The Impact of Renewable Energy on Economic Growth and Sustainable Development

Since 1997, when the Kyoto Protocol was signed, the era of renewable energy has begun. Due to the growth of its share in the total energy production and consumption, the world community is making efforts towards the transition to sustainable development. Developed and developing countries have significantly increased production and consumption of renewable energy in absolute terms trying to join this initiative. The purpose of this work is to study the impact of changes in the share of total production and consumption of renewable energy on the economic growth and CO₂ emissions. Secondary data of the World Bank, the countries that invest the most in renewable energy (the USA, China, the European Union) is used and a comparison with Ukraine, Russian Federation and general global indicators covering the period 1990-2015 is made. Modeling of the influence of the share of production and consumption of renewable energy sources in the total volume in the studied countries on the level of economic growth and CO₂ emissions using economic and mathematical modeling is carried out. Linear regression models of the studied countries and the world are estimated. The hypothesis on a link between economic growth and development of renewable energy has been confirmed. The results reveal that depending on the country under the research the level and nature of the impact of increasing the share of production and consumption of renewable energy on economic growth differs significantly and depends on a number of political and economic factors.