How are energy transition and energy-related R&D investments effective in enabling decarbonization? Evidence from Nordic Countries by novel WLMC model.

Public interest in climate change-related problems has been developing with the contribution of the recent energy crisis. Accordingly, countries have been increasing their efforts to decarbonize economies. In this context, energy transition and energy-related research and development (R&D) investments can be important strategic tools to be helpful to countries in the decarbonization of economies. Among all, Nordic countries have come to the force because of their well-known position as green economies. Hence, this study examines Nordic countries to investigate the impact of energy transition, renewable energy R&D investments (RRD), energy efficiency R&D investments (EEF) on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by performing wavelet local multiple correlation (WLMC) model and using data from 2000/1 to 2021/12. The outcomes reveal that (i) based on bi-variate cases, energy transition and RRD have a mixed impact on CO2 emissions in all countries across all frequencies; EEF has a declining impact on CO2 emissions in Norway (Sweden) at low and medium (very high) frequencies; (ii) according to four-variate cases, all variables have a combined increasing impact on CO2 emissions; (iii) RRD is the most influential dominant factor in all countries excluding Norway, where EEF is the pioneering one. Thus, the reach proves the varying impacts of energy transition, RRD, and EEF investments on CO2 emissions. In line with the outcomes of the novel WLMC model, various policy endeavors, such as focusing on displacement between sub-types of R&D investments, are argued to ensure the decarbonization of the economies.

Can technological progress, renewable and nuclear energy consumption be the remedy for global climate crises? An examination of leading OECD countries.

Energy is the most critical input for production and consumption. The inputs of energy cause irreversible damage to the environment. The studies carried out to reduce the environmental impact of the methods used in energy production are extremely valuable. This study aims to reveal the effects of technological development, nuclear energy consumption, and renewable energy use on environmental degradation. The patent numbers, technological development, GDP, renewable energy, and nuclear energy consumption data of 16 OECD countries covering the years 1996-2019 were used in the empirical analysis. The findings of panel FMOLS and DOLS methods reveal that technological progress, nuclear, and renewable energy consumption significantly reduce CO2 emissions. In line with these findings, critical policy implications have been suggested.

Natural gas supply cuts and searching alternatives in Germany: A disaggregated level energy consumption analysis for environmental quality by time series approaches.

By considering the search for alternatives against Russia's natural gas supply cuts, this study explores the impact and causality of disaggregated level energy consumption indicators on environmental quality. Hence, the study investigates Germany, which is the leading economy in Europe and highly dependent on Russia's natural gas supply, by using carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as the environment indicator, including annual data from 1970 to 2021, and applying novel time series approaches. In the empirical examination, Granger causality-in-quantiles (GCiQ), quantile-on-quantile regression (QoQR), and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) are applied as base models while quantile regression (QR) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) are used for robustness. The empirical findings show that (i) there are causal impacts of disaggregated level energy consumption indicators on CO2 emissions; (ii) renewable energy and hydroelectricity consumption have a decreasing impact, whereas natural gas, coal, and oil energy consumption have an increasing impact on CO2 emissions; (iii) although nuclear energy has been discussed as a potential alternative, nuclear energy does not have a significant impact in decreasing CO2 emissions; (iv) natural gas consumption has an interaction with renewable energy, hydroelectricity, and coal energy consumption; (v) the power of disaggregated level energy consumption indicators on CO2 emissions vary according to quantiles, thresholds, and interactions between energy consumption indicators; (iv) alternative models validate robustness of the results obtained. Thus, the results imply that the most appropriate alternative is coal energy consumption in the short-term and renewable energy consumption in the long-term to compensate for Russia's natural gas supply cuts, whereas nuclear energy consumption is not a real alternative for Germany.

Asymmetric effect of economic policy uncertainty, political stability, energy consumption, and economic growth on CO2 emissions: evidence from G-7 countries.

This study deals with the asymmetric effect of economic policy uncertainty and political stability on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions considering also energy consumption and economic growth. In this context, the study investigates G-7 countries, which make up an important part of the world economy. Also, the study uses yearly data between 1997 and 2021 as the most available intersection data for all countries included. Besides, this study applies a novel nonlinear approach as quantile-on-quantile regression (QQR) as the base model, and quantile regression (QR) is used for robustness. The empirical results present that (i) economic policy uncertainty has a decreasing effect on CO2 emissions in Italy, Japan, and the United States of America (USA), whereas it has a mixed effect in Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (UK); (ii) political stability also has a mixed effect on CO2 emissions; (iii) energy consumption has an accelerating effect on CO2 emissions while the power of effect changes at quantiles; (iv) economic growth has generally an increasing effect on CO2 emissions, whereas it has a decreasing effect at lower quantiles in Japan, at middle quantiles in France and Germany, and at higher quantiles in Italy; and (v) the QR results support the robustness of QQR findings. Thus, the empirical results highlight that G-7 countries should consider the asymmetric and quantile-based varying effects of the economic policy uncertainty, political stability, and economic growth to reach their carbon neutrality targets.

Heterogeneous impact of environmental taxes on environmental quality: Tax domain based evidence from the nordic countries by nonparametric quantile approaches.

This study aims to examine the heterogeneous causality and impact of environmental taxes at both aggregated and disaggregated levels on environmental quality. In this context, the study focuses on Nordic countries as green economies; handles carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as an environmental quality indicator; includes aggregated and disaggregated levels of environmental taxes as explanatory variables; uses quarterly data for the period 1994/Q1-2020/Q4 as the most recent available data; applies novel nonparametric Granger causality-in-quantiles (GCQ) and quantile-on-quantile regression (QQR) approaches as the main models while using quantile regression (QR) for robustness check. The results present that (i) causal impacts of environmental taxes on CO2 emissions exist in most quantiles at disaggregated levels excluding some lower, middle, and higher quantiles, whereas indicator-, country-, and quantile-based results vary; (ii) environmental tax on energy (ETE) has a mainly decreasing impact in Iceland, a mixed impact in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden based on quantiles; (iii) environmental tax on pollution (ETP) has the highest decreasing impact in most quantiles in Denmark, Iceland, and Norway; (iv) environmental tax in transport (ETT) has a decreasing impact in Norway and Sweden, whereas it has a reverse impact in Denmark, Finland, and Iceland; (v) impact of total environmental tax (TET) has a decreasing impact in Denmark and Norway at some quantiles, whereas an increasing impact in Finland, Iceland, and Sweden; (vi) the robustness of the QQR results are confirmed by the QR approach. Hence, the results underline the importance of country and quantile-based disaggregated analyses and Nordic countries should re-adjust environmental taxes to increase environmental quality.