The Impact of the Financial Sector on the Development of the Industry of Renewable Energy

Abstract

Despite the long-term economic and environmental benefits of introducing renewable energy sources (RES), they are associated with many obstacles, one of which is hindered access to finance. This article examines the impact of the level of financial development on the renewable energy industry. An econometric analysis of data for 270 countries for 1987–2016 revealed a significant positive effect of various indicators of the development of the financial sector on the total production of renewable energy sources. In particular, the important role of the size of the banking industry and the size of the private lending sector has been revealed. It also revealed a significant impact of the level of financial development on wind, solar and tidal energy, and this effect is different in developed and developing countries. This work is a logical continuation of other works on this topic. There has never been an assessment of the use of renewable energy for such a large number of countries. Significant results were obtained for various indicators of the development of the financial sector. We were able to assess the difference in the use of renewable energy sources for developed and developing countries.