States Powered by Renewables Recover Faster From Crises

Countries with a large amount of renewable energy recover fastest from economic crises, according to new research.
The study, published in Ecological Economics, examined 133 economic crises in 98 countries over a 40-year period (from 1970 to 2011), Cosmos Magazine reported.
The researchers found that the best predictor of economic recovery was the amount of renewable energy used by a country.
Countries that relied on a broader range of energy sources, meanwhile, took longer to recover.
The researchers drew on data from the International Monetary Fund to examine the economic crises.
The researchers point out in their paper that their results are “purely correlative”, and can’t explain why there’s a link between renewable energy and economic recovery.
“Although the mechanisms underpinning our results are unclear, one likely explanation is that renewables accelerate recovery because they are locally-produced and not subject to the high volatility of availability and prices connected with fossil fuels,” says co-author Professor Robert Costanza, a researcher in ecological economics at University College London, the UK.
The researchers also point out that many countries responded to the 2008 global financial crisis, which occurred close to the end of their dataset, by investing in fossil fuels.