Trade Openness, Economic Growth, Capital, and Financial Globalization: Unveiling Their Impact on Renewable Energy Consumption

Renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly popular due to their advantages over fossil fuels, their economic benefits, and growing environmental concerns. Researchers are particularly focused on understanding the factors that affect the efficiency of various energy sources. This paper explores the relationship between renewable energy consumption and trade openness from 1990 to 2018 among the top 15 countries that consume the most renewable energy. The study also considers economic growth, natural resources, capital, and financial globalization as additional factors influencing renewable energy use. To analyze the data, the paper utilizes advanced panel data techniques, including the dynamic Seemingly Unrelated Regression (DSUR) and Dimutrescu–Hurlin panel bootstrap causality methods. The findings reveal cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity in the model. The results show that trade openness, economic growth, and capital investment promote renewable energy consumption, while financial globalization tends to reduce it. Additionally, the study finds one-way causality from trade openness, economic growth, natural resources, capital, and financial globalization to renewable energy consumption. These insights can inform the development of renewable energy policies in the countries examined.