Green Energy, Economic Growth and Environmental Quality Nexus in Saudi Arabia

This article extends the previous studies on environmental economics literature by examining a possible relationship between economic growth, green energy, and environmental quality. Specifically, this article investigated the three-way linkage between economic growth, renewable energy, and environmental quality in the case of Saudi Arabia using the simultaneous equation modeling approach over the period of 1990-2016. The following are the main findings obtained: (i) a unidirectional causal impact of economic growth on renewable energy consumption was found, confirming the conservation hypothesis; (ii) bidirectional relationships between economic growth and CO2 emissions and between CO2 emissions and renewable energy consumption were also found; (iii) the failure of renewable energy in Saudi Arabia to close the gap between growing the economy and protecting the environment in Saudi Arabia; (iv) the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis was supported. Policy implications are also discussed.