Analyzing the relationship between sustainable development indicators and renewable energy consumption

The transition to renewable energy sources remains a major challenge for developed and developing countries. Therefore, the study aims at investigating the relationship between sustainable development indicators and renewable energy consumption utilizing integrated data sets for 255 indicators expressing the sustainable development goals from 137 developed and developing countries. Principal component analysis then multiple linear regression tests are employed to conclude a mathematical model representing the numerical relationship between a set of sustainable development indicators and renewable energy consumption. The statistical analysis results include (i) an inverse correlation between Sustainable Development Index which expresses the dominant factor representing collected data and renewable energy consumption, (ii) a set of sustainable development indicators as the determinants of renewable energy consumption. The findings explain the rapid transformation of low Sustainable Development Index countries towards renewable energy technology by realizing the effective role of using renewable energy as a local solution. Moreover, the findings manifest the importance of the given sustainable development indicators in obtaining a more significant increase in renewable energy consumption. Using the concluded mathematical mode, planners and decision-makers can compromise the concluded indicators to attain a serious progressing step towards renewable energy transition aligned with achieving sustainable development. © 2021, The Author(s).