Internet development and renewable energy technological innovation: Does institutional quality matter?

Renewable energy technological innovation (RETI) is an important pathway to mitigate climate change and accelerate energy transition, but existing studies have not yet recognised the potential driving force of internet development on RETI. This study innovatively explores the effect and its mechanisms of internet development on RETI, and find that internet development significantly contributes to RETI. Mechanisms analysis suggests that internet development promotes RETI through human capital accumulation, industrial structure upgrading and financial development. Existing studies focus on macroeconomic and financial determinants of RETI, neglecting the critical role of institutional factors. Our investigation verifies the threshold effect of institutional quality in the relationship between internet development and RETI through a threshold model. Our results not only show a non-linear incremental marginal effect of internet development on RETI, but also show that better institutional quality may increase the positive impact of internet development on REIT. The heterogeneity analysis suggests the moderating effect of institutional quality differs between developed and developing economies. Our research contributes to the existing literature by incorporating institutional quality factors to examine the non-linear relationship between internet development and RETI at the international level.