Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Energy for Sustainable Development, cilt.93, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
This study examines the renewable energy transition in five major Global South economies, namely Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and Thailand, by focusing on the roles of green innovation, institutional quality, and geopolitical risk. Anchored in Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG-7), the study moves beyond conventional determinant-based approaches by framing energy transition as a sustainability governance process shaped by technological capacity, institutional credibility, and external geopolitical uncertainty. Using a balanced panel dataset for the five countries over 2002–2023, the analysis evaluates long-run associations between green innovation, regulatory quality, geopolitical risk, and renewable energy outcomes. The findings show that green innovation supports renewable energy transition, while institutional quality strengthens this process by improving policy credibility, investment conditions, and regulatory stability. By contrast, geopolitical risk constrains renewable energy deployment by increasing uncertainty and weakening long-term investment incentives. The results further suggest that progress toward SDG-7 in major emerging economies depends not only on technological advancement but also on institutions' ability to sustain innovation-oriented energy policies amid geopolitical instability. By integrating geopolitical risk into the innovation-institution nexus, this research offers a more context-sensitive explanation of renewable energy transition in emerging economies and provides policy-relevant insights for designing resilient SDG-7 strategies.