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The new sustainable development goals (SDGs) call for actions to close the gap between the protection of the environment and the socio-economic development. To shed light on the link among economy, society, and ecology, this study assesses the ability of renewable energy to moderate the effects of CO 2 emissions on human development and economic growth for 31 transitional economies. Our findings substantiate that: (i) CO 2 emissions have unconditional negative effects on human development and economic growth; (ii) the net impacts on human development and economic growth are positive from the interplay between renewable energy and CO 2 emissions, i.e. renewable energy reduces the influences of per capita CO 2 emissions on human development and economic growth; (iii) renewable energy interacts with CO 2 intensity and CO 2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption to negatively influence economic growth and human development. To dampen these net negative effects, corresponding renewable energy thresholds were computed and discussed. Theoretical and empirical contributions, implications to policymakers, and practitioners are also discussed., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Global energy markets are experiencing an unprecedented confluence of events that are driving up gas prices and bringing energy security to the forefront, adding further complexity to already uncertain prospects following global economic recovery from COVID-19. This article examines the factors that have led to the current surge in natural gas prices and the role of green investment in enhancing energy security and accelerating the transition pace for a sustainable world. It also discusses the potential short- and long-term implications of ongoing spikes in energy prices on global energy transition. The analysis highlights that while renewables could provide a promising solution to enhance energy security, the current energy crisis has revealed that the current scale of renewable energy investments is not ready to address ongoing energy needs, forcing countries to re-unlock further hydrocarbon fuel sources such as coal, putting global energy transition on hold. The paper concludes with policy recommendations that enable unlocking clean energy investments amid a strained geopolitical context. • We focus on how to balance climate mitigation and energy security goals. • We examine the role of green finance and investments in accelerating the energy transition. • We also discuss the potential short- and long-term implications of ongoing energy spikes. • The current scale of green energy investments is not ready to address ongoing energy needs. • We conclude with policy recommendations that enable unlocking clean energy developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We examine the effect of political stability on renewable energy production (RENP) • We investigate whether the financial development affect RENP • Support for our hypotheses has been provided based on panel quantile approach • The effect of political stability index on REP is heterogeneous. • We argued that financial development affects positively renewable energy production • The findings could guide the necessary energy policy transformation in MENA Region With the growing pressure from the adverse impact of environmental pollution and climate change, the deployment of renewable sources is becoming one of the economic priorities for governments worldwide. Despite potential gains of renewable sources, little evidence is provided in the literature about the determinants of renewable energy deployment in the MENA region. In particular, whether political stability, governance quality and financial development matter or not for unleashing the potentials of renewable energy programs. To this end, this paper aims to fill the gap by examining the impact of political stability, quality of governance and institutions, and financial development on the deployment of renewable energy production in 9 selected MENA countries using annual data over the period 1984-2014. Accordingly, an innovative panel quantile regression model with non-additive fixed effect has been developed to tackle this issue. Our findings confirm that the effect of political stability is clearly heterogeneous and supports earlier claims about the importance of political stability to foster investments in the renewable energy sector. Findings also show that financial development has a positive impact on renewable energy production. In addition, we also find that the interaction term between governance effectiveness and financial development is negative for the lower quantiles but positive for the highest quantiles. These findings support our hypotheses and suggest that political stability, governance effectiveness, and financial development are essential drivers for promoting renewable energy production in the MENA region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Innovation performance improves governance quality of energy transition. • Renewable energy consumption increases when ICTs adoption increase. • We call for the encouragement of R&D programs that enhance renewable energy. This paper contributes to the renewable energy literature from two perspectives. First, we investigate the factors driving renewable energy deployment in the MENA countries using economic, financial, and political variables including financial development, government effectiveness and political stability. This investigation is empirically carried out by the Panel Smooth Transition Model (PSTR) (Gonzales et al., 2017) that explicitly explores the threshold effect within the determinants of renewable energy production. Second, we introduce innovation as a new determinant of renewable energy deployment to account for the mediating role of technological innovation in the achievement of SDGs and especially the SDG7. Using two proxies of innovation (i.e. ICT and percentage of internet users), we show that higher innovation performance is likely to increase the impact of governance quality on renewable energy deployment. Therefore, governance quality, innovation, political stability, and financial development are the main drivers of renewable energy deployment. The paper calls for sustainable policy options that increase innovation performance and governance quality to increase the production of renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]