Renewable energy, non-renewable energy, and economic growth: evidence from 26 European countries

This research work examines the nexus among renewable, non-renewable energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and economic growth in 26 European countries with data obtained from the World Bank database within the time period of 1990 to 2018. Firstly, unit root and panel cointegration approach analyses are conducted to test the stationary. The results indicate that there exists a long-run nexus among non-renewable, renewable energy, carbon-monoxide, and economic growth. Granger causality test was also used to explore the direction among economic growth, carbon emissions, and energy consumption. The results from this test are inconsistent, while it indicated bidirectional causality between economic growth and renewable energy consumption, there was also a unidirectional causality between renewable energy and non-renewable energy consumption as well as renewable energy and CO2 emissions. This result proves an interdependency and substitutability between both renewable and non-renewable sources of energy.