Sustainable environment quality: moderating role of renewable energy consumption in service sector for selected HDR listed countries

Considering environmental deterioration, an emerging global problem, this study is aimed at determining the impact of the service sector economic activity on environmental quality from the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) perspective and finding ways to reduce the carbon impact of service sector within the EKC relationship. This study proposes that renewable energy intensity in the economy plays an important role in reducing carbon print of service sector. This study is based on secondary data from 1995 to 2021 for different development-wise categorized country groups leading to 115 countries, according to the Human Development Report (HDR) on the Human Development Index (HDI). Estimated results using panel feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) have confirmed inverted U-shaped for very high HDI and medium HDI and U-shaped EKC for low HDI countries. This study is instrumental in confirming the moderating role of renewable energy in the service sector EKC. Policymakers can plan a gradual reduction of carbon footprint in the service sector by transitioning toward renewable energy.