The best way to eliminate fossil fuel use and reduce CO2 emissions is to switch to clean, renewable energy (including sun, wind, wave, tidal, and geothermal). However, implementing investments in renewable sources based on transparency, competitiveness, and integrity is complex. Larger government contracts are subject to bribes which determined the EU Commission since 2023 to consider fighting corruption an explicit priority. The aim of this article is to analyze the EU renewable energy use-growth nexus by considering corruption a key driver of this relationship. Based on a Panel Smooth transition regression (PSTR) for 26 European Union (EU) countries over the period 2007-2022, the results show that the following explanatory GDP growth drivers have significant negative impacts through different regimes: money growth, the risk indicators LSovCiss and LString, energy intensity, and the differential between renewables sources and non-renewables.