Clean Energy Investments Research Articles

Time-Frequency Spillovers and the Determinants among Fossil Energy, Clean Energy and Metal Markets

Using the frequency-domain spillover index method, we investigate time-frequency spillovers and their underlying drivers among fossil energy, clean energy and metal markets. We find that short-term spillovers are stronger than long-term spillovers. Global clean energy markets are powerful spillover transmitters that can have strong impacts on fossil energy and metal markets. Rare earth metals are most vulnerable to spillover effects from clean energy and base metal markets, particularly in the long term. Different clean energy sources and metal markets have heterogeneous connectedness, e.g., the impact of wind energy on rare earth market is greater than that of solar energy. The short-term spillovers are mainly driven by policy changes, while the long-term spillovers are mainly affected by stock market uncertainty and economic fundamentals. Our findings have important implications for the construction of optimal diversification strategies and the design of policy incentives to promote clean energy investments across different time horizons.

Balancing climate mitigation and energy security goals amid converging global energy crises: The role of green investments

Global energy markets are experiencing an unprecedented confluence of events that are driving up gas prices and bringing energy security to the forefront, adding further complexity to already uncertain prospects following global economic recovery from COVID-19. This article examines the factors that have led to the current surge in natural gas prices and the role of green investment in enhancing energy security and accelerating the transition pace for a sustainable world. It also discusses the potential short- and long-term implications of ongoing spikes in energy prices on global energy transition. The analysis highlights that while renewables could provide a promising solution to enhance energy security, the current energy crisis has revealed that the current scale of renewable energy investments is not ready to address ongoing energy needs, forcing countries to re-unlock further hydrocarbon fuel sources such as coal, putting global energy transition on hold. The paper concludes with policy recommendations that enable unlocking clean energy investments amid a strained geopolitical context.

Toward a Super-COP? Timing, Temporality, and Rethinking World Climate Governance

Toward a Super-COP? Timing, Temporality, and Rethinking World Climate Governance

Boosting Energy Efficiency in Turkey: The Role of Public–Private Partnership Investment

This study draws motivation from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (7.8.11), which highlight pertinent issues across the globe, among which are access to energy, responsible consumption, and sustainable development. To this end, we explored the pivotal role of public–private partnerships (PPP) investment in energy in Turkey, which is currently on an aggressive trajectory for its energy mix to energy efficiency. To avoid omitted variable bias in econometric strategies, we controlled for vital macroeconomic indicators such as foreign direct investment (FDI), trade flow, and economic growth. Empirical results showed a long-run equilibrium relationship between the outlined variables as traced by the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test. Subsequently, we observed a positive relationship between public–private partnership (PPP) investment in energy and the country’s energy intensification in both the short and long runs. A similar trend was observed between FDI, GDP growth, and energy intensity. These outcomes have inherent policy caveats for the Turkish energy sector and economic trajectory. Policy implications include efficient investment in clean energy (renewables) as part of Turkey’s effort toward energy intensification to guarantee sustainable development. Additionally, the involvement of PPP is a welcome dimension for sustainable economic growth. Further insights are documented in the concluding remarks.

Review and Demonstration of the Potential of Bitcoin Mining as a Productive Use of Energy (PUE) to Aid Equitable Investment in Solar Micro- and Mini-Grids Worldwide

Despite the climate commitments made by countries in the Paris Climate Agreement adopted in 2015 and reinforced during COP 21 and with notably less success during COP 22, world carbon emissions increased in both 2021 and 2022. It is increasingly unlikely that the world will achieve the targeted 50% carbon reduction by 2030, the reduction approximately needed for reducing global temperature rise since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to less than 1.5 deg. C. At the same time, there remain nearly 2 billion people in the world who have no or highly unreliable access to power. In developed countries, access to both clean energy and energy efficiency investment in residences within low to moderate income communities has also lagged. This paper provides a review of the “Productive Use of Energy (PUE)”, which is a means to add value to solar energy mini- and micro-grids to ensure investment worthiness and add more value to the communities being served. In this context, it posits an opportunity to leverage Bitcoin mining as a common PUE strategy applicable to new solar installations. Several actual pilot cases are described to demonstrate this potential throughout the world and at multiple scales. These include: (i) existing micro-grids with significant stranded energy to generate income that could be used to reduce the cost per kWh for the community; (ii) new solar micro-grids optimized to meet community load and mining operations; (iii) dedicated solar-powered Bitcoin mining mini-grids developed solely to create a funding stream for self-investment by communities for their benefit; and (iv) a low-income residential solar-powered Bitcoin miner to reduce the energy cost burden for residents. Several of these scenarios show significant potential to aid investment worthiness.

