The role of renewable energy technologies in enhancing human development: Empirical evidence from selected countries

Human development is crucial for a country's prosperity, reflecting its economic growth and social progress. This study examines how using renewable energy can boost human development across 77 countries, including high-income and 33 middle-income, from 2000 to 2019. This paper employs the panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) model to generate appropriate outcomes for the existence of heteroscedasticity, serial correlations, and sectional dependencies (CD). The results reveal a positive link between renewable energy adoption and human development across three dimensions-health, education, and income. This connection holds for various renewable sources like hydropower, solar, and wind energy. Additionally, when the research sample is separated into high- and middle-income nations, we find differing impacts of renewable energy on human development dimensions, such as hydro energy has a negative impact on the income dimension in high-income countries; meanwhile, the solar, wind, and hydro energy are insignificant or less pronounced in middle-income countries. This study highlights the importance of renewable energy for human development but emphasizes the need for tailored approaches considering income levels and specific renewable energy sources. Based on findings, theoretical and practical implications have been proposed to promote the use of renewable energy towards sustainable development goals.