Mariia Saiensus

As the global community intensifies efforts to transition toward sustainable energy systems, the role of institutional and fiscal arrangements in fostering renewable energy has gained increasing attention. This study aims to assess whether fiscal decentralization contributes to the expansion of renewable electricity generation in OECD countries by analyzing panel data and identifying the direction and significance of this relationship. Utilizing a panel dataset of 34 countries spanning 2000–2023, the analysis employs a fixed-effects regression model with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors. It includes a one-year lag of fiscal variables to ensure robustness. The findings reveal a statistically significant but modest negative relationship between the share of subnational revenues in GDP and the share of renewables in electricity generation, suggesting that greater fiscal decentralization may not automatically incentivize renewable energy adoption. More specifically, the fixed-effects model corrected for heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation indicates that the coefficient for lagged subnational revenue (as a percentage of GDP) is negative and marginally significant (p ≈ 0.057), hinting at a potential delayed inhibitory effect. Additionally, country-level fixed effects demonstrate substantial heterogeneity, with nations like Iceland, Norway, and Canada showing systematically higher renewable electricity shares, regardless of fiscal structure. These results underscore the importance of complementary institutional frameworks and national coordination mechanisms to ensure that decentralization effectively supports climate policy goals.

Acknowledgment
This study was carried out within the framework of a research grant awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant no. IZURZ1_224119/1) and funded by the European Union grant “NextGenerationEU through the Recovery and Resilience Plan for Slovakia” (No. 09I03-03-V01-00130) and project VEGA – 1/0392/23 “Changes in the approach to the creation of companies’ distribution management concepts influenced by the effects of social and economic crises caused by the global pandemic and increased security risks”.

Type of the article: Research Article

Amid growing global challenges such as technological change and socio-economic uncertainty, fostering youth creativity has become vital for sustainable development. In Ukraine, open science provides a promising pathway to develop key competences like creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration, essential for navigating ongoing social and educational transformation. This study aims to investigate the relationship between Ukrainian young people's engagement with open science practices and their creative development across academic disciplines and educational levels. Drawing on data from a nationwide survey of 2,250 Ukrainian university students (Bachelor, Master, and Ph.D.), this study applies non-parametric methods to analyze how young people engage with open science. The results show that engagement with open science practices among Ukrainian students varies significantly by both level of education and field of study. Ph.D. students report the highest frequency of participation (median = 4.0 on a 5-point scale), significantly more than Bachelor's and Master's students (Kruskal-Wallis χ² = 44.92, p < 0.001). They also rate mentorship and collaborative research as more effective for creativity (e.g., mentorship: p = 0.00008 between Bachelor and Master levels). Disciplinary differences are most evident in the perceived effectiveness of webinars (χ² = 31.69, p = 0.0002) and collaborative research (χ² = 23.34, p = 0.0055), with students from engineering and life sciences showing the highest appreciation. These differentiated patterns confirm that the creative development potential of open science is powerfully shaped by students’ academic stage and disciplinary background.

Acknowledgment
This research was funded by the grant VEGA 1/0271/23 “Sustainable renewal of spa tourism in the Slovak Republic in the context of the impacts of civilisation crises”. This research was also prepared as part of projects 0124U000545 and ERASMUS-JMO-2022-HEI-TCH-RSCH-101085198.