Protected areas and renewable energy consumption: evidence from panel data across multiple countries

Against the global backdrop of accelerating climate change and the urgent need for energy transition, understanding the role of protected areas in shaping renewable energy consumption has become increasingly important. Using panel data covering more than 150 countries worldwide from 2013 to 2022, this study examines the extent to which protected areas shape national renewable energy consumption patterns. The results show that countries with larger shares of terrestrial and marine protected areas tend to exhibit significantly higher proportions of renewable energy in final energy consumption, indicating a robust positive relationship between protected areas and the greening of national energy systems. Further analysis reveals that the expansion of protected areas promotes renewable energy consumption primarily by constraining the development space of resource-intensive industries and reducing economies’ dependence on natural resource rents. This effect is more pronounced in countries with stronger green technological capabilities, where institutional constraints are more effectively translated into technological substitution. In addition, higher accessibility to clean fuels enables environmental and health preferences to be more readily converted into actual clean energy consumption, thereby strengthening demand-side dynamics. Moreover, differences in urban development levels, governance capacity, and income levels across countries lead to heterogeneous effects of protected areas on energy structures. Overall, the findings suggest that protected areas not only function as critical instruments for biodiversity conservation but also provide important institutional foundations for advancing low-carbon energy systems by reshaping resource utilization patterns, promoting green technological adoption, and strengthening societal environmental awareness.