Free Speech, Green Power: The Impact of Freedom of Expression on Renewable Energy

Umut Uzar ()
Additional contact information
Umut Uzar: Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon 61080, Turkey

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 19, 1-21

Abstract: Although there has been a growing interest in identifying the key drivers of renewable energy over the last few decades, theoretical connections and empirical evidence on the impact of freedom of expression still need to be made. Within the framework of this gap in the literature, this study tries to solve the mystery by focusing on the impact of freedom of expression on renewable energy in 20 high-income countries from 1990 to 2022. The effects of economic growth, carbon dioxide emissions, trade openness, and foreign direct investment were also examined. The evidence-based on second-generation econometric estimators such as AMG and CCEMG are consistent. Findings show that freedom of expression indicates increased renewable energy consumption. In addition, while economic growth and foreign direct investments increase renewable energy, CO 2 emissions reduce renewable energy. Trade has no significant impact. The positive link between freedom of expression and renewable energy is promising for the countries involved and presents a significant win–win opportunity. Therefore, countries need to establish democratic principles.

Keywords: renewable energy; sustainability; democracy; freedom of expression; economic growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/19/8723/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/19/8723/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:19:p:8723-:d:1495103

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().