RETRACTED ARTICLE: The effect of energy consumption on the environment in the OECD countries: economic policy uncertainty perspectives

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the impact of energy use and economic policy uncertainties on the environment. To achieve this objective, we use the pooled mean group-autoregressive distributed lag methodology (PMG-ARDL) and Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test on 22 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries between 1985 and 2017. The PMG-ARDL estimation shows that energy use and economic policy uncertainties have a positive relationship with carbon dioxide emission (CO 2 ) emission, while a negative relationship is confirmed between renewable and CO 2 emissions in the long run. The short-run estimation shows a positive relationship between energy use, real gross domestic product, and per capita on CO 2 emissions. The Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality results highlight a unidirectional running from real GDP and GDP per capita square to CO 2 emissions. Furthermore, one-way causality exists between CO 2 emissions to economic policy uncertainties. These results have policy implications on the macroeconomy which are discussed in detail in the concluding section.

Environmental quality and the role of economic policy uncertainty, economic complexity, renewable energy, and energy intensity: the case of G7 countries

“…For the countries in our sample, the economic contraction caused by high EPU overwhelms the neglected implementation of environmental regulations, reduced commitments on environmental protection by enterprises, and the higher use of cheaper but more polluting energy sources. Although these results confirm the significant environmental impact of EPU, it is different from the empirical literature that indicates a positive longrun relationship between the two variables (Adams et al 2020;Adedoyin et al 2021a;Anser et al 2021;Atsu and Adams 2021;Danish and Khan 2020;Sohail et al 2021;Yu et al 2021;Zakari et al 2021). The difference may be due to the choice of research sample.…”

“…Pirgaip and Dinçergök (2020) provide evidence of unidirectional causality running from EPU to energy consumption in Japan, to CO 2 emissions in the USA and Germany, and to both energy consumption and CO 2 emissions in Canada. Zakari et al (2021) show a positive connection between EPU and CO 2 emissions in 22 OECD countries. Adedoyin et al (2021a) examine environmental issues in sub-Saharan Africa.…”

Do economic policy uncertainty and environment-related technologies help in limiting ecological footprint?

“…Secondly, the EPU-environment nexus' literature is investigated to draw conclusive remarks for the BRICS's economic policies. There is a wealth of literature on the relationship between EPU and CO 2 emission (Danish et al 2020a;Pirgaip and Dinçergök 2020;Yu et al 2021;Zakari et al 2021). However, there are a handful of studies using EF as a measure of environmental quality.…”

Economic Complexity: A New Challenge for the Environment

“…According to Anser et al, (2021), [123] in higher carbon emitter countries, the policy uncertainty mitigates the pollution in the short-term while it escalades in the long run. The argument that, in the long run, policy uncertainty further deteriorates the quality of environment is also supported by the results of Zakari et al, (2021) [124], which confirmed a positive association between policy uncertainty and carbon emissions in the 22 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries between 1985 and 2017.…”