Analyzing the Renewable Energy and CO2 Emission Levels Nexus at an EU Level: A Panel Data Regression Approach

Abstract

In the past decades, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have become an important issue for many researchers and policy makers. The focus of scientists and experts in the area is mainly on lowering the CO2 emission levels. In this article, panel data is analyzed with an econometric model, to estimate the impact of renewable energy, biofuels, bioenergy efficiency, population, and urbanization level on CO2 emissions in European Union (EU) countries. Our results underline the fact that urbanization level has a negative impact on increasing CO2 emissions, while biofuels, bioenergy production, and renewable energy consumption have positive and direct impacts on reducing CO2 emissions. Moreover, population growth and urbanization level are negatively correlated with CO2 emission levels. The authors’ findings suggest that the public policies at the national level must encourage the consumption of renewable energy and biofuels in the EU, while population and urbanization level should come along with more restrictions on CO2 emissions.

A Symmetry and Asymmetry Investigation of the Nexus Between Environmental Sustainability, Renewable Energy, Energy Innovation, and Trade: Evidence From Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis in Selected MENA Countries

“…In recent years, Awaworyi Churchill et al (2019) and Petrović (1968) explored the association between RE, environmental technologies, and carbon emission to report mixed findings for different countries over the different periods and argued that the association between environmental technologies and carbon emissions is significantly dependent on the application of environmental legislation. Several studies such as those of Acemoglu et al (2012) and Jaffe et al (2002) have argued that limitation of carbon emissions through environmental technologies is dependent on country-specific characteristics and further explained that these effects rebound over time and negatively affect the accumulation of long-term environmental goals through innovation in green technologies (Braungardt et al, 2016). The energy structure of developing economies is based on the overexploitation of natural and fossil resources.…”

The Imperativeness of Environmental Quality in China Amidst Renewable Energy Consumption and Trade Openness

“…As a consequence, the integrated cointegration of Johansen [51], Engle and Granger [52], Banerjee et al [53], and Boswijk [54] was included in this empirical analysis. According to Kirikkaleli and Adebayo [44]…”

How Much Can Small-Scale Wind Energy Production Contribute to Energy Supply in Cities? A Case Study of Berlin

“…The LCOE of the rooftop installation of a single turbine is assessed for an average building in each BC. The specific input values for the LCOE calculation according to Equation (3) are summarized in Table 6. For further information on the input values, see Appendix B.…”

“…Oil made up 30.9% of global primary energy supply in 2019, followed by coal with 26.8%. Renewable energy consumption on the other hand decreases CO 2 emission levels [3,4] and the replacement of fossil energy by renewable energy is key to reaching the ambitious objectives to tackle global warming. There have been numerous definitions of objectives of governments and international organizations to increase renewables consumption and therewith decrease CO 2 emissions to tackle climate warming.…”

“…To strongly decrease CO 2 emissions in the near future, all potential installation sites should be used for renewable energy production. There could still be scope to increase renewable energy supply by discovering urban production sites, especially since urbanization and population growth positively affect CO 2 emission levels [3,7], making cities emission hotspots. Regional energy production also decreases the transmission losses that electricity (through which renewable energy is most commonly carried out) suffers from long-distance transportation [8,9].…”