A0568
Title: The path towards sustainability in the European Union countries: The role of the renewable energy policies
Authors: Ismail abdallah - University of Macerata (Italy) [presenting]
Luisa Scaccia - University of Macerata (Italy)
Abstract: The aim is to investigate the determinants of the share of energy derived from renewable sources, taking into consideration environmental, social, economic, and governance factors across different countries. Using EUROSTAT (2007-2020), the purpose is to analyze the impact of education levels, environmental policy stringency, greenhouse gas emissions, energy prices, environmental tax revenues, electricity prices, GDP per capita, energy consumption, waste generation, and four energy poverty indicators on renewable energy adoption. Regression analysis is used for this purpose. The novelty of this path is the use of the standardized policy indicator (environmental stringency index EPS), which is comparable across the EU countries. Exploiting panel data richness, fixed effects are also included in the model to control for all factors varying by countries but remaining constant over the period considered, as well as for temporal shocks that may affect all countries in the same year. The main findings show that stricter environmental policies have a significant association with higher shares of renewable energy. This highlights the potential of environmental policies as a motivation while indicating the significance of designing sustainability strategies for specific ESG contexts. These actionable insights equip policymakers and practitioners with valuable tools to improve policy design, choose sustainable policy tools, and guide Europe towards a sustainable energy future.
