Leapfrogging or lagging? Drivers of social equity from renewable energy transitions globally

When countries transition to renewable energy, why do some countries benefit in terms of social equity outcomes more than others? This study examines the effects of technology, policy toolkits and path dependence on countries' changing social equity outcomes, against alternative explanations including development, quality of governance, and demographic factors. Using a new country level measure of the social equity impacts of renewable energy deployment levels for 99 countries from 1990 to 2015, this Large-N study tests which countrylevel policy interventions and political conditions improve the social impacts of RE deployment regimes. Drawing on statistical models of panel data, we find renewable energy adoption is associated with greater social equity, although alternative renewable energy policies produce better social equity than feed-in tariffs. Further, social equity trajectories are constrained by countries' baseline human development indicators, highlighting that lower income countries facing greater income inequality may struggle to achieve gains in social equity equal to those of higher income countries when deploying RE.