Evidence on clean energy consumption and business cycle: A global perspective

This paper aims to investigate the heterogeneous patterns of clean energy consumption at business cycle frequencies from 1970 to 2017. Specifically, the paper provides a systematic analysis of this relationship in a comprehensive cross-country panel by extracting the cyclical components of the clean energy consumption and gross domestic product (GDP) series based on the Hodrick-Prescott filter. Focusing on the cyclical components, we conclude the stylised facts as follows: (a) clean energy consumption is procyclical in advanced economies and developing economies, but acyclical in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC); (b) clean energy consumption is cyclically more volatile than GDP in a typical country; (c) the correlation between cyclicality of clean energy consumption and GDP per capita is more intricate in different country groups; and (d) clean energy consumption is positively correlated with the oil price in advanced economies and developing economies, and negatively correlated in OPEC. These stylised facts are potentially important for establishing empirical and theoretical models to exploit the consequences and impacts of clean energy consumption.