Renewable Energy Development and Adoption in Emerging and Developing Markets : A Review and Identification of Alternative Investor Class

Practically, renewable energy development and adoption (REDA) in emerging and developing markets (EDMs) faces several challenges. Academically, studies focusing on such challenges are scattered and consider limited factors that characterise the phenomenon. Moreover, such studies often yield mixed results, hence limiting the prospects for identifying lasting solutions. The present study seeks to contribute to REDA in EDMs by reflecting on earlier studies and taking stock of accumulated factors characterising REDA in EDMs. Accordingly, this study used a systematic literature review (SLR) method and analysed 105 peer-reviewed papers on REDA in EDMs published between 2003 and 2020 in 44 journals. Overall, the review presents an analysis of 201 associations between 15 aggregated characterising independent variables with three main aggregated indicators. The review addresses issues related to theory, methods, contexts, findings, and gaps. Based on aggregated summaries of effects, we discuss and propose a new investor class – ‘crowdfunding-based stakeholder investor’– that leans on stakeholder theory and the crowdfunding phenomenon