Renewable energy and CO2 emissions: Empirical evidence from major energy-consuming countries

The goal of this study was to contribute to the ongoing debate on the relationship between renewable energy (RE) and CO₂ emissions. In particular, we explored the link between RE and CO₂ emissions in a sample of major renewable energy-consuming countries for the period 2000–2015. Therefore, the major contribution of this study was to answer the question of whether a substantial shift to renewable energy consumption will lead to lower CO₂ emissions. Using the two-step generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator, our empirical results suggested that RE has a significant negative effect on CO₂ emissions. For example, a one percentage point increase in RE leads to a 0.5% decrease in CO₂ emissions.