Abstract Anthropogenic climate change has provoked worldwide responses to address existing and impending dangers to the natural world and society. The rapid expansion of solar energy in recent decades has emerged as a viable alternative for generating electricity and is largely responsible for the steady growth in overall renewable energy expansion worldwide. In this paper, I examine factors influencing the rise in solar energy generation, cross-nationally from 2000 through 2016. Using Fixed Effects (FE) panel regression analysis with a lagged dependent variable, I test variables associated with ecological modernization theory, aspects of the world economy and foreign direct investment dependence, and assertions of world society theory and the role of international nongovernmental organizations in spreading global environmentalism. Findings for the analysis are consistent with previous studies focusing on the global environmental regime and the spread of environmentalism worldwide in influencing country-level behavior in relation to the environment. As energy demands worldwide soar, the implications of these findings point to how integration within the global civil society has the potential to influence remediation of environmental issues due to climate change.

中文翻译：

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转向太阳：太阳能发电的跨国分析

摘要 人为气候变化引发了全球响应，以应对自然世界和社会现有和即将发生的危险。近几十年来，太阳能的快速扩张已成为一种可行的发电替代方案，并且在很大程度上推动了全球整体可再生能源扩张的稳定增长。在本文中，我研究了从 2000 年到 2016 年在全国范围内影响太阳能发电增长的因素。使用固定效应 (FE) 面板回归分析和滞后因变量，我测试了与生态现代化理论相关的变量，世界经济和外国直接投资的依赖，世界社会理论的断言和国际非政府组织在传播全球环保主义方面的作用。分析结果与之前的研究一致，这些研究侧重于全球环境制度和环境保护主义在世界范围内的传播，以影响与环境有关的国家层面的行为。随着全球能源需求的飙升，这些发现的意义表明，全球公民社会的整合如何有可能影响气候变化引起的环境问题的修复。