Renewable energy production and employment: comparative analysis on European and Asian countries

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to undertake comparative analysis examining the effect of renewable energy production on employment focusing on European and Asian Countries. Design/methodology/approach The study utilizes panel data from the period 2000 to 2018 and System Generalized Method of Moments (System GMM) for the analysis. This study focuses on 50 European and 40 Asian countries data used for the analysis. Findings The result of the study indicates that, renewal energy production has positively affected employment in both European and Asian countries. However, the positive effect result of European countries is stronger than that of Asian countries. Practical implications The study recommends that, governments among these countries should continue to show strong commitment towards investing in renewable energy production as stated in Paris Agreement (2015). This will have a strong effect towards increasing further employment creation among these countries. Originality/value Numerous empirical studies have been carried out examining the effect of renewable energy production on employment. This study contributes to existing empirical studies by undertaking comparative analysis to examine the subject matter focusing on European and Asian countries.