Impact of Educational Attainment on Renewable Energy Use: Evidence from Emerging Market Economies

Abstract

Renewable energy has become a crucial factor for circular economies, sustainable development, and the environment given the limited non-renewable energy reserves and global environmental degradation mainly resulting from non-renewable energy use. This study explores the effect of educational attainment and economic growth on renewable energy use in a sample of selected emerging markets over the 2000-2018 period through causality and cointegration analyses. Causality analysis points out a significant unidirectional causality from indicators of educational attainment and economic growth to renewable energy use. In other words, educational attainment indicators and economic growth are significant determinants of renewable energy in the short run. Furthermore, the cointegration analysis ascertains a positive influence of indicators of educational attainment and economic growth on renewable energy use in the long run. The findings of both analyses indicate that educational attainment and economic growth have a significant impact on renewable energy use in the short and long term. Therefore, the policies fostering educational attainment can be used as instruments to increase the share of renewable energy use in total energy consumption.