Digital enablement of renewable energy transition in Saudi Arabia: evidence from ARDL and wavelet quantile analysis

This study investigates the role of digitalisation in accelerating the renewable energy transition in Saudi Arabia, a resource-dependent economy undergoing structural transformation under Vision 2030. It examines whether digital development enhances energy efficiency and supports renewable energy integration. The study employs a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model to capture short- and long-run asymmetries. To complement the time-domain analysis, the Wavelet–Quantile Correlation (WQC) approach is applied to explore regime-dependent and quantile-specific dynamics across three structural sub-periods (2000–2003, 2003–2009, and 2009–2023). This combined framework allows for a comprehensive assessment of both temporal and distributional heterogeneity. The results reveal significant asymmetries in both the short and long run. CO₂ emissions and non-renewable energy consumption increase energy intensity, particularly under extreme regimes. GDP exhibits a predominantly negative association, supporting the decoupling hypothesis in recent years. FDI shows a strengthening negative effect at higher quantiles, indicating efficiency gains. The digital economy presents heterogeneous effects, shifting from efficiency-enhancing impacts in lower quantiles to energy-demand-increasing effects in upper quantiles. WQC findings largely corroborate ARDL results, confirming regime-dependent and distributional heterogeneity. The findings highlight the need for integrated digital-energy policies, investment in smart infrastructure, and promote green FDI, renewable energy expansion, to enhance sustainable energy performance in Saudi Arabia. This study contributes to the literature by providing novel distributional heterogeneity and time–frequency evidence on the digital-enabled energy transition in a major oil-dependent economy, employing a combined ARDL–WQC framework rarely applied in this context. This study examines the nexus between the digitalisation and the energy efficiency. The article highlights the role of digitalisation in the energy sector in Saudi Arabia during the period 2000–2023. The digital economy indicates the increase of the energy efficiency in the long run. The GDP is a key factor for enhancing the energy efficiency.