Abstract
International environmental agreements have multiplied over the last five decades. We examine the impact of multilateral environmental diplomacy on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the presence of capital formation, renewable energy consumption, and economic growth using the framework of the Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) and data from the United States from 1980 to 2015. We developed a comprehensive empirical analysis using Zivot–Andrews structural break unit root tests. Co-integration analysis indicates long-run relationships of the variables. The results of the generalized linear models (GLMs) and robust least secure (ROBUSTLS) approach reveal that environmental diplomacy, capital formation, and economic growth deteriorate environmental quality in the long run, while renewable energy consumption improves it. These results support the EKC hypothesis for the United States and suggest that, in the early stages, increased environmental diplomacy stimulates CO2 emissions to a point, after which CO2 emissions start declining with further increases in international commitments and strong diplomatic relationships among countries. Policy implications for the United States are presented.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acheampong AO (2018) Economic growth, CO 2 emissions and energy consumption: what causes what and where? Energy Econ 74:677–692. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2018.07.022
Adedoyin FF, Zakari A (2020) Energy consumption, economic expansion, and CO2 emission in the UK: the role of economic policy uncertainty. Sci Total Environ 738:140014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140014
Ahmadov AK, van der Borg C (2019) Do natural resources impede renewable energy production in the EU? A mixed-methods analysis. Energy Policy 126(November 2018):361–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.11.044
Ameyaw B, Yao L (2018) Analyzing the impact of GDP on CO2 emissions and forecasting Africa’s total CO2 emissions with non-assumption driven bidirectional long short-term memory. Sustainability (Switzerland) 10(9). https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093110
Andrew I, Qiu Y (2016) Economic and environmental impacts of providing renewable energy for electric vehicle charging—a choice experiment study. Appl Energy 180:256–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.07.121
Apergis N, & Payne JE (2015) Energy sources, part B: economics, planning, and policy renewable energy, output, carbon dioxide emissions, and oil prices: evidence from South America. Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning, and Policy, (January 2015), 37–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/15567249.2013.853713
Aye GC, Edoja PE (2017) Effect of economic growth on CO2 emission in developing countries: evidence from a dynamic panel threshold model. Cogent Econ Finance 5(1):1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2017.1379239
Ben Jebli M, Belloumi M (2017) Investigation of the causal relationships between combustible renewables and waste consumption and CO2 emissions in the case of Tunisian maritime and rail transport. Renew Sust Energ Rev 71(December):820–829. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.12.108
Benedick RE (1988) Ozone diplomacy new directions in safeguarding the planet, enlarged edn. Harvard University Press
Bhattacharya M, Churchill SA, Paramati SR (2017) SC. Renew Energy 111:157–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2017.03.102
Bilan Y, Streimikiene D, Vasylieva T, Lyulyov O, Pimonenko T, Pavlyk A (2019) Linking between renewable energy, CO 2 emissions , and economic growth: challenges for candidates and potential candidates for the EU membership. Sustainability 11(1528):1–16. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061528
Bilgili F, Koçak E, Bulut Ü (2016) The dynamic impact of renewable energy consumption on CO 2 emissions: a revisited environmental Kuznets Curve approach. Renew Sust Energ Rev 54:838–845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.10.080
BP-Statistics (2019) BP Statistical Review of World Energy. JAMA 69:1–68. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1973.03220300055017
Bull H, & Watson A (1984) The expansion of International Society, Oxford University Press (OUP), ISBN: 9780198716860, https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-expansion-of-international-society-9780198716860?cc=pk&lang=en&
Charfeddine L, Kahia M (2019) Impact of renewable energy consumption and financial development on CO 2 emissions and economic growth in the MENA region: a panel vector autoregressive ( PVAR ) analysis. Renew Energy 139:198–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.01.010
Chasek PS (2001) Earth negotiations: analyzing thirty years of environmental diplomacy. United Nations University Press, Tokyo
Cialani C (2007) Economic growth and environmental quality: an econometric and a decomposition analysis. Manag Environ Qual 18(5):568–577
Dai H, Xie X, Xie Y, Liu J, Masui T (2016) Green growth: the economic impacts of large-scale renewable energy development in China. Appl Energy 162:435–449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.10.049
Destek MA, Sinha A (2020) Renewable, non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, trade openness and ecological footprint: evidence from organisation for economic co-operation and development countries. J Clean Prod 242:118537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118537
Dicky-Fuller (1997) Distribution of the estimators for autoregressive time series with a unit root. J Am Stat Assoc 74(366a):427–431. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1979.10482531
Drennen TE, Susskind BLE (1994) Negotiating more effective global agreements by Lawrence E. Susskind Book Review Environmental Diplomacy: Negotiating More Effective Global Agreements. Indiana J Global Legal Stud Environ Diplomacy 2(1):345–351
