The impact of women's political empowerment on renewable energy demand: Evidence from OECD countries

The paper examines how women's political empowerment affects renewable energy demand, considering factors like energy costs, green technologies, and gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the panel dataset of 36 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) economies from 1990 to 2022. The Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operators (LASSOs) algorithms select the critical drivers of renewable energy demand. Then, the paper applies Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA), Partialing-out Linear Regression (POLR), Double Selection Linear Regression (DSLR), and Cross-fit Partialing-out Linear Regression (Cross-fit POLR) LASSO techniques to check the robustness of the LASSOs findings. It is found that gender inequality and green technologies have significant positive effects on renewable energy demand. Conversely, GDP growth exhibits a significant negative influence, while the effect of energy costs is found to be statistically insignificant. Potential policy implications are also discussed. • We examine how women's political empowerment affects renewable energy demand. • We also consider energy costs, green technologies, and GDP growth. • We focus on a panel dataset of 36 OECD economies from 1990 to 2022. • Women's political empowerment and green technologies increase renewable energy demand. • GDP growth exhibits a negative influence.