Examining public private partnership investment in energy towards achieving sustainable development goal 7 for ASEAN region

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 16398 - 16
• Main Authors: Hossin, Md Altab, Alemzero, David, Abudu, Hermas, Yin, Songtao, Mu, Lei, Panichakarn, Boonsub
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 16-07-2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 704/844/4066/4064; 704/844/4066/4068; 704/844/4066/4069; 704/844/4066/4075; 704/844/4066/4098; ARDL; Asia, Southeastern; Clean energy; Clean technology; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Economic Development; Economic growth; Economic impact; Energy; Energy sources; GDP; Greenhouse gases; Gross Domestic Product; Growth rate; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Investments - economics; multidisciplinary; Pandemics; Private sector; Public private partnerships; Public-Private Sector Partnerships; Public–private partnerships investments; SARS-CoV-2; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); SDG7; Southeast Asia; Statistical analysis; Sustainability; Sustainable development; Sustainable Development - economics; Sustainable Development - trends; Sustainable energy; Asia, Southeastern; Southeast Asia; Energy; SDG7; ARDL; Public–private partnerships investments
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-66800-9

The gradual progress in aligning financial flows with the adoption of clean technologies reveals a persistent funding gap, signaling a global misallocation of capital. Addressing this challenge necessitates political leadership and robust policies to counteract the insecurities impeding the redirection of financial flows. This study investigates into the impact of energy-related public–private partnership investments (PPPIE) and macro-environmental variables on the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) across Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries from 1999 to 2021. Employing the Dynamac command technique, we conduct autoregressive distribution lag analysis and the Bounds Cointegration Test to evaluate ASEAN’s efforts in achieving SDG7. Results indicate that a ten-year exogenous shock to the GDP growth rate initially causes a temporary decline in both GDP and PPPIE, albeit not statistically significant. However, in the long run, the shock becomes statistically significant, correlating with a negative decline in the GDP growth rate. This underscores the negative impact of external factors like the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic growth of ASEAN member countries. Specifically, a percentage increase in PPPIE leads to an 8.3% reduction in the GDP growth rate, revealing a detrimental and unsustainable impact on the economy. This signifies that energy investments in the ASEAN region, are predominantly unsustainable and adversely impact economic growth. Moreover, these energy investments contribute to a significant 52.6% increase in greenhouse gas emissions, indicating a substantial setback in the region’s progress towards meeting SDG7’s clean energy objectives by 2030. This suggests the present state of PPPIE does not align with sustainable clean energy goals of the region. Therefore, recommendations should include diversifying energy sources and investment strategies to enhance sustainable clean energy. Also, policymakers and researchers should reassess the terms and conditions of PPPIE, refining frameworks for private sector involvement to align with long-term economic sustainability goals.