Renewable energy resources and sustainable development -panel data analysis for BRICS-T countries

Renewable energy sources, which naturally replenish themselves within the Earth's natural cycles, are considered limitless due to their ability to self-renew. From this perspective, renewable energy sources are seen as the only alternative that can promote development through sustainability. In this regard, the study investigates the impact of renewable energy sources on sustainable development in BRICS-T countries between 1990 and 2020. Pesaran's (2007) CIPS test was employed for unit root analyses, Breusch-Pagan's (1980) LM test for cross-section dependence, and Pesaran and Yamagata's (2008) Delta test for homogeneity analysis. The investigation into whether the variables are cointegrated was conducted using the cointegration test by Gergenbach, Urbain & Westerlund (2016), and long-term coefficients were estimated using the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimator. According to the study's findings, while per capita GDP increases in all countries, carbon dioxide emissions also rise. However, the increase in the share of renewable energy, except for Russia, reduces the amount of carbon dioxide emissions required to generate one unit of per capita GDP in other countries. This relationship is statistically insignificant in Russia.