Price fairness: Clean energy stocks and the overall market

This study analyzes the current status and potential of clean energy stocks compared with the overall stock market index, particularly in terms of market efficiency and information flow. We find that despite its low liquidity, the market for clean energy stocks is weak-form efficient and exhibits a significant information outflow toward the market index. Considering the short run integration between the two markets and the recent growth in clean energy investment, we conclude that the clean energy stock market is reaching parity in terms of price fairness and information discovery. Our findings suggest that clean energy stocks can be used as a tool to monitor changes in eco-friendly energy policies for various stakeholders.

Exploring corporate venture capital investments in clean energy—a focus on the Asia-Pacific region

Climate change has been posing an increasing threat to the planet at the environmental and economic levels, and the rise of clean energy (CE) is ever more fundamental for ensuring a qualified alternative for the energy mix, attracting the financial interest of different investment entities. In this respect, the significance of corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) has been on a steady rise for every sector, even for CE, since the 1990 s, and it is shaping up to become a major force behind the worldwide innovation. The aim of this research is to investigate the essential profiles about the phenomenon regarding CVCs that are active in CE, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, to understand how they act in pursuing their strategic intention. The specific contribution of this study, which adopts a quantitative approach to operate a descriptive analysis on the dynamics operating in the context under investigation by combining relating data from several institutional databases, is to provide a scenario analysis with explorative intention that may define the main characteristics, roles in innovation, and growing participation of CVCs in the CE sector, especially in the APAC area.

Current state and directions of transformation of the world energy market

The research is devoted to the current state and directions of transformation of the world energy market. It was determined that at the current stage, the global economy is going through a very uncertain moment, when the cumulative effects of adverse shocks over the past three years, in particular the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, are manifesting in unpredictable ways. Economic growth to 2030 is projected to be slower than previously predicted, implying lower levels of activity in all sectors. This causes lower growth in energy demand, driving a significant change in global energy supply compared to previous projections. It is substantiated that the uncertainty regarding the price forecast of the world energy markets increases due to the uncertain recovery of the growth of the world's leading economies (USA, China, EU countries), as well as due to the energy transition to an economy with net zero emissions. It was determined that instability in the energy markets activates the transformation of national energy policies. This is evidenced by the increase in annual investments in clean energy (USA and China), the acceleration of the introduction of renewable energy sources and the efficiency improvement (EU and China), a significant increase in financing for technologies, including nuclear, with low levels of hydrogen and ammonia emissions (Japan, Korea). etc. It was concluded that taking into account the challenges faced by the global economy and the world energy system in particular, it is necessary to form a new paradigm of energy security in order to maintain reliability and availability while reducing emissions for the transition to net zero emissions scenario. National economies face the challenges of parallel reduction of fossil fuels and expansion of clean energy systems. Power generation systems need to be more responsive, and network infrastructure needs to be strengthened and digitized. This requires new technological solutions, which, in turn, require significant financial investments. Continued technological innovation and recycling are vital measures to reduce stress on critical mineral markets.

Statistical Modeling of the Determinants Driving the Electricity Demand in Jordan

The paper introduces a statistical model that connects the electrical demand in Jordan with several determinants that have a direct impact on the electrical consumption and load profile during the study period from 2007 to 2020. The period was selected as it is characterized by several global events that directly impacted Jordan’s economy and energy sustainability in Jordan, such as the Arab spring protests, the civil war in Syria, and the global financial crises. Many determinants that are used in the regression analysis imply the ambient temperature, day of the week, population, gross domestic product (GDP), oil price, and technological factors related to renewable energy projects. Results show that temperature and population positively impact the demand, whereas GPD, population, oil prices, and renewable energy negatively impact the electricity demand. The results obtained from backcasting regression analysis for the hourly 4745 data set covering 13 years period reveals reasonable error metrics with MAE, MAPE, and RMSE values of 134, 6.3% and 2.76%, respectively. The government must encourage investments to exploit and explore the massive potential of available energy resources such as oil, natural gas, oil shale, and uranium to resolve the problems related to the high global oil prices and high dependency on imported energy. Also, it is required to enable the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy through financial incentives and tax exemption to encourage investments in clean energy, rebuild a new traffic system showing the volatile electricity prices, which are still unknown and finally remove obstacles and facilitate the ongoing projects, reaching a state of stakeholder buy-in engaging with the projects.

