Towards a sustainable future with renewable energy and load capacity factor: Institutions, technology, energy and climate policy uncertainties

Abstract

China is a country with high levels of ecological pollution, uncertainties in energy and climate policies, and significant technological investment. The improvement of environmental quality and progress in renewable energy in China can spill over to other countries through the spillover effect and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Against this background, the study examines the effects of energy policy uncertainty (ENPU), climate policy uncertainty (CLPU), institutional quality (INS), and ICT on the load capacity factor (LCF) and renewable energy consumption for the period 2003m1-2022m10 using novel quantile-based time series methods. The findings of the Fourier quantile causality test (FQCT) indicate that ENPU and CLPU reduce the LCF, while ICT and INS support the increase in ecological quality. The outcomes also show that ICT is ineffective in terms of REC, while ENPU, CLPU, and INS increase REC. The multivariate quantile-on-quantile approach confirms the robustness of the results with similar findings to FQCT. Based on the results, the Chinese government should consider the impact of ENPU and CLPU in expanding REC, reduce ENPU and CLPU to improve environmental quality under the SDGs, and promote the development of institutional quality to increase REC and LCF.