications.