Achieving net zero in Africa: Can crowdfunding propel green technological innovation and renewable energy adoption?

The transition to low-carbon electrification is vital for decreasing dependence on fossil fuels, thereby mitigating climate change and achieving net-zero emissions. However, African countries face financing barriers that impede the development and adoption of renewable energy technologies and green innovations. Therefore, this study examines how crowdfunding influences green technological innovation and renewable energy consumption in Africa, using industrialization, political stability, human capital, regulatory quality, and economic growth as control variables. The study uses the Pooled Mean Group Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) and Dynamic Fixed Effects Autoregressive Distributed Lag (DFE-ARDL) methods to analyze data from 21 African countries between 2013 and 2020. Both estimators show that crowdfunding has a positive and significant impact on renewable energy consumption. The PMG-ARDL estimator confirms that crowdfunding positively and significantly influences green technological innovation, while the DFE-ARDL estimator reveals a negative and significant relationship between crowdfunding and green technological innovation. Also, PMG-ARDL estimator affirm that human capital and industrialization decrease renewable energy consumption and green technological innovation. However, political stability positively impacts renewable energy consumption and green technological innovation. Based on these findings, it recommended that governments and policymakers promote crowdfunding platforms as a means to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy and green technologies in Africa.