French HF (1994) Strengthening international environmental governance, a review of international policy produced at the University of California. J Environ Dev 3(1)
Grossman G, Krueger A (1991) Environmental impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement. Natl Bureau Econ Res 3914. https://doi.org/10.3386/w3914
Grossman GM, Krueger AB (1995) Economic growth and the environment. Q J Econ 110(2):353–377
Hasnisah A, Azlina AA, Mohd C, Che I (2019) The impact of renewable energy consumption on carbon dioxide emissions: empirical evidence from developing countries in Asia. 9(3):135–143
Hertwich EG, Peters GP (2009) Carbon footprint of nations: a global, trade-linked analysis, American Chemical Society. Environ Sci Technol 43(16):6414–6420
IEA (2018) Global energy and CO2 status report: the least trends in energy and emissions in 2018, International Energy Agency, www.iea.org. 1–29. https://webstore.iea.org/download/direct/2461?fileName = Global_Energy_and_CO2_Status_Report_2018.pdf
Johansen (1991) Estimation and hypothesis testing of cointegration vectors in Gaussian vector autoregressive models. JEconometrica 59(6):1551–1580. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004
Johansen (1995) A statistical analysis of cointegration for I (2) variables. Cambridge University Press 11(1), 25–59. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3532929
Kahia M, Safouane M, Aïssa B, Charfeddine L (2016) Impact of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on economic growth: new evidence from the MENA Net Oil Exporting Countries ( NOECs ). Energy 116:102–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2016.07.126
Kahia M, Safouane M, Aïssa B, Lanouar C (2017) Renewable and non-renewable energy use - economic growth nexus: the case of MENA Net Oil Importing Countries. Renew Sust Energ Rev 71(January):127–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.01.010
Kalaycı C, Hayaloğlu P (2019) The impact of economic globalization on CO2 emissions: the case of NAFTA countries. 9(1):356–360
Kamran M, Teng J, Imran M, Owais M (2019) Science of the total environment impact of globalization, economic factors and energy consumption on CO2 emissions in Pakistan. Sci Total Environ 688:424–436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.065
Kaufman J (1988) Conference diplomacy: an introductory analysis, United Nations Digital Library, https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/139665?ln=en
Khan I, Hou F (2020) The dynamic links among energy consumption, tourism growth, and the ecological footprint: the role of environmental quality in 38 IEA countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10861-6
Khan I, Hou F, Le HP (2021) The impact of natural resources, energy consumption, and population growth on environmental quality: fresh evidence from the United States of America. Sci Total Environ 754:142222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142222
Koengkan M, Alberto J, Renato F (2019) Asymmetric impacts of globalisation onCO2 emissions of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Environ Syst Decisions 2008:135–147. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-019-09752-0
Kulionis V (2013) Consumption, CO 2 emissions and economic growth. Lunds University, School of Management and Economics
Li G, Zakari A, Tawiah V (2020a) Does environmental diplomacy reduce CO2 emissions? A panel group means analysis. Sci Total Environ 722:137790. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137790
Li G, Zakari A, Tawiah V (2020b) Energy resource melioration and CO2 emissions in China and Nigeria: efficiency and trade perspectives. Res Policy 68(May):101769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101769
Liu M, Ren X, Cheng C, Wang Z (2020) J Sci Total Environ:137379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137379
Lu WC (2017) Greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and economic growth: a panel cointegration analysis for 16 Asian countries. Int J Environ Res Public Health 14(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14111436
McCullagh P (1992) Introduction to Nelder and Wedderburn (1972) generalized linear models. University of Chicago 2(1972):543–546. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4380-9_38
Mert M (2014) Fossil & renewable energy consumption, GHGs (greenhouse gases) and economic growth: evidence from a panel of EU (European Union) countries. 74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2014.07.008
Moutinho V, Robaina M (2016) Is the share of renewable energy sources determining the CO2 kWh and income relation in electricity generation? Renew Sust Energ Rev 65:902–914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.07.007
Muhammad B (2019) Energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in developed, emerging and Middle East and North Africa countries. Energy 179:232–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.03.126
Muhammad B, Khan S (2019) Effect of bilateral FDI, energy consumption, CO2 emission and capital on economic growth of Asia countries. Energy Rep 5:1305–1315. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2019.09.004
OECD (2013) Renewable energy: a route to decarbonisation in Peril? https://www.oecd.org/dac/POST-2015%20sustainable%20energy.pdf. (June)
Pata UK (2018) Renewable energy consumption, urbanization, financial development, income and CO2 emissions in Turkey: testing EKC hypothesis with structural breaks. J Clean Prod 187:770–779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.03.236
Rosenblatt M (1991) Institute of mathematical statistics is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to The Annals of Statistics. ® www.jstor.org. Ann Stat 19(3):1403–1433
Rousseeuw P, & Yohai V (1984) Robust regression By S estimators, lecture notes in statistics No. 26. Robust and Nonlinear Time Series Analysis, Vol. 26, pp. 256–272
