The dynamics of green energy, energy efficiency, economic productivity, and energy-driven emissions in SDG context: Is there a synergistic interplay?

This study aims to examine the combined effects of green energy (Sustainable Development Goal, SDG-7.2), energy efficiency (SDG-7.3), and economic productivity (SDG-8.2) in mitigating energy-driven GHG emissions. The novelty of this study is that it extends the Kaya identity to mathematically explain how the two SDG-7 goals affect energy-driven emissions, and it provides global empirical evidence from 161 countries between1995 and 2019. The study also includes two-way and three-way interactions to better understand the complex interplay between the above SDG goals. Dynamic Common Correlated effects-instrumental variable estimation and Method of Moments-Quantile regression models were employed for the empirical investigation. The main findings confirm that green energy and energy efficiency significantly contribute to reducing energy-related emissions in all regions (except Asia in the case of green energy). The effects of green energy (energy efficiency) tend to slightly decrease (increase) as emissions levels rise. Economic productivity appears to trigger emissions, with the impact being stronger in low-productive regions. We also found a synergistic interplay between the two SDG-7 targets in mitigating energy-related emissions and weakening the emission-triggering effect of SDG-8.2 across different quantiles of emissions. Overall, maximizing the synergy between SDG-7 and 8 can substantially cut energy-driven emissions.