Carbon emission scenario forecast and emission reduction path of China's logistics industry from the perspective of green supply chain management

Green logistics is an important part of green supply chain management, and its green and low-carbon level greatly affects the level of green supply chain management. In order to achieve China's targets of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and to study the emission reduction path of the logistics industry under green supply chain management, this paper uses the scalable STIRPAT model and ridge regression to analyze the influencing factors of carbon emissions in the logistics industry; Taking the relevant data from 2000 to 2020 as an example, combined with the scenario analysis method, this paper conducts an empirical study on the development trend of carbon emissions in China's logistics industry in the future. The results show that: under the low-carbon and enhanced low-carbon scenarios, China's logistics industry can achieve the carbon peak target of 876.6 MtCO2 and 817.02 MtCO2 respectively. Carbon emissions can be reduced to 234.9 MtCO2 by 2060 in the Enhanced Low Carbon Scenario. There is still a certain distance between neutralization. In the meantime, according to the forecast results, this paper, from the perspective of green supply chain management, from the three directions of carbon trading, reverse logistics and emission reduction costs, gives suggestions on the emission reduction path of China's logistics industry under the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals: consider early Incorporate the logistics industry into the carbon trading market; increase support and accelerate the development of reverse logistics; increase scientific research investment in clean energy, and promote new energy vehicles. This paper innovatively stands in the perspective of supply chain management, and improves the analysis of influencing factors. For the single industry of logistics industry, the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals goal is put in a model, which can better reflect the complete trend and target Provide low-carbon directions and suggestions. In all, these findings contribute to the formulation and implementation of sound policies to help China achieve the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

The role of environmental degradation and green investment on the renewable energy production in ASEAN countries: evidence using novel MMQR technique.

While ASEAN economies are enjoying economic growth, their environmental condition is worsening. One effective solution is to shift toward green investment in order to increase renewable energy production. This study examines the role of environmental degradation and green investment on renewable energy production in the context of ASEAN economies. The study analyzed critical factors of environmental degradation such as carbon, GHG, NO2 emissions, GDP, and finally green investment in the sample of ASEAN markets. Secondary data was used and extracted from WDI indicators from 2001 to 2020. To achieve the study objective, method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) model has been applied to reveal the association among variables. The empirical evidences divulged that environmental degradation could increase renewable energy production. Results implies that with the threatening impact of harmful emissions, economies shift their interest toward renewable energy production so that the cycle could be reversed. Also, the findings revealed the positive impact of green investment on renewable energy production that assures that clean energy investments are crucial for economies; thus, these shreds of evidences aid in the development of renewable energy policies which could be helpful to mitigate environmental challenges.

A hybrid decision making approach for new service development process of renewable energy investment

This study aims at evaluating new service development (NSD) process of renewable energy investments. A novel fuzzy hybrid multi-criteria decision-making model is then introduced. Firstly, selected criteria are weighted with a multi stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis (M-SWARA) methodology based on bipolar q-rung orthopair fuzzy sets (q-ROFSs) and golden cut. Secondly, balanced scorecard (BSC)-based project network for the NSD process of renewable energy investments is constructed. These alternatives are ranked by using the elimination and choice translating reality (ELECTRE) approach with bipolar q-ROFSs and golden cut. Afterwards, the Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) diagram is developed by defining immediate predecessors based on the ranking results. Consequently, different paths are created to understand effective ways to generate NSD process. Our findings will show the crucial processes for the NSD process of renewable energy investments, and the PERT analysis will provide optimal paths to increase the performance of NSD process of the renewable energies. It is concluded that analysis is the most critical NSD process for clean energy investment projects. The findings indicate that the shortest path is defined as Path 2 with 48.6% of the total importance degree. On the other hand, the longest path is determined as Path 1 with 100%. Path 4 has the weakest importance with 65.2% in comparison to Path 3 with 83.4% with respect to the comparison same activity numbers. It is strongly recommended that both technical and financial aspects should be evaluated with necessary research while generating new products. This issue can have a positive contribution to the early solution of any potential problems.

