The Effect of Income Inequality on Renewable Energy Consumption in Iran

Although various studies have investigated the impact of income inequality on the quality of the environment, the impact of income distribution on the consumption of renewable energy, which plays an important role in reducing CO2 emissions and improving the quality of the environment, has been understudied. The main purpose of this article is to investigate the effect of income inequality (Gini coefficient) on renewable energy consumption in Iran. For this purpose, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach has been used to analyze the time series data related to the period 1983-2019. The results of the cointegration test show that the fair distribution of income leads to an increase in the consumption of renewable energy. Also, according to the results, economic growth, rate of economic openness, and rate of urbanization increase the consumption of renewable energy in Iran, while CO2 emission reduces the consumption of renewable energy in Iran. These results provide useful policy implications for managing energy consumption to improve the quality of the environment and reduce environmental pollutants.