On the road to sustainable development: the role of ICT and R&D investments in renewable and nuclear energy on energy transition in Germany

Abstract

Energy transition is crucial for sustainable development, but its drivers have been neglected due to data limitations. Germany has adopted a low-carbon, secure, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly energy transition policy to achieve its 2050 carbon-neutrality goals. Despite the fact that the sub-components of energy have often been considered, to the author's knowledge, there is currently no study available that empirically examines the drivers of the energy transition in Germany. Therefore, the investigation examines the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT), research and development (R&D) investments in nuclear (NRD) and renewable (RRD) energy, and urbanization on the energy transition in Germany for the period 2000/Q1-2022/Q4. The results show that ICT, NRD, and RRD have an increasing impact, while urbanization hinders the energy transition. Accordingly, German policymakers make greater use of the increasing impacts of ICT and R&D investments to improve the energy transition and implement an urbanization plan to expand the use of green energy.