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In Africa, switching to renewable energy sources with low carbon emissions is becoming more popular. In the Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS), the low-carbon energy transition must overcome significant obstacles, including those posed by policies put in place and their implementation. In order to replace the current fossil fuel-driven economy with low-carbon development that also advances the regional aims and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this paper analyzes the current policy landscape in the region. A total of 75 policies from four categories (energy access, energy efficiency, renewable energy, climate change) were chosen for the policy review. Multicriteria decision analysis and a thorough review of the literature have shed light on how well the policies of the ECOWAS countries could promote low-carbon development and what the main challenges to overcome are. The last step was the comparison of the progress of the two key policies in the region: the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP) and National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP). The results illustrate the amount of work still needing to be done in the region, with only 26 of the 75 policies receiving a score above 50. However, the prospect of a better energy strategy that adequately considers the difficulties of the energy transition is possible, given the progress made by the region's nations since the creation of national action plans for energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE). Our analysis has also shown that countries like Senegal have obtained quite promising results, as evidenced by the best scores of 76.88 and 73.25, respectively, obtained by its NREAP and NEEAP policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy is crucial to economic progress, but the contemporary worldwide population increase that demands greater energy generated from conventional exhaustible resources, an energy price upsurge, and environmental concerns, imperils sustainable economic growth. Nevertheless, switching to renewable energy produced from naturally replenished resources promotes energy security, likewise addressing issues such as global warming and climate change. This paper aims at exploring the influence and causal relation between renewable energy, both overall and by type, and sustainable economic growth of European Union (EU)-28 countries for the period of 2003-2014. We notice that the mean share of renewable energy in the gross final energy consumption is 15%, while the mean share of renewable energy in transport fuel consumption is 3%, which are below the thresholds of 20% and 10%, respectively, as set by the EU Directive 2009/28/EC. By estimating panel data fixed-effects regression models, the results provide support for a positive influence of renewable energy overall, as well as by type, namely biomass, hydropower, geothermal energy, wind power, and solar energy on gross domestic product per capita. However, biomass energy shows the highest influence on economic growth among the rest of renewable energy types. In fact, a 1% increase of the primary production of solid biofuels increases GDP per capita by 0.16%. Besides, cointegrating regressions set on panel fully modified and dynamic ordinary least squares regressions confirm the positive influence related to the primary production of renewable energies on economic growth. A 1% increase in primary production of renewable energies increases GDP per capita by 0.05%-0.06%. However, the results of Granger causality based on panel vector error correction model indicate both in short-run and long-run a unidirectional causal relationship running from sustainable economic growth to the primary production of renewable energies, being supported the conservation hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green bonds have increasingly been utilized around the world as a source of financing for renewable energy development, designed with compliance requirements and measurable economic returns to investors, while mitigating climate change. However, the efficacy of green bond arranged in the emerging economies for financing renewable energy assets and how the underlying risks are managed have remained to be explored. The paper aims to examine the evolving green financial system sponsored by both public and private institutions in managing such risks within China's emerging economy. A case study of green financing for a bundle of wind power assets led by a state-owned enterprise (SOE) reveals an alternative approach by structuring public–private collaboration while stipulating market-based financial incentives to institutional stakeholders under a political economy. This institutional consortium is composed of a state development bank, a commercial bank, credit rating agencies, institutional and private investors, regional power purchasers, and carbon trading entities. Financial stakeholders' risk in such emerging sustainable investment is moderated by these participating institutions and structured "upsides" from carbon trading aligned with the framework of green finance and standards for green bond development. The results reveal the potentials of scaling up the development of renewable energy by adequately managing and sharing key risks, while allocating substantial funding into renewable energy projects under such a green financial system that is to be complementary with a scalable post COVID-19 economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]