Sadorsky P (2009) Renewable energy consumption, CO2 emissions and oil prices in the G7 countries. Energy Econ 31(3):456–462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2008.12.010
Sha S, Salim RA (2013) Non-renewable and renewable energy consumption and CO 2 emissions in OECD countries: a comparative analysis. Energy Policy 66:547–556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.10.064
Shafik N (1994) Economic development and environmental quality: an econometric. Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, 46, 757–773
Shahbaz M, Khan S, Ali A, & Bhattacharya M (2017) The impact of globalization on co 2 emissions in China. 62(3). https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217590817400331
Sharif A, Baris-Tuzemen O, Uzuner G, Ozturk I, Sinha A (2020) Revisiting the role of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on Turkey’s ecological footprint: evidence from quantile ARDL approach. Sustain Cities Soc 57:102138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102138
Spiegel-feld D, Rudyk B, Philippidis G (2016) Allocating the economic benefits of renewable energy between stakeholders on Small Island Developing States (SIDS): arguments for a balanced approach. Energy Policy 98:744–748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.03.008
Susskind LE, Ali SH (2014a) Environmental diplomacy:negotiating more effective global agreements. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199397976.001.0001
Susskind LE, & Ali SH (2014b) Environmental diplomacy: negotiating more effective global agreements, Oxford University Scholarship Online: November 2014, https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199397976.001.0001
Tawiah V, Zakari A, Khan I (2020) Science of the total environment the environmental footprint of China-Africa engagement: an analysis of the effect of China–Africa partnership on carbon emissions. Sci Total Environ:143603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143603
Troster V, Shahbaz M, Uddin GS (2018) Renewable energy, oil prices, and economic activity: a Granger-causality in quantiles analysis. Energy Econ 70:440–452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2018.01.029
Tugcu CT, Topcu M (2018) Total, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth: revisiting the issue with an asymmetric point of view. Energy 152:64–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.03.128
UN Treaty Collection (2018) United Nations Treaty Collection. https://treaties.un.org/
Van Tran N, Van Tran Q, Do LTT, Dinh LH, Do HTT (2019) Trade off between environment, energy consumption and human development: do levels of economic development matter? Energy 173:483–493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.02.042
Wasti SKA, Zaidi SW (2020) An empirical investigation between CO2 emission, energy consumption, trade liberalization and economic growth: a case of Kuwait. J Build Eng 28:101104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2019.101104
Watson A (1982) Diplomacy the dialogue between states, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005
Wood R, Hertwich EG (2017) Environmental impacts of capital. J Ind Ecol 00(0):1–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12532
World-Atlas (2018a) World Atlas of desertification: Rethinking land degradation and sustainable land management. 247. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1949.036159950013000C0010x
World-Atlas (2018b) Countries with the most natural resources. Retrieved from https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-most-natural-resources.html
WorldBank (2017) The World Bank annual report 2017
WorldBank (2019) World development report
Yazdi SK, Beygi EG (2017) The dynamic impact of renewable energy consumption and financial development on CO 2 emissions: for selected African countries. Energy Sources B Econ Plann Policy 00(00):1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/15567249.2017.1377319
Yong-xiang Z, Qing-chen C, Qiu-hong Z, Lei H (2017) ScienceDirect The withdrawal of the US . from the Paris Agreement and its impact on global climate change governance. Adv Clim Chang Res 8(4):213–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accre.2017.08.005
Zafar MW, Shahbaz M, Hou F, Sinha A (2019) From nonrenewable to renewable energy and its impact on economic growth: the role of research & development expenditures in Asia-Pacific economic cooperation countries. J Clean Prod 212:1166–1178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.081
Zaidi SAH, Wasif M, Shahbaz M, Hou F (2019) Dynamic linkages between globalization, financial development and carbon emissions: evidence from Asia Pacific economic cooperation countries. J Clean Prod 228:533–543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.210
Zhou C, Wang S, Feng K (2018) Examining the socioeconomic determinants of CO2 emissions in China: a historical and prospective analysis. Resour Conserv Recycl 130(November 2017):1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.11.007
Zivot-Andrews (1992) Further evidence on the great crash, the oil-price shock, and the unit-root hypothesis. J Bus Econ Stat 10(3):251–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/07350015.1992.10509904
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Irfan Khan: Writing of original draft preparation, conceptualization, methodology, modeling, and software, etc. Dr. Fujun Hou: supervision and reviewing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Roula Inglesi-Lotz
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Khan, I., Hou, F. Does multilateral environmental diplomacy improve environmental quality? The case of the United States. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 23310–23322 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-12005-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-12005-2