Environmental feasibility of a gradual shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy in India: Evidence from multiple structural breaks cointegration

The prime purpose of this study is to empirically explore the comparative environmental impact of renewable and non renewable energy consumption in India. The study also investigates the impact of increasing levels of national income and development of financial sector on environmental quality and applicability of “Pollution Haven Hypothesis” in the country. Multiple structural breaks based [1] cointegration test has been applied to investigate the presence of cointegrating relationship among the variables. Modified Autoregressive Distributed Lag Bounds test has been applied to ascertain cointegration. The empirical results confirmed presence of cointegration with three structural breaks. The long run results revealed that renewable energy consumption has no direct mitigating impact on emission of greenhouse gases, however, a shift from conventional to renewable sources of energy may help the natural environment by lessening the hampering effect of fossil fuels on environment. Hence, India faces a dual challenge of achieving maximum possible growth of national output and simultaneously addressing the rising threat of global warming and climate change. The authors suggest policymakers to take necessary steps for attracting foreign investment in clean energy, providing fiscal and financial incentives for undertaking renewable energy projects and eliminating subsidies to fossil fuels.

Balanced-Scorecard-Based Evaluation of Knowledge-Oriented Competencies of Distributed Energy Investments

Since the global warming problem threatens the whole world, it is understood that countries should develop energy policies that will increase their sustainable and clean energy investments. Compared to other alternatives, the high cost of renewable energy projects is an essential obstacle in this process. Therefore, priority should be given to developing distributed energy projects to minimize this problem. The scope of the present paper is to identify the most critical items that affect the performance of distributed energy projects to have knowledge-oriented competencies. In this way, companies can focus on more critical items to provide efficiency for distributed energy projects. As a result, clean energy usage is improved, and the global warming problem is handled more successfully. A novel decision-making model is generated to examine the competencies of the knowledge economy based on collaborative filtering and bipolar q-rung orthopair fuzzy sets (q-ROFSs) with the golden ratio. The analysis concludes that learning and growth are the most critical balanced scorecard perspectives. Moreover, it was also determined that information and communication technology is the most critical competency of the knowledge economy. Therefore, it would be appropriate for investors who plan to invest in distributed energy projects to form a research and development team. Hence, new technologies will be followed instantly. In this way, companies will be able to gain a cost advantage. In this context, improving distributed energy projects is important to increase efficiency in clean energy investments.

U.S. decarbonization impacts on air quality and environmental justice

As policy organizations consider strategies to mitigate climate change, decarbonization initiatives can also reduce health-impacting air pollutants and may affect the associated racial disparities of adverse effects. With the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency CO-Benefits Risk Assessment Health Impacts Screening Tool (COBRA), we compare three decarbonization scenarios and their impacts at the regional and county scales. COBRA calculates changes in county-level ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and associated mortality impacts, for each decarbonization scenario. We compare these patterns with demographic data to evaluate the relative exposure reduction benefit across race and ethnicity. Carbon-free electricity would reduce national average ambient PM2.5 concentrations by 0.21 μg m−3, compared with a 0.19 μg m−3 reduction associated with carbon-free industrial activity, and a 0.08 μg m−3 reduction associated with carbon-free light duty vehicle (LDV) transportation. Decarbonization strategies also vary in terms of the racial groups most benefitting from each scenario, due to regional and urban/rural patterns in emission sources and population demographics. Black populations are the only group to experience relative exposure reduction benefits compared to the total population in every scenario, with industrial decarbonization yielding 23% greater reductions in ambient PM2.5 concentrations for Black populations than for the total U.S. population. The largest relative reduction in PM2.5 exposure was found for Asian populations in the carbon-free LDV transportation scenario (53%). The magnitudes of total air quality improvements by scenario vary across regions of the U.S., and generally do not align with the decarbonization policy that achieves the largest equity goal. Only the transportation decarbonization scenario meets the criteria of the Justice40 Initiative nationwide, fulfilling the 2021 commitment by U.S. President Biden that federal investments in clean energy are designed to allocate at least 40% of benefits to disadvantaged communities.

Influence of ecological innovation and green energy investment on unemployment in China: evidence from advanced quantile approach

This study investigates the dynamic and asymmetric effects of ecological innovation and green energy investment on China’s unemployment from 1995 to 2020. The study has applied Quantile Autoregressive Distribution Lag (QARDL) model to explore the association between the study variables at different grids of quartiles. The overall results reveal that environmental technology and clean energy investments have a negative employment impact in the short-run and long-run, while environmental technology’s significance is high in the short-run only. It implies that environmental technology and clean energy investments create ample job opportunities in China’s energy sector and significantly address the growing unemployment issue. Moreover, the study examines the directional association among the variables by applying the Quantiles Granger Causality. It suggests a bidirectional causality between clean energy investment and unemployment, while a unidirectional relationship is observed between environmental technology and unemployment. These findings offer relevant policy recommendations.

Analysis of the first onshore wind farm installation near the Morocco-United Kingdom green energy export project

Morocco put an enthusiastic plan aim to develop its energy resources to meet the expanding local demand each year. Morocco's vision for 2030 gives a central role to the development of renewable energies in the light of increasing the investment in clean energy by reducing the reliance on oil and its derivatives. This article analyzes the wind energy potential in the Tiznit province with 24-years wind speed data at a height of 10 m using two-parameter Weibull distribution with the intention of developing this desert region that suffers from long dry seasons and poor developed energy resources. The choice of this province is justified by the benefit of the inauguration of a large renewable energy project, between Morocco and the United Kingdom, for the export of green energy using four subsea cables HVDC, each 3800 km long. This cable will follow the shallow water route from the Moroccan site (Guelmim-Oued Noun) to a grid location in Great Britain (Alverdiscott in Devon), passing through Spain, Portugal and France. The main advantage of this location is a significant reduction in maintenance costs and other costs associated with wind energy in the region. The results proved that the development of the onshore wind sector in the Tiznit province is beneficial. Wind speed and energy density were calculated on a monthly average. The performance indicators used in the analysis showed that the VESTAS V82-0.9 MW-70 m wind turbine, among the four technologies selected, provided the best capacity factor of 36.91 % and an annual power production of 3.0 GWh. Based on the Present Value Cost method, the economics aspects was discussed. As a result, the production cost in the Tiznit province for one kWh is 3.8 US cent.

Green innovation, resource price and carbon emissions during the COVID-19 times: New findings from wavelet local multiple correlation analysis

This paper investigates how oil price, COVID-19, and global energy innovation can affect carbon emissions under time- and frequency-varying perspectives. We contribute to the literature by being the first research to document the relationship between these variables in the short and long run (dynamically) at different frequencies in a multivariate context, thus providing a more detailed picture of the forces driving CO2 emissions. For this purpose, we use a novel methodology, i.e., the wavelet local multiple correlation (WLMC) recently developed by Polanco-Martínez et al. (2020). The results provide fresh evidence of long-run asymmetric dynamic correlations, highlighting how the oil price plays a key role in the dynamics of CO2 emissions. Moreover, we find that, during the long period, there is a strong negative co-movement between CO2 and the global energy innovation index, i.e., more investment in clean energy induces less emission. Supported by our findings, this research suggests crucial policy implications and insights for the governments worldwide in their efforts to revive their economies amidst the pandemic and environmental uncertainties.

Carbon Emissions and Clean Energy Investment: Global Evidence

ABSTRACT Under the premise of the detrimental effects of carbon emission on the global climate, the role of governments in promoting clean energy investment has become more important, and monetary policy as one government tool has drawn greater attention among the public. Our research successfully develops a new model that links clean energy investments with monetary policies and carbon emissions in 9 Asian economies spanning the period from 1996 to 2018. First, from the results of cointegration tests, we find a long-term relationship among the variables. Second, using FMOLS estimators, our paper reveals that expansionary monetary policy promotes clean energy investment and that its effect is stronger in developing countries. Third, we find a positive relationship between CO2 emissions and clean energy investment in the full sample but the relationship becomes negative in developing countries. Accordingly, the paper offers suggestions on possible policy initiatives to improve clean energy investment.

Green innovation and environmental sustainability: Do clean energy investment and education matter?

Rapid modernization and industrialization have significantly intensified carbon emissions and worsened environmental sustainability around the globe. Despite the significant importance of green innovation, clean energy consumption, and education in every aspect of life, the role of all these variables in determining environmental sustainability has not been explored quite extensively in case of China. Under this premise, the present study aims to investigate the role of green innovation, clean energy investment, and education on environmental sustainability in highly polluted Asian economies for the period of 1991–2019 by employing the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The findings infer that increase in green innovation reduces CO2 emissions in China, India, and Japan in the long-run. However, an increase in clean energy investment and education tends to decline CO2 emissions in Russia and Japan. The findings confirm that green innovation, clean energy investment, and education improve environmental sustainability in long-run, while short-run estimates are diverse. Thus, governments of highly polluted economies should increase investment in education, clean energy, and technology to mitigate CO2 emissions.