When renewable energy, empowerment, and entrepreneurship connect: Measuring energy policy effectiveness in 230 countries

Renewable energy is fundamental for sustainable development challenges and social sciences advances. The development agenda prescribes to pursue renewable energy policies as a pillar of energy security and sustainable development in both developed and developing countries. A major policy implication for renewable energy derives from entrepreneurship boosting, targeting women, rural, youth, and vulnerable categories, where microfinance and resilience policies have found a wide consensus. The present work exploits a statistical approach to measure energy policy effectiveness, making use of the brand-new IBRD-World Bank release SDG7 Tracking: The Energy Progress Report. A composite indicator of renewable energy policy is built, exploring different perspectives. The determinants of energy policy effectiveness are analyzed. A statistical comparison of the different results is relevant to ensure robustness implications. We discover that countries endowed with natural resources, such as Brazil, perform better in renewable energy consumption. We confirm that green countries, e.g. the Nordic region, maintain a high renewable energy consumption attitude. We also validate that oil exporters - and notably most of the Arab countries -, are usually less prone to use renewable energy. These implications are foremost for the vulnerable empowerment and societal challenges required to foster the energy transition.

Automated summary

This study explores the importance of renewable energy policies for sustainable development and social science progress, emphasizing the role of entrepreneurship, microfinance, and resilience policies in enhancing the effectiveness of energy policies. The research further reveals that countries with natural resources and green countries have better performance in renewable energy consumption, while oil exporting countries are less inclined to use renewable energy.