The Relationship between Renewable Energy Use in Agriculture and Sustainable Development: A Panel Data Analysis

Background: The use of renewable energy sources in agriculture can offer benefits by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency and supporting economic sustainability. Aims: This study examines whether there is a statistically significant relationship between renewable energy use in agriculture and sustainable development. Study Design: The analysis uses data for 17 countries, including Türkiye, over the period 2003–2022, with a balanced panel of 340 observations. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index is the dependent variable, while the share of renewable energy in agriculture, agricultural raw material exports, and the value added of agriculture, forestry and fishing are included in the model as explanatory variables. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Ege University, between September 2024 and September 2025. Methodology: Cross-sectional dependence, unit root and model selection tests were applied to assess the properties of the data and the model. To assess the reliability of the results, Driscoll–Kraay and country-clustered standard errors were used alongside the wild bootstrap method. Results: When only country fixed effects are considered, a strong positive relationship is observed between the share of renewable energy in agriculture and the SDG index (coefficient 1.306). When common year effects are included, the coefficient falls to 0.008 and becomes statistically insignificant. When country-specific responses to the common factors are allowed through the common correlated effects (CCE) estimator, the coefficient is 0.26 and statistically significant, with slope homogeneity tests supporting the use of this estimator. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the disappearance of the relationship after controlling for year effects may reflect heterogeneous responses to a common trend, and that there is a small but consistent positive association between the share of renewable energy in agriculture and SDG performance.