The role of globalization in CO2 emissions: A semi-parametric panel data analysis for G7

Mingming Liu; Xiaohang Ren; Cheng Cheng; Zhen Wang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137379

The role of globalization in CO₂ emissions: A semi-parametric panel data analysis for G7

Sci Total Environ. 2020 May 20:718:137379. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137379. Epub 2020 Feb 18.

Authors

Mingming Liu¹, Xiaohang Ren², Cheng Cheng³, Zhen Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Economics and Management, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, No. 18 Xuefu Road, Changping District, Beijing 102249, China.
² Business School, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China; Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom. Electronic address: X.Ren@soton.ac.uk.
³ School of Management Science and Engineering, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, No. 696 Wucheng Road, Xiaodian District, Taiyuan 030006, China.

PMID: 32325620
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137379

Abstract

In order to provide flexible and comprehensive results about the relationship between globalization and CO₂ emissions for the G7 countries, we introduce the KOF globalization index into traditional Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology model, and conduct the empirical analysis by applying a semi-parametric panel fixed effects model. The data covering the period of 1970-2015 consists of CO₂ emissions, KOF globalization index, renewable energy consumption and GDP. Our results indicate that the relationship between globalization and CO₂ emissions are inverted U-sharped, which strongly support the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis. Furthermore, an increase of economic output is associated with statistically significant growth in CO₂ emissions. On the contrary, an increment of renewable energy consumption lowers CO₂ emissions. Related policy proposals are then offered according to our empirical results.

Keywords: CO(2) emission; Environment Kuznets hypothesis; Globalization; Semi-parametric panel model.