Role of Public Debt and Innovation in Achieving SDG-7: A Comprehensive Analysis of Asia–Pacific Regions

The present paper studies how public debt and innovation help in attaining Sustainable Development Goal-Seven (SDG-7) in 13 Asian countries data from 1998 to 2020. The SDG-7 aims to increase the percentage use of renewable energy by the nations. We check how the public debt and innovation influence the renewable energy usage of the countries. In a panel data framework, for this analysis, we have used renewable energy as the dependent variable and green technology innovation, institutional quality index, public debt, and square of the public debt as the independent variables. For the empirical analysis, we have used the Panel Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (Panel ARDL) model, and for checking the robustness of this model, we have used the Feasible General Least Square (FGLS) model. The result shows that green technology innovation, education, public debt, and institutional quality positively influence renewable energy, while higher public debt (public debt2) is negatively associated with renewable energy. The results given by the panel ARDL model are supported by the FGLS model results. The study also suggests the following policy implications. In the short run, the public debt increases the renewable energy, however, after a point the effect can be negative. Further, if the education and innovation are together increased in a country it can help in maximizing the consumption of renewable energy for the nations. The results of the study can be useful for the researchers and policymakers who are working for attainment of SDG-7. The research also paves the way for further research in this direction for other cross-country analyses.