Promoting renewable energy through national energy legislation

To solve the global warming and energy crisis, substituting fossil fuel energy such as oil with renewable energy is an inevitable trend. International efforts towards this have been great, as evidenced by climate change legislation related to the energy sector. Employing panel data on energy-related legislative activity aimed at climate change in 129 countries in the period 2001–2020, this research statistically investigated the short- and long-term effects of energy laws that promote renewable energy-based electricity generation including non-hydro renewable energy-based electricity generation in the short and long run. The effect is enhanced in countries with a strong legal system. Moreover, the impact of legislative acts is stronger than that of executive orders. Regarding different types of renewable energy resources, the effects of energy laws on solar and wind energy are stronger compared to other renewable sources. Furthermore, heterogeneous tests show that the effect of energy laws on renewable energy is greater in high and upper middle-income countries than in lower middle- and low-income countries. In 2020, the current energy laws increased renewable energy and non-hydro renewable energy electricity generation by 2248.067 and 1888.341 quadrillion kWh, respectively.