Does Renewable Energy Consumption Mitigate Carbon Emissions for India?

Abstract

Developing economies have an urge for development and energy is the lifeline of development. However, the consumption of non-renewable energy resources is emerging as a major concern towards environmental degradation. India is sailing in the same boat wherein the policy makers are trying to strike a balance between development and environment. Attainment of sustainable development that supports environment is vital, therefore, the Government of India is extensively promoting use of renewable energy resources. The present study is an attempt to empirically evaluate the impact of renewable energy consumption (REC) on India’s carbon emission over the period of 1990–2020 by employing autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. To underline it, two model frameworks have been formed; one with environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and another without EKC specification. The result for REC variable was found to be negative but insignificant with EKC framework, and negative and significant without EKC specifications indicating reduction in carbon emissions with the use of renewable energy resources. The results indicate that more extensive use of renewable energy resources might work towards making the REC coefficient more significant towards India’s environment.