Does higher income lead to more renewable energy consumption? Evidence from emerging-Asian countries.

While some previous studies find a positive relationship between income or economic output and the share of renewables in energy consumption, others find a negative relationship. To bridge these seemingly contradictory findings, we test a non-linear relationship between income and the share of renewable energy sources in total energy consumption (REC%) in eight emerging-Asian countries. Using the feasible generalized least squares method and controlling for financial development and capital formation (two variables found in the literature to affect the use of renewable energy), we find a U-shaped relationship between income and the share of renewables in total energy consumption. In other words, at lower income levels, as income (Gross Domestic Product per capita) increases, REC% decreases. Once the income reaches a certain level, the relationship becomes positive. Financial development positively affects REC%. The implications and policy recommendations are presented in light of these findings.

Factors affecting climate change concern in Pakistan: are there rural/urban differences?

There is a growing interest in studying the determinants of climate change concern, but there are few studies conducted on developing countries like Pakistan. This study has three objectives. Firstly, to find whether there are differences in climate change concern levels between Pakistani citizens residing in rural and urban areas. Secondly, whether climate change concern is influenced by the same or different factors in rural and urban areas. Finally, whether the religious denomination one adheres to plays a role. The 2015 database provided by Pew Research Center, a representative sample of the Pakistani population, is used, and ordered logit models are run by including the independent variables in steps. The main finding is that the place of residency matters: rural residents show higher levels of concern than their urban counterparts. Climate change concern is influenced in both areas of residence by the gender of the respondent: females are more concerned than males. Nonetheless, there are differences in other determinants of climate change concern in rural and urban areas, for example, the education level, which affects mainly rural citizens. The religious denomination affects the concern of rural residents: Sunni Muslims show higher levels of climate change concern than Shi'a Muslims. Recommendations include the implementation of policies aiming to increase the education level in rural areas and the incorporation of courses and curricular or extra-curricular activities that would promote more concern among high school students.

Determinants of renewable energy consumption in Africa.

Although the role that renewable energy consumption plays on economic growth and emissions has been widely studied, there are relatively few papers focusing on the determinants of renewable energy consumption, and only one study focuses on the factors related to the share of renewables in the energy consumption in Africa. This paper contributes to the literature by filling the gap in knowledge by exploring the nexus between the share of renewables in energy consumption and social and economic variables, for a panel consisting of 21 African countries for the period between 1990 and 2013, extending the set of variables and the time span used by a previous study. Estimating a random-effects generalized least squares regression, we find that countries with a higher Human Development Index and a higher gross domestic product per capita have a lower share of renewable energy in the national grid. On the other hand, an increase in foreign direct investment has been found to be related to higher renewable energy integration. The level of democracy, measured by the Freedom House political rights and civil liberties ratings, does not directly affect the integration level of renewable energy sources. The negative relationship between gross domestic product per capita and the share of renewables contradicts previous findings for developed countries. This contradiction and policy implications are discussed in the light of the review of the energy mix of the selected countries.