The investigation of environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in the advanced economies: The role of energy prices

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine the effect of energy prices on pollution and investigate the existence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in 27 advanced economies. The panel non-stationary techniques were used to examine the selected economies taking the period of 1990-2012. The panel Kao and Fisher cointegration results showed that CO2 emission (CO2), gross domestic product (GDP), renewable energy consumption (RE), non-renewable energy consumption (NR), trade openness (TD), urbanization (UR), and energy prices (PC) are cointegrated. Moreover, the panel fully modified ordinary least square and the vector error correction Granger causality results revealed that GDP, NR, and UR increase CO2 emission while RE, TD, and PC reduce it. Furthermore, the inverted U-shaped relationship between GDP and CO2 emission was confirmed which signifies the presence of the EKC hypothesis. From the obtained results, multiple policy implications were provided for the investigated countries to help them control and reduce air pollution without harming their economic growth and development.