An Empirical Study of Economic Growth Target on Renewable Energy Development in China

Abstract

Countries may improve renewable energy support policies in the context of economic growth aims and supporting renewable energy development by examining the link between economic growth target(EGT)and renewable energy development(RED). This study explores the effects of economic growth objectives on the development of renewable energy sources and the moderating function of government-market interactions using panel data collected from 30 provinces between 2003 and 2019. The results show that the economic growth objective has an inverted U-shaped effect on the expansion of renewable energy, and all of these findings pass the significance test at the 1% level. The endogeneity and robustness tests are conducted using the one-stage lag approach for explanatory factors, replacement of explained variables, and instrumental variables. The findings indicate that the "inverted U-shaped" relationship between the goal of economic growth and the advancement of renewable energy is steady and that the lag will eventually shorten. Additionally, excessive economic growth can harm interactions between the government and the market, which would hinder the advancement of renewable energy.