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This study aims to explore the impact of energy investment on economic growth. Specifically, the study investigates the impact of energy consumption, foreign investment, infrastructure development, tax revenue, human capital, international tourism revenue and trade volume on economic growth.

To achieve the aim, the authors sample the 24-years (1996–2019) financial statistics of BRICS countries. Given the econometric recommendations supplemented by the Johnsen cointegration test, the current study uses the fully modified ordinary least square model for regression analysis and checks the robustness through robust least square model.

The statistical analysis shows a direct impact of energy investment on economic growth. In addition, the statistical results indicate a positive impact of energy consumption, foreign investment, infrastructure development, tax revenue, human capital and trade volume on economic growth.

The results present practical implications for policymakers regarding the adequate investment in energy production that can further promote the economic growth in BRICS countries. Policy officials should enhance the volume of renewable energy production, foreign investment and tax revenue. Additionally, it is equally suggested to policymakers regarding the development of infrastructure and human capital to ensure economic growth.

This study supplements the novel and robust evidence on investment in energy-leading economic growth.

The authors analyse the interactive influence of energy use, capital investment and finance on pollution in energy-dependent African countries.

The study analyses data from 5 selected energy-dependent African nations (i.e. Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco and South Africa) between 1981 and 2020 using the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) approach.

The panel result reveals that capital investment and energy interaction and financial development and capital investment moderation reduce pollution in all the countries. However, for country-specific results, the interaction of investment and energy lowers emissions in Algeria, South Africa, Nigeria and Morocco but increases pollution in Egypt. Similarly, except for Egypt, financial development and capital investment interaction offset pollution in Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa and Morocco.

The limitation of the study stems from the inability to extend the scope to cover the entire African region. However, the fact that the authors selected the most prominent African nations in the sample to enable us to set the template for other smaller nations to follow makes the study tenable in its present form.

Energy-dependent African countries should invest in eco-friendly machines, technologies and equipment to lower pollution vis-à-vis production expansion.

The present research is more expansive by combining the finance and capital investment channels in the quest for decarbonising emerging African nations. Moreover, this is a comparative study, unlike past studies that mainly deploy a one-size-fits-all approach.

Rapidly increasing the proportion of installed wind power capacity with zero carbon emission characteristics will help adjust the energy structure and support the realization of carbon neutrality targets. The intermittency of wind resources and fluctuations in electricity demand has exacerbated the contradiction between power supply and demand. The time-of-use pricing and supply-side allocation of energy storage power stations will help “peak shaving and valley filling” and reduce the gap between power supply and demand. To this end, this paper constructs a decision-making model for the capacity investment of energy storage power stations under time-of-use pricing, which is intended to provide a reference for scientific decision-making on electricity prices and energy storage power station capacity.

Based on the research framework of time-of-use pricing, this paper constructs a profit-maximizing electricity price and capacity investment decision model of energy storage power station for flat pricing and time-of-use pricing respectively. In the process, this study considers the dual uncertain scenarios of intermittency of wind resources and random fluctuations in power demand.

(1) Investment in energy storage power stations is the optimal decision. Time-of-use pricing will reduce the optimal capacity of the energy storage power station. (2) The optimal capacity of the energy storage power station and optimal electricity price are related to factors such as the intermittency of wind resources, the unit investment cost, the price sensitivities of the demand, the proportion of time-of-use pricing and the thermal power price. (3) The carbon emission level is affected by the intermittency of wind resources, price sensitivities of the demand and the proportion of time-of-use pricing. Incentive policies can always reduce carbon emission levels.

This paper creatively introduced the research framework of time-of-use pricing into the capacity decision-making of energy storage power stations, and considering the influence of wind power intermittentness and power demand fluctuations, constructed the capacity investment decision model of energy storage power stations under different pricing methods, and compared the impact of pricing methods on optimal energy storage power station capacity and carbon emissions.

1. Electricity pricing and capacity of energy storage power stations in an uncertain electricity market.

2. Investment strategy of energy storage power stations on the supply side of wind power generators.

3. Impact of pricing method on the investment decisions of energy storage power stations.

4. Impact of pricing method, energy storage investment and incentive policies on carbon emissions.

5. A two-stage wind power supply chain including energy storage power stations.

Electricity pricing and capacity of energy storage power stations in an uncertain electricity market.

Investment strategy of energy storage power stations on the supply side of wind power generators.

Impact of pricing method on the investment decisions of energy storage power stations.

Impact of pricing method, energy storage investment and incentive policies on carbon emissions.

A two-stage wind power supply chain including energy storage power stations.

This study aims to examine the appropriate measures needed toward achieving sustainability of renewable energy production among developing and middle-income countries.

This study uses semi-annual panel data covering the period 2000–2020 among 152 developing and middle-income countries and Cox proportional hazard model for the analysis.

Estimates indicate that effective operations of environmental institutions, investment in research and development, subsidizing the production of renewable energy, government investment in producing renewable energy and investment in renewable energy production made by the private sector will contribute immensely toward achieving sustainability of renewable energy production.

This study recommends that governments should rationalize their expenditures to mobilize enough resources for investment in renewable energy production. Again, operations of environmental institutions should be enhanced through giving their managers’ performance contracts and licensing its employees. Enabling environment should be created for private sector to increase their investment in renewable energy production.

Empirical studies have been carried out exploring measures to deal with climate change. Nonetheless, the appropriate measures needed toward achieving sustainability of renewable energy production among developing and middle-income countries have not been explored in existing empirical studies. Hence, this study fills the gap in existing empirical studies.

This study aims to investigate the effect of oil prices, economic growth and information communication technology (ICT) on investment into renewable energy transition (RET).

Based on six selected African countries (i.e. Algeria, Egypt, Angola, Ethiopia, South Africa and Nigeria), the study uses a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model over the period from 1995 to 2020.

The results show that increasing oil prices, by substitution effect, leads to increasing RET investment, while declining oil prices lead to decreasing RET investment in the short and long run. Furthermore, the results reveal that increasing real gross domestic product leads to increased RET investment, while declining real gross domestic product (GDP) leads to decreasing RET investment both in the short and long run. Simultaneously, the study shows that increasing ICT has a significant and positive impact on RET investment, while declining ICT has a significant negative impact on RET investment in the short and long run.

The findings of this study have advanced the understanding of which factors significantly influence RET investment and the need to concentrate efforts on strategically addressing those factors. The findings indicate that these countries are at the progressive stage in terms of renewable energy; though increasing oil prices contribute to rising RET investment, the countries can be more proactive by improving the full potential of ICT as well as facilitating the growth of their economies.

This paper empirically assesses energy efficiency (EE) adoption among firms by examining the factors that drive investment in EE in the Onitsha plastic cluster, South-East, Nigeria.

Self-administered questionnaires were delivered to the selected enterprises. A total of 450 questionnaires were administered of which 423 were certified valid and used for the analysis. A Heckit model was developed and estimated.

Gender, firm size, Joneses effect and expected cost reduction benefits are the significant determinants of EE investment. However, firm structure, government incentives, regulatory requirements and reduction of carbon emission are insignificant drivers of EE investment decisions in the Onitsha plastic cluster.

This paper presents a foremost attempt at analysing the determinants of energy investment in a cluster in Nigeria.

Renewable energy infrastructure is an important asset class in the context of reducing global carbon emissions going forward. This includes solar power, wind farms, hydro, battery storage and hydrogen. This paper examines the risk-adjusted performance and diversification benefits of listed renewable energy infrastructure globally over Q1:2009–Q4:2022 to examine the role of renewable energy infrastructure in a global infrastructure portfolio and in a global mixed-asset portfolio. The performance of renewable energy infrastructure is compared with the other major infrastructure sectors and other major asset classes. The strategic investment implications for institutional investors and renewable energy infrastructure in their portfolios going forward are also highlighted. This includes identifying effective pathways for renewable energy infrastructure exposure by institutional investors.

Using quarterly total returns, the risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of global listed renewable energy infrastructure over Q1:2009–Q4:2022 is assessed. Asset allocation diagrams are used to assess the role of renewable energy infrastructure in a global infrastructure portfolio and in a global mixed-asset portfolio.

Listed renewable energy infrastructure was seen to underperform the other infrastructure sectors and other major asset classes over 2009–2022. While delivering portfolio diversification benefits, no renewable energy infrastructure was seen in the optimal infrastructure portfolio or mixed-asset portfolio. More impressive performance characteristics were seen by nonlisted infrastructure funds over this period. Practical reasons for these results are provided as well as effective pathways going forward are identified for the fuller inclusion of renewable energy infrastructure in institutional investor portfolios.

Institutional investors have an important role in supporting reduced global carbon emissions via their investment mandates and asset allocations. Renewable energy infrastructure will be a key asset to assist in the delivery of this important agenda for a greener economy and addressing global warming. Based on this performance analysis, effective pathways are identified for institutional investors of different size assets under management (AUM) to access renewable energy infrastructure. This will see institutional investors embracing critical investment issues as well as environmental and social issues in their investment strategies going forward.

This paper is the first published empirical research analysis on the performance of renewable energy infrastructure at a global level. This research enables empirically validated, more informed and practical decision-making by institutional investors in the renewable energy infrastructure space. The ultimate aim of this paper is to articulate the potential strategic role of renewable energy infrastructure as an important infrastructure sector in the institutional real asset investment space and to identify effective pathways to achieve this renewable energy infrastructure exposure, as institutional investors focus on the strategic issues in reducing global carbon emissions in the context of increased global warming.

Large-scale industrialization, growth and development have come at the cost of severe environmental degradation, primarily measured in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. Apart from the several measures taken to reduce enviornmental degradation, provision of private capital is a necessity apart from the public capital. There is a debate on impact of carbon dioxide emissions with increase in affluence, technology, population and renewable energy. The purpose of the study is to look into the role of private equity investment on renewable energy and technological patents.

The study extends the use of stochastic impact by regression on population, affluence and technology model to include another factor for investments and capital, i.e. private equity along with renewable energy, population, technology and GDP growth on carbon emissions for the BRICS countries. The time period for the study is from 2002 to 2021, and the relationship between the variables has been tested using pooled mean group/autoregressive distributed lag, fully modified ordinary least squares and panel quantile regression.

First, the results depict a log-run relationship between the variables across the panel using cointegration. Private equity investments do not have a significant impact on carbon emissions. The study proposes important policy implications. There are two schools of thought on the impact of private equity on carbon emissions. For example, inherently private equity investments come with higher stakes and a shorter holding period because of which their primary focus remains on having higher returns instead of responsible investing. However, as private equity adds up to capital, which leads to an increase in productivity and eventually higher economic growth, this could affect carbon emissions. This study supports the first thought. Additionally, renewable energy also affects carbon emissions positively. The policymakers should look into the role and intent of the private equity investors in green investments and invest in technologies and patents that can lead to energy consumption.

The paper is the first of its kind, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to look into the impact of private equity on renewable energy and technological patents.

With the increase in population, the energy needs of countries are also increasing. These countries have difficulties in meeting these increasing needs. Countries that cannot meet this need have to import energy from abroad. This situation adversely affects the current account balance of countries. Nuclear energy investments allow countries to obtain their own energy, although there are some criticisms. In this framework, while some countries in the world increase their nuclear energy investments, some countries do not have any nuclear power plants (NPP). There are 32 such countries where nuclear energy projects are running till date. Therefore, it is very important to determine the socio-economic variables of countries that have nuclear energy investments. In this context, a detailed literature analysis will be made first to determine socio-economic criteria. Then, the importance weights of these factors will be calculated using the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The profiles of the countries that make nuclear energy investments demonstrate that education level is the most essential socio-economic factor for the improvement of nuclear energy investments. Also, income inequality is another important variable in this regard. However, consumption behaviour and saving behaviour have the lowest weights.

The aim is to analyze the European eco-management because the global warming has become a topical issue impacting the whole world. Individual countries are trying to minimize all the catalysts of global warming, such as carbon emissions. This paper addresses this issue and analyzes the performance of European eco-management for the purpose of future energy investments being environmentally.

This paper develops a fuzzy decision-making model to study the performance indicators of selected countries based on EMAS III standard. It employs interval type-2 fuzzy DEMATEL to evaluate the performance factors and TOPSIS methodology to assess five selected European countries' performance in relation to eco-friendly, emission and renewable energy.

Eco-friendly energy plays the most critical role in this respect followed by emissions and renewable energy which constitute significant factors. The novelty of this study is identifying significant criteria regarding environmental and energy efficiency of investments and making performance assessments of European countries with a new fuzzy decision-making model. Both expert opinions and datasets are used for the analysis. This paper supports previous research about energy efficiency investments in Europe.

The innovative feature of this study is identifying significant criteria regarding environmental and energy efficiency of investments and assessing the performance of European countries with a new fuzzy decision-making model. The fact that the analysis only concerns the European region is an important limitation. In future analyses, other groups of countries can be examined. Innovations can be made regarding the method applied. In this context, analyses can be done utilizing different fuzzy numbers. Finally, the importance of the criteria can be calculated with other methods such as SWARA.

The paper fills the gap in performance analysis of European eco-management for environmentally friendly and efficient energy investments is done in this manuscript.

Analysis of European eco-management performance was done for environmentally friendly and efficient energy investments. A fuzzy decision-making model is constructed. The paper fills the gap in performance analysis of European eco-management for environmentally friendly and efficient